The Big Girl's Guide to Buying Lingerie

10. BOXERS OR BOXER BRIEFS?

Rowdy spent his second break doing some fast talking with Tim, Susie and Jessa.  At least they understood.  Well, not understood, but understood why he’d sprung something so unlike him on them.  Tim had laughed his ass off while the ladies glared at him from across the waitresses break room.

“I never really got a chance to tell her no.  Her mom was on us like white on rice!”  Thanks to him dragging Jade to the bar for a beer.  But he didn’t add that.

“I just don’t want you hurting her.  She’s a very sweet girl, Robert Rowdon Yates!”  Susie stood directly in front of the door, the only escape route, tapping her foot.

“Whoa.  How come Aunt Susie knows your internet chick?” Tim had asked from where he sat on the other side of the rickety break room table.

“She’s my liquor rep,” Susie corrected.

From her spot on the ratty couch, Jessa laughed.  “So you mean to tell me,” she began with a dimpled grin, “all this time you two have been going back and forth like a couple of boxers, you’ve been sparkin’ on the Internet?  Really?”

Had he been courting her?  Before he knew she was her?  “Yeah,” he softly admitted with a nod.

“Aw, well, if that isn’t just the sweetest thing I ever heard.”  Jessa beamed at him, her eyes twinkling.

He hung his head, that sinking feeling back.  Jessa loved to play matchmaker almost as much as Toni did, and Susie liked Skye...Jade.   The quiet one. 

Skye was his flirty girl.

What was left of his break was spent trying to contact Skye who ended up inviting him to lunch at her place so they could talk. 

Rowdy just couldn’t bring himself to think of her as Jade. 

But he was real interested in finding out how they’d gone from enemies to engaged in twenty-four hours.

# # #

The next morning Rowdy was up at ten, catching up on some paperwork and downloading his e-mail.  Nothing from Skye he noticed.  He hadn’t seen her posting on the Drew Hartford list in a while either.  And that reminded him of something else he needed to do.  He ripped a purple sticky note off and jotted down a reminder to buy concert tickets next week for the San Antonio show in November.  Then dialed Skye’s number from memory.  When she answered on the forth ring, she sounded...asleep, her voice all soft and warm.  “Lo?”

“Get up, sleepyhead.”

“Robbie?  What time is it?”

“Nearly noon, and you’re supposed to feed me lunch and explain to me how we ended up engaged.”

He smiled at the sounds of her groaning and stretching.  “It’s not even eleven,” she grumbled.

“I’m the one who was out late last night.”

“I always wondered--”  She yawned right in his ear before she could finish her sentence. 

“Wondered what?”  He shut down the computer while waiting on her reply.

“Where you were...on the weekends.  We never talked late and you always seemed to be in a hurry.”

“You never asked.”

“I was afraid.  I didn’t want to.”

“You were afraid?”  He frowned at the dark monitor, surprised at her confessed insecurity.  Neither Jade nor Skye had ever struck him as insecure.

“Silly, huh?”

Especially since the truth turned out to be bigger than either of them had expected.  He’d deal with that later.  “What time’s lunch?”