The Right Bed?: Your Bed or Mine?. Kate Hoffmann
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right,” Caley replied. “I think I can do that.”
“We’ll go inside, get Emma, then dump them both in Emma’s room at the inn and let them figure this out for themselves.”
“Good plan.”
They both jumped out of the car and hurried back to the front door, but a small crowd had gathered outside. “What’s going on?” Jake asked.
“There’s a fight,” one of the girls said. “Some guy and his fiancée and a stripper.”
Jake groaned. “Oh, hell.” He turned to Caley. “You stay here. I’ll be right back.” An instant later, the sounds of a siren could be heard in the distance.
“Get Emma,” Caley cried. “Before she gets hurt.”
Jake pressed through the crush of people leaving the bar and when he finally got inside, the place was lit up and emptied of half the patrons. The band was lounging around the stage and a small group was gathered in the middle of the dance floor. Emma and Sam were sitting on the floor, Tiffany was holding her nose and arguing with Jeff Winslow and a guy that Jake recognized as Emma’s dance partner was laid out flat in front of them all, his hands clutching his crotch.
Jake strode up to group. “What’s going on here?”
“Just step back,” Winslow warned. “Everything is under control.”
“This is my brother and my future sister-in-law. I want to take them home.”
Winslow glanced over his shoulder at Jake and shook his head. “I’m going to have to take your brother and his fiancée in. They started this brawl. Assault, public intoxication—”
“They’re in a bar,” Jake said. “Everyone is intoxicated.”
“You can meet them down at the station. We’ll get things sorted out there.”
“Come on,” Jake said. “Don’t be a hard-ass, Winslow. No one was seriously hurt here.”
“She hit me in the nose!” Tiffany cried.
“She ran into my elbow,” Emma countered. “I was trying to help Robert up after Sam kicked him in the crotch. And she got in the way.”
“I didn’t kick him,” Sam said.
“Yeah, you did, man,” Robert groaned from the floor.
Sam shrugged. “It was a knee to the crotch, not a kick.”
“Isn’t there just a fine I can pay right away and we can take care of this mess without wasting any more time?” Jake asked.
“What’s going on here?” They all turned to look at Caley as she joined the group, a worried expression furrowing her brow.
“I’m breaking up with Sam,” Emma announced. “We’re not getting married.”
“You can’t break up with me,” Sam countered, “because I already broke up with you.”
Emma sent him a withering glare. “You have no reason to break up with me. I was just dancing with Robert. I wasn’t dancing on him like that stripper was doing to you.”
“I’m not a stripper,” Tiffany said. “I prefer exotic dancer.”
“You invited her to our wedding!” Emma cried. “Sometimes, I wonder if you even have a brain in your head.”
“And sometimes I wonder if you have a heart,” Sam shot back.
“Enough!” Winslow shouted. “There will be no more talking. Or I’ll throw all of you behind bars.”
“Can I go now?” Robert asked. “I’ve got to start packing up the van. I’m with the band.” He slowly got to his feet, wincing slightly as he straightened. “I’m not going to press charges.”
“Neither am I,” Tiffany said. She wandered over to Robert and smiled coyly. “So you’re with the band? I love musicians.”
The pair wandered off toward the stage and Officer Winslow started after them. Then he turned and pointed to Emma and Sam. “Don’t move,” he ordered.
Jake glanced over at Caley and shrugged. “Maybe you can talk to him. He seems to like you more than he likes me.” He watched as Caley tried to plead their case. Though he hated sending her back to Winslow, he was certain there’d be no chance she’d be leaving with him.
A few seconds later, Caley returned, a satisfied smile on her face. “We can take them home,” she murmured. “He’s letting them off, but only if they agree to stay out of trouble for the rest of their time here.”
“What did you have to promise him in return?” Jake asked.
“Nothing. He’s doing it as a favor to me.”
Jake cursed softly and looked down at Sam and Emma. “It would probably do them some good to spend a night in jail.”
Caley shook her head and held out her hand to her sister. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. I’ll take Emma back to the inn and you bring Sam.”
Sam also stumbled to his feet and brushed his jeans off. “This is all your fault,” he muttered to Jake. “We should have just stayed at the strip club. I was having fun there.”
They walked out to the parking lot together, Sam and Emma silent and sullen with Jake and Caley standing between them. As Caley started toward her car, Jake grabbed her hand. “I’ll see you later?” he asked.
Caley nodded then walked away, slipping her arm around Emma’s shoulders as they walked off. Sam stared after them, an enigmatic expression on his face.
“You’re not really going to call off the wedding, are you?” Jake asked.
“I think we are,” he murmured, before he turned in the opposite direction.
They didn’t speak during the ride home, Sam lost in his thoughts and Jake unwilling to meddle even further. Though he and Caley had achieved their goal, now that the wedding was off, Jake wondered whether they’d gone too far.
While his feelings for Caley ran deep, he knew that they were also very fragile; would they suffer at the first test or would they endure? He knew how he felt, but he still couldn’t be sure of Caley’s feelings. Now that he’d fallen, Jake was wondering if the risk was worth the reward. Losing Caley would be much more difficult the second time around.
WHEN CALEY FINALLY RETURNED to her room at the inn, Jake was asleep in her bed, his naked body twisted in the sheets, his hair falling in waves across his forehead. Caley stripped off her clothes and tossed them against the wall, crinkling her nose at the scent of stale beer and cigarette smoke.
She glanced over at the clock on the nightstand and sighed softly. It was nearly 3:00 a.m. She’d spent the past three hours with Emma, trying to convince her to reconsider canceling the wedding and listing all of Sam’s good qualities over and over again.
She couldn’t believe Emma was so quick to dismiss her engagement. Caley realized that emotions ran much higher with all the alcohol that had been consumed, but Emma seemed perfectly lucid and determined to leave Sam and her wedding plans behind. She’d even called the airline to buy a ticket back to Boston on the first flight out in the morning.
Did anyone ever find a lasting love? Or was it all just an illusion, as shiny and clear as glass until something came along to shatter it? Did people stay in relationships only because they were too stubborn to admit defeat?
Caley knew her parents loved each other. They’d been together almost thirty years. And Jake’s parents often acted like newlyweds. So why was it so hard for her to believe in love?
She walked to the bathroom and closed the door behind her, then turned on the shower, ignoring the urge to crawl into bed with Jake. It would be so easy to find comfort in his arms. She felt safe with