Dani woke on the couch naked, cold, and alone. Uneasy, she pushed her hair out of her eyes and searched the floor for her hastily dropped t-shirt. Then she heard the shower running. He hadn’t left.
Relief flowed through her. She hugged the warm and fuzzy emotions that flooded back close to her chest. She’d promised him no complications, no relationship, but surely that had changed given how close they’d already become over the last few weeks. He must be ready to let her in, share some of his burden. He wouldn’t have taken things to the next level if he hadn’t changed his mind. She didn’t know anyone with as firm convictions as Nick. They could talk about the change in their relationship later. He’d need to process, and she could give him the space to do that. With a contented smile on her face, she gathered her scattered clothes, dressed quickly, and retreated back across the hall.
Glancing at her clock, she realized it was only 2:30 on Friday afternoon. She took a gamble and called Stella, hoping she’d catch her before her evening classes started. Her friend picked up on the third ring.
“Hey honey! I got your email. Flipped looks great! I'm dying to try it now that I've seen the menu online, and I can’t wait to see you. It’s been too long since you made it to class.”
“Good! I was trying to find a place that would appeal to everyone. I can’t wait to see you, too. But I have a little problem.”
“What is it? Are you OK?” The instant concern in her friend’s voice made her smile.
“I have a fashion emergency. I have accountant clothes, and workout clothes, and grubbies for cooking and cleaning. But I have zero going-out clothes! Help!” When Stella laughed at her tone of mock horror, she switched to begging. “What are you doing this afternoon? Can you meet me for a wardrobe intervention? Please, please, pretty please.”
“That sounds dire! I can meet you in half an hour.” Dani hung up the phone with a huge grin splitting her face. It was turning into an excellent afternoon.
When Nick got out of the shower, he discovered that he was alone in the apartment. His first reaction was relief. Tension drained from his shoulders. Maybe it made him a coward, but he was grateful he’d gotten a reprieve. He didn’t feel steady enough yet to not lash out at Dani. Why the hell had she gotten right up in his face when he was in the middle of an attack? Didn’t the woman have an ounce of self-preservation? Or was that why she’d run? He started to second-guess himself. Turning to Taco, he searched for answers.
“Why didn’t she stay? Don’t most women want to talk about what sex means? Is she angry at me for losing control? Or is she regretting her impulse to have pity sex? What do you think, Taco?” The dog had no reply, except for his soulful brown eyes that reflected Nick’s own confusion back at him. Had he completely ruined the best friendship he had? And damn it, why hadn’t she stayed so he could ask her these questions and get some answers, instead of pacing his apartment in a towel talking to a dog?
He’d lost control, but he could get it back. He could fix this. He’d explain what had happened and everything would go back to the way it had been. He just needed to cool off before he talked to Dani. Then everything would be fine. After he apologized, they could go back to being friends. He had to believe that, or the weight of his guilt would crush him.
Maybe it was naïve of him to think he could be a friend only, especially after she’d proven to be even sexier in reality than she’d been in his very creative and detailed dreams. Resisting her was going to be nearly impossible. He’d want her again, and again. His mind was already rising to the challenge, filling his head with images of all the ways he’d want to have her.
With a firm mental shake, he shut down that line of thought. He couldn’t afford to go there, even in his mind, if he was to have any chance of resisting her in real life. He’d have to rely on his Army discipline, but he was sure he could do it, especially if she was in the same frame of mind. The one thing of which he was absolutely certain, was that he needed to keep Dani in his life. She was his anchor, his touchstone. She had become an integral part of his life in such a short time. Maybe too integral. He was afraid of what might happen if she suddenly wasn’t there. That was the problem. He’d gotten so used to having her around, that he’d forgotten how to be by himself.
They’d been spending too much time together, just the two of them. It had caused all of that charged energy to build up. That wasn’t healthy or smart. He would call Seth, and get out to spend some time with his buddy. He’d been cooped up long enough. He needed some guy time.
“Hey buddy! How’ve you been? I wondered when you’d crawl out from under your rock,” Seth teased.
“Ha ha. I’m good. I wanted to see what you’re up to tomorrow night. You want to go out?”
“You are in luck, my man! Killeran and Santos are in town for a bit of training out at the base. We were going to go check out this new place, Flipped. I heard it’s great for checking out the ladies. You game?”
“Sure, that sounds great.” Maybe that was what he needed. Meet some new girls, get Dani out of his head for a while. “I’ll meet you guys there.”
