Page 175 of Masters of Pleasure
Lordy, she was brutally confused.
“Probably.”Domi sounded sorry, but it was a relief to hear someone else say it.Yeah, her stomach dipped, and she wished the answer was different, but as long as she wasn’t going into this, hoping it was one thing and it turned out it was another.
Hearing the door open behind her, Iris turned around from where she’d been pacing in the living room and waved as Noelle came in.Noelle opened her mouth, then closed it, frowning when she realized Iris was on the phone.
“Go with that,” Rae said.“That way, if itisn’ta date-date, you won’t be disappointed, and if it is, it’ll be a nice surprise.Assuming you’d want it to be a date-date.Um… am I assuming that correctly?”
“Yeah, I think you are.”Even though it was kind of weird to say it out loud.“You’re right, though.Keep my expectations low but allow myself to hope for more.”That way, she wouldn’t be hurt if he met her expectations, but if he wanted more, it would be a wonderful surprise.“Alrighty, I gotta go, but thank you so much.”
“Of course!We’re going to expect regular updates.”They both giggled, and Iris grinned, though her expression faded when she caught the sour look on Noelle’s face.
Dammit.She hated how jealous Noelle got about her new friendships, but she wasn’t sure what she could do, short of avoiding talking to or about Domi, Rae, and Avery except when Noelle wasn’t around.Iris knew that wasn’t really reasonable, yet it didn’t stop the guilt.Especially when Noelle looked at her like that.
Sighing inwardly, Iris looked away from Noelle so she didn’t have to see her roommate while she was saying goodbye to Rae and Domi.As soon as she hung up, she pasted a smile on her face and turned back to where Noelle was getting a snack together in the kitchen.It might seem like she was behaving normally, but she was closing the cabinet doors a little harder than normal, putting the plate down harder than normal… the warning signs Iris had learned preceded a blowup.
If she was really lucky, she could head it off before Noelle got up a full head of steam.
“Hey, so good news,” she said cheerfully, pretending she didn’t notice Noelle’s little signs.“I don’t have to work at Stronghold tonight.I took it off so we could spend tonight together.Have some girl time.Maybe watch some chick flicks.”
They’d used to do that all the time, and she was gratified to see Noelle’s expression change immediately.Thank goodness.Blow up averted.Iris couldn’t handle another late night of talking her friend down, but a night doing girl stuff would be fantastic.
“Oh, that sounds great.Can we order in Chinese?”
“Of course.”
Tonight was about Noelle, and Iris had expected the question.Not like she would ever say no to Chinese delivery, even if she preferred Indian.
“How was today?”Iris asked, moving to stand on the other side of the peninsula counter and sitting on one of the barstools, so she could be comfortable while she watched Noelle get her snack together.Noelle liked to eat an apple when she got home, but she always sliced it up instead of eating the fruit whole.
“Not bad.Tyler messaged me to say he was sorry about last night.”Noelle shook her head.“I haven’t answered him yet.I guess I probably should, but I’m still mad.”
“Yeah, but if you don’t give him the chance to make it up to you, you’ll never know how sorry he is,” Iris pointed out.She wasn’t sure if Tyler and Noelle were good for each other, but she’d never seen Noelle in a relationship that didn’t have some drama, and Tyler seemed to really care about her and jumped through her hoops.
“Yeah, that’s a good point.”Noelle picked up a slice of apple, crunching on it thoughtfully.“Alright, I’ll call him now.”
“Awesome.”Feeling as though she’d done her good deed for the day, Iris retreated to her room, so Noelle could have some privacy to eat and make her call.Settling on her bed, she opened the book she’d been reading when Law interrupted her at lunch.He would never know he’d been accorded an honor, considering she rarely reacted well to interruptions when she was in the middle of the newest Lexi Blake book.Hopefully, she’d be able to finish before Noelle was ready to hang out.
She was just in the middle of muttering curses under her breath at the bombshells being dropped on the page when there was a knock on her door.Stifling the much louder curse she wanted to utter, she swallowed it back and lifted her head.Damn.Normally, Noelle wanted more time to herself after getting home.
“What’s up?”
The door opened, and Noelle peeked her head in, her eyes bright.
“Hey!So, Tyler was at work when I called, but he had a break, so he picked up and said he realized I was so upset last night and asked if I wanted him to take off tonight.I said, of course, so he asked one of his coworkers to cover for him, so we’re going to hang out tonight!”
Wait, what?
“But…” Iris started, then stopped.Noelle seemed really excited, but… Iris had taken off tonight, so they could hang out.
“But what?”Noelle’s expression had gone from thrilled and happy to annoyed so fast, Iris felt like she had whiplash.
“I just thought we were going to hang out tonight, that’s all.”Since she’d taken time off work.
Noelle sighed with exasperation, canting her hip to the side and putting her hand on it.
“You were the one who told me to call Tyler!Didn’t you mean it?”
“No… I did, I mean…” Iris shook her head.“I’m sorry.You should definitely go out with him.I was excited about our girls’ night, but we can do it some other time.”
