Enemies with Benefits

Chapter Sixteen

- Caleb -

I rolled my eyes, flipping with irritated gusto through the lace and straps of lingerie on the rack before me. I needed a distraction, and the best idea I'd apparently had was to shop for the woman who was out with another man.

"She seriously went out with that brainless little," I muttered under my breath, pushing another few sets around, "weasel."

"Excuse me? What'd you just call me?" A small woman I hadn't noticed standing next to me scoffed.

Well, hello new distraction.

"Uh, I...I didn't—"

Oh, come the fuck on, Caleb. Where the hell did your game go? Stop pussy footing around.

"I'm sorry," I offered.

When she turned her dimpled, playful smile up at me, I felt the corners of my lips turn up into a responsive grin. And when I opened my mouth, the taste of surprised words crossed my tongue.

"You're about the same size as my girl. Can you help me?"

"Oh! I can, sure." She reached over to flip through the lacy pieces in front of me, then stepped back and frowned. "Wait...that wasn't some ploy to get me to try this stuff on for you, was it?"

If I knew where in hell my balls went, it might've been. But I don't have a clue where I left them.

I chuckled softly—mostly at myself—and gave a slight shake of my head. "It was not, no. I just need the size. My girl's...let's say she's a little angry with me."

"Good. Because I'm married." The stranger's attention dropped to the material my hands had spent the better half of an hour floundering through. She raised a brow and cocked her hip. "So...you're getting her lingerie? No flowers? Chocolates?"

"She has me. Why would she need more chocolate?"

The woman shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose in an effort to hide the smile my retort put on her face. She cleared her throat and dropped her hands back to her sides. "Flowers then."

I shrugged, slipping my hands into my pockets. "Maybe I'm not the flowers kind of guy."

"But is she the flowers kind of girl?"

I pursed my lips. Was she? She used to be, sure, though they could never be real. But even so, flowers would also be an apology, and if that were the case, I had a feeling we owed one another more stems than the world had to offer.

No. No flowers until I knew whether or not she'd grow up and listen. I needed her to do that much, but I still had to figure out how to form the words I'd never been able to say.

"Maybe someday I'll relearn the answer to that myself. She just has to let me."

"That was weirdly...sweet for being cryptic. Anyway," the woman laughed with skepticism and picked through the hangers, stopping and pulling one up. "This is me. Any other style you go for in here for her, you should be able to grab the same size."

I took the hanger from the woman with my eyes glued to the black and red material. It was easy to imagine Rachel wearing it. Bending her over my bed, my counter, couch. My desk.

Fuck. I need to bend her over my desk again.

"Well, good luck with your bouquet of lingerie."

I blinked back the erotic images plaguing my imagination and memories alike, shaking my head clear. "Thank you..."

"Michaela."

"Thank you, Michaela. Truly."

She laughed and shrugged. "Honestly, I wish my husband would do something like this for me, so I'm jealous but glad to help."