Jennie

I was in a food and orgasm induced coma when my cell started ringing in my bag. Lying across Lisa's chest, exhausted, I looked at my purse—way across the room—wishing I could find a way to get to it without moving. I grudgingly started to get up and Lisa's arms locked around me.

"Nuh uh. You're keeping me warm. Let it ring."

I chuckled at how pitiful she sounded and shook my head. "You won't freeze. It's seventy degrees in here. I know, I set the thermostat myself."

She grumbled under her breath but let me get up, though I could tell she wasn't happy about it.

I reached my phone on the fourth ring, barely catching the call before voicemail would have kicked in.

Nayeon!

"Oh my Google! It's about time you got off that stupid boat!" I said by way of greeting.

She laughed, such a familiar sound after all these years—one I'd missed the last few weeks. "That's right, baby, the bitch is back!" she announced, still giggling.

I glanced at Lisa, who had tugged the throw blanket from the back of the couch and covered herself with it. She was fake shivering and crooking a finger in my direction. Sneaky shit. I saw the tent she was creating under that blanket. Cold my ass, she was horny. Again.

"Hello? Did I lose you?"

I was lost, all right. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"I said the last few weeks have been eventful as hell. I need to catch you up on the current…situation."

"What situation?" I was instantly worried by the sound of her voice.

She blew out a breath. "Oh, you know…the state of my life. A lot can change in a month, I'll tell you that much now."

"Amen to that." I looked over at Lisa and tried to fathom how so much had happened—and how I'd gotten through any of it without my Nay Nay.

"It's a lot to discuss. I'll grab us a bottle of wine and be there in twenty."

My eyes widened and Lisa quirked a brow at my expression.

Before I could get another word in, Nayeon hung up.

Shit. How was I supposed to explain the naked celebrity on my couch?

Fifteen minutes later, I stood in my bedroom with Lisa, who found all this way too funny for my liking. She'd offered to leave if I wasn't ready for her to meet Nayeon, but I'd refused to let her scurry away like we were doing something wrong. I wanted her to stay, I just needed a little time with Nayeon before I sprung Lisa on her. It seemed perfectly logical to me.

Lisa thought it was hilarious.

"The last time I hid in a girl's bedroom was when I was fourteen and her father—the producer of the show she and I worked on together—barged in and caught us anyway. Apparently, my feet weren't all the way under the bed like I thought." She shook her head, reminiscing like I wasn't in full-on panic mode.

"I'm not asking you to hide under the bed. Just give me fifteen minutes to explain everything."

"I wouldn't have fit under there anyway." She eyed the sliver of space under my queen size bed warily before turning back to me. "And what do you plan to tell her I was doing in here while you two had your little powwow twenty feet away? Knitting?"

"I'll tell her you were taking a shower or on the phone or something."

"You might want to decide on one of those now, in case I need to actually walk out of here with wet hair."

I raised a brow as she started slowly removing the T-shirt and jeans she'd put back on a few minutes before. Her abs were well-defined and delicious looking. Every time I saw them, I had the insane urge to lick them—among other things.

So. Hot.

Must. Focus.

I shook my head. "Keep your clothes on, Hollywood. I have a spray bottle with water in it on the bathroom counter that you can use to wet your hair. No nudity necessary."

She pulled her shirt back down, deflated. "Dammit. I kind of liked the idea of you out there trying to explain all this while you knew I was in here naked… and wet…and thinking of you."

"Stop it, Lisa." My body had an immediate and intense reaction to the way she looked at me, the way her voice deepened.

She came closer, closing the distance between us in the blink of an eye. "What's the matter, Jennie-girl? You're looking kind of flushed."

"Hey, chickadee! I've got the wine!" Nayeon suddenly called over the sound of the door closing behind her. She had her own key; always had.

Shit. "I'm changing clothes, be right out!" I called back

"Don't dress up for me. I've seen you wake up from a nap with one titty hanging out of your tank top," she laughed.

Lisa laughed too. A little too loud. I immediately clamped a hand over her mouth. "Shh!" I hissed. "And not one word about the escaped titty. It happens to everyone, like a law of nature."

