Bachelor Number Four by Megan Hart

be up for another half an hour. She wouldn’t need that much time.
    She pulled the small cloth pouch from her bedside table drawer and took out the plastic butterfly. It was meant to be worn with straps hugging the thighs and hips, and it had a remote control that meant it could be used with a partner, but she’d found it worked just as well alone. Like she had a choice.
    She thumbed the switch and started the quiet humming.

Chapter Five
    “Dreams are just a manifestation of your subconscious desires becoming conscious.” Lida stirred some sweetener into her coffee and snagged a bagel from the basket.
    “I dream about falling,” replied Heather. “Does that mean I want to fall?”
    Arden refilled her friends’ mugs and her own before sitting down. “I think what Lida’s trying to say is that I keep dreaming about shagging Shane Donner because I really do want to.”
    “Duh,” said Lida.
    Heather laughed. “And he just messaged you out of the blue?”
    “You have to tell Heather your history with the guy. Racy stuff.”
    Arden