Wanted: Adventurous, open-minded man willing to try…anything…

As a popular sex blogger, Beatriz gets paid to have orgasms. So being on deadline the week of her sister's wedding isn't as rough as it sounds. There's just one hitch: Bea's assignment is to write a review of a sex position manual, but she doesn't have a plus-one to play with.

The good news: Ben, the one who got away back in college, is also attending stag—and he's as temptingly gorgeous as ever.

The bad news: Ben turned down Bea's offer of graduation-night sex five years ago.

The best news: He's not planning on making the same mistake twice….

Contemporary, sexy stories for sassy women

Cosmo Red-Hot Reads from Mills & Boon

www.millsandboon.co.uk/cosmo

Dedicated To…

Kenneth Branagh, who showed me how sexy Shakespeare could be.

Dear Reader,

Every writer remembers when she first discovered how much fun Shakespeare was. A field trip to see A Comedy of Errors in high school changed my life. Shakespeare wasn’t just fun and funny—he was dirty, too! My kind of guy! As soon as I had the premise for Misbehaving (a sex toy blogger has to find a man ASAP so she can review a sex position manual) I realized I had a classic comedy-of-errors plot just like my favorite Shakespeare play, Much Ado About Nothing.

I hope you enjoy my modern erotic retelling of Much About Nothing, starring Ben and Beatriz—two feisty lovers who are “too wise to woe peaceably” but wise enough to get each other in bed as often as humanly possible.

Happy reading!

Tiffany Reisz

P.S. Original Sinners fans—keep your eyes peeled for an inside joke only you Sinners will get.

P.P.S. My deepest apologies to The Bard.

Misbehaving
Tiffany Reisz

Contemporary, sexy stories for sassy women

Cosmo Red-Hot Reads from Mills & Boon

www.millsandboon.co.uk/cosmo

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

About the Author

Also by Tiffany Reisz

Extract

With apologies to the Bard…

Chapter One

Something vibrated in Beatriz’s bed. This wasn’t an unusual occurrence, except that when vibrating happened in her bed, Beatriz was usually in the bed. She heard the buzzing from her bathroom and sighed.

“Don’t be John,” she said as she raced from the bathroom to the bed and started digging through her sheets. “I don’t have time for you today….”

She found her phone and glared at the screen.

“Me estás jodiendo?” she swore when she saw the name “John the Bastard” pop up on her screen. With a sigh she took the call, knowing he’d keep calling until she answered.

“John, I turned in everything three days ago.”

“I know, I know,” he said, sounding uncharacteristically apologetic. “But I need you.”

“I don’t like hearing those words from any man I’m not sleeping with.”

“Are you hitting on me, Bea?”

Beatriz sighed heavily into the phone and hoped it created ear-splitting feedback on the other end of the line.

“My cab is on its way right now,” Beatriz said. “I’m spending a week in Essex for my sister’s wedding. I don’t have time for this.”

“Not my problem,” he said, sounding like the old John the Bastard she knew. “Angie just called. Her column’s going to be late.”

“New boyfriend?”

“Medical crisis, Bea. Have some sympathy.”

“What’s her problem?”

“Carpal tunnel syndrome from too much masturbating.”

“Occupational hazard. I have no sympathy.”

“Bea, behave.”

“You’re stuttering, John.”

“Look, I’ll leave you alone. But I need a thousand words from you this week to fill Angie’s slot.”

“As much as I’d love to fill Angie’s slot, I’m a little busy this week doing wedding stuff with my family. Remember when I emailed you six months ago and said ‘Leave me alone the last week in August because my only sister is getting married’?”

“Nope.”

“Well, I did. Family wedding time is not really the best time to be trying out new sex toys, okay?”

“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t an emergency. And you don’t have to try out new toys. You can do a book review.”

Beatriz sighed.

“A book review? I don’t get orgasms doing book reviews.”

“You have to write me something, Bea.”

“Fine. As long as Angie promises to return the favor sometime.”

“Does this mean you’ll have at least a thousand words for me in my inbox by Sunday night?”

“Sometimes I think I’m kinky because I fantasize about slapping you. And then I realize I really just want to slap you.”

“Beatriz,” John said in a stern voice. “Pause and take one little moment to remember that I pay you four hundred dollars a month to review sex toys. In other words, I pay you to have orgasms. Are you thinking about that?”

Beatriz paused, took a moment and remembered.

“Okay, you have a point there. I’ll get you a book review. I have a stack of unopened envelopes from publishers on my desk anyway.”

“Good. Now give me your hotel address so I can send you this new box of stuff I want you to review by next Sunday.”

“This slapping fantasy has returned.”

Beatriz gave him the hotel information. Hotel Essex, Essex, New York, care of Claudia Spears—her sister, she reminded him, who was about to get married. As she finished giving him the address her waiting cab honked outside the front door of her brownstone.

“Gotta go. Cab’s here.”

“Have fun,” John said.

“Have fun writing a book review?”

“You’ll find a way to make it fun, Bea. You always do….”

