MISSION PRETTY WOMAN

I burst out laughing. "There is no love going around Lexa. How the hell can you be such a romantic when you won't even let any guy within ten feet of you?"

"Don't try to switch the focus to me, Katy. You're so sure he's not falling in love, but are you?"

Her question silences my laughter in an instant. And Lexa's gasp fills the silence.

"You are."

"No. Not love. More like… I feel much more for him than I know I should be feeling. I really don't know anything about him to love him. I know his freaking name, that he’s rich, and that he likes to meet up with women he pays for sex on Saturdays."

"Sounds like enough to love someone to me." She chuckles.

I roll my eyes. "Definitely not. Tonight felt different, but at the end of the night, I'm reminded of how this all started, and I'm left asking myself if he expects me to charge him more for any extra nights."

"Shit, I would."

"Lexa, be serious for five seconds."

"I am being serious. So, why not just ask him, if you feel like things are changing, ask him if they are."

"I don't want to, honestly."

"Because you don't really want the answer?"

"Exactly."

"I can understand that. So wait and see how it goes, and keep enjoying him, and the hotel rooms in the meantime. And I'll just go on home with my take-out."

I almost tell her to stay and wait for me. I almost tell her to come to the hotel. But a part of me, however small, is hoping that Rain decides to come back, even if it's just to finish our night the way we have any other time.

"But as long as you bring me another piece of cake, I'll forgive you."

"It's a deal."

"Enjoy that room, Katy."

"I will. Love you. Night."

"Love you."

I hang up and let the phone fall to the bed beside me. Time for a movie. I don't think I can order another piece of cake without it just making me think of Rain more, so I get a tiramisu instead. When it hits one in the morning, I accept that Rain isn't coming back. I contemplate texting him, asking him to come, but in the end, I chicken out and tuck myself under the covers. The scent from the candles I just blew out fills the room, making sure that I remember what this room looked like when I walked in tonight. And that there has to have been a reason Rain did all of this when he surely didn't have to. That thought makes me smile as I shut my eyes.

It seems that smile hasn't left me by Friday as I'm visiting Charlotte. Her words make that clear.

"You have a... glow about you," she says.

"That's pretty much what happens when I stop stressing so much."

She narrows her eyes. "No, it's not that. You haven't stopped smiling since you got here."

"It's starting to get a little disturbing, honestly," Lexa teases from beside me. "You look a little bit like Joker."

I toss a straw at her. "Asshole."

She easily ducks it, laughing loudly.

"I'm pretty sure I know exactly why you're so happy," Charlotte continues.

"What is that?" I ask.

"Rain."

"No." I shake my head.

"Oh my God, look at you!" she exclaims. "You started smiling even more when I said his name."

"I think our girl is in love," Lexa singsongs.

I glare at her because she knows better than to encourage this crap. She only grins at me.

"I wanna meet him," Charlotte states. It's clear from her voice that there isn't much room for refusing, but I try to anyway.

"We're definitely not serious enough for him to be meeting you."

"He's serious enough for you to have spent the last few weekends with him, so he's serious enough for me to meet."

"Me too," Lexa adds.

I discreetly pinch her arm, and she gives a muffled, "Ouch."