She licked my palm, still laughing as I jerked my hand away. "Real mature," I scolded, wiping my hand on my shorts.

Nayeon was in the kitchen from the sound of it and feeling chatty. "Hey, since I'm officially without manly companionship for the foreseeable future—more on that in a minute—I need to know where you bought that magic wand thing you were raving about."

Jesus, shut up, Nayeon!

My eyes darted to my nightstand, where the aforementioned wand was kept. Lisa followed my gaze with a devious smile and started slowly inching her way in that direction.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! I'll kill Nayeon!

"Unless you've found something better while I was gone, in which case, I'll order that instead."

Lisa quirked a brow, still inching away from me.

"I'll be out in a minute!" I called as pleasantly as I could since I was picturing my hands around Nay's snitching throat.

I even turned and glared through the door, for no reason other than it was hard to look at Lisa just then.

Big mistake.

I heard the nightstand drawer begin to slide open, and before I could give it much thought, I launched myself across the room and tackled her, throwing us both onto the bed as I used one foot to kick the drawer shut.

She was wide-eyed and biting her lip to keep from laughing as I dragged her to her feet, a finger in her face. "You stay out of there or I'll go back to using that thing instead of getting my orgasms from you. Understand?"

She put her hands up and started backing away from the bed.

Just as the door opened and Nayeon walked in.

Son of a bitch.

Nayeon stopped dead in her tracks, looking at Lisa's back with an expression between surprise and fear. Lisa's hands were still up in surrender, so it looked like I'd just been wrestling a burglar.

Lisa winced when she heard Nay's sharp inhalation behind her and mouthed 'sorry,' not turning to face her yet.

"Um, Jennie?" I could tell she was at a loss for words—too bad that hadn't happened five minutes earlier.

"Yeah, hi. Sorry. I was trying not to spring this on you."

"I think it's officially sprung now." She looked up and down Lisa's back, her attention lingering briefly on Lisa's ass as she raised one brow at me and kind of nodded, eyes taking another long pass over Lisa's outline.

I could tell Lisa was doing her best not to laugh at the sprung remark. Dirty-minded turd.

"Yeah, I guess so. But I still think you and I should talk first." I walked past Lisa and gave the barest of head shakes, letting her know to stay where she was.

"Oh, I'd say there's a lot we need to talk about, you little minx. But why exclude your friend here. She may want some wine too." She stepped further into the room, intent on introducing herself. "Who knows, maybe she has a single friend she can send my way."

"Nay, wait…" I reached out to tug on her shoulder but she was a slippery little shit and I lost my grip on her.

She walked a step past Lisa and spun to face her, already offering her hand. "I'm…holy shit!" I helplessly watched as all the color drained from her face and her breath whooshed out of her body.

Lisa took the hand she'd offered and enveloped it between both of hers. "Nice to meet you, Nayeon. I'm Lisa Manoban, Jennie's girlfriend."

If possible, the girlfriend comment made Nayeon pale even further. "Holy shit," she muttered, looking over at me with eyes the size of saucers.

I walked up next to Lisa and put a hand on Nay's shoulder. "You okay?"

She glanced from Lisa to me and back again, stupefied but thankfully recovering quickly. "Oh sure." Her voice was a touch too high. "I'm great." She looked from my face to Lisa's hands, which still held one of hers. "Who wants wine?"

Lisa let go of her and smiled as I put an arm around Nayeon and steered her out of the room. She stopped us every few feet so she could look back over her shoulder at Lisa. I followed her gaze and watched as Lisa gave her a friendly smile each time, which I was eternally grateful for.

I was pretty sure if Lisa talked to her again, she'd faint.

Nayeon sat at the dining room table, watching Lisa and me as we opened and poured the wine. I took Nayeon's glass and mine, heading back to her. Lisa reached into the fridge and grabbed the fruit and cheese plate we'd picked up after work and brought it to the table.

I handed over Nayeon glass and she started gulping it down.

"Nay, you might want to pace yourself."

Lisa scooted the food closer to Nayeon and smiled, offering her something to eat so she'd stop drinking so fast.