“Perfect. Listen, man, it’s really good to hear from you. Don’t let it go so long again, all right? You had me worried.”
“No need to worry about me. I’d be worried for you. Now that I’m coming, there’s no way the ladies will even spare you a glance.”
“Ha ha, smart ass. In your dreams. See you tomorrow.”
Nick hung up with a smile. This was what he’d been missing. He could admit that he’d made a mistake spending so much time with Dani, to the exclusion of his other friends. He needed his guys, too. Feeling a little more settled, he crossed the hall and knocked on her door, ready to get things straight and re-establish their ground rules. He waited and waited, knocked again even, before he realized that she must be gone. Surprise hit him hard that she wasn’t there when he wanted to talk to her. Had he run her out of her own place? Was she that upset? That she would leave without telling him unsettled him again, but he didn’t want to think too deeply about why that was.
Dani trailed Stella as she scoured the racks at one of the boutiques lining the corridors of the outdoor mall. Dani had joined Stella’s studio as a way to de-stress while caring for Aunt Helen, and became fast friends with the owner/instructor. Although her attendance had fallen off since she’d begun spending her time on the café and Nick, she could still rely on her friend for support. Though the tall redhead looked nothing like her, Dani trusted her style sense. She always looked put together. She also knew how to push Dani out of her comfort zone, so she was the perfect person to call for this mission.
Stella was picking out way more outfits than Dani, so Dani just rolled with her friend’s enthusiasm. She had no idea what would look good on her figure. She looked down at her jeans and t-shirt combo, so perfect for cooking or caregiving, so blah for everything else. Playing on the social scene had never been big on her to-do list, so her clothes were helplessly outdated. Not to mention she had added a few pounds to her curves with all the trial cooking and grief eating she’d been doing, so nothing fit. She had no idea what current fashions would suit her new curvier frame. Apparently, Stella did and was amassing a stockpile of outfits for her to try on.
“You do realize I only need one, right?”
Stella shot her a patronizing look and patted her cheek.
“You do realize that’s crap, right? If you’re serious about rejoining the world of the living, you need to look the part. You’ll need outfits for girls’ night, true, but what about first date night? Second date night? Sex-date night? Not to mention the general updating that your wardrobe needs. You asked for an intervention, and by God, you’re going to get one!”
“Hallelujah! I have seen the light! Let me get started on what you’ve got there, or we’ll never make a dent.”
Dani tried on the dresses, all cute, but all ridiculously short. “Um, Stella, I think you forgot to hand me the pants that go with these tops!” She tugged the skirt to try and make it reach her knees.
“Ha ha. You have fantastic legs, of which I am ridiculously envious, and over which men should drool. They can’t drool if they can’t see them.”
“I’m not so sure I need to have men drooling over my legs.”
“Of course you do, honey! With those legs and your assets on top, we’ll make them beg…”
“No, that’s not what I meant. I want to look cute for our night out, but I may not need to attract a guy. I might already have one.”
“What?” Stella barged into the dressing room with her. “Spill it, now! Who is he? Why haven’t I heard about this? What do you mean might?”
Dani deliberately kept her gaze on her reflection in the mirror.
“You’re so cute when you go all big sister on me. It’s Nick. He’s the vet I told you I was helping out.”
“The vet whom you were careful to not describe in any flattering terms? The vet I assumed was just like all the other vets in your building? I thought you were bringing an old guy his groceries!”
“We have young vets, too, you know. People seem to forget about them, but they are just as needy as our aging veterans.”
“OK, off the soap box! I will not be distracted. You deliberately didn’t tell me he was young.”
“I didn’t want you jumping all over me about him! We’ve been just friends. That’s what he needed from me, and I didn’t want any pressure to change that before he was ready.”
“Well, what’s with the ‘maybe’ now?”
“I’ll admit I’ve gotten closer to him than any other man in my life. This is nothing like asshole Matthew. I won’t say it’s the big L yet, but I feel like that’s maybe where we’re headed. I’ve tried to keep my distance and give him the space he’s needed, but this afternoon we had a breakthrough, of sorts.”
“A breakthrough?”
“Yeah, as in we broke through our clothes and made love on his couch!” Grinning and holding her arms around herself, she tried to contain the giddy laughter that threatened to break free.
“So, what did he say, you know, after?” Stella pressed for details.
