R. Mathewson - Playing for Keeps

Judging by the smug smirk on the woman's face she'd guessed what Haley was thinking.

"How long have the two of you been together?" Kate asked casually, but Haley hadn't missed the calculating gleam in her eyes.

Before she could tell her it was none of her business Amy answered for her, "About two months."

The surprised look on Kate's face was rewarding. She knew she'd lasted longer with Jason than any other woman, surprisingly since she never put out. Well, she did do a thousand and one naughty things with him and kept his interest with baked goods, but that was neither here nor there. She was pretty sure he really cared about her, maybe even loved her.

Okay, love might be pushing it for a man like Jason, but she was damn sure that he cared about her. He was always sweet to her and seemed genuinely happy to see her. Not to mention that he went out of his way to spend time with her. She wasn't entirely sure, but she didn't think he'd done that with anyone before her.

"That's pretty impressive," Kate mumbled distractedly.

Amy waved off her comment, leaning closer towards Haley with an unholy gleam of interest in her eyes. "Well?" she said expectantly.

Haley could only frown as she looked past her friend for the waitress. Suddenly she had the feeling the only way she was going to survive this girl's night out was with a lot of alcohol.

She looked back and was startled to find Beth, Alice, and Jen leaning towards her as well with similar expressions.

"Well what?" Haley asked, wondering if she needed to start drug testing her friends. They were seriously freaking her out.

As one they rolled their eyes. It was seriously creepy. She barely fought back the urge to flee.

"Have you slept with him yet?" Amy hissed excitedly.

"Oh.....that," she said, squirming and feeling a little self-conscious. "We sleep together every night," she said, hoping against hope that they'd drop the subject, especially with the way Kate was glaring at her.

Beth snorted. "We know you sleep together every night. What we're wondering is if you finally had sex with the man!"

Her cheeks began to burn with that little announcement.

Kate looked confused. "She just said she's sleeping with him."

Amy leaned back in her chair, taking a sip of her martini. "Haley here doesn't sleep with a man unless she's in love with him. Right?" she said, giving Haley a pointed look.

Why oh why had she shared that little tidbit of information all those years ago in college? Oh, that's right, she'd been drunk.

She squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. "I just want to be sure," she mumbled pathetically.

Kate sat up straighter, holding her hand up to stop Haley's friends as they opened their mouths to no doubt give her another lecture on sex in the twenty-first century. None of them understood why she wanted to wait.

"You've kept Jason Bradford interested for two months and you haven't even had sex with him?" she asked, clearly as surprised as her friends were.

"Yes," she said somewhat defensively. "Our relationship isn't about sex."

Kate sat back, back to giving her a condescending look. "Clearly."

Haley opened her mouth to give the woman a piece of her mind when Beth cut her off.

"Oh, look at that," Beth said, gesturing with her frilly pink drink towards the entrance of the bar. Everyone looked and chuckled and for once Haley was glad that they lived in a small town.

Jason spotted her and waved and then of course slapped Mitch upside his head when the man blew a kiss towards her. Rolling her eyes, Haley stood up and grabbed her purse.

"I'll be right back," she said, not really sure if she would. She really didn't feel like spending a night getting hounded over her virginity again.

"Uh huh," Beth said.

"Sure," Amy said.

Haley didn't bother arguing with them. She was in no mood. All she wanted to do was cuddle up with Jason while he fed her hot wings. Was that too much to ask for?

She walked over to their table. He paused mid-order when he saw her. Frowning, he asked the waitress to come back in a few minutes.

"What's wrong, my little grasshopper?" he asked, pulling her against his side.

"Girl's night sucks," she mumbled pathetically against his shoulder.

He chuckled, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"Do you want to join guy's night?" he asked, sounding amused.

After a short pause she asked, "Do I have to have a penis?"

"I think we can ignore that requirement tonight," he said, chuckling.

"Will you buy me hot wings?" she mumbled, tracing circles on his knee.

He sighed heavily. "If I must."

"You must," she said solemnly.

"Alright. Anything else?"

She shook her head standing. "No, that will do," she announced, leaning over to press a kiss to his cheek.

