Fulfillment (Book 3 in The Temptation Series) (37 page)

“Catching up
with the guys over a few drinks.”

He approached
the top of the stairs and stopped, holding out a hand for me
knowing I was still apprehensive in going down them, especially on
my own. I didn’t know if this fear would ever leave me, but until I
could walk properly again it was either assistance from Bryce or
the elevator.

I took a hold
of his hand. “When were you going to tell me about this? I kind of
wanted to snuggle and watch a movie tonight.”

“We can do
that tomorrow, Hunny.”

He smiled, but
his smile betrayed him, displaying evidence of something
hidden.

“What are you
up to?” I asked, my face now smiling in response.

“You’re about
to find out.”

He led me down
the remainder of the steps and to the entry door of the apartment.
“Are you ready?” he said mischievously, as he opened the door and
stood aside, letting in Tash, Carly, Lil, Jade, Steph and Jen.

Tash walked in
first, holding up a DVD of
Dirty Dancing
. “Nobody puts
Alexis in the corner,” she dramatically stated as she kissed my
cheek.

My mouth
dropped open in shock. Carls stepped up to me next and plonked a
cake in my hands, quickly kissing my forehead and heading straight
for Bryce. I looked at the cake and smiled, she’d attempted my
favourite, Lemon/Lime Meringue Cake...I must reiterate the word
attempted
.

Jade followed,
holding a game board. “Celebrity Head,” she said grinning while
dancing her shoulders up and down—she knew I loved games.

Steph
playfully bumped Jade aside and gave me a quick hug then looked
down at my foot. “Thought as much,” she said, quite sure of
herself. “You need a pedi.” She held up her makeup bag which
contained some bottles of nail polish.

Lil was next,
holding a big bunch of assorted brightly coloured roses. “This is
your official Cheer-The-Fuck-Up-Party, Luv. You didn’t want to go
out dancing, so we have come to you.”

Jen giggled
and waved her Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’ CD in the air.

I was
speechless for a second then found my voice, although it was
stuttered. “What? When? Who?”

They all
pointed to Bryce.

Normally he
would shrug his shoulders, or play dumb or dismiss it, but he
didn’t. He just strode toward me and grabbed my face with his
hands, directing my lips to his. I fell into the kiss, heavily,
greedily and completely mesmerised. My walking stick fell to the
floor and I held out the cake, indicating someone better grab it
before I dropped it. Someone did, and as soon as my hands were free
I placed them around his neck and threaded my fingers through his
hair.

“Get a room,”
Tash groaned.

“No, this is
hot,” Steph replied.

“Where’s the
fucking popcorn?” Jade asked.

“I’m getting a
drink,” Lil declared.

“I miss my
husband,” Jen sighed.

And Carls just
asked to join in.

I ignored them
all, I was totally invested in the man in my arms, drinking him in
and savouring his mouth. “I love you so much,” I whispered against
his mouth.

“The feeling
is mutual, my love.” He kept his eyes locked on mine. “Now have a
great night. Relax, drink, drool over Patrick Swayze, but just this
once though,” he smirked.

“Don’t you
worry, he’s got nothing on you. I’ve seen you dance...in next to
nothing, remember?” I raised my eyebrow seductively at him.

“What. The.
Fuck!” Steph screeched, “He dances...too? Alexis, I officially hate
you. H.A.T.E you.”

Bryce kept his
eyes on mine, love pouring out of them. It literally made me weak
at the knees. “I’ll see you later.” He kissed me again then left
the apartment, this time his kiss leaving my lips tingling,
swollen, confused, and sad at his departure.

“Come on, you.
Its’ party time,” said Jen encouragingly, as she threaded her arm
in mine and led me to the lounge.

***

We sat down
and watched
Dirty Dancing
while eating the delicious tapas
that Bryce had arranged one of the complex’s restaurants to deliver
to us. He amazed me with his attention to detail, and I pined for
his return even more, so that I could show him my appreciation.

“Alexis
Elizabeth Summers, get your head out of Cloud-Clark and pay
attention,” Tash snapped.

“What? Sorry.”
I adjusted my Celebrity Head headband and took another swig of my
gin. “Is it my turn?” I asked.

They all
barked. “Yes!”

“Okay, geez!
Um, am I male?”

“Sometimes I
think you are,” Tash added sarcastically.

