Even if she had a few extra pounds on her thighs and around her belly, she presented a very desirable package… at least that’s what her market research had determined.So it was easy to discern that the man whose brain she was in lust with would at least find her mildly attractive… right?
Yeah, she was kind of desperate.
“Give me the red lipstick.”
“Yes!”Barb shouted, doing a small war dance where she stood, her glossy black hair swinging around her face.“The Asian chick is right and you know it.Pucker up, buttercup.I’m about to give you the lips your ancestors shorted you on.”
Okay, so maybe she didn’t have full, pouty lips, but she had enough to kiss… at least she hoped Evan would like to kiss them.
“I don’t know why I’m so nervous.It’s not like we’ve never spoken to each other before.”
“Video conferring with six other designers doesn’t count,” Barb explained as she tossed aside the mascara wand and grabbed a disposable lip brush.She pursed her lips as Cleo felt the sticky concoction spread over her own.“And neither do conference calls, no matter how long you two hang on after everyone else has gone.You just really like him and you want him to like you too.”
“I think this one could break my heart,” she admitted and winced as Barb’s intense look softened.
“Oh… you’re a real girl now, Cleo.You’re a real girl.”Then she snorted, obliterating any soft feelings with the power of sarcasm.“It’s about time you put yourself out there like the rest of us poor saps.Faint hearts that hide in offices and get their light from the glare of a computer screen do not win fair… knights.”
When Cleo gaped at her best friend, the tall Japanese woman shrugged.“Well, he’s not a fair maiden, if the rumors are true.”
“And you call yourself a writer.”Cleo sniffed, amusement shaking her shoulders as she held in a laugh.“And what rumors?”
“I’ve been hanging around the water cooler --”
“We work in two different buildings, and you work from home.What water cooler have you been hanging around?”
“A virtual one, okay?”Barb waved her hands, tossing the used lip brush into the garbage.“Like that’s important.Pay attention.I’ve got the goods on your paramour.”
“Who says paramour?”
“A writer who doesn’t have a limited capacity for languages that don’t end in zeros or ones like certain computer programmers I can name.”She arched one eyebrow at Cleo.
Whoever said Japanese women were shy and retiring needed their ass kicked.
“Fine.”She gave in as gracefully as she could.“Give me the good stuff.”
“Rumor has it that your man --”
“He is not my man.”
“He will be when he gets a load of those suckling red lips…”
“Suckling?”
“You know the original purpose of lipstick, do you not?”
Cleo felt another blush coming on.“Okay, okay.My bad.Please continue.”
“Well, rumor states that your man is packing major heat between his legs.”
“What?”She wrinkled up her nose for a second before her eyes widened in shock.“No!”
“Yes!”Barb was giggling like a gossiping teenager now.“Oh, yes.Rumor also states that he hides it because he’s gotten burned over the size of his cock before.”
“That -- that blows,” Cleo felt her heart break a little for Evan.It was so hard being judged by your appearance or any other factors about yourself that you can’t change.
“Hence the red lipstick.If anything rumors say is right it’s been so long since he got laid that he might spontaneously burst if you blow him a kiss.”
And just like that, the balance of the world was once again restored.Her best friend was an ass.