"I'll order you hot wings if you kiss me," Mitch offered. "In fact if you kiss my--Ow! Damn it!" he snapped, glaring at Brad.

Brad gestured towards Jason with his beer. "It saves time this way."

Laughing and feeling better already, she gave Jason one last kiss before heading to the bathroom where she would no doubt spend half the night just waiting in line.

"Did you just growl?" Mitch asked, laughing.

Jason tore his eyes off his little grasshopper's retreating ass and sent a scowl towards the man. "No." But he had. Oh goddamn, he had. He'd been imagining licking frosting off of Haley in a hundred different ways since she'd offered.

Licking frosting off a woman was a simple fantasy and one he'd dreamed of doing for years, but hadn't found the right woman to share it with. There was no doubt he could have asked any one of the countless women he'd slept with in the past to live out this little kinky fantasy with him before, but he never felt comfortable enough with any of them.

With Haley.......

There wasn't anything he couldn't talk to the woman about. In fact he'd mentioned this fantasy to her only last week. After she playfully teased him for a good hour about it she swore she'd let him lick anything he wanted off her body. Anytime. Thirty seconds later he was struggling to get his damn legs in his pants and mentally making a shopping list when she walked back into his bedroom wearing a smile and a whip cream bikini.

He may have tackled her to the ground and licked every damn creamy morsel off of her before he threw his giggling grasshopper over his shoulder and carried her to the refrigerator where he proceeded to put all the sundae toppings he had to good use.

God, he loved that woman.

"Excuse me? Do you remember me?" a beautiful woman with silky black hair asked, tearing him from his thoughts.

Jason looked at her and frowned. He didn't have a clue who the hell she was and judging by the appreciative look Mitch was sending her way, he'd like to get to know her better.

"No, I'm sorry," he said, taking a sip of his beer.

Her coy smile faltered for a second, and then was back in full force. Without asking she pulled out the chair to his left and sat down, making sure to lean forward enough to give him a view of her generous cleavage.

She reached forward to run her fingers down his arm only to find his arm pulled back.

"Can I help you?" he asked, feeling all his good humor fade away. There was no doubt this woman had seen Haley with him only a few minutes ago. It's funny how once upon a time he would have found this woman's assertive behavior flattering and probably would have ditched his date for her, but now he was with Haley. It pissed him off to no end that women took one look at his little grasshopper and dismissed her as if she was nothing.

"Well," she said, drawing out the word as she shifted in her chair, giving him a better glimpse of her breasts, "I was over there with my friends and funny enough you were the subject of conversation. Then suddenly you were here and I couldn't help but feel that fate was telling me that you and I should be spending a long sleepless night in my bed tonight," she said in husky voice.

"Holy shit," Mitch muttered, taking a much needed sip of beer.

"Weren't you sitting with Haley's friends?" Brad pointed out, sounding as pissed as he felt.

She shrugged Brad's comment off. "I'm sitting with my friend," she stressed. "I would never be friends with someone as cold as Haley."

With that announcement all three men broke out laughing. Haley was many things, but cold? Hell no.

She may still be a bit of a pushover, but only because she truly cared about hurting other people's feelings. Of course that was something they needed to work on, but he was willing to overlook it for now.

The woman glared at him as she crossed her arms over her ample chest, giving him what was probably her best bitch look.

"I wonder how you would feel if you found out you were being played," she snapped.

"Oh, and who's playing me?" Jason asked, still chuckling.

"Haley," she said.

"You can go now," he said, gesturing with his beer for her to leave. Damn, women truly could be cold hearted bitches. Putting down his little grasshopper for a chance at him was low. It was understandable, but low.

She cocked her head to the side, studying him. "Oh, really? Don't think she's playing with you?"

"Would never happen," he said, gesturing again for her to leave. Even Mitch looked like he wanted her to leave and that was saying something. The man usually wasn't so selective about his bed partners and for him to want an easy woman to leave said a great deal about how he felt about Haley. Jason knew the man was starting to see Haley as a sister otherwise he'd have to bitch slap him.