Friends With Way Too Many Benefits (40 page)

"I know. I know." He shook his leg nervously under the table. "That car accident freaked her out."

"And Victoria being called…" She gave him a pointed look and made quote marks with her fingers. "…
your mother
by the nurse didn't help either."

He scoffed. "Yeah... So what do I do?"

"You ask her today." She widened her eyes.

"Today?"

"Yeah, she's vulnerable. She feels horrible about what happened this morning and it's a perfect time."

"I don't know..." He frowned. "Isn't this a little like asking her when she's drunk or something?"

"Sure, but this isn't a normal woman we're dealing with here. She loves you, but she keeps letting life and her mind get in the way of her happiness."

"Yeah, but it doesn't feel like the right time."

"Look, do you want to marry her or not?"

"I do. I do."

"I hate to use a football analogy, but it's like she's only got twelve men on the field on defense and you're the offense and you rush out there and throw a long bomb before she has a chance to realize it."

He gave her a look. "Um, you're only allowed eleven men in football."

"Eleven, huh?" She gave him a confused look. "What sport has twelve?"

"None that I can think of." He shrugged then sipped from his cup.

"Why did they come up with eleven? That seems like such an arbitrary number, I mean ten would be better because—"

"Jillian?" he interrupted with his eyes bugging out.

"Sorry."

"Could we discuss football later?"

"Sure, but you get the idea, right?"

"I do."

"Have you thought about how you'll ask her?"

"I have this silly idea that involves the pool, some candles and a sorta romantic way to do it."

"That sounds workable, but I'll need more details. The big question is do you have the ring?"

"No."

"I didn't think so. You can tell me the whole plan while we walk." Rising up from the chair, she headed for the door.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

"Okay see you in a few minutes." Jim ended the call then knelt on the floor wearing only a swim suit in the darkened living room, peering out the window and waiting. He stretched his neck from side to side and sighed. After looking both ways down the street and finding no cars approaching, he rose up and headed to the kitchen.

He glanced at the note on the counter which said, "
Meet me outside... Love, Jim"

Poking his head out the back door, he glanced at the pool and smiled— everything was set.

Just as he returned to the window, he saw her car. Grinning widely, he took off to the back of the house.

Ninety seconds later Victoria slid the screen open, stepped out onto the patio and called out, "Jim?"

"I'm here," he said standing in the pool with a number of large colorful letters floating in front of him. Wearing a life vest and a safety helmet, he gazed up to her, smiling.

"We have to leave for the party soon. What the hell are you doing?" She stepped to the edge of the pool shaking her head, confused.

"What's it look like?"

"Um, well, it, uh... actually what I'm thinking is completely not politically correct, so I'm not going to say it."

"Go ahead say it?" He smiled.

"I mean, you sorta look like a swimming contestant in the Special Olympics... no disrespect meant to mentally challenged people or their families."

"What the hell are you talking about? Just read the letters."

"Oh, okay." Looking down to the letters floating in front of him, she tilted her head confused. "R. A. M. R. Y. M.E. That spells ramry me."

"What?" He looked at them, fighting to read upside down.

She flashed her eyes suggestively. "Oh, that sounds dirty. So you want me to ram you." Raising her eyebrows, she smiled. "Okay, do I need a strap on for that or...?"

He shook his head and rearranged the letters to read MARRY ME then pointed to them.

Her face lit up with pretend recognition. "Oh, marry you."

"Yes."

"I thought we already discussed this."

"This is a little cute, right?" he said.

"A little bit."

"But what's with the helmet and life jacket."

"Safety first." He smiled.

"Now that is cute and funny too." After kicking off her shoes, she pulled off her shirt and slipped out of her shorts. "Tell me you're not wearing anything."

"I sorta am." He shrugged.

She removed her bra and pulled down her panties and stood at the edge of the pool. "But you can fix that can't you?"

He nodded then quickly pushed his bathing suit down, balled it up and tossed it onto the concrete deck.

"Okay." Slowly, she moved down the steps and into the pool. Ducking her head under the water, she came up, pushed her hair out of her face and swam to him.

"So..." He looked her in the eye. "Oh, wait." He fought to pull a ring off his pinky and once he did, he held it up for her to see.

Her face lit up. "It's beautiful."

It slipped out of his fingers and fell into the pool. He closed his eyes and sighed, pointing down into the water. "Um, will you wait while I…?"

"Sure."

"Could you step back a second?"

She moved a few feet away and folded her arms.

After taking a deep breath, he went underwater and struggled to make his way to the floor of the pool, but the life vest prevented him from getting more than a foot underwater. He popped out of the water once, then tried again and came up giving her a sheepish look. "I should probably take this off."

"Uh-huh."

He pulled the Velcro straps of the vest apart and tossed it out of the pool. "Oh, and I should probably lose the helmet as well."

"Probably."

After removing the helmet, he dove down and searched. Twenty seconds later he came up empty handed and shrugged. "It has to be here somewhere."

Dipping back down, he searched the bottom of the pool for another thirty seconds then rose up, panting and cursing under his breath.