Without another word Bea hung up on him and tossed the phone into her purse. She shouldered her bag, grabbed her suitcase and raced past the desk in her tiny home office. She had a stack of unopened bubble mailers on her chair that had been accumulating for weeks. The return address label on the top envelope read “Brown Paper Publishing.” She knew Brown Paper. A boutique press, they specialized in coffee table books on risqué subject matter. Great. Perfect. Wonderful. Lots of pictures and very little text. Easy review for a busy Bea.

Beatriz shoved the envelope into her purse and headed out to her cab. She threw her stuff in the backseat and directed the driver to take her to the airport. Once they were on their way she pulled the envelope out of her purse. Maybe she could flip through the book on the plane ride upstate. She’d get the reading and the reviewing over with as soon as possible so she could relax and enjoy all the pre-wedding partying with her sister, Claudia, and Henry, her fiancé. This wouldn’t be a problem. Not a problem at all.

With one tear she ripped the envelope open and pulled out the book.

THE MANUAL it read in big gold type on a black cover. She flipped it over to the back and read the cover blurb.

A Sex Position Manual for Generation Y. If you read it, you will come…

Sex position manual? Beatriz nearly groaned aloud. There was only one way to review a sex position manual and that was by having sex with someone. And here she was on her way to a wedding with no date, no boyfriend, and no time to go back to her apartment and get another book. Which meant only one thing.

Once she got to Essex, she would have to find someone to sleep with.

“Fuck,” she breathed.

“Fuck what?” the cabdriver repeated, a smile on her face.

“No,” Beatriz said. “Fuck who.”

That was the question.

Chapter Two

Ben arrived at the Essex Hotel just in time to keep Henry from drinking himself into a stupor at the bar. The groom-to-be had two empty beer bottles and one full shot glass in front of him. Henry reached for the shot and Ben covered it with his hand.

“Hey, whoa,” Henry said. “No shot-blocking.”

“I’m here to save you from yourself.” Ben slapped him on the back as he removed the shot glass from Henry’s vicinity. “Friends don’t let friends drink and wed.”

Henry groaned and leaned back in his bar stool before seemingly discovering there was no back to a bar stool. Ben grabbed his shoulder to steady him.

“Thank you.” Henry lifted his empty beer bottle in a salute. “Sit. Talk. Keep me from drinking. Drinking more, I mean.”

“Why are you drinking anyway?” Ben took the stool next to him. A pretty bartender, chocolate skin and ebony eyes, gave him a broad smile and an “I’ll be right there” wink as she poured a glass of wine for another customer. “Aren’t you happy? Big day coming up? Marriage? Kids? The dream all men dream of?”

Henry glared at Ben and Ben only laughed.

“I hate you,” Henry said. “And I hate you for the following three reasons. Number one—you’ve been here two minutes and the bartender is already flirting with you.”

“I can’t help that I’m prettier than you.”

“Number two.” Henry held up two fingers and feigned shoving them in Ben’s eyes. “I love Claudia. I can’t wait to marry her. But if she ever makes me have a wedding again, I’m going to divorce her. Well, just her family. She can stay.”

“Future mother-in-law driving you batshit?” Ben asked.

“Yes. Very batshit. But the wedding planner’s worse. Wants me to ask my own brother to step down as best man. Something about height symmetry.”

“Next time you get married…don’t.”

Henry tapped his forehead. “Genius, you are.”

“Thank you. I think I get smarter with every breakup.”

“You must be Einstein by now. Are you going to date and dump the bartender this week? She’s giving you the eyes.” Henry looked at the bartender and back at Ben.

“She does have nice eyes,” Ben agreed and then put all thoughts of beautiful bartenders out of his mind. “But no. After Katie, I swore off women for a year. I just need a break.”

“No women for a year? You?” Henry scoffed. “I give it two days.”

“It’s already been two months. And what’s the third reason?” Ben asked.

“The what?”

“The third reason you hate me, you half-drunk asshole.”

“Oh. Because you took my drink away, you not-drunk asshole.”

“Mine,” Ben said and downed the shot. He didn’t drink much, not anymore. Unavoidable adulthood had forced him to do terrible, awful things like drink less, eat better and work out more often. He’d never felt younger, healthier or more energetic since he started acting his age. How depressing. “If it makes you feel any better, man, I hate you, too.”

Henry nodded.

“Yeah, I don’t blame you for that.”

“You do know why Katie dumped me, right?” Ben asked and Henry gave him a guilty look.

“Does it start with a B?”

“She caught me reading Beatriz’s blog.”

“Reading it or, you know, reading it?”

“What do you think? When I told her who she was…” Ben winced at the memory of his final fight with Katie. The relationship would never have worked anyway. Katie wanted marriage and kids and as soon as possible. He needed more time to focus on his career and figure out what he wanted from life before going down that path of no return. And then she’d caught him masturbating to a blog column written by the one woman he’d never gotten over….

“Don’t kill me or anything, dude,” Henry said. “But speaking of people whose names start with B…”

“What?” Ben asked the question slowly, emphasizing every single letter in the word.

“You’re going to need to get back in drinking shape by tomorrow.”

