Page 26 of On A Manhunt: Complete Series

brIDGET

“We went to the pet store to get things for Scout, then got deli sandwiches, didn’t end up eating them because Maverick ate me and then his brothers interrupted because they read his email and I ran off in a sheet but it turns out they read Maverick’s sex quiz and not mine and we’re going out to dinner later and I need your help picking an outfit. ”

I didn’t take a breath when I blurted all that to Mallory after Maverick had dropped me at home. Since I sprinted across a field barefooted and pretty much naked, I needed shower and a change of clothes.

“Hang on. Hang on,” she said. “I have questions. Many questions. First one.”

“Yes?”

“Theo is in town and you’re going out to dinner with him?”

That was what she got out of my word vomit? One photo of the guy and she wanted to marry him.

“Yes.”

“Can I come?”

I stood in my bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror. My hair was snarled from making out and then my mad dash. I had dirt on my cheek and… holy shit, was that a hickey on my collar bone? I tugged down the neckline of my t-shirt for a better look.

Yes, it was.

I grinned. Maverick had marked me.

Why I liked that, I had no idea.

“Yes, you can come.”

“Next question, and I want to make sure I heard you correctly. Maverick wrote a sex quiz?”

“Yes.”

“I have sub-questions about that, but I need to stay focused. Did you say Maverick ate you? Jake Ryan ate your pussy.”

“He’s not Jake–” I closed my eyes, then said, “Yes.”

Her scream had me pulling my cell from my ear.

“I’ll be right over.”

She hung up and I hopped in the shower.

By the time I was done, Mal was pulling clothes from my closet.

Her long hair was half up, half down in a cute look.

She’d changed since the parade, and now wore a pale blue sundress that bared her shoulders and made the color of her eyes pop.

She had on makeup and earrings. She was ready for dinner with zero notice, and I had no idea how she did it.

I went to my dresser for panties and a bra.

When Lindy first took me and Mallory bra shopping when we were twelve, she told me to always get pretty matching bra and panty sets because no one was going to see them but me and it made a girl feel pretty.

She said it was one thing to be pretty for others, with fancy clothes to show off in, but another to be pretty in secret.

Obviously, the talk was when I was young and years and years away from any boy ever seeing me in my underwear, but her lesson then made sense. I didn’t have to make myself pretty for any guy. I hadn’t. Not even for Professor Diego.

Until Maverick. For him, I wanted to.

“Why are all these things so big?” she asked, studying a black long-sleeved top I wore to work.

“Because my boss was a pervert, and I wasn’t offering him a free show.”

She lowered the shirt she held and cocked her head to the side. “That’s fucked up all around. None of your clothes are the least bit revealing, and I mean the ones that fit. But he’s gone now thanks to one particular sexy guy.”

While I hid my body and my pretty underwear sets from Jason the Jerk beneath baggy clothes, Maverick got to see them. My underwear and my body. And he liked them. A lot.

Lindy was right way back when and she was right now.

I pulled out lavender lace panties and pulled them on beneath my towel.

“You know calling Maverick James sexy is being hypocritical. That’s why Jason got fired.”

“There’s no similarity at all,” she replied. “Because it’s not a power thing. You called me because you want to tease your new boss with that hot little bod of yours.”

I grabbed my glasses and frowned while I did it. I hated when she was right.

“You’re wearing this green top with this skirt.” It was the shirt I’d ordered online and a jean skirt and she wasn’t asking, she was telling. “As for makeup, let me see what you’ve got.”

She went into the bathroom and I got dressed.

“Don’t think for one second I’ve forgotten that you got eaten out by Maverick James,” she said from the bathroom.

I didn’t think she would. I was impressed she held off this long to bring it up.

I pulled the shirt over my head, then smoothed it down. It had a V neckline and while it wasn’t inappropriate, looking down I had a good view of my cleavage. What there was of it, at least.

She came out holding a lip gloss. “Didn’t we get this for a seventh-grade dance?” She sniffed it. “It’s cherry flavored. Okay, that’s just wrong.”

I bit my lip and nodded. She went to the trash can and dropped it in. “We’ll raid Lindy’s stash. Where is she, anyway?”

“Not sure. She wasn’t here when I got back.”

“So… Maverick’s pussy snack. Did you sit on his face or were you at the edge of the bed or–”

“Mal!” I cried, my cheeks heating. “I’m not telling you that.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not. We kissed last night,” I began, giving her something.

“Last night?” Her perfectly arched eyebrows went up. “You mean at the office? You kissed Jake Ryan after I walked out?”

I nodded, then bit back a smile. “It was nothing like the movie.”

At the end of Sixteen Candles, Jake and Samantha kissed sweetly and innocently over a birthday cake. What Mav and I did was far from innocent or sweet.

“Late last night, he emailed me a sex quiz back,” I told her, catching her up.

She frowned, then her eyes widened. “Holy shit. That didn’t happen in the movie. I bet every word was hot.”

I couldn’t help but grin. “It was. God, yes. He did it so I have it as protection. So that I’m comfortable because he read mine. I can sue him or–”

“Get a shit ton of money out of the guy if you wanted. Wow.” Mal’s enthusiasm softened. “Bridge, I like this guy.”

I licked my lips, dropped onto my bed. “I do, too.”

“So he went downtown before you had sex.”

I shook my head. “We didn’t have sex. We were going to, but his brothers showed up.”

“Including Theo.”

I rolled my eyes. “God, yes. Including Theo.”

“Is he nice?”

“Theo?”

“Yes, Theo.”

“Quiet. He’s a doctor. Trauma surgeon.”

“Ooh, hot and a doctor.” Mal fanned herself. “I wonder if he’s hungry. I’ve got something for him to eat.”

I popped up from the bed. “Oh my God. The way you talk, you’ll get along great with Dex. He’s the youngest and a professional hockey player.”

“Two billionaire CEOs, a doctor and a pro hockey player?” She ticked them off with her fingers. “God, their parents must be proud.”

I went to the mirror and fiddled with my hair. Up? Down?

“They said their father died, but they weren’t the least bit upset by it. I guess he was an asshole. As for his mother, Mav mentioned–”

“Mav? It’s Mav now? I guess if he’s had his face between your thighs you can call him that.”

“–that she’s nice and interested in grandkids.”

I remembered my parents, although through the memories of a ten-year-old. They’d been in love. Were happy. Fun. My dad was a teacher, my mom a florist. I remember carpool and swim lessons. Skiing and sledding.

I would never have a relationship with them as an adult and I wondered if I’d think of them differently, like Lindy probably did, since she’d been twenty-three when they died.

“Don’t touch your hair,” she ordered. “Leave it down and don’t even think about putting it in a hair tie. I bet Mav will like it that way. So… back to his eating habits. He’s not done with you.”

I spun around to face her. She was hugging my rainbow pillow I’d gotten when I was twelve. “How do you know that?”

“You said you were interrupted by his brothers. Did he come?”

“No.”

“That man is either a superhero or has the worst case of blue balls.”

I hadn’t seen his balls, but his dick had been all kinds of hard.

“He’s not done with you.” She glanced at her watch. “Let’s get your makeup done. I can’t wait to meet Theo.”

“I think Dex is a better match,” I told her, although two hard-core extroverts getting together could be a natural disaster.

“We’re meeting him at the restaurant?”

I shrugged. “I guess so. We didn’t decide when he dropped me off.”

“Because you two were probably playing tonsil hockey at the door.”

I didn’t say anything because that was completely accurate.