Nayeon plucked a grape from the plate and popped it in her mouth, giving a weak smile of thanks as she chewed.

I gulped my wine and took a deep breath. "So, I was planning to find a more tactful way to tell you, but I guess this will work too." I was attempting humor because I had no idea what else to do. "Clearly, it's been an eventful few weeks while you were away."

Nayeon looked over at me and there were tears in her eyes. "I never should have gone on that cruise, Jennie. Whatever happened to get you here," She glanced quickly at Lisa before looking back at me. "I missed that—and I'm betting you needed me. But what was I doing? I was on a stupid boat with a slimy sack of shit who thought it would be funny to book us on a swinger's cruise without even discussing it with me."

"What?"

"Yeah. I guess he thought the best time to discuss an open relationship was two seconds after I walked into our room to find some bitch deep throating him while her husband watched them from the desk chair and beat his pathetic middle-aged meat." She didn't even look at Lisa, probably because, like me, she had no filter once she got going, and she knew Lisa'd just heard more than she'd ever wanted to about her sex life. Or—more accurately—her ex-boyfriend's sex life.

"Oh God…"

"That's what he was moaning when I walked in." Her face started to crumple but she clamped her jaw tight and fought for composure.

"Why didn't you contact me? Email me or something?" I reached for her hand—the one that wasn't holding the wine glass. Lisa got up without a word and retrieved the bottle to refill Nayeon glass.

She gave Lisa a grateful smile and shrugged at my question. "And tell you what, exactly? That I made him bunk with the happy couple for the last two weeks of the cruise while I locked myself away and watched movies between moments of clarity where I reassessed my life?" The corner of her mouth turned up in a spiteful grin, despite the devastation on her face. "I did venture out to the casino late at night, gambling away a shit-load of money that was charged to his room. I cashed out every night so I could keep my winnings while letting him eat the losses. I also drank a ton—deliberately getting the drinks from the restaurants rather than the free ones in the casino and charged that to him, too. By the time we got back to port and the final invoice was dropped off to the room, he was down over ten grand." She took another long swallow of her wine and chuckled a little, finding a smile I knew she didn't really feel. "I was nice enough to slip the bill under his new bunkmates' door before I left."

Lisa snorted. "Impressive."

She looked up at Lisa, really seeing her for the first time. "You're really dating my best friend, huh?"

Oh shit. Here we go.

"Yes, ma'am." Lisa looked at me with a fond smile.

"Do you treat her like the kickass princess she is?"

"Yes, ma'am." Lisa nodded emphatically.

"And you'd never expect her to share you or—even worse—let you watch while she hooked up with some forty-something accountant with a bald spot and three-inch pecker, right?"

Lisa barked out a laugh and shook her head. "No, ma'am. I'm too protective and territorial for that."

"Fact," I agreed, laughing along with them both.

"Do you love her?"

I cringed, my laughter dying as I was hit with instant embarrassment. "Nayeon, we've only known each other for—"

"Yes, ma'am," Lisa said softly, watching me.

I could feel Nayeon staring at me but I couldn't look away from Lisa, the flecks of gold in her deep green eyes, the sharp lines of her jaw, the perfect shape of her full mouth… The way she looked at me like I was some kind of treasure she'd been searching for her entire life. The way she smiled at me for no reason, as if my mere existence made her insanely happy.

Nayeon broke the silence. "You know your celebrity status won't be enough to protect you from my wrath if you fuck up and hurt her, right?"

"Yes, ma'am." Lisa grinned wider. She was an actor, after all, so she was naturally gifted in the dramatic declarations department.

I saw Nayeon nod from the corner of my eye. "Good. Now that we've got that out of the way, how about one of you telling me how the fuck this happened? And don't leave out anything, because I plan to live vicariously through the two of you, now that I'm officially without a man."

"I hear there's a certain wand that's the next best thing." Lisa grinned as Nayeon and I blushed all the way to our toes.

She was such a shit, but my God, how I loved her.

"You seriously cussed out Teddy Harrison in the middle of the downtown mall?" Nayeon was on her third glass of wine, I was on my second, and Lisa had left to pick up dinner and a couple of backup bottles of red.

