Cinderella Screwed Me Over

her wedding is for her groom to get into a fight.”

I groaned, not wanting to deal with my date. This was all Anne’s fault anyway, and now she wanted me to take care of it?

“Hey, baby!” Ralph said as I walked up to him. His breath reeked of alcohol. He grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the dance floor. Once we got there, he pulled me to him—like suffocatingly close—put his hands on my butt, and whispered in my ear the dirtiest thing I’ve ever heard. Something that I still can’t bring myself to repeat, but it was wrong and suggestive and explicit.

Without thinking, I pulled back and slapped him across the face. I reached into my purse, took out several bills, and shoved them into his hand. “There. Take a cab home. I hope I never ever see you again.”

People stared, mouths open, eyes wide, as I pushed Ralph toward the elevator. Anne was upset I’d caused a scene, but Drew and the rest of the guys thought it was the coolest thing they’d ever seen. At least I didn’t just freeze, like I’d done so many times before.

Time Wasted: It was only one day, but the entire time was miserable, so it seemed longer. And obviously everyone remembers how charming I was at Devin and Anne’s wedding. The story is legendary.

Lessons Learned:

Brides are emotional time bombs. (I bet Anne wishes she would’ve just let me go solo.)

Never take anyone you don’t know to a wedding.

Jimmy Delfino actually looks like a gem next to his obnoxious friends.

Slapping someone across the face can feel very exhilarating.

*Sidenote (added in 2011) – Despite my ban on fairy tales, I did accidentally watch Tangled one day with my nephew. Yes, the Disney version added girl power, which was pretty cool. And Flynn Rider was hard not to fall for and I might have been cheering for him in the end. But, like Aladdin, he was a liar (real name, Eugene Fitzherbert, and he happens to be a criminal). So while charming, he’s automatically disqualified. But I do consider slapping Ralph the equivalent of Rapunzel and her frying pan. Bonus points for girl power.

Chapter Ten

Since I’d spent a few hours with Stephanie over lunch—and had received a passive-aggressive e-mail from my boss—I’d stayed at the office late to do everything Patricia insisted was so urgent, even though I knew the client meeting wasn’t until next week. The last thing I felt like doing when I got home was cooking. I was tempted to call in a take-out order to Blue, thinking I’d just slip in and out. But the risk of seeing Jake was too great. I searched my fridge and cupboards and decided to make a ham-and-cheese sandwich. Unfortunately, I only had two heels of bread left, and I only ate them if I had absolutely no other options. Like now. The entire time I choked my sandwich down, I wished it was something more appealing.

I’d barely finished putting the dish away when there was a knock at my door.

Like I said, the beauty of needing to be buzzed into the building is never being surprised. Since I hadn’t buzzed anyone up, it had to be Steph or Drew. Or someone who’d gotten the wrong door. I walked over and stared out the peephole. Jake.

I ran a hand through my hair, swiped my tongue over my teeth to make sure they didn’t have food stuck in them, then opened my door.

“Spontaneous visits,” he said with a smile. “Another perk of living in the same building.”

I tried to play it cool, even though my heart was doing a happy dance inside. Okay, maybe I’d missed him the tiniest bit, and the fact that he hadn’t come to see me since our date had me feeling a little rejected—never fun, even if you aren’t planning on something serious with a guy.

He held out a DVD—Just Friends. “Tell me you’re up for a movie.”

Seems like he’s trying to tell me something with the movie title. Which is good. Telling myself that wasn’t enough to keep my nerves from bouncing up and down in my stomach. Or from noticing the way his gray T-shirt showed off his toned arms and made his eyes look a little more green than blue.

And now I’m totally staring at him, probably drooling. “Come on in.” I stepped aside and gestured to the couch. “Have a seat.”

I was glad I hadn’t changed into my pajamas yet. I had, however, worn a skirt today, and I didn’t want to sit all proper through an entire movie. “I’m just going to go change into something more comfortable.”

Until I said it aloud, I hadn’t realized how it was going to sound—like the line the girl delivers in the movie before coming out in lingerie. “And by comfortable, I mean jeans and a T-shirt.” Clarifying made me feel even stupider, but I couldn’t seem to stop. “I didn’t want you to think that I… I mean I’m not like… I’ll be right back.”

I hurried back to my room before I made it worse—although I didn’t think it could get much worse. It’s not like I thought I was some female Casanova or something, but usually I did okay with the guys.

I’m sure it’s just because it’s been a while. Relax and you’ll be fine.

I threw on a black tank top and a pair of jeans. My hair looked pretty flat, so I gathered it up into a messy bun.

I walked back into the kitchen and put a bag of popcorn in the microwave. “Last week you were unavoidable and this week I haven’t seen you around. Blue must be busy.”

“It’s been pretty hectic,” Jake said. “You should come in sometime. According to everybody there, you’re usually in a couple times a week.”

“Oh, well, I haven’t had client meetings this week, so…” I grabbed a bowl out of my cupboard. “Then today, my friend Stephanie—the one I was telling you about who’s getting married—had a centerpiece tragedy. But Tina’s going to whip up a few replacement vases, so crisis averted.”

I dumped the popcorn into the bowl and headed to the couch. Since he’d flashed the Just Friends movie at me, I wasn’t sure what to think. Sitting right next to him seemed desperate, sitting far away a snub. Okay, not the very end, but not too close, either. Safe middle ground.

Typical guy, he already had control of the remote. Drew had wired my system, and it took a specific combination to get it to work, so I was impressed Jake had already figured it out. He pressed play and the movie started up.

Jake looked at me. “Are you really going to sit all the way over there?”

Traitorous butterflies filled my tummy. Okay, so he’s still interested.

“I can’t even reach the popcorn.”

Oh, right. The popcorn. That effectively killed the butterflies.

But when I scooted over, Jake put his arm over my shoulders and barely touched the popcorn. I stuck the bowl on the coffee table, tucked my legs up, and settled in next to him. The movie was funny, and the romance in it was more on the believable side, which gave me that little heart tug I hadn’t felt in a while from a movie.

When the credits rolled up the screen, Jake leaned down and brushed his lips against mine. My breath caught in my throat, and before I could recover it, he kissed me. My lips automatically started moving against his, my heart beating wildly in my chest. He deepened the kiss, taking things slow yet demanding enough that tingly heat wound through my entire body. It had been a while since I’d gotten to first base, and I’d forgotten how nice it could be.

“I thought you were trying to send me a message with this movie,” I said.

“I was.” His lips hovered inches from mine. “I’m making sure to keep myself out of the friend zone.”

He closed the gap and kissed me again. Then I was pulling him closer, getting lost in the feel of his body against mine, his lips, his tongue. Part of me was screaming, Shut it down! This is a bad idea!

But that part kept getting overruled by the part of me that was enjoying kissing Jake.