Ben narrowed his eyes at Henry.

“Why?” He drew the “why” out as long as possible to maximize the threatening tone in his voice.

“Because…well, Bea’s coming.”

“What? I thought she was in Spain.”

“She was. But she moved back to the States two months ago. Just in time to come to the wedding.”

“You have got to be shitting me.” Ben’s stomach dropped. Then it jumped back up again at the thought of seeing Beatriz again for the first time since college. Would she look the same? Leggy, brown-haired, dark-eyed and beautiful? Talk the same? Sexy Spanish accent and nine kinds of attitude? Smell the same? Vanilla and strawberry shampoo?

“Ben, she’s Claudia’s foster sister. She’s in the wedding. You both are in the wedding. So, you know, take that.”

Ben took it. He took it hard. Beatriz…He’d loved that girl in college. He could own that now. Back then he’d pretended Beatriz was just another girl he wanted to sleep with, and when he didn’t, he told himself it was no big loss. But here he was, five years later, still thinking about her.

“Is she here yet?” Ben asked.

Henry raised an eyebrow at him and Ben’s stomach dropped once more. It went down and stayed down this time. Ben watched as Henry spun around in his bar stool and pointed across the lobby. Ben followed Henry’s gaze to where it stopped on a woman, tall with long straight black hair and deep copper skin. She had on jeans, a camisole that did nothing to disguise the fullness of her breasts, and a wide grin on her face as she chatted with the man at the registration desk. She was, in fact, the most beautiful woman in the entire world. Ben recognized her immediately.

“She’s here now,” Henry said.

Ben stared at Beatriz across the lobby. She didn’t see him, thank God, so he knew he could stare all he wanted.

“Orange,” Ben said, noting the color of Beatriz’s shirt. “She’s wearing an orange shirt and orange high heels.”

“So?”

“She’s the only woman I’ve ever known who wears orange. She looks like a tropical flower, doesn’t she? God, she looks good in orange.”

“Man, I thought I was the drunk one.”

Ben looked down at the empty shot glass and back up at the bartender. She waited for his order. Five minutes ago she’d been a gorgeous girl he’d had fun flirting with. Now she was only the bartender. Good thing. What he needed right now was a bartender and nothing else. He pointed at the shot glass. She refilled it and started to walk off.

“Wait,” he said to her. She turned around with that same seductive smile. A smile that disappeared after his next three words. “Leave the bottle.”

Chapter Three

Beatriz checked into the hotel at nine that evening, THE MANUAL still burning a hole in her bag. While the man at the desk processed her credit card and paperwork, Beatriz scanned the lobby looking for any suitable candidates to help her with her review. Maybe she’d get lucky and an “Attractive Men Looking For No Strings Attached Sexual Intercourse” conference would be happening at the Hotel Essex this week. She saw a few teenage boys loitering by the fountain. Too young. Three older couples talked in the vestibule. Too couple-y. A pretty girl about her age strode through the lobby pulling a wheeled suitcase behind her. Too female. Most days she wouldn’t have any problem with a few nights in bed with another woman, but the sex position manual was for heterosexual couples. Plus women tended to get clingy. She had no time for clingy.

She heard a shriek from the general elevator area and Beatriz took a steadying breath. Speaking of clingy women…

“Oh, my God!” Claudia rushed toward her and wrapped her up in a bear hug. Beatriz hugged back, knowing that a Claudia-hug, much like quicksand, trapped a person more the harder he or she struggled. Best to simply relax and take it. This, incidentally, was her philosophy of anal sex, as well. “When did you get in?”

“Just now. Checking in. You look amazing.” Beatriz pulled back enough to give Claudia a once-over. She hadn’t seen her foster sister in over a year. She’d expected her to look haggard from wedding planning, but she wore the look of love. “Engaged looks good on you. Where’s Henry?”

“Hiding in the bar,” Claudia said while the bellhop put Beatriz’s bags on the luggage rack. “The wedding planner’s driving him nuts. I’m about ready to hit her myself. Got any connections?”

“I do,” said the bellhop.

Beatriz made a mental note to give the bellhop a good tip.

“How bad is it?” she asked Claudia.

“Long story. It involves her trying to get Henry to rearrange his groomsmen so they line up by height. She thinks the tallest one should be best man. Henry’s brother was not amused.”

“Short men deserve love, too. Is Mike still single?”

Claudia shook her head. “Nope. He’s here with his girlfriend. Why?”

“I need to get laid. It’s work-related.”

Claudia nodded. She knew all about Beatriz’s work.

“I have connections there, too,” said the bellhop. Keaton, his nametag indicated.

“I love this guy,” Beatriz said as they neared the elevators.

“So what’s the job?” Claudia asked as the three of them got on the first elevator.

“I have a book to review by Monday. Sex position manual creatively entitled THE MANUAL. They call it ‘The Joy of Sex for Generation Y!’ complete with exclamation point.”

“What’s Generation Y?”

“Us.”

“Got it. We’ll find someone to do you. Someone generation Y.”

“I like older men. Gen X works, too.”

