Filthy Secret

After four outfit changes, three attempts at putting on fake eyelashes-all of them a fail-and one breakneck trip to the mall to splurge on new bras and panties, Jo had to admit she

might be just a teensy bit out of her depth with this whole dating thing. Not that she thought Sawyer would necessarily want to see her bra or panties tonight. But this was their fourth date this week, each of which had been just as much fun as the first and had ended in slow, seductive kisses at her doorstep. Tonight, Jo had offered to cook him dinner, which she’d meant as a genuine date-after all, Sawyer was all about risk, and her cooking skills fell square into the “this could be delicious or a disaster” category. But the more she’d thought about it, the more she’d realized the implications of having him over at her place, just the two of them, with her bedroom right there, and God, she was such a dolt.

The only thing more nerve wracking than Sawyer thinking she’d invited him over specifically so they could have sex was the knowledge that Jo really, really wanted to have sex with him. Fast, hard, dirty sex, the kind she’d seen in countless movies. The kind she was sure Sawyer was probably great at. The kind she’d never really had in her life, where she lost herself so thoroughly in the moment that the pleasure made her scream and the orgasms arrived effortlessly and more than once-no, twice.

Yeah, Jo might not make it through her salad without spontaneously combusting.

Thankfully, her phone rang, saving her from her thoughts. “Hey,” she said, putting her sister on speakerphone as she moved through the kitchen to assemble her dinner ingredients.

“Hey! How’s the audition prep going?” Frankie asked.

Knowing it would be futile to sugarcoat things like she had with her agent earlier today, Jo said, “Eh.”

“Okay, I may need more to go on than that,” Frankie said, and the truth tumbled out of Jo before she could stop it.

“The part is great. Like, game-changing, career-changing, life-changing, exactly what I’ve been looking for, perfect.”

Frankie let a second drop off the clock before asking the obvious. “Shouldn’t that be a good thing?”

Jo’s laugh was short and lacked humor. “For normal people, sure. For me, it’s just…” She paused for a shaky breath. “This is my last shot at something big, you know? And I really want the part. I’m just not sure I can land it.”

“Of course you can land it,” Frankie said, the same way she’d say that the sun set in the west, or the sky was blue, or any other universal truth. “You’re an incredible actress, Jo. Auditioning for a big role is a risk, sure, but I know you. You’re talented and fierce. I don’t care what anyone says about Priscilla Contreras. You’re the original Amanda from Way Back When, the one they wanted first. They chose you. Josephine Fucking Rossi. You’ve got what it takes to nail this audition and make the producers beg you to play the part.”

“Part of me knows that,” Jo admitted. She’d landed a lead role on a major prime time show, for Chrissake. No one did that unless they had chops. “I’m just not so great at the big risk part. I keep thinking of all the ways that’s burned me before and all the ways it could go wrong. I mean, I can’t even date a ridiculously hot guy without unintentionally propositioning him. How am I supposed to beat out hundreds of other actresses for this part?”

A shocked silence skipped over the line, and damn it, damn it, damn it!

Why did her mouth have to have so much independence all the time?

Finally, Frankie said, “You propositioned Sawyer.”

“No. Maybe. I’m not quite sure?” Jo amended, and but her sister pounced.

“Explain. And don’t even think of scrimping on the details.”

“Has anyone ever told you you’re like a barracuda, only not as charming?” Jo grumbled.

“As a matter of fact, yes. And nice try, but I’m waiting.”

Knowing she had no other choice, Jo told Frankie how she’d asked Sawyer over for a cozy dinner for two. “I didn’t realize it would sound like a booty call. But it totally does, right? Like, I pretty much said, ‘I want you to come over and take my clothes off with your teeth?’, didn’t I?”

Frankie laughed, but not meanly. “Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but he said yes, didn’t he?”

Jo stopped with her hands halfway to the cupboard in front of her. “Oh.”

Oh. “I hadn’t really thought of that.”

“Look, I’m going to tell you something I think you already know.

Sawyer’s a good guy.”

“I do know that,” Jo said. Yes, the kisses they’d shared had been nothing short of incendiary, but he’d never pushed her for anything more.

“He’s also a twenty-six-year-old, super-duper hetero guy,” Frankie pointed out. “I saw how he looked at you the night he met you, and from what you’ve told me about your dates this week, he’s more than a little into you.”

Heat crept into Jo’s cheeks, but she couldn’t deny what Frankie was saying. “Okay, maybe, but-”

“Sweet Jesus in the manger, Josephine. Could you please, just this once, throw caution to the wind and let yourself have a scorching-hot fling? Sawyer’s not some rando you met on Tinder. For the love of all things sacred, let the man bake your potato!”

For a second, Jo’s hard-earned defenses wanted to keep up her argument. But, as much as Jo would probably pay for saying so out loud, Frankie was right.

“For the record, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at potatoes the same way again,” Jo said, letting a microscopic smile slip over her mouth.

“Sorry,” Frankie said. “That one kind of flew out. I’m not trying to push you, Jo-Jo. I just hate to see you second-guessing yourself all the time.”

“It’s okay. You’re not really wrong.”Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Well, that got her. “I’m sorry. What?” Frankie asked.

Jo took out a box of pasta, then bit the bullet. “I do second-guess myself, especially when it comes to anything risky or impulsive. I had that sort of relationship with Derek, and I got really burned.”

“Oh, honey,” Frankie said. “Sawyer and Derek are two totally different men.”

“I know,” Jo said slowly. “And I know this is a different situation. I’m only here for a couple more weeks, and we’ve only been on a handful of dates. But the truth is, I really do want to have sex with Sawyer. It might be impulsive, and I may be a little graceless about it,” she added, because she was probably the only person on planet Earth who didn’t realize that inviting him to dinner might make him think she meant to seduce him, “but that doesn’t make it any less true.”

“So, you’re going to cook for him, huh?” Frankie asked with a smirk in her voice, and damn, her sister knew her far too well.

“If following the very detailed, step-by-step instructions that Angelina sent me for a pasta dish she literally called ‘idiot-proof’ counts as cooking, then yes. I am cooking for Sawyer.”