HAPPY FOREVER AFTER

Monica Clayton looked at her laptop and sighed.Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

“I’m an evil person.” she said aloud.

Nothing was wrong with the laptop. She knew that. And yet she had made Emma call Tom to come take a look at it. Emma told him Monica was trying to access the internet to check out some new recipes, and she couldn’t.

Monica knew it was weird. But she couldn’t think of any way she could ask the man on a date. This plan would just have to work.

If this whole stupid plan went to hell.

And if this Tom guy turned out to be a jerk, someone would pay. And that someone was going to be Emma.

It was her idea to ask Tom out, but Emma had encouraged her with all the nice stories she told her about him. She had talked him up a lot. And even when Monica wanted to change her mind asking Tom out, Emma was the one who convinced her she was making a mistake.

So here she was.

The doorbell rang, and Monica checked her appearance in the mirror on her way to answer. Not that she felt too concerned about impressions-she had seen Tom a few times, even hung out with him sometimes – with Emma of course. But today was different

Peering through her peephole, she began to think this was a terrible terrible idea. She looked at Tom. He was well-made. How did she not notice all this while? Her throat tightened, her mouth going dry. She forced herself to swallow and kept on looking. White shirt, unbuttoned at the strong throat. Thick arms flexing against the fabric that confined them.

He knocked.

Had he worn that to impress her? She couldn’t help thinking. Well if he did, it worked. She was definitely impressed.

She opened the door. “Hi, Tom” she said. “Thank you so much for coming over”

He smiled. “No problem. Emma said you were desperate.”

Monica imagined her friend telling him that she was lonely and horny, that she hadn’t had a decent date all month and hadn’t come within shouting distance of a live, naked penis in longer than she cared to admit.

He seemed to realize his mistake. “Oh, I mean, desperate to get your laptop fixed. Not, you know…desperate for anything else.”

A surprised laugh burst out of her, easing the tension in the air.

“Come on in,” she said. “I’ll try not to look too desperate.”

She led him to the laptop

“So what seems to be the problem? ” he asked.”Something about the Internet not working?”

Monica told him a story about an error message she didn’t get, and he nodded as he sat down and turned the laptop on.

She mmm-hmmed and nodded as if she had a clue what he was talking about, then made an excuse about something she needed to check in the kitchen.

Alone in the midst of her self-created domestic purgatory, she rummaged around in the fridge pretending to have a purpose. Her only real agenda was to stay away from Tom while she tried to think of some suitable way to say what was on her mind.

After rummaging around the kitchen for as long as she reasonably could, she poked her head out the doorway and asked, “anything serious wrong with it?”

“Ermm” Tom said. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with your laptop ”

“Wow, really?” Monica said trying to sound surprised. She didn’t think he bought it though.

“Sometimes computers just sort of freak out and need to be turned off for ten seconds and restarted. That should be the first thing you try if you can’t figure out what’s wrong.” he said

“Oh,” Monica said, entering the living room again. “I think Emma said that too. I was just too freaked out. Sorry I bothered you for nothing ”

“Not a big deal.” He said as he opened up her Web browser.

She looked at him. He had a nice smile. She thought.

“Alright” she said before she could change her mind, “I was wondering… if you’d like to go out sometime. I could take you to dinner as a thank-you for fixing my laptop.”

He waved away her suggestion. “All I did was restart it. That’s not worth a meal.”

Boy was this guy dense. She thought “You’re welcome to stay for a drink. I’ve got to get started on cooking right away though,” she said as she sat down at her desk.

He flashed a crooked smile and shrugged. “Okay, why not?”

“Good” she said. “You could keep me company while I cook.” She surprised herself with the insistence that he stay.

“Sure, some water would be great.”

Five minutes later she was wrist deep in the stuffing for her mushrooms, and Tom was busy hollowing out the mushrooms’ centers, even after she’d insisted she didn’t need to help.

“You cook at home?” she asked.

“Not much. I’m always forgetting some important ingredient. Guess I don’t have the patience to be a great cook.”

She glanced over and caught an odd smile on his lips. “What?” she asked

He looked at her, and his smile faded. “Oh nothing.”

“No, really, you were smiling. What were you thinking?”

Definitely the earliest Monica had ever made that request of a guy.

“I was thinking, it’s really sexy that you’re a high-powered career woman with your own office… Your food truck… I know you are a great cook. Emma brings me some of your food sometimes.”

She laughed, but secretly she was flattered.

“You think?”

Monica had always considered the whole thing pretty sexy, too, but she had never heard a man express the sentiment.

She stared at the glob of mushroom stuffing she had formed in the bowl. She’d been mixing it furiously with her hands as they talked, and now it was ready to be used as filling for the mushroom caps. But her mind was a million miles from finger foods. It occurred to her then that what Tom had said about her job wasn’t just flattering. It was an incredible…turn-on.

She decided to make a move.

Monica’s hands were covered in stuffing, and she brushed them off as best she could. Then she scooped up a glob with her finger and closed the distance between herself and Tom. “Want a taste?” she asked

He stared at her, and she nearly pinned him between herself and the counter.

“Um, sure,” he said, looking a little perplexed by her proximity.

Up close he had a thoroughly male presence, and she was only a few inches away, close enough that if she shifted her hips, she would bump against him.

She lifted her finger to his mouth, and it occurred to her only then that he might be one of those fussy guys with hygiene issues.

If she had to point out to him that she’d washed her hands before diving into the mushroom stuffing-

But she didn’t.