“A couple of the groomsmen are single,” Claudia said. “Jake’s here.”

“No way. He always wears too much body spray. I’d need to wear a hazmat suit. Hazmat suits are not sexy.”

“Speak for yourself,” Keaton the bellhop muttered.

“Jed?” Claudia suggested.

“We hooked up in college. He’s terrible in bed.”

“Really?” Claudia sounded stunned. “He seems so confident. Cocky even.”

“It’s a cover. Guilt. Momma complex. You have sex and then fifteen minutes later he’s giving you the ‘I don’t think we should do this anymore’ routine. I told him his cock wasn’t worth cutting through the red tape for.”

“You go, girl.” Keaton nodded his approval as the elevator door opened.

The three of them disembarked and headed for room 424.

“Well…there is one other option,” Claudia said as they reached Beatriz’s hotel room.

“Not worry about it since you’re getting married in five days?” Beatriz asked.

“Not that. Getting you laid is much more fun than me getting married.” Claudia helped Keaton with the bags.

“Then what?” Beatriz asked.

Claudia smiled at her. It wasn’t a good smile. It was a “don’t kill me” smile. Immediately Beatriz thought of a plethora of ways to kill Claudia.

“Ben’s here, isn’t he?”

Claudia winced. “Sort of. He’s one of the groomsmen.”

“You told me he wasn’t coming,” Beatriz almost shouted.

“He wasn’t coming because of a work thing. Then he got a promotion. So now he is coming. I mean, he came.”

“So Ben’s here?” Beatriz glared at Claudia.

“Ben’s here.”

“Right now?”

“Right now.”

“Who’s Ben?” Keaton asked, leaning against the luggage rack and smiling.

“My ex-nothing,” Beatriz said.

“She was in love with him in college, but nothing ever came of it. She’s still a little bitter.”

“I’m not bitter. I’m just still mildly disappointed in him. You know, as a human being. Because he never fucked me, and he should have.”

“Yes, he should´ve,” Keaton said.

“Thank you. I owe you money, right?” Beatriz asked.

“I wouldn’t want to impose.” Keaton waggled his eyebrows.

Beatriz handed him a five-dollar bill. He gave Lincoln a quick kiss and headed for the door with the luggage rack.

“You should leave the rack,” Claudia said. “She’s having crazy sex this week with someone she doesn’t know yet. She may need that.”

“If she needs it back, call the front desk,” Keaton said as he pulled the luggage rack out of the room. “Put the wheel brake on first. Voice of experience.”

Alone now in the room with Claudia, Beatriz started to unpack.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me Ben’s here,” Beatriz said, angrily removing her underwear from her suitcase.

“I didn’t want you bailing on the wedding.”

“I wouldn’t bail on the wedding. But if I knew he was going to be here, I would have mentally prepared myself to see him again.”

“Mentally prepared as in?”

“I would have brought a date with me. I have a male escort who owes me. Although I think one of the Real Housewives has him booked this weekend.”

“Your life is weird, Bea.”

“What? Because I’m a sex education blogger?”

“For starters. Are you mad at me?”

“No, I’m not mad. He’s one of Henry’s best friends so of course he’s here. He should be here.” Beatriz hung her dresses up in the closet and started sorting through her shoes. “I just don’t want things to be weird.”

“It shouldn’t be. You haven’t seen him since college.”

“True, but we didn’t part on the best of terms. The day he graduated I went to his room in a bathrobe, took it off and stood naked in front of him. I told him to fuck me like he’d never fucked anyone before. I knew I’d probably never see him again so why not? No strings attached. No pressure. Only beautiful sex. My graduation present to him.”

“I never knew you and Ben had sex.”

Beatriz’s heart stuttered at the memory of standing naked in front of Ben in his dorm room. He’d already packed everything up. Nothing remained but the bed, the sheets, him and her. The way he’d looked at her when she dropped the robe, she knew she had him. Not only did he want her, he adored her. He drank up the sight of her like a man who’d walked across a desert and found his oasis. Or she’d thought.

“We didn’t. He said he was sorry, but he wasn’t interested. He asked me to go.” Beatriz would never forget the burning sting of humiliation. Her whole body had blushed at his rejection of her.

“What the hell? What straight man in his right mind says no to that offer?”

“Ben did. So I said something horrible to him, put on the robe and walked out. I cried all night. The next morning, I decided he was dead to me.”

“Beatriz…why didn’t you tell me this?”

“You were graduating, too. You had more important things on your mind. Plus, it was so humiliating. Definitely not my finest moment.”

Claudia sat on the bed and looked up at Beatriz, who tried looking at anything but her sister and the pity in her eyes.

“And here we are—it’s just like college again. You’re with Henry, and I’m stewing over Ben.” Beatriz sat on the other bed across from Claudia. “It’s just, I loved him, you know? I didn’t let myself love anyone else but him. And maybe that’s for the best. But I spent an entire year trying to be with him, and he said he didn’t want me. That’s fine. No one is supposed to want me. But then why did he kiss me like he did that night we met? Why did he tell me he wanted me on a Thursday, but by Friday it was poof—gone?” She blew into her fingertips.

