The Makeover (18 page)

“It’s not like that. I was going to propose anyway. Just not last night. I wanted to do something romantic for her. I was going to take her to dinner, buy her roses and then pop the question.”

“I’m guessing she said yes,” Max posited.
“Congrats, man.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey,
that’s cheating” Jeff protested as Ben scored another basket. “We’re trying to have an important conversation here.”

“We’re still on the court,” Ben pointed out.

“Time out!” Jeff called. “Our team needs to discuss strategy.”

Ben rolled his eyes but shoved the ball under his arm. “Score’
s twenty to eight. You guys can forfeit now and we can get on with the evening. I’ve got a date tonight.”

Jeff looked to Max. Max shrugged. “Sure,” Jeff said with a shrug of his own.

Greg laughed.
When it came to gaming, there were few people more competitive than his friends. But when it came to participating in sports, they’d just as soon it be over as quickly as possible. He sometimes wondered if they lost on purpose. Ben had pressured them into putting up the basketball hoop. Max told him the only reason they’d given in was because Ben had threatened to teach them all to play football if they didn’t.

He glanced at his watch. Mykal was probably still at her parent’s house
. Ben left to get ready for his date and Greg followed Jeff and Max back inside. He helped them set up online dating profiles, something they wouldn’t dare do with Ben in attendance to tease them. The guys seemed to be under some misbegotten notion that he knew anything about attracting women. They didn’t believe that he’d been lucky enough by mere happenstance to have Mykal fall for him.

Setting up their profiles only took about half an hour. After receiving their well wishes again, he left for home to shower. He expected to see Mykal later and he didn’t want to smell like stale sweat when he did.

***

Mykal sat in her garage massaging her temples for a minute. The wedding planning was overwhelming. There were so many decisions that needed to be made. After an hour of looking at dresses, floral arrangements, cakes, wedding themes, and discussing possible venues, she’d been close screaming. The only thing preventing her from having a panic attack was the fact that she didn’t have to make any decisions right away. But that didn’t stop the throbbing at her temples. All she wanted now was to soak in a tub full of bubbles and then spend the rest of the night in Greg’s arms.

She added one detail to her bath—a glass of wine. She could have soaked for hours but she hadn’t talked to Greg since the morning and she was beginning to miss him. She grinned at her silliness. She’d never felt this way about any guy before. While she might have enjoyed their time together, she’d never missed any of them when they were apart.

She dried off and dressed quickly in yoga pants and a cropped top. Greg said that the sight of her ass in yoga pants drove him crazy. And she did so enjoy driving him crazy with lust.

On the way out of her place, she grabbed her car keys. She locked up behind herself and headed over to Greg’s. The sun was setting but it was still light enough out that she could make her way across the yard without stumbling.

She rang Greg’s doorbell, but didn’t get any response. After ringing again and waiting for a minute, she found his house key on her keyring and let herself inside. He’d told her that she could use it any time she wanted, but ingrained manners had kept her from using it so far.

At first she wondered if he was still at Max and Jeff’s house. When those guys began gaming, they lost all track of time.
She didn’t see his car in the driveway, but he probably parked in his garage. Once she stepped inside, she could hear the sound of his shower running.

Grinning, she raced up stairs, eager to catch him in nothing but soap and bubbles.

The smile dropped off her face as she stepped into his bedroom. If the actual screech of a needle being pulled off a vinyl record
had sounded, it couldn’t have been more appropriate.

Draped naked over Greg’s bed, her blonde curls hair in artful disarray, was Daria. She made a show of grabbing the mused sheets and covering her nudity. “Oh!”

Mykal’s mouth dropped open and her heart stopped.
The pain was so sharp that it was almost physical. She couldn’t catch her breath and her stomach twisted so violently that she thought might vomit.

She couldn’t believe this was happening to her.
Again.
She glanced toward the open bathroom door where steam billowed out of the shower stall. She didn’t need to be a genius to figure out what had happened here.

