Free Miss Congeniality by Marie Garner

she had been dreading this evening before. Brea wasn’t a fortune-teller. She was unaware if anything would come from their mutual attraction other than torched sheets, but she was finally willing to try.
    “I’ll pick you up at ten.” That was it; no question about what time she would be available, whether she wanted to meet him somewhere. Nothing, just a demand to be ready.
    “That’s it?” she asked when he started to stand. He looked confused, as though he didn’t understand what she was asking. “You aren’t going to ask me what time I will be ready or what I could possibly want to do?”
    “Nope. I’ve figured you out. I have to tell you, not ask you.” He tweaked her nose. “Are you taking me home or am I catching a cab?”
    Now she was irritated, an emotion she was quickly getting used to feeling when around him. “That depends on whether or not you are going to give me my payment.”
    “You never said what it was.” He had a point.
    “I’m still thinking about what I want.” Lance put his hand out, prompting her to put her hand in his so he could pull her up.
    “How about I just promise to give you the best orgasm of your life?”
    “I could be persuaded, but that’s a pretty big order.”
    He pulled her toward him so their bodies were perfectly aligned and she could feel his erection. “You have no idea how big my order can be.”
    Brea shook her head ruefully. “Okay, we need to go before you decide to make any more cheesy dick jokes.”
    He bit her earlobe. “Bet you’re wet.” She refused to take him up on his sucker bet.

“C ome outside.” Lance’s whiskey-smooth voice filled her ear, causing goose bumps down her back before she thought about what he said to her.
    “You’re not going to come to my door and get me?” She peeked out her blind, saw him sitting in his car idling. It was ten o’clock on Saturday so she figured he was picking her up for their date.
    “I don’t think so, not when you can just meet me out here.”
    “Romance is never dead when you’re around.” She grinned and watched him turn his head toward her house. He waved when he saw her peeking through the blind, causing her to jerk back, annoyed she’d been caught.
    “I’ll give you romance, just not right now. Come outside. I’m at the curb.” She briefly debated just staying inside. Silvia always said if a man didn’t knock on your door and get you directly, he wasn’t worth it. He sensed her hesitation. “I know what you’re thinking, stubborn ass, so stop thinking it and come on. We are on a schedule and I’m running a bit late, but I promise to cover your sidewalk in rose petals if you’ll get out here without arguing.”
    “There you go promising again.” She hung up the phone when she walked out the door, waving her middle finger at him as she got closer.
    “Emily Post would be so proud.” He leaned over for a smacking kiss. Brea returned it, loving the feel of his lips on hers.
    “How the hell do you know who Emily Post is?”
    He shrugged as he drove off. “My mom taught etiquette classes.”
    “You’re lying.”
    He looked at her as if she was crazy. “Why would I lie about that? That would make no sense.”
    She begged to differ. “No, what makes no sense is how Mr. Rudeness himself is trying to tell me his mother taught etiquette classes.”
    “Hey, I said she taught ‘em. I never said they stuck.”
    She conceded his point. “True. So, where are we going?”
    “It’s a surprise.”
    “I don’t like surprises.” She reached over and changed the radio. The heavy metal music he was listening to was making her ears bleed.
    “I don’t care. And don’t you know in some countries they will chop off your hand if you mess with someone’s radio?” He turned it back to heavy metal.
    “But I really want to know where we’re going. I am the girl who reads the entire plot of a movie before she sees it or reads the last page in a book to make sure it has the ending she