What She Needs - Lacey Alexander [1]
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This book is dedicated to Lindsey Faber,
assistant extraordinaire!
Prologue
“Seriously, Jenna, when was the last time you got laid?”
Jenna Banks looked up from the slice of pizza in her hand, across the room to her best friend Shannon’s husband. She loved Kevin—he was like a brother to her—but when she’d been invited over for pizza and a movie, she hadn’t expected to be grilled on her sex life. Or lack thereof.
“And I should tell you this why?”
Kevin tilted his head as if to say, Come on—it’s me, your buddy, Kev. “I just think you need to . . . have more fun, that’s all. You’re an attractive single woman and you’re letting life pass you by.”
At this, Jenna laughed. “Unless I happen to step in front of a bus or something, I have plenty of life left.”
“But maybe not a lot of . . . you know, youth,” Shannon chimed in, her blond curls bouncing as she settled on the arm of Kevin’s easy chair. They both flashed expressions that made Jenna think of the Spanish Inquisition.
Yet she merely rolled her eyes. “I’m twenty-nine. According to the experts, I won’t even reach my sexual peak until thirty-five.”
“But don’t you want to be in the game when it happens?” Kevin asked.
“And what if your peak comes early?” Shannon added. “What if you miss it?”
“My God, you two, get a grip. It’s not as if I never have sex. I’m just . . . selective about my partners. Which I happen to think is wise in this day and age. I mean, you guys are married—you don’t have to worry about that stuff anymore. And besides, if I’m happy with myself—and I am—what’s the problem?”
“We just don’t want you to have any regrets later in life,” Shannon said.
Kevin leaned forward in his chair then, a challenging look in his eye. “And since you claim you do have sex, when was the last time?”
Fine, she’d take the challenge, if it would stop this silliness. “When I was dating Todd Rogers.”
“Todd Rogers!” Shannon exclaimed—as Kevin’s eyes fogged over in horror.
“That was how long ago?” he asked.
Jenna let out a breath and did the math. She and Todd had been together on the Fourth of July last year, but had broken up by Labor Day, and now it was August, so . . . “About a year ago, I guess.”
“A year,” Kevin repeated, appearing dumbfounded.
Next to him, Shannon simply let out a sad sigh. “A year of your life when you could have been indulging in good sex.”
Jenna finally dropped her pizza on the plate in her lap—it had gone limp and cold in her hand anyway—and lowered it to the coffee table in front of her. “You two make it sound so easy. Like there are decent, eligible, good-looking guys just lining the streets. But that’s not how it is. And sure, I could hang out in bars and try to pick up men for one-night stands, but . . . why? That sounds so . . . yucky.”
Shannon shrugged, and Kev said, “Back before Shannon, I had some pretty good one-night stands in my day.”
Jenna thought Shannon would smack his arm for that, or at least scowl a little, but instead she simply said, “Me, too. Surely you remember.”
Certainly Jenna did. Shannon had been a lot more wild than her back in college at the University of Michigan—and come out none the worse for it. “Look,” Jenna finally said, “just because that sort of thing worked for you guys doesn’t mean it’s right for me. When I have sex with a guy, I want it to—”
“Please don’t say ‘mean something,’” Kevin interrupted. “That’s such a girl thing.”
Jenna sat up a little straighter, thoroughly irritated now. “I am a girl, thank you very much, and that’s how I feel. And even if it isn’t always deep and meaningful,