She didn’t say a word to Daria. What was there to say? If Greg wanted her
back that badly, then he deserved all the ill treatment he received at her hands. He’d claimed to be over her, but maybe he hadn’t been able to resist her charms.

Tears filled her eyes as she turned and stumbled her way back downstairs. She hadn’t even reached the bottom stair before anger forced its way in to push aside shock and misery. How could he do this to her? Why would he? She’d told him that all he had to do was send her a text
if he wanted to break up. And he couldn’t even do that much to spare her feelings! The only thing she could think was that he wasn’t done with her. He wanted to keep her and have Daria back as well. Which one of them was he using?

But she was baffled as to why he’d proposed. Why had he professed to love her over and over again if it wasn’t true?
Did that mean he loved them both? She’d heard of people falling in love with two people. Maybe he was confused. She supposed she could understand that, but that didn’t lessen the pain and anger she felt.

She grabbed the doorknob. She was so certain
that Greg was different. They weren’t just lovers. They were friends as well. Good friends. Some friend he’d turned out to be. Even after what she’d just seen, part of her didn’t want to believe it. Her hand grasping the cool metal, she paused, biting her lip as she glanced back up the empty stairs. Greg simply wouldn’t do this to her.

***

Greg frowned as he shut off the water. He cocked his head to the side. He could have sworn he heard something, but now all was quiet. Even though he left the bathroom door open, he couldn’t really hear the doorbell well when he was in the shower. He grabbed a towel and dried off briskly. He wrapped the towel around his waist and used a second to dry his hair.

Wondering if Mykal had finally used her key, he walked out into his bedroom and came to a screeching halt. He froze, the towel over his hair partially obscuring his vision. “
Daria
? What the hell are you doing here?”

Grinning, she sat up and allowed the sheets to pool at her waist revealing what he’d already suspected. She was stark naked.
“Why do you think I’m here?” she asked coyly.

He shook his head and threw his hands up. “Honestly, I don’t know. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have asked.”

She slid out of bed, not at all self-conscious about her nudity. Sauntering over to him, she said, “I heard that I motivated your makeover. If I’d known that you cared so deeply for me, I never would have left.” She draped her arms around his neck.

Greg quickly removed her arms and stepped back. “But you d
id leave. And it was for the best.”

“You don’t really mean that.”

“Yes, I do.” He spotted her clothing in a pile on the floor at the end of the bed. He moved to them and swiftly scooped up. Shoving them at her, he said, “I don’t know what you heard, but it doesn’t matter. I’m over you.
You should go. We don’t have to tell anyone about this.”

She scoffed. “Are you talking about Gary? That’s over. I found out that I wasn’t the only client he was screwing. I’m living with my parents.” She smiled and dropped her clothing. “So, I could move back in-”

“No.”

“If this is about the weight I’ve gained, don’t worry. I can lose it.
I can join another gym-”

“Daria, there’s no way I’m taking you back.
This isn’t about your weight. I’m not that shallow. When you walked out, you took everything from me. My world revolved around you. I even owed my job to you. Do you know your cousin fired me? And he’s yet to send my severance pay. You made me the neighborhood laughingstock. Apparently, I was the last to find out about your affair with Gary.”

“But you still wanted me back.”

He shook his head furiously. “I wanted the idea of you back.
You were my dream. It wasn’t until you were gone that I realized that I’d been living a nightmare.”

Daria gasped. “Are you saying living with me was a nightmare?”

“Actually, yes, it was.”

“I can’t believe you.” She bent and snatched up her clothes and began to angrily yank them on. “I was doing you a favor
by dating you. You were a disorganized mess before I came into your life. You’re never going to find anyone like me again.”

“Thank God for that,” he grumbled as he listened to her revise their history.
“How did you get in here?”

