“Then what? Why would he want to stop having sex? We’ve been having sex for years.”
“Maybe he wants it to be that much more special on your wedding night.” All three heads turn toward me. “What? Think about it. What makes a wedding special? Or a birthday party, for that matter? They don’t happen all the time. If you celebrated something every week, then eventually it would lose its magic. It wouldn’t be special or important anymore.”
“Shae, you’re comparing apples to oranges here, baby,” Rex says, bringing his glass to his lips.
“I’m going to have to agree with Rex on this one,” JJ says. “Sex is huge in a relationship, and it’s certainly not something that only happens once a year.”
I take a sip of my wine, shaking my head. “The other night,” I say to Rex, “you were talking about heightening the anticipation. This is the same thing. Erin, I bet you and Jacob have sex all the time.” She nods. “And I bet sometimes it’s not as exciting because you do it all the time.” She frowns. “Maybe Jacob is heightening your anticipation. No sex until the wedding means heated gazes from across the room, gentle caresses meant to arouse, and just think—by the time the wedding night rolls around, you two are going to be so hot for each other, you probably won’t even make it through the door.”
JJ tips his glass in my direction. “I hate to say this, but Shae might have a point.”
Erin still doesn’t look pleased. “So what am I supposed to do, just masturbate every night until the wedding?”
“No,” Rex says quickly. “You should spend the next couple of weeks driving poor Jacob out of his mind.”
“I’m listening,” Erin says, looking at Rex over the rim of her glass.
“Oh, don’t look at me. I don’t know how to go about doing it. It just sounds like a good idea.”
“You know that black dress of yours Jacob loves?” I ask. “The one you can never wear because you don’t even make it out of the house?”
She turns toward me. “Yes.”
“Wear that out to dinner, and then later that night, let him strip you out of it. You’ll be wearing a sexy, lacy little number underneath, and I bet just about anything he’ll want to break the rule he set, but you’re not going to let him.”
“Yes, she will,” JJ murmurs, taking a drink of his wine. “She has no willpower.” Erin shoots him a dirty look and he shrugs. “What? It’s true.”
“Okay, say I do make it past that night. What I do the rest of the time?”
“Come on, Erin. You’ve got some tricks up your sleeve. Remember that teddy you said he bought for you—”
“Oh, for fuck’s sakes,” JJ scoffs. “I don’t want to hear this shit. These two are like my sisters,” he says to Rex. “I’ve got a big screen out on the patio. I bet we could catch the rest of the game.”
Rex and JJ are out the door before I have time to blink.
“Okay, now that they’re gone, let’s come up with a plan that’s sure to drive Jacob crazy.”
By the time Erin and I are nearly finished plotting, our bottle of wine is gone, along with half of another bottle. Just as Erin is ready to pour us another glass, the bottle disappears from her hand.
“Heyyyy…” She spins around to glare at JJ. “I wasn’t done with that.”
“Yes, you were. And if you’re wanting to go back to Jacob’s, I need to take you now.”
“Why now?” I pout. “We were just getting to the good part.”
“What’s the good part?” Erin asks, as though she hasn’t heard a single word I’ve said.
“The wedding night! Specifically, sex on your wedding night!”
“I’ll show you a good part,” Rex whispers, his hands landing in front of me on the counter.
I spin around in his arms. God, he’s so sexy, and he looks great in my home with my friends. Relaxed and comfortable.
Natural.
Too natural.
“Is this where you hoist me up on the counter and show me how sorry you are for ruining my birthday?”