I launched my
cushion at her.

“Yes, Lex, you
are a male,” Lil clarified.

“Am I fucking
hot?”

“Yes,” Steph
said bluntly.

“Are you
serious?” Lil was wide eyed. “No, Lex, he is not.”

“Yes, he is,”
Steph corrected her. “Don’t tell me you wouldn’t want that between
your legs.”

“No, I
wouldn’t.”

“You’re a
lesbian aren’t you? Admit it, I’m totally fine with it, Lil. I love
lesbians.”

I laughed at
Steph’s ability to deliberately bait Lil. Lil picked up her beer
bottle and wrapped her lips around it suggestively then took a
drink.

“So am I
fucking hot or not?” I shouted, over the top of the two of
them.

Jade blew at
her toes, which she’d just painted with polish. “Debateable. Ask
another question.”

“Am I an
actor?”

“Yes. A very
fucking good actor, in more ways than one,” Jen said, a hint of
anger on her face.
Hmmm interesting.

“Do I have a
big cock?” I asked as I tried to swallow my gin, the swallowing not
working too well.

“Yes,” Steph
said, in a manner that suggested she was picturing said big
cock.

Lil gagged.
“Bet you it’s tiny.”

Steph scowled
at Lil. “His hands are huge. Enough said.”

“That’s a
fucking myth,” Lil bit back.

I
automatically found myself thinking of Bryce’s large, luscious
hands and his equally large luscious cock.
Myth or not, my Mr.
Huge-Hands-Clark is not an exception.

“Alexis! Stop
thinking about wrapping your lips around Bryce’s man-rod,” Tash
said with her hands on her hips.

“Why? It’s a
pretty good man-rod.” I giggled.

“How good is
it?” Steph asked eagerly.

“Oh...real
good.” I raised my eyebrows and opened my mouth suggestively.
Alexis, how many gins have you had?

“I knew it. I
knew you swallowed,” Carls piped in, concentrating really hard on
painting her toes.

“So do you.
And again, for the record, you can stop telling me all about it,” I
reminded Carls.

“Pfft! Well
yeah, of course I do. It’s full of protein you know!”

Jen shivered,
“Na, yuck. I’d rather eat fucking egg.”

We all looked
at Jen and burst into laughter.

“What?” she
said defensively. “Do you all swallow?”

We all
searched each other’s eyes with sly smiles on our faces, no one
else giving anything away except for Tash, her lips beginning to
purse.

I pointed at
her. “Tash, you little whore-a-saurus, you swallow too.”

“Alexis, how
old are you?”

“About as old
as you,” I drunk-giggled.

“Lexi, can you
please pull yourself together and ask another fucking question or
I’m quitting this stupid game,” Lil threatened.

“Alright,
alright. Have I been in a lot of blockbusters?”

“Yep,” they
all answered.

“Well if they
are blockbusters, I’m guessing they are action movies.”

“Yep,” they
all answered again.

I stewed on it
for a second then put two and two together “Will he ‘be back?” I
said in my best Austrian accent.

Steph rolled
her eyes. “Yes,” she groaned.

“Does he say
‘It’s not a tumour’ really well?” I asked, again in my horrible
Austrian accent.

Jen cracked up
laughing, “You suck.”

I happy-danced
a bum wiggle in my seat. “Am I Arnold Swarzaschnitzel?”

Tash laughed
and gave me a knowing smile.

“Don’t you
mean Schwarzenegger?” Jade asked.

Tash giggled,
“She can’t say Schwarzenegger, so she says Swarzaschnitzel.”

“She can’t say
parallelogram, either,” Carls chimed in, now finished with painting
her toes.”

“Say it,”
Steph prompted.

“No!”

“Say it!” they
all begged.

“Urgh! Fine,”
I sighed frustratingly. “pallarellogram,” I mumbled truthfully,
struggling to say the stupid word mixed with the usual inability
due to liquor consumption.

They all
pissed themselves laughing.

“That’s gold,
Lex. Say it again, please,” Jade pleaded.

“Fuck off,” I
giggled.

Tash jumped
up. “Okay this game sucks. Let’s dance.” She grabbed Jen’s Michael
Jackson CD and turned herself in a 360 degree spin. “Where’s the CD
player?”