“I don’t know. I thought he was crazy about you, too.”

“He took me for a tour of campus. You remember that? My first week at Brooks? I told him I was born in El Salvador and only made it to the U.S. when I was ten. You know what he said?”

Claudia shook her head. The sadness in Beatriz’s voice clutched at her throat.

“He said, ‘Más vale tarde que nunca.’”

“What does that mean?”

“Better late than never.” Beatriz smiled. She’d been so impressed that Ben, this blue-eyed all-American boy, spoke Spanish and spoke it so well. He hadn’t asked her any questions about her past, about why she’d come to America, where her parents were. People did that, even total strangers, not realizing that if a ten-year-old girl had to leave her family and her country behind, then it was probably not the sort of story you’d tell to someone you just met. No. Ben said, “Better late than never,” as if he was the reason she’d ended up in this country. And at that moment she’d believed he was.

“I know you loved him. I remember.” Claudia sat on the bed next to her. “Your freshman year was tough. It broke my heart watching him break your heart.”

“It was like I had two hearts and both of them were in love with him. I never knew you could feel that much. And he just had the one heart and it wasn’t interested in me.”

“I thought for sure he’d come around about you. I’d never seen two people more perfect together than you two. Not even me and Henry.”

“In college Henry wore his underwear on the outside of his pants.”

“Now you know why it took him five years to convince me to marry him.” Claudia winked at Beatriz who leaned against her sister and kissed her on the cheek.

“I’m very happy you’re getting married to Henry,” Beatriz said.

“I am, too. Now we just have to find you someone to be happy with.”

“I am happy, I promise. Spain was amazing, but it’s great to be back in the States again. Great to be here with you.” She smiled at her sister, a bright, genuine smile that she hoped convinced Claudia not to worry about her. She was so happy for Claudia and Henry. They belonged together. And Claudia needed to focus on her own wedding and not her foster sister’s five-year-old heartbreak.

“You’ll be okay?” Claudia asked, squeezing Beatriz’s shoulder.

“Totally okay. Promise. Or I will be as soon as I find someone to have sex with this week,” Beatriz said.

“God, it really is like being back in college.”

Chapter Four

Claudia slammed the hotel door behind her and raced to the bed. Henry groaned as she threw herself on top of him.

“Easy, babe. I had too much to drink.”

“Two beers?” she asked, planting kisses along his jawline.

“And a half.”

“You’re such a lightweight.” She threw her leg over his stomach and he caressed her thigh. “I love you anyway, even if you do have the drinking prowess of a ten-year-old girl.”

“Hey, I’ve known some hard-drinking ten-year-olds.”

“Liar. Kiss me, I’m horny.”

“Best four words ever spoken.” He kissed her on the mouth and rolled her onto her back. “Thought you’d be too tired tonight.”

“Never too tired for you inside me.” She grinned up at him. Her newly manicured hands slid through his dark blond hair. A ravenous twinkle shone in his eyes.

“Dirty talk from my angelic bride? Someone’s been talking to Bea.”

“She just puts me in the mood. I think she’s like a sex goddess. You get near her and you want to have sex with anything that moves.”

“Anything that moves?”

“Or anything stationary. I don’t want to limit my options.”

“How’s Miss Bea-havior doing?” Henry asked as he slid his hand under Claudia’s shirt. He cupped her breast lightly and caressed her hardening nipple with his thumb.

“Miss Bea-having, as usual. She brought her work with her this week.”

“Oh, damn. Did she have the bellhop cart up ten boxes of dildos and vibrators?”

“Worse. She has to review a sex position manual. She’s on the hunt for a fuck buddy.”

Henry unhooked her bra.

“Well, I’d volunteer, but I’m too busy being your fuck buddy.”

“What do you think about Ben?”

“I could be his fuck buddy.”

“I mean for Bea. I still think they’d make a great couple.”

Henry groaned and rolled onto his back.

“Hey, no. Hand back on the boob,” she said, grabbing Henry’s hand and putting it back where it belonged.

“Sorry,” he said, moving her bra out of the way and pressing his hand to her bare breast. She sighed with pleasure. “But Ben’s still got it for her, I think. At least he’s still pissed at himself for not going after her when he had the chance. It could get ugly and weird if those two get together.”

“Or sexy and awesome. Why not? What happened with them anyway? Did Ben ever tell you why he flaked out on her? Because I swear it was love and lust at first sight when we introduced them.”

Claudia remembered that night. She’d been relieved Beatriz had decided to follow her to Brooks College. Beatriz had battled some problems in high school and at least Claudia could keep an eye on her baby foster sister for her first year of college. Newly single Ben had shown up at her dorm room looking for Henry. Beatriz saw Ben. Ben saw Beatriz. Claudia had laughed out loud as her feisty, fearless sister turned the full force of her considerable charm on Ben. Poor gorgeous Ben, who owned any room he walked into, had turned tongue-tied as Beatriz interrogated him. Did he like Brooks? Yes, he loved it here but couldn’t wait to graduate. What was his major? Business administration. What did he plan to do with a business administration degree? Administrate businesses, maybe? Would his work help or hinder the progress of the human race and specifically the rights of women in underdeveloped countries? Um…yes?

