“No, asshole. We just hung out,” I snapped back, slightly irritated at his teasing.

“Wow! Little defensive, aren’t we? Okay, okay. I’ll back off. I do have a question for you though, actually a favor.” Hesitation rang loud in his voice and I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what this favor was.

I sighed. “This is gonna piss me off, isn’t it?”

“Probably.”

“What is it?”

“Remember I told you last week that Blaire is trying to turn into Suzy Homemaker? Well, she’s hosting a party and doing all the cooking to show off her new … skills.”

“No,” I shot back before he had a chance to continue.

“Come on, Brody. Don’t make me suffer through this by myself,” he begged.

Driving all the way out to Andy and Blaire’s house was bad enough, but having to fake through an evening of pleasantries and eating her cooking was going above and beyond.

Before I could answer him, he sweetened the pot. “Why don’t you bring Kacie with you? I’d like to meet the girl who has turned my best friend’s brain into a pile of shit anyway.”

Smiling at the sound of her name, I responded, “When is this grand dinner?”

“Next Saturday night. My house. Cocktails and hor d’oeuvres at six, dinner at seven. You in?” He sounded excited, clearly expecting me to say no.

I sighed. “Yeah, I’m in.”

“Kacie too?”

“Yes. It’s going to take some convincing on my part, but I’ll get her here.”

Convincing, begging, whatever.

“Awesome. Thanks, bro. It means a lot to me. By the way, you might want to eat before you come out here, but don’t tell Blaire I said that.”

“You busy?” Kacie’s voice was soft and sexy, tempting me to jump into my truck and drive back to her house right then, just for one more kiss.

“I am busy actually, but I’d drop just about anything for you.”

Wow. Okay, way to sound like a lame teenager, Brody.

“You’re sweet, but stop it or you’re gonna make me like you even more.” She giggled.

Challenge accepted.

“How’s your morning been?” I asked.

“It’s been full of Lysol and laundry detergent.” She sighed. “Both girls have the stomach flu. I was actually calling to warn you. I hope you don’t get sick.”

“Eh, don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine, I’m more worried about you.”

Hmm, getting sick might be a blessing. It would get me out of Blaire’s fake ass dinner.

“I’m okay. I think between the girls and all the people I’m exposed to at the inn, my immune system is made of steel. I almost never get sick.”

“Never say never,” I teased her. “So, let’s assume for a minute that I did end up with a raging case of the stomach flu. Would you come down here and take care of me?”

Silence on the other end of the line.

“I’ll take that as a no.” I laughed, trying to break the tension.

“No, that’s not a no. I just haven’t really thought about the whole coming to your house thing yet. It caught me off guard,” she said quietly.

“Funny you should mention that...” I said matter-of-factly.

She inhaled quickly. I could feel her anxiety through the phone.

“Before you freak out, nothing has changed, we’re still taking things slow … but I have a dinner party to go to next weekend and I was hoping you’d be my date.”

“Oh. Wow. Coming to your house…” She paused. “Um, I don’t know.”

“That’s not the answer I was hoping for. I was looking for something more along the lines of: ‘Why yes, Brody, I’d love to spend the weekend at your house having copious amounts of crazy, sweaty monkey sex.’”

Silence.

“Kacie, I’m kidding. Look, if sleeping here makes you nervous, I have a spare room with its own bathroom. You are more than welcome to sleep in there. I won’t be offended. No pressure, remember?”

“Okay.”

I could tell she was smiling now, thank God.

“I have to run it all by my mom and see if she minds watching the girls for the night.”

“Maybe you could come down on Friday and go home Sunday?”

“I don’t know, Brody, that’s a long time to be away from them. I’ve never been away longer than a few hours.” She sounded unsure, nervous even.

My jaw was on the floor. “You’ve never been away from them overnight?”

She giggled. “Nope, they’re my life. I hate to be away from them. Besides, where would I have gone?”

I hadn’t thought of that. “True.”

“How about we compromise … I’ll come Saturday morning and stay until Sunday afternoon sometime. Okay?”

“Kacie, I’ll take what I can get with you.”

“You’re doing it again.” She laughed.

“I can’t help it.”

“Hang on…” I could tell she put her hand over the phone and was hollering at someone. “Brody, I gotta go. Lucy is getting sick again. I’ll text you later?”

“Go. Be with them, I understand. Text when you can.”

To say I was excited for Kacie to get here was putting it mildly. All week, Kacie and I had texted throughout the day and at night after she put the girls to bed. We talked well into the morning. I felt kinda bad about that. I could sleep in, but she was functioning on only a few hours of sleep each night. She never once complained though, and each night on the phone, we got more and more comfortable with each other.

Friday afternoon, I decided to tackle my ghost town of a guest room. No one had stayed with me in a while, and she slept in my bed, not in here. I spent the better part of the day washing sheets and dusting bookcases, doing whatever I could think of that would make Kacie as comfortable as possible while she was here.

A little while later, my phone chirped. It was Viper this time.

V: DUDE. SHIT HIT THE FAN AGAIN TODAY. CAN I CRASH AT YOUR PLACE TONIGHT?

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Of all nights he wants to stay here tonight?

YEAH, THAT’S FINE, BUT YOU HAVE TO SLEEP ON THE COUCH.

V: TOTALLY COOL WITH THAT. I’M GOING TO GRAB A PIZZA AND I’LL BE OVER.

GET TWO. I’M STARVING.

An hour or so later, I was kicked back on my couch watching baseball when my front door flew open and Viper came strolling through, pizza and beer in hand.

“Sup, my man?” He bellowed as he dropped the stuff on my kitchen counter and came over to shake my hand.

I stood and shook his hand back.

“I’m clearly doing better than you. What’s going on at your house?”

He groaned and rolled his eyes. “Kat came home and the cleaning lady was still there.”

I stared at him, confused. “Why would that piss her off?”

Well, Kat came in and I was relaxing in my chair. The maid was on her knees … sucking my dick.” He laughed. “Apparently, that was not an approved chore. Kat ran over and grabbed her by the ponytail and started whaling on her. I’m not gonna lie, it kind of turned me on at first, those two going at it, but I wrapped my arms around Kat until what’s-her-name could get out of the house. Needless to say, she’s fucking pissed, and I didn’t want to sit there all night listening to it.”