“You never asked for your key back.
I offered to send it to you. But you wanted me to keep it in case I changed my mind, remember?” She shimmied into a pair of really tight jeans. She dug into the pocket, pulled out a key, and tossed it at his chest. And then she struggled to do up her zipper. No matter how hard she tugged, it wouldn’t budge. Glaring at him, she crossed to his bed, flopped down on it and finally managed to zip her jeans.

Greg rolled his eyes. He put the spare key on his dresser. Daria was still cursing and sputtering like a wet cat as he followed her down the stairs. He reached the base of the steps and for the second time in so many minutes, he came to an abrupt halt. Mykal sat on his couch, flipping casually through a one of his gaming magazines. Outwardly, she appeared calm, but there was fire in her eyes and she turned each page with a decisive snap.

A stupid man, he was not. He knew exactly how this looked. Daria was still doing up the buttons on her shirt and he wore nothing but a towel. He understood that he was buried to his neck in shit and he had no idea how he was going to get out. This was bad. Very, very bad. “Mykal, this isn’t what it looks like,” he immediately blurted, rushing to her side. He crouched down in front of her. Tentatively, he reached out to take her hand. He knew he probably only had a minute to explain so he began to talk and fast. “Daria still had her key and she snuck in here while I was in the shower. I saw her last night at Ben’s party, but I swear to you that I don’t know why she thought I’d take her back. I didn’t do anything to encourage her. I promise you,
nothing
happened between us.”

Mykal raised her ey
es to his. Noticing the wet, red rims, panic made his stomach clench. He’d just found Mykal. He couldn’t lose her. Then her fingers closed over his. “I know.”

He wilted with relief, his head dropping to her knee. “Thank, God.” Mykal stroked the back of his head and neck.

“What is going on here?
Are you dating our neighbor?”

Greg shook his head. “No. I’m
marrying
my
neighbor.”

Daria made a strangled sound. The door slammed behind her as she exited. He drew in a relieved breath. It terrified him to think how close he’d come to asking Daria to marry him.
“How did you know?”

“That the two of you hadn’t slept together?” He nodded. “I didn’t—not at first. I was set to storm out of here and never see you again. I got all the way to the door. I was so angry and hurt, I couldn’t see straight.
I’d just been through this with Mario and I wasn’t willing to go through it again.” She took a deep breath. “I never told you this, but I gave Mario a makeover of sorts as well. I’ve always liked guys that were smart. I’ve never been into popular guys that were cocky or arrogant. After I helped him make some changes to his wardrobe and his hair, he became very attractive to other women. The extra attention went to his head and he couldn’t resist temptation. He later told me that he still loved me, but I couldn’t trust him anymore.”

He was confused. “Then why do you believe me?”

Mykal cupped his face in her hands. “
What we have is different. Mario and I were never this close. We’re friends and I trust you. It took a moment for it to kick in, but I know you and it just didn’t make sense that you would cheat on me. And you’re too smart to be caught so easily. It’s not like you weren’t expecting me.” She kissed him, her lips clinging to his. “The only thing that does mystify me is why you were taking a shower.”

He grinned. “The guys and I were playing basketball.”

Her brow wrinkled. “On the PS4?
Why would you need a shower after that?”

Greg laughed. “No. Like outdoors with an actual basketball.”

“I’m impressed.”

“Don’t be. You haven’t seen us play.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

Standing, Greg took her into his arms and kissed her.
He licked at the corner of her mouth until she opened to him, letting him thrust his tongue deep. She moaned, firing his blood. He felt a sudden cool breeze but chose to ignore it.

“You’ve lost your towel,” Mykal whispered against his mouth.

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t need it.” He swung her up into his arms and headed for his bedroom.

Epilogue

Greg followed Mr. Cooper into the Cooper kitchen, leaving behind the ongoing loud revelry taking place in the den. They’d escaped his engagement party under the guise of getting more appetizers. But Mr. Cooper had insisted that he be the one to help him. So he wasn’t surprised that when they entered the kitchen, Mr. Cooper asked him to take a seat.