Claudia had to cover her mouth with her hand to hide her smile that night. She’d wished she’d had some popcorn to watch the Beatriz and Ben Show. Beatriz had found Ben’s answers entirely acceptable and had proceeded to ask him to show her around campus. Such a simple request and yet Ben had smiled as if he’d won the lottery. As soon as they walked out the door, Claudia had told herself that those two would be engaged by graduation. She knew it in her heart. Well, her heart was wrong.

She looked at Henry across the pillows and saw he wore a guilty look on his face.

“What?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Your hand is no longer on my boob and you look like you just killed someone. I don’t really care if you killed someone just as long you get back to the boob job.”

“I didn’t kill anybody.”

“That’s good.”

“But I did sort of do something bad.”

Claudia sat up and looked down at Henry. He sat up and leaned back against the headboard.

“What did you do?”

Henry winced.

“Don’t call off the wedding, okay? I did it for us.”

“Tell me. Tell me right now.”

“I was in love with you. Crazy in love with you. And I wanted you to be in love with me, too, just as much. Then when Ben met Bea, and he told me he had fallen hard and fast for my girlfriend’s baby sister, I saw the end of the world. So I kind of asked him not to pursue her.”

“You what?” Claudia nearly yelled the words at him. She picked up the pillow ready to hit him with it the moment another stupid confession came out of his mouth.

“She was a freshman. Barely eighteen. And Ben was almost twenty-three. And he’d had ten girlfriends in the last two years. Ten, Claudia. Ten.” Henry held up two hands and wiggled all ten fingers. “My best friend dumping your baby sister? Not good. The opposite of good. Bad even. When Ben told me he’d met the girl of his dreams, I saw the apocalypse.”

“The apocalypse?”

“The SEXpocalypse. Ben already had a job offer on the West Coast. Did you really want him having sex with her all year and then dumping her the day he graduated?”

“Well…not really,” Claudia admitted.

“And Ben was an old senior. You know he was twenty-three and she was eighteen? You remember that part?”

“I sort of forgot that part.”

“You would have hated Ben for dumping Bea and then hated me because he was my best friend. I couldn’t face that. I told him you wouldn’t want him dating your sister because of the age difference. So he did what I asked and backed off.”

“Yeah, but he didn’t. Because I was with you and she was with me, they were together for the entire school year. And she was in love with him and he wouldn’t even give her the time of day. He treated her like his own baby sister.”

“Yeah, he was nice and respectful and didn’t once hit on her.”

“She hated it.”

“Do you hate me?”

“Yes.” Claudia slammed the pillow down onto his stomach. He laughed and pulled her into his arms.

“I’m sorry, babe. I didn’t really think that maybe they were actually in love with each other. Ben didn’t want anything serious. That wasn’t his style. I thought they just wanted to fuck and they could do that with anybody.”

“True,” Claudia said. Beatriz had a gift for wrapping guys around her finger and Ben had a line of young ladies waiting to be his next one-night to two-week stand.

“You were the only person in the world to me back then. I would have done anything to keep us together. Forgive me? My cock and my heart were in the right place, right?” Henry asked, putting on his puppy dog eyes.

“I forgive you. Maybe.” Claudia could never resist the puppy dog eyes. “I mean you’re probably right. He probably would have dumped her. He’s had as many girlfriends as Bea’s had boyfriends and that’s saying something,“ Claudia agreed somewhat reluctantly. She sort of liked painting Ben and Henry as the bad guys. She hated to admit that Henry had a point.

“Ben was seriously stoked about the job waiting for him after graduation. He couldn’t wait to get his ass out of Brooks. I think Ben would have crushed her if they’d gotten together back then.”

“Probably.”

“See? I knew I was right. I’m the hero here really.” Henry puffed his chest out. Claudia rolled her eyes.

“Being right doesn’t make it okay.”

“How do I make it okay?” Henry asked. “I love Ben and I love Bea, and I really want you to take all your clothes off. And I’ll do whatever it takes to get you naked. And make them happy. But mostly get you naked.”

Claudia sighed.

“We have to fix this. She’s still mad at him. He’s still mad at you. That means…they aren’t over each other.”

“Good point. So what now?”

Claudia knelt on the bed and pulled her shirt off.

“Well, Bea has this book review to write. She’s gotta find a partner to have sex with since the book’s a sex position manual for Generation Y.”

“What’s Generation Y?” Henry asked.

“Us.”

“Gotcha.”

“You see, Bea has to try out the positions in the book. What if we tell Ben that Bea wants him to be her book buddy?”

“And tell Bea what?” Henry asked.

“We’ll tell Bea that Ben volunteered to help her out with this book thing. And so he’ll go to her room expecting sex. She’ll open the door expecting sex. They’ll have sex. And either it’ll work or it won’t and it doesn’t matter either way because you and I are getting married no matter what.” Claudia pulled off her bra and started to shimmy out of her jeans.