“Ooo in here.”
I excitedly pushed myself up, limping to the man-cave without my
walking stick.
Stupid thing.
I turned around just before
opening the door to see the girls all lined up behind me in single
file, excitement plastered across their faces. It was
hilarious.

“This room is
known as the man-cave,” I slurred and sniggered. “It’s where men do
manly things.”

I opened the
door and we all filtered in. “Don’t touch the instruments,” I
ordered.

Steph pouted,
“Aw, you’re no fun.”

“Awesome, a
pool table! Rack em up, bitches,” Tash said as she frizbee’d the CD
to Jen.

I grabbed a
pool cue, knowing that I was in no position to play, let alone
wield a long pointy object, but when you are powered by alcohol,
anything goes. “I’ll break,” I confidently decided.

“You’ll break
something if you don’t stop twirling that pool cue around,” Jade
pointed out.

Just as I was
about to attempt a twirl of the cue around my head, the howl of a
wolf sounded through the speakers around the room, followed by the
beats of
Thriller
. Lil whistled, and Tash and I started
jerking our shoulders like we had an involuntary twitch, both of us
taking slow steps toward each other, my limp fitting in perfectly
with the act.

One minute we
were casually standing around the man-cave, the next we were all
possessed by Michael Jackson’s zombies. Jen let out an MJ holler
and threw her hands up in the air, dangling them like claws. Jade
and Lil then proceeded to stomp around the room, Tash and Carls
joined in, and Steph attempted a Moonwalk, failing and falling
backwards onto the sofa. It seemed we all had our own ‘Thriller’
dance moves.

I’m not sure
if I resembled the best zombie due to already hobbling around like
one, or because I was slightly intoxicated. Either way, I was in
full blown
Thriller
mode, zombie-dancing all over the room.
Squatting down with my back to the door, I then proceeded to pivot
my body around slowly to the music when my eyes met four pairs of
the male variety, one pair of those belonging to Bryce.
Oh for
the love of God, not again. How many freakin’ times is he going to
bust me dancing or singing like an idiot?

I did what any
half-cut 36 year old woman would do. I waved then pivoted back
around and continued acting like a zombie with my friends.

As the music
started to fade out, Bryce, Will, Derek, and Matt entered the room,
amused grins on their faces. Derek smiled at me then moved his
sight toward Carly, who was still twitching her shoulders like a
zombie not having noticed his arrival. When she did look up her
face was stark with mortification. She gave him a sheepish grin and
spun around, allowing him a view of the back of her head. I thought
it extremely funny knowing Derek would think the same.

Picking up the
pool cue while eye-fucking Bryce, I ordered Tash to get our game
underway. “Trashy Tashy, break those balls,” I commanded

“Consider them
broken, Sexy Lexi,” she fired back.

He stalked
toward me and slid his hands around my back, settling them on my
arse. “Sexy Lexi, I like it,” he said, with a charmed
expression.

“I like you,”
I said with a stupid smile and snort outburst to match.
Oh fuck!
I just snorted like a pig. Was that me? Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it
was Tash.
I looked at Tash.
Yes, it was her.
I looked at
Bryce, who was on the brink of uncontrollable laughter.
Shit!
No, it was definitely me.

“I like you
too, especially when you make animal noises,” he grinned before
pulling me to his mouth.

I could have
given him a cluck, or a bleat, or even a donkey eeyore, but I held
myself together and just kissed him back.
You will thank
yourself for that decision in the morning, Alexis.

***

The rest of
the evening went well, with unskilled games of pool, more crazy
dance moves, a couple of impromptu jam sessions and Derek and Carly
hitting it off. I even spotted some playful flirting and light
bodily touching, which surprised me, because Carly was not normally
shy or bashful when it came to letting a guy know she was
interested. I sensed she really liked Derek—
really
liked him.

Bryce had
arranged hotel rooms for all my friends. I loved living in a
hotel—with the hotel owner. It was really convenient.

As all the
girls were leaving I pulled Carls aside. “So, Carly Josephine
Henkley, is your fiery hole about to be put out?”

“Lex, he is so
putting a scorching heat in between my legs, it is not funny.”

“Well, need I
remind you that he is a firefighter...let the guy put it out,
apparently that’s what he’s good at.”

“I’m
terrified,” she whispered.

I whispered
back. “What the fuck? Carly does not get terrified. Why is Carly
terrified?”