His Five Night Stand by Emma Thorne Read Free Book Online Page B

up.
    Was it too much? I felt out of my body again standing in that red dress with those impractical shoes. Callie Barron didn’t wear dresses like this. A dress like this looked made for drinks in dark corners—make out sessions against the wall. Both things I knew little about. It didn’t look appropriate at all. Was it too much? Was I taking all of my own sex’d up fantasies and infusing them into Odessa’s party? What if everyone showed up wearing jeans?
    No. Odessa likes things formal. Theo had said as much.
    I felt good in the dress. I felt sexy. I also felt like an imposter but if I was going to find the courage to walk into the apartment next door maybe I needed to wear a mask.
    “Be someone else Callie,” I whispered taking some red lipstick and painting it on my lips. “Just for a night. You can do this.”
    Before I put on the dress, I used my favorite citrus body lotion and slipped on a lacy black thong that still had the tags. I was happy the undies were new. I was tempted to burn every piece of underwear that had been on a wash and dry cycle in Henry’s condo.
    The dress hugged my body and with the thong there was no panty line unless you stared at my backside. I figured if anyone was staring they deserved to see.
    I painted my toenails black. I didn’t want to look too done up with red toes and nails. Remember I was going for sexy but not trying too hard which is incredibly hard to do. I went through several different earring and necklace combos before picking thin gold drops and deciding to go without a necklace. I liked the way the dress framed my neck and collarbone. I wondered why I’d taken this dress and shoved it into the back of my closet. Suddenly I remembered Henry telling me it hugged my gut and looked a little slutty.
    At 9:15 p.m. I was dressed. Hair pulled back, loose but not overly done. I didn’t want it to look like I’d taken an hour to get ready, which I had. I’d redone my eye make up twice. The liquid liner had been a total disaster. Every eye shadow experiment seemed to end in the same smoky look but I finally landed on something that didn’t look like a raccoon.
    I spun in front of the mirror. Screw Henry and his opinion about my gut; the dress hugged my curves. I felt good. I felt hot.
    The sound of voices and laughter bellowed in the hallway. I cracked the door open and peeked outside in time to see Shea and Troy standing in front of Odessa’s door. Shea had her arms wrapped around Troy; he had a hand on her ass. Troy wore a black jacket and white button down and Shea a tight short green dress. It was hard to get a good look but I figured I’d hit the mark. This was not a t-shirt and jeans night.
    I grabbed my key and slipped it inside the bodice of my dress; I had nowhere else to put it and didn’t want to bring a purse.
    I ran to my little kitchen and grabbed a bottle of red wine. “Never show up without a gift, right?” I took a deep breath as I walked into the hall and knocked on Odessa and Theo’s door. It was time to go down the rabbit hole.

I heard a series of locks clicking open and then Odessa answered the door. She held a simple white mask in front of her eyes on a stick bound with black ribbon. Her long black dress plunged down to her belly revealing the curve of her breasts and a long gold chain that held what looked to be a diamond ring.
    “Neighbor!” She said, dropping the mask.” I’ve been waiting for you, he’s here.”
    He’s here.
    My heart rate skyrocketed. I felt a surge of adrenaline, something that felt like fight or flight. What was I getting myself into? Maybe this was a horrible mistake.
    Odessa’s deep brown eyes were lined with gold, her lips painted burgundy and her black hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail. She looked like a goddess. She raised her arms and pulled me into a tight hug before I could run. “I am going to make sure you meet everyone,” she said. “Then we’ll get you set up with your new friend.” She raised