“Worth a shot. Anything to get me out of the doghouse and into doggie style.”

“Good. Go talk to Ben.”

“Can I fuck my bride-to-be first please?”

“No. Ben first. Then me.”

“I have to fuck Ben first? Good thing he’s pretty. You know he was bisexual for one week in college?”

“Henry.”

“And you can just get lost in those blue eyes. I call that color Chris Pine blue.”

“Henry.”

“I want to be the Spock to his Kirk. You know, the J.J. Abrams reboot, not the original series.”

“Henry!” Claudia flicked his nose—hard.

“I’m going. I’m going. Don’t start without me.”

Claudia tossed her panties at Henry’s back as he headed to the door. As soon as he was gone, she picked up the phone and called Bea’s room.

“Bea’s answering machine,” came the voice over the line. “Please leave a message at the beep.”

“This is the Hotel Essex,” Claudia said, rolling her eyes. “And no one has owned an answering machine in twenty years. And you’re just trying to annoy me.”

“Beep,” Beatriz said.

“Hi Bea, it’s Claudia,” Claudia began. Bea often faked her own answering machine, especially when she knew who was calling for the sole purpose of annoying them. That’s okay. Claudia knew exactly how to get her revenge. “I just wanted you to know that Ben was into you during college, and he still is. Henry asked him not to pursue you because of me. That’s all. No need to call me back. Bye. Oh, and if you ask him to have sex with you this week so you can work on your book report thingie, he probably would go for it.”

Claudia hung up the phone. Immediately her hotel phone rang. She didn’t answer it. She heard a buzzing from her purse—Beatriz calling her cell. She ignored that call as well.

Five minutes and fifteen unanswered phone calls later, Henry walked back in the room. Claudia lay naked on the bed. She rose up on her elbows and looked at him with a cocked eyebrow.

“So?” she asked.

“He’s on his way to her room right now.”

“Good,” Claudia said. “Now we can have sex.”

Chapter Five

Ben stared at the door to Beatriz’s hotel room. She was there, behind that door. Right there. The last time he’d seen her she’d been completely naked and standing in his dorm room. That was five years ago. So much had happened since then. He’d gotten his first real job working for Google, gotten promoted and almost gotten engaged. This could have been his wedding weekend, but thankfully he realized his girlfriend wasn’t in love with him, only with the idea of being married. Neither of them cried over the breakup. A good sign that breaking up was the right thing to do. He’d moved three times since college and changed jobs twice, but during all that he’d held on to one constant—Beatriz.

She probably didn’t know he read her Miss Bea Haven column she wrote for The Daily Cocktail. He’d messaged Claudia on Facebook last year and asked, as casually as he could, what Beatriz was up to. Living in Spain, Claudia said. She had a great job working as a translator for a European publisher. Oh, Claudia added in the P.S., Beatriz also wrote a column for a big website that acted as the repository of all things sex on the internet. Beatriz reviewed sex toys and sex books. Nice work if you could get it, Claudia joked. Just a joke. Ben had likely broken some sort of internet record for fastest ever Google search. He found the column and read every single post Beatriz had written. He hadn’t read them all at once. He had to take a break—or two or three—between articles. Beatriz wrote in detail about her experiences with different types of vibrators—what worked for her, what didn’t, how she used them, how they made her feel. He could just see that beautiful woman lying naked on her bed pleasuring herself for hours on end. Who needed porn when he had these sex toy reviews? Knowing Beatriz, she’d stop every few minutes to take notes—vibrator in one hand, notepad in the other.

Ben even had whole sentences from her reviews memorized. He hadn’t tried to memorize them. He wasn’t that much of a desperate, horny stalker. But certain sentences had burned themselves into his mind.

The Lady Angel vibrator was a comfortable fit for a woman who enjoys deep penetration and a wide shaft as much as I do.

The orgasm the Black Prince produces makes your PC muscles buck like a stallion. My partner’s tongue provided the clitoral stimulation. The resulting orgasm was a top ten moment.

The G-spot massager from the Sirena series should come with a warning—don’t use on a day you actually need to get out of your bed. I had so much fun with it that I had ten orgasms in one day and had to change my sheets twice.

He’d never been so jealous of sex toys in his life. What he wouldn’t give to curl up in bed with Beatriz while she did her work, watching her come over and over again. He’d happily lend a helping hand. Or two. And once she came she would be so wet he could slide right inside her and stay there all day and all night long.

“Down, boy,” Ben said to his erection. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself. He still couldn’t believe he was doing this, standing outside Bea’s door. But Henry had been annoyingly insistent.

“Dude, I told Claudia that I told you back in college not to pursue Bea because of, you know, reasons. Mainly me being a pussy. Claudia hit me with a pillow and she won’t let me have sex with her until I tell you that I was wrong about doing that. So…sorry. You should probably go talk to Bea. She still likes you or something. I can’t remember exactly what Claudia said. I had trouble hearing over my hard-on.”