"I'll help you." Victoria went under water and for a full minute they both searched the bottom of the pool for the ring. When they finally gave up, he sighed. "I can't believe this."

"I can." She frowned. "It's another sign."

"No it's not." Opening up his palm, he revealed the beautiful ring. "I found it the first time I went down."

"You jerk." She slapped him in the shoulder and held back a smile.

"I just couldn't resist."

Looking past her, his face lit up. "Wow, would you look at that sunset?"

She turned around to see the gorgeous pink and blue sky with the low hanging gray clouds. With no less than five hues of pink shimmering from the evening sun, it was an incredible sight. "You're right. I've never seen one so pretty."

They stood together, gazing at it until he turned to her and sighed. "It's almost as beautiful as you are."

"That's sweet." She looked away, shyly.

"Now that's a sign." He pointed to it. "That's a real sign."

"Maybe."

"Can I please see your left hand?" He held the ring up for her.

She brought her arm out of the water. "It's breathtaking."

He slipped it on her finger and she studied it closely. "I love it."

"I hoped you would."

Placing her hands on his shoulders, she gave him a dead serious look. "Are you planning on wearing that safety helmet full time or..."

"I'll do whatever it takes." He kissed her softly and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. "So what do you say?"

"Have you really actually asked me this time, because I don't recall hearing the question?"

He scoffed. "You know, you'd think since this is my third time I would have it nailed down, but you're right, I didn't actually ask."

"All I remember is that naughty pool message. That did sound like fun though." Sliding her hands down his back she squeezed the cheeks of his ass before slipping her finger down his cleft.

He backed away from her. "Hey, stop kidding around."

"Sorry."

He took a deep breath. "Now, I would get on one knee, but then you wouldn't be able to hear me."

She chuckled. "Up here is good."

He moved back to her and frowned. "Keep your hands to yourself for a minute."

"All right." She sighed.

"First I want to tell you that I asked your father for his blessing and he gave it to me."

"Now that's adorable."

"I thought so too." After clearing his throat, he smiled. "Victoria Margaret Wilde?"

"Yes."

He looked into her eyes, pausing for dramatic effect then asked, "Will you marry me?"

"I will."

He returned to her, took her in his arms and they kissed. "Do you also promise to stop obsessing about our slight age difference?"

"I do."

"Good. Now how much time do you think we have before we need to start getting ready?"

"Oh, about ten minutes."

He gave her a sexy smile. "I could do it twice in that time."

"Show me." She raised her eyebrows up.

After about eight minutes of unusual splashing activity in the pool, they headed inside to take a shower. Sadly, Jim only was able to perform once. He blamed it on the challenge presented by underwater sex. Victoria didn't buy it for one minute. As they showered together, Jim laid out his idea for a Vegas wedding and said he had it all mapped out. When Victoria finally made her way out to the living room dressed, she found Jim on his laptop.

There the newly engaged couple got a bit preoccupied reviewing Jim's Las Vegas links to hotels, flight information and the wedding chapel. Forty minutes later they closed the lid on the computer with a tentative plan in place.

Jim and Victoria arrived about an hour late to the film's wrap party. The studio spared no expense as the spread of food was incredible and the top shelf liquor was flowing like crazy.

Victoria spotted Jillian talking with Amanda Joseph and headed over to them while Jim went to visit the bar.

Just before Victoria reached Jillian, Amanda turned and walked away. "Hey…" Jillian shook her head, frowning. "That is one bizarre woman."

"Really?"

"Yes, every conversation we have is crazier than the one before it."

"That's Hollywood for ya."

"Yep." Jillian chuckled.

"Where's Brian?" Victoria asked.

"That's what Amanda Jo…" Jillian made a snarky face. "… just asked me before she took off like a lunatic."

After waiting a few moments, Victoria asked again, "So where is he?"

"Sorry." Jillian shook her head. "He had some emergency at the club, although I really don't think he wanted to come."

"That stinks." Victoria covered her ring with her other hand. "When Jim gets back we have something to tell you."

"So you said yes!"

"Wait, how'd you know?"

Just then Jim arrived with three champagne glasses. He handed one to Victoria then a special one to Jillian. "This one is non-alcoholic."

"Thank you." Jillian smiled. "I helped him pick out the ring this afternoon."

"He didn't tell me that." Victoria frowned, looking to her new fiancé. "You didn't tell me she helped you."

"Yeah, so… what now you're changing your mind?"

"No, but why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know." He took a sip of his champagne.

"Let me see it again," Jillian said.

Victoria wagged her ring finger in front of her best friend's face.

"I really do have amazing taste." Jillian beamed.

"You do."

"And I'm so glad you finally said yes."

"Me too." Victoria's smile melted away and she looked at Jim like he was out of his mind. "Wait, we both said we couldn't wait to tell her the news."

"Yeah…" He shrugged.

"She already knows the news!"

"No, I thought the news was…" he whispered in her ear.

Jillian looked on with interest as Victoria scoffed then said, "Really, how could—"

"You two are adorable." Jillian interrupted. "You're already arguing like an old married couple."

Victoria broke into a chuckle. "Sorry."