“Nothing.”
“What do you mean nothing? Did he brush it off? Or did he beg for more?”
“No, no, just nothing. I didn’t really give him a chance. He was in the shower when I woke up, and I just left. I thought he might be embarrassed over how the situation came about, so I gave him some space. It’ll be fine. He’s the best man I know. Stella, I’ve never been so comfortable so quickly. We hang out together almost every day. We talk about everything, but we are completely comfortable in each other’s silence too. It’s amazing. I’ll admit I was a little spooked to be falling so quickly for someone who was off limits, but now that we’ve crossed that line, it feels like the most natural thing in the world.”
“Why was he ‘off-limits’?” Stella asked.
“For starters, he lives across the hall. Rule of Dating #7.”
“Don’t date people in your building or at work. Obviously, but I don’t get the feeling that’s it. He doesn’t seem the type to be put off by a simple dating rule, no matter how logical.”
“No, that’s not all. He just got out of the army, after a very difficult tour in Iraq. He’s been struggling with his memories and some PTSD reactions. He’s open to my help, up to a point, but he doesn’t want me to know what he’s done and how he’s suffering. He said that he just wants to protect me from the crap in his life right now, but I think he’s avoiding dealing with it still. That’s the big reason we’ve been fighting our attraction. He hasn’t been in a good spot to be in a relationship. And to be honest, neither have I. Grieving Aunt Helen, getting her estate in order, starting a new life... I put myself off-limits too. It just seems like none of that matters right now. This thing between us makes all of that seem like excuses. It just feels…right.”
“Dani, I don’t want to rain on your parade, but it sounds like he’s dealing with some pretty serious stuff. You’ve known him less than a month. I just want you to be careful. Are you sure you want to get involved? I mean what if he gets violent? Or goes into a spiral? You’re just starting to come out of a spiral of your own. Are you sure about this?”
“I am. It’s never felt so right before. I know he’s got issues, but he’s working on them. We’re working on them. The friendship we have is incredibly special. He’s special.” Dani watched her best friend bite her tongue, literally, and change the subject.
“Well, that’s all the more reason to knock him on his ass with a spectacular outfit for your official first date!” Grabbing a coral mini dress, Stella pushed it and Dani back into the changing room. “Try this one next!”
Dani looked at the dress on the hanger skeptically. It looked like one of her V-neck tank tops. It was pretty, with some beading and sequin detailing on the top half, but it definitely seemed to be missing a few inches off the bottom. Then she checked the price tag. Jaw dropping, she popped her head back out of the dressing room. “Stella! What rack are you shopping from? How can a tank top cost $300?”
“Just humor me and put it on!”
Shaking her head over the ludicrous thought of spending $300 dollars on a dress to just wear on a date, she slid the silk/lycra frock over her head. She tugged it down to mid-thigh, and turned to evaluate the dress in the mirror. For the second time in less than a minute, her jaw scraped the floor. What had looked simple on the hanger was anything but when it was stretched over her figure. The dress showed off her toned arms and dipped in the front to show just a hint of the cleavage that would drive him wild. Every sparkle drew her eyes to her chest, while every seam pulled the fabric in just the right way to highlight her curves in a subtly sexy way. The abbreviated hemline made her legs seem a mile long, and the coral shade brought out the warm highlights in her skin. It could have been a sausage casing dress, but it wasn’t. The designer of this dress knew a woman’s body and had created the perfect showcase for it. When she moved, it moved with her. Suddenly $300 didn’t seem so outrageous…
“You’re awful quiet in there. Did you get stuck?”
“No, I’m good. I’m great! Stella, you’re a genius.” She opened the door and had the pleasure of seeing Stella’s jaw drop too.
“That’s it. That dress is coming home. Don’t you even dare argue with genius.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. Holy cow! Who knew this was hiding under my jeans?”
“Nick certainly doesn’t, or he’d never have lasted three weeks.”
Laughing, Dani gave Stella a big hug and turned to look at the rack that had appeared conveniently across from her changing room.
“Who knew dress up as an adult could be so much fun? What’s next?”
Dani happily spent the next three hours chatting, trying on clothes, and refreshing her friendship with Stella. She left with several cute tops and jeans along with the amazing dress, a pair of nude heels, and two more fun date night outfits. Dani was on top of the world. Nothing like great sex, bonding time with a girlfriend, and kick-ass, new clothes to round out a perfect day.