Ben wanted to believe Henry. Only one way to find out. Ben didn’t let Henry finish talking before he’d stalked past him and into the hallway. When he made it halfway down the hall he turned around.

Henry stood by his room, smiling at him.

“What’s her room number?” Ben had asked.

“It’s 424. Go. Have fun. Make the love. You’re welcome.”

He couldn’t believe Beatriz still wanted him after all this time. After all, he knew he’d hurt and humiliated her the last time they saw each other. He’d wanted her so badly that day he could barely breathe when he remembered seeing her beautiful naked body for the first and last time. High, full breasts, long, toned legs, hips he wanted to dig his fingers into when he buried his face between her thighs. Telling her no had nearly killed him. Only Henry’s pleading that he leave Claudia’s little sister alone, and his preemptive guilt over having sex with someone and then moving to the West Coast the very next day, kept him from taking her up on every single little thing she offered.

Maybe now he could make up for lost time.

But should he?

He stared at the door to room 424. She still lived on the opposite coast from him. They hadn’t seen each other since he graduated college. They were here to support Claudia and Henry for their wedding, not rehash all their old drama.

But then again…they might end up naked.

Didn’t matter. He wasn’t here to have sex with her. He was here to talk. Just talk. They should talk. While talking he would tell her that while he was an idiot for letting Henry talk him out of pursuing her in college, the truth was he’d been terrified he’d end up just like Henry if he hadn’t backed away from her. Henry had been head-over-heels in love with Claudia. Even back in college Henry had been ready to give up everyone and everything to make his girlfriend happy. And Ben didn’t have the luxury of falling in love and throwing caution to the wind. He’d been the first person in his family to go to college, to get a degree and an offer of a high-paying job. He couldn’t let them down by allowing his heart to steal his ambition.

“Wait,” Ben muttered to the door. “Why am I saying this in my head and not to her?”

Ben pounded on her door.

Four agonizing seconds later, Beatriz opened the door. She wore a black silk bathrobe and looked at him in total shock as if she’d been expecting anyone but him at her door.

He looked at her. God, she’d only gotten more beautiful since college. She said nothing at all as she continued to stare at him. Rare that anything shocked Beatriz enough to silence her.

One of them had to say something, right? He was the man. It should be him. He’d say the perfect thing. Something suave, something charming, something endearing that would make up for the last time they saw each other.

Ben opened his mouth to say he was sorry, to say he should have stood up to Henry and gone after what he wanted and given love a chance instead of bowing to his ambition and leaving her behind. He was going to say he should have slept with her when she offered or at least given her a damn good reason why he hadn’t.

“Will you have sex with me?” Beatriz asked.

Ben opened his mouth, then closed it again. Then opened it again.

“Good to see you again, too, Bea.”

Beatriz laughed and gave him an apologetic smile.

“Sorry,” she said, holding the door to her hotel room open, but not quite letting him inside yet. “One-track mind. I have to write an emergency book review on a sex position manual. I need a partner.”

“A partner?”

“Well, you can’t review a sex position manual without having sex, right?”

“Good point. Very good point,” Ben said. “So you want to…with me…review your book?”

“If you want to,” she said and smiled. That smile hit him right where it counted.

“You don’t think we should talk first?”

“Talk about what?” she asked. “This is just for work, you know.”

“Oh.” Ben nodded. “Work.”

“Think about it,” she said, letting him in the room. The Hotel Essex was one of the more luxurious hotels he’d ever stayed in. Scarlet walls, black polished floors, elegant white rugs—it was an art deco dream come true. And in the middle of every room a huge king-size bed heaped in plush white linens beckoned. The headboards looked like thrones. The walls were decorated with real art, not hotel “art.” And with the black-and-red-striped curtains pulled back and the moonlight shining, one could see the rolling hills blanketed with deep soft grass and lush leafy trees for miles. It was a far cry from a cramped dorm room.

“So how have you been?” she asked.

“Good. Great. I love my job. I guess you really love your job.”

“Both jobs,” she said as she sat on the bed and tapped a few keys on her laptop. He saw her save and close a document. He must have interrupted her at work. Surreptitiously he glanced around for any sex toys. Maybe she’d put them away before opening the door. “The blog work is the most fun, though. I guess Claudia told you what I’m doing?”

“Yeah, sex education blogger? Something like that?” He tried to sound nonchalant.

“Exactly like that. My boss is in a bind. He needs a thousand words by Sunday night. I thought I was reviewing a coffee table book. Wrong.” She held up the book. It said THE MANUAL on the front in big gold letters.

“Sexy font,” he said.

“Sexy book.”

“Look…Bea,” Ben said and sat on the end of her bed. “I wanted to tell you I was sorry. You know, about not having sex with you in college.”

“That’s what you’re sorry about?”

“For starters,” he said. “Henry asked me not to go for you because he was worried I’d dump you and Claudia would kill him over it.”

“I like that my personal life was decided by you and Henry instead of me.”

Ben winced. “Yeah…add that to the list of things I’m apologizing for.”

“Well, I did sort of give you hell over it, right?” Beatriz asked, a wicked gleam in her eyes.

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