I hadn't wanted Lisa to leave, but she'd said Nayeon and I needed some time to catch up without her. Much as I hated to agree, there were some things I preferred not to discuss in front of her—not yet, anyway.

I nodded. "Basically. Though there was less actual swearing and more threatening."

"I can't believe you finally quit your crappy job." She watched me with concern in her eyes. "And you're doing okay where you are now? I mean, as far as the acting part? Like in front of the camera and all those people?" She nodded toward the kitchen. "If I check that freezer for your anxiety-soother of choice, how much of it will I find? Pints or gallon tubs?"

"Somewhere in between, but it's stuff I've been nursing for a while. Nothing major. I really am okay, Nay. I never thought I'd be able to do this, but here I am, not only getting through it—I'm actually enjoying it."

"No anxiety attacks?"

"Only one major issue on-set and that was situational. It had nothing to do with the camera itself."

Her brows crinkled. "Then what was it?"

"A long story is what it was. Not even worth the time it would take to explain. It's not going to happen again."

"Does Lisa know about before? About why all this is so scary for you? Or does she think you're shy or something?"

I chuckled and waggled my brows. "She knows I'm not shy."

"Don't deflect, you lucky bitch. Does she know or not?"

I shrugged and plucked up a grape, taking my time chewing it.

"Speak, sparky!"

I huffed out a breath and flipped her off. "Impatient."

"Jennie…" She was getting annoyed.

"She knows I have anxiety but not why. And she knows I was in foster care but not why. That what you wanted to know?"

I reached for another grape and she snagged my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "But you love her, right? I mean, I could see it on your face from the second I walked in."

"I haven't told her yet, but yeah, I do."

"Do you think she won't love you if you tell her about before?"

"No. That's not it. None of it was my fault, I know that and so would she."

"Then why aren't you being honest with her, Jennie-bear?"

It was my turn to fight for composure. "Because I'm embarrassed and I don't want her to be ashamed to be with me."

She swatted my shoulder with her free hand. "Stop that shit. You're not giving her enough credit and you know it."

"No, I'm being realistic. And not telling her is my choice to make, which means I need you to respect it, even if you don't agree."

She gave me a bland look. "Have I ever not supported you, even when you were being a dumbass?"

"No. You've never let me down, which is why I love you so freaking much."

"And I never will." She leaned across the table and hugged me. "But I do want to go on record and say that this is one of those dumbass moves that only a true bestie would have your back on."

"Noted," I chuckled, picking a strand of her hair off my lips as we hugged it out like sisters. "God, I missed you. You're not ever allowed to ditch me for the high seas again, understand?"

"Noted." She chuckled against my shoulder and ran a hand over my hair.

"Ahem." Lisa cleared her throat behind us, having just walked in. "Is this a sex thing? Because I'm territorial over chicks just like I am with other guys."

Nayeon and I let go, laughing.

I turned toward Lisa. "I never thought you'd be the jealous type."

Lisa took the bags to the kitchen and looked at us through the open space above the bar. "I'm not jealous—I have no reason to think there's anyone out there who could take you away or that you'd want to go if they tried. Insecurity causes jealousy. I'm not insecure; I'm territorial. Meaning I know without a doubt that I'm yours and you're mine, and what's mine is to be protected."

She went about unpacking the bags from my favorite Thai restaurant, the apartment filling with the smells of curry and ginger.

Nayeon leaned across the table, her eyes following Lisa as she moved around the kitchen. "Is it wrong that I found that kind of hot, even though it was a tad on the caveman side?"

I was watching Lisa too, unable to stop myself. "Nope. I'm sitting here debating between cussing her out and sitting on her face."

"Would it really be that far out of character for you to do both?"

I chuckled. "Nope, that sounds like me."

"A word of advice, from one bestie to another; wait till you're sitting on her face and then you can start cussing. Worst case scenario, she gets mad and tries to buck you off—which could still be really good if you lock your thighs around her head."

We were laughing hysterically when Lisa came back to the table, and she had the good sense not to ask why.