Beautiful Mistake

I sighed, putting my phone facedown on my desk.

My eyes caught on the pink-striped shopping bag Coleen had dropped off before her shift. They’d even told my assistant Rhea to block out my schedule for the evening, even though they all knew I had the art museum gala to plan.

As the senior marketing manager for the Grand hotel, I’d been working on it for months. It was my ticket to a well-deserved promotion, and I was determined to make it the best event of the year.

A knock at my door interrupted my thoughts.

“Come in,” I called.

Rhea stuck her head in. “Hey, boss. The girls asked me to remind you that you have ten minutes to get your rear end in a cab, or else.”

I frowned, giving Rhea a pained look. “I highly doubt they said rear end.”

“True. Rose was rather explicit,” Rhea laughed. “By the way, I picked this out for you to wear tonight.”

She held out a sheer, black lace blouse, looping the hanger over the hook on the back of my door.

“What’s wrong with what I have on?” I asked, looking down at my ivory silk shirt and black jacquard blazer.

Not that I didn’t trust Rhea’s fashion sense. She was easily one of the most fashionably daring people I’d ever met.

“One, the goodies in that bag are black,” Rhea said, pointing to the shopping bag. “They’d be clear as day through that blouse. Two, it’s a night out with your girlfriends. Think more party, less professional.”

I eyed the sheer top suspiciously. “And how is that not going to show off my underwear?”

“It will, but in a sexy, confident kind of way. Trust me,” Rhea said with a wink as she started to close the door. “And hurry up. You’re going to be late.”

I dropped my head to my desktop, groaning as I pushed my chair back and reached for the bag.

I almost backed out when I saw the black lace thong and matching balconette bra the girls had picked out for me. I slipped them on as quickly as possible before pulling on my pencil skirt and Rhea’s contribution.

“Your cab’s out front, Kyla,” Rhea called as I checked my reflection in the mirror.

I pulled my blazer on over the shirt and headed out, bracing myself for what promised to be a humiliating evening.

I shook my head in exasperation.

The game had started back in college. Rose’s football-star boyfriend dumped her via text. The poor girl was a wreck for over a month. She barely slept or ate, just moping around her dorm in her sweats and sending increasingly desperate texts to her ex.

The girls decided drastic action was called for. We took Rose out and made her promise to have a one-night stand with a man of our choosing. Just some random sex with a stranger and nothing more.

It worked surprisingly well. Within a few weeks, Rose was back to her boisterous self, her cowardly ex completely forgotten.

A few months later, when Marie went through a nasty breakup, we suggested the same idea. And just like that, a new and weird tradition was formed.

From then on, whenever a breakup occurred in the friend group, we took the newly single friend out, picked out the hottest guy we could find, and made her vow to have one night of meaningless, confidence-boosting fun. Unfortunately, it was my turn.

I sighed as I leaned back against the seat. Alden, my boyfriend of three years, had been caught cheating on me after yet another missed date night because I was working late. I could still see him and the woman he was with tangled in the sheets of our bed when I closed my eyes.

I hadn’t had sex or shown any interest in men since. Instead, I threw myself into work, chasing a big promotion.

At twenty-six years old, I was the youngest senior marketing manager in our company. I’d fought too damn hard to get where I was to allow something like sex to get in the way.

I paid the cabbie and stepped out onto the street, smoothing a hand over my skirt as I walked up to the front door. Music and the hum of people greeted me when I entered, and I stood there for a moment, trying my best to look confident as I looked for my friends.

Suddenly, I felt several hands grab me and pull me into a nearby bathroom.

“Welcome to the first night of your new life,” said Megan as she slid the lock in place.

I groaned, rolling my eyes. Coleen and the girls were the best friends that anyone could ask for, but sometimes I felt like they didn’t quite understand me.

I didn’t need a fling to get my confidence back after Alden. If anything, our breakup was one of the best things to happen to me. I needed more time to focus on planning the gala and getting promoted, and now I didn’t have the added distraction of trying to maintain a relationship.

Most women put love first and their careers second. But I wasn’t most women. Work came first. Always. I’d missed birthdays, anniversaries, and countless nights out because I was focused on becoming a director. Everything else could wait until I’d reached that goal.

“Do we really—”

Coleen coughed, interrupting me. “The rules are simple,” she explained, shooting me a look. “We pick the guy. You do not exchange personal information. Finally, after a night of fun, you never see them again. Got it? This is a catch-and-release game only.”

“Yes,” I grumbled. “I know the rules.”

“It’s your first time playing, though, so remember, this is an anti-slut-shaming zone,” Marie said. “No judgments. Honestly, we’re just happy you’re finally going to get laid again. It’s been way too long.”

“It hasn’t been…”

I paused, thinking back to the last time I’d had sex.

“A few final touches to make you absolutely irresistible,” Rose said as she grabbed my blazer and pulled it off.

They all fussed over the lacy blouse, complimenting Rhea’s choice as they fixed my hair and makeup.

“Did I really look that bad?” I asked sarcastically as Rose applied a swipe of red lipstick to my lips.

“We want the lucky guy to be unable to say no,” Marie said, fluffing my hair into dramatic waves.

“Which means we need to extract your inner sex kitten,” added Megan as she spritzed my neck with perfume.

They stepped back after a few moments and admired their handiwork.

“Our baby is going out into the world,” said Coleen, pretending to wipe a tear off her cheek.

I laughed and shook my head. “Let’s just get this over with.”

We filed out of the bathroom, clustering around the end of the bar as we ordered a round of drinks and surveyed tonight’s male selections.

“What about those guys?” Megan asked, nodding toward the pool table opposite us.

I looked at the three men, chatting casually as they played a game of pool. They were all very in shape and incredibly attractive. One of them caught my eye as he bent over the table and slowly slid the cue stick between his thumb and index finger as he lined up a shot.

“No way,” I hissed. “They’re too…I don’t know…coiffed?”

Marie snorted. “Are you serious? Your problem is that they’re too handsome?”

“No,” I said, frowning as our drinks arrived. “It’s that they probably know they are. I mean, look at them. They could be models for a magazine.”

“And what’s the problem with that?” Coleen asked, taking a sip of her martini.

“Yeah, Kyla,” Rose blurted, already too drunk for her own good. “Don’t be such a pansy. You deserve a hot guy.”

Megan patted my back. “I know it’s weird to be out on the prowl again, but this will be good for you, you’ll see. You’ve been focusing too much on work. Life is also about enjoying yourself now and then.”

“Anyway, you know the rules,” Coleen said. “We pick the guy. You get laid. Everybody wins. Besides, you could use more than one reference point in the bedroom.”

She was right, of course. I hadn’t dated anyone besides Alden, and I’d never had a one-night stand in my life. I had been so focused on my career that I hadn’t bothered. Sex couldn’t make that much of a difference, right?

But part of me had always wondered if I was missing out on something. Would I ever meet “the one”? The kind of man who could finally rip my mind away from work. Would he just know what to do in bed without me having to ask for it? Would I be enough for him?

Rose scooted my cosmopolitan closer to my hand. “Have a little liquid courage and go talk to them.”

I shook my head, downing the whole drink and getting to my feet. “Fine. I’m going. God damn you, women. You’re all lucky I love you.”

Rose let out a drunken whoop as I started for the pool table.

“Let the blond one know I’m interested,” Coleen called with a wink.

I rolled my eyes and turned back toward the men, my confidence slipping a little with every step I took toward them.