Leakage: A Friends-to-Lovers Romance Read online

  A heartbeat of shock reverberated around the room. It took Sara a moment to realize it was Jasmine Matt was looking at.

  "What?" Jasmine's jaw had dropped.

  "You keep unbuttoning it, Jas. Isn't that where you're headed? Taking the whole thing off?"

  Jasmine's chin rose. There was already something of a flush on her honey-brown skin, and now the color deepened. Her fingers began shakily to re-button the shirt. "Sex is all you think about, Matt, isn't it?" she asked with a trace of her normal coolness.

  "I think about toys, too," he said innocently, raising his brows. "The soft, plush ones and the hard plastic ones mostly, Jas."

  "Stop teasing her," Sara told him again.

  "Why?" Matt asked. Sara wasn't sure whether he was seriously asking or not.

  "Because it's not the least bit funny," Jasmine interjected, and Sara thought her alcoholic fuzz must be wearing off at last. She sounded more like her usual stiff self.

  Matt's lips twitched. He rolled smoothly to his feet and swooped down to pick up the fallen toy figure, then sank back down, frowning as he examined it.

  "Why do women keep leaving me?" Harrison said suddenly. "Does my breath smell bad? I maybe don't floss as much as I should."

  Sara wanted to hug him. "Your breath could not be more perfect," she said honestly.

  Harrison looked at her sorrowfully. "I think you lie."

  "Oh, give me a break," Jasmine said, combing her fingers through her hair. "Women adore you. You have nothing to complain about. The question is, why do men cheat on me?"

  As ridiculous as she thought Harrison was being, Sara felt a stab of sympathy for him. "We all have something to complain about, Jasmine," she argued. "Really. To outsiders it may look like you're beautiful, successful, and confident, doing exactly what you want to do. Yet we all know how you feel about your job, and here you are—coldly dumped by a loser guy—"

  "I didn't get dumped. I dumped him. Cheating bastard."

  "And Harrison. He's this whiz in his field, has the most sophisticated women stalking him, has a lovely family and the nicest manners ever, and then he goes and gets dumped by a bitch who can't appreciate how sweet he is. As for me—I have lots of great friends and a fun job and live in the best city in the world and I totally can't say no to guys who use me. And Matt…Matt's the smartest dude ever with godlike powers with women and squeezes every bit of fun out of life and yet...yet..." Sara paused, studying Matt, who seemed not to be listening. As jokey as he was, Sara realized he'd always been something of a dark horse to her. Did he even want to have a real relationship with a woman? Because he sure didn't act like it.

  Jasmine cleared her throat and spoke with a surprising articulateness for being so toasted. "Why don't I take this one? Matt is an indiscriminate, noncommittal, never-had-a-serious-moment-in-his-life hedonist, and one day it'll all blow up in his face."

  That earned everyone's stare. Except Matt's. He just poked his tongue in his cheek and started to disassemble the toy robot.

  "Hey, I think we're getting a bit personal here," Sara said uneasily.

  "He started it," Jasmine said.

  "Come on," Sara pleaded. "Hasn't anyone else noticed that all we do lately is bicker? We're all so tense." No response. She sighed. "It's been a long week. I had to work an extra shift 'cause a coworker called in sick and then there was tonight. Thanks for walking Pencil, by the way, Jasmine."

  "Sure."

  "You have to admit you've been extra stressed," Sara said pointedly. "Didn't you have to facilitate that meeting because your parents are out of town?"

  Jasmine sighed. Her folks owned the fan manufacturing company where she worked long hours already, even before she'd taken on the extra duties they'd sprung on her at the last minute. "You're right. I'm sorry, everyone. I'm…not quite myself tonight. Damn, it is hot in here. That furnace is doing it again, isn't it?"

  Sara jumped up and went to the wall to fiddle with the dial. "We're seriously on edge these days. You know what we should do is help each other with our problems instead of snap at each other all the time."

  The moment she said it, she felt a shift in her attitude. A feeling of hope. And the seed of an idea began to germinate in her mind.

  "We do help each other," Harrison said. "It's not a picnic, being stalked. You ladies don't stalk me. I can relax around you. You're like the sisters I've never had."

  Jasmine smiled, though Sara was quite offended at Harrison's words. I'm not your sister, mister, she wanted to protest. But she brushed it aside, taken over now by the idea that had just occurred to her. "You know, Harrison, it's interesting seeing you drunk like this. It wouldn't hurt you to loosen up a bit more often. Usually you're too repressed to talk about your personal life. I only ever see you brood over things. I think it's good for you to get it out in the open."

  "You may be right." Harrison patted Pencil, who'd wandered over.

  Sara nibbled her lip, then turned to her roommate. "And Jasmine, I love you to death, but look at you—you have to get drunk to say what you really think. I think both of you need to let go more. And I have the perfect idea how."

  She hesitated. The idea really was absolutely brilliant, for so many reasons. But…

  "Your face is all red," Harrison told her. "You should splash water on it."

  "Go on," Matt drawled, his eyes narrowed into slits. "Speak."

  Sara's hand pressed against her own cheek. Harrison was right. It felt hot. "Well, you're all saying I'm—what did you call it—indiscriminate? And Matt is a ho, the worst kind of manwhore. Sorry, Matt. No offense."

  "None taken." He grinned.

  "So here's me and Matt, just totally out of control. And there you two are, too inhibited. It's kind of beautiful, in a way. What if we all—you know—took on the challenge ourselves?"

  For a moment there was absolute silence.

  "Challenge?" Matt said slowly.

  Sara sank to her knees. "Yeah. It's obvious we need help. All we've done lately is whine. What we need is action!"

  "It is?" Harrison said. His look said she'd grown another head.

  "Sure. It's time to stop making the same mistakes over and over. We're our own best resources, guys."

  "We are?" Jasmine said.

  "Sure. I realized the other day we've all become really good friends, living here. I mean, maybe we don't spill all our deepest, innermost thoughts to each other all the time but how many hours do we hang out together every day? We do so much together. We actually know each other pretty damn well. I mean, I feel you all know me better than any of my other buddies do. And I trust you guys."

  No disagreement came, and if she wasn't mistaken, their expressions had relaxed.

  "Y'all," Harrison said, smiling faintly. "Not 'you all.' To be pedantic about it."

  "Right, southern boy," Sara said happily. "So why don't we just put our money where our mouth is and show each other how to be happier? It'll be like the Good Deed Birthday Challenge we did last year."

  The silence descended again, this time with cautious stares.

  "Or the Great Gluten Ban," she added. "We all liked that, didn't we? Well, except Matt, the pizza fiend."

  Then, from Jasmine: "I don't quite understand what you're suggesting."

  Sara turned to her. "Look. You should just stop dating those rich, egomaniac assholes, but you won't. I should stop going out with user guys, but how can I? I don't even know how to do it any other way. But here's the thing. What if you trained yourself to open up to a different kind of man? I mean, look at Matt and Harrison here. They're good regular guys. If they both took you to bed, like, over and over and over and over again—"

  "Took me to what?" Jasmine shrieked.

  "Took you to bed. Got in the sack with you. One at a time, obviously," she added reassuringly. "Then you'd learn to expect to be treated nice. With respect. They're both sweet guys. They'll treat you great. And," she turned to them, "if I slept with you guys, you'd still be on my side, right? You'd help me m
ake the wise decision, maybe show me how not to jump on any man that looked at me? Remind me I deserve better and all that stuff?"

  Harrison and Matt were now both open-mouthed.

  "Right?" she prompted.

  "Right," Matt echoed. He looked utterly blank.

  They still weren't with her. Sara sucked in air for courage and looked to the ceiling for guidance. "We girls could help you guys, too. I'll bet Jasmine and I could knock some decency into you, Matt. You do go too far sometimes. One-night stands aren't really cool anymore. Plus, as Jasmine says, you tend to lead with your, uh, you know."

  She paused. There was a grunt from Matt's direction. They were listening.

  "And Harrison—you need to let go. Have fun. You're always in a race to do something or go somewhere. I'm great at kicking back and having fun." She hurried on, in case she expanded on that one too much. "Jasmine…well, the two of you are both so reserved. If we do this, you'll each have to come out of your shells. By the end of it all, you'll know how to have relationships with the kind of person who could make you really happy. We'll all know ourselves better. We'll be more fulfilled individuals. It'll be awesome."

  "Sara, what is your idea exactly?" Matt clipped.

  Now she had to spell it out. This was the hard part. "We all have sex with each other. Make a habit of it."

  "You want us to start having fuck buddy orgies," Matt said.

  Sara rolled her eyes. "No. Not orgies. We give each other lessons. Boy-girl lessons. In bed. Like, on a schedule." She tried again. "Matt and I try to loosen you two up. You—Harrison and Jasmine—try to teach me and Matt some self-discipline. And we all learn how to have better relationships."

  Sara heard the echo of her own words in the long minutes it took for her friends to absorb them.

  "That's the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard, Sara," Harrison said finally. "I'm perfectly happy the way things are. My love life is fine."

  "Yeah, way to break up a friendship." Jasmine tossed her head. "I am never going to have sex with Matt, on or off a schedule, in any universe, thank you. Or Harrison," she added as an afterthought.

  Matt drew in a breath. Sara gaped at her roommate. She thought the direct cut at Matt was pretty cruel, even for Jasmine, especially on a subject as sensitive as sex.

  "Hear, hear. I don't want to have sex with either of you ladies," Harrison said mildly. "You're my only female friends. I'd like to keep it that way."

  Sara didn't even try to hide her disappointment. But she shrugged. "Oh, well. I thought it was a good idea. But what do I know?"

  "You're way too impulsive," Harrison said irritably. "I wish you'd work on that."

  Sara expelled a breath. "But Harrison, that's exactly what I was trying to do with my idea. The whole point—aargh! You drive me crazy."

  Matt spoke languidly into the awkward lull. "I kind of like it."

  Every pair of eyes flew his way.

  "What?" Jasmine squeaked.

  "It could work. I admit it's a weird idea. It's a bit too much like fucking my sister." Matt winked at Sara. "But yes, I think it could work."

  "You want to do it?" Jasmine couldn't seem to wrap her mind around it. She was staring at Matt as if he were an alien.

  He shrugged. "Whatever. I'm like Pencil. Give me good food, good sex, good sleep, and I'm fine. But you could use it, Jas. A lot. Wouldn't hurt you, either, Harrison. As for Sara —" He considered her.

  "I'd love it," Sara admitted. "Are you kidding? Two drop-dead guys who'll let me do anything I want to their yummy…umm."

  "You terrify me," Matt said wryly. "But maybe we could knock some sense into you. All right. I'm in. My schedule's open, except for Saturdays. Date night."

  And he went back to fiddling with the action figure.

  "Well, mine's not." Jasmine kept staring at Matt with a kind of horror. Her expression reminded Sara of the way Eve in the Garden of Eden must have looked at the serpent, or maybe the apple.

  "It's a really, really bad idea," said Harrison. "Damn. My head hurts like fuck."

  "So it's just you and me, Matt?" Sara pouted. "That's no fun."

  "Sara, you're being stupid." Harrison looked really angry now. "Incredibly, mind-numbingly—"

  "You wanna teach me to be smarter?" Sara challenged. "Then get on the schedule and teach me."

  Harrison's nostrils flared. "I should."

  Oh-ho, thought Sara.

  "Okay, children," Matt said soothingly. "Jasmine, go ahead. Tell Sara you're in."

  "I'm not in. You're insane. You're out of your ever-loving bloggery buggery buggy mind."

  Matt smiled. "Jasmine's in. What about it? Sundays? Fridays?"

  "Tuesday or Friday." Harrison spoke reluctantly. He still sounded mad.

  "Tuesday or Friday for me, too," Sara said quickly. "Actually Sundays would be okay, too."

  They all looked at Jasmine.

  "Well?" Matt said, sounding bored.

  "Listen, you guys," Jasmine said tightly. "You know you're my best friends."

  Harrison reached around and gave her a friendly punch on the arm, and Sara stuck out her tongue.

  "And you know my parents."

  Sara nodded. She knew Jasmine's folks were rich—not billionaire rich, but they were seriously into heating and cooling. And making more and more money was pretty much all they cared about. That and treating their only daughter like a princess, which was more about controlling her than indulging her. Which was probably why Jasmine had seemed almost grateful when Sara had made the roommate offer. Jasmine said that living in their modest Green Lake apartment made her feel normal and free.

  "They're assholes," Matt dismissed. "What's your point?"

  "My point, Matt, is that sex could ruin everything about this living situation. I don't want to go back there."

  "You don't ever have to live with your parents again."

  "I know, but…."

  "Tuesdays or Fridays, Jasmine?"

  "Stop hounding her, Matt," Harrison inserted. "She's right. This is a big decision. I mean, we're proposing to…to…with…"

  Jasmine closed her eyes and visibly swallowed. "Fridays."

  There were a few beats of silence. Sara had to admit she was unnerved that Jasmine had actually agreed to this.

  That they all had agreed to it.

  Something in the air.

  The port.

  Or…?

  Then Harrison said, "Okay. So we need to set a time and then make some rules."

  "Like?" Sara prompted. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Matt roll to his feet. He wandered out of the room, disappearing through the doorway to the kitchen.

  There was more discussion. Sara admitted to herself that she paid attention to only some of it as Jasmine and Harrison crisply negotiated the logistics, with Harrison occasionally tapping on his mini tablet. Time. Place. Details. Who with what. Her head was swimming. They were going to do this. Every Friday night. For who knows how long.

  The Challenge, they were calling it.

  From eight to midnight.

  According to a schedule.

  No orgies.

  Just one man, one woman. Alternating. Back and forth. Separate rooms.

  Eight to midnight.

  Every Friday.

  "And it's not, absolutely not, going to leak into our regular lives. If it starts to, we stop." Harrison's firm utterance penetrated her fog. "Everyone get that? Before it goes out of control. When we're not doing the Challenge, we're same-old, same-old. Friends and buddies. That's more important than anything else."

  Behind the sofa, Sara saw that Matt had returned. He was looking down at them all with no expression on his face.

  "So no leakage?" Harrison said.

  "No leakage," Sara agreed.

  "No leakage," said Jasmine.

  Matt said nothing.

  Oh, boy, Sara thought.

  What the hell had she done?

  The two women didn't say much to each other after the guys left, but retreate
d into their own worlds. Sara gave Pencil a quick quarter-lap walk around Green Lake. When she came back, the bathroom was damp and scented from Jasmine's shower, and there was a light shining under Jasmine's bedroom door.

  Sara brushed her teeth and used the toilet, then disappeared into her own bedroom and stared unseeingly at the unmade bed.

  She tossed off her clothes, tossed on a nightshirt, and straightened the sheets just enough to make them comfortable. Then she flopped down on the bed and rested her hands together behind her neck.

  In three days, she'd be in bed with Harrison.

  She wondered if the tiny drop of port she'd taken tonight had had more of an influence on her than she'd realized. Otherwise, she had no explanation for how she'd come up with the crazy idea in the first place. Had she actually told her small but precious group of friends that she wanted to jump all over Harrison's body?

  Not that it wasn't a splendid idea. It was. For everybody. She really believed that.

  But…had she really proposed that she and Harrison…

  Oh, God.

  Her hands came up to squeeze the ache out of her breasts. This was mad. Awful, in fact.

  Nobody suspected a thing, of course, but the truth was, Sara'd had a killer crush on her scholarly male neighbor from the very first day she'd met him.

  Matt had moved into the building the previous year and had already become a good friend, so when Jasmine told her his new roommate was giving a lecture at the university, Sara had gone along. Even though she couldn't give a rat's ass about Russian history.

  So for an hour she'd watched the bespectacled instructor stride back and forth behind the podium gesticulating with his pointer, pausing only to to answer breathless questions from female attendees. He'd obviously been enthusiastic about his subject—which was so, so boring. But he wasn't. He was adorable, a true loosen-your-collar hottie, and Sara had instantly fallen in lust.

  The problem was, the lust hadn't only not gone away over time, but deepened into more as she'd gotten to know him. Because even though he was well aware she was clueless about his subject and not even remotely near the level of his intellect, he was a total darling. He was unfailingly helpful and just plain nice. He never made her feel stupid about anything, not even her random animal rescues. That time he'd cheerfully given her a lift with that big German Shepherd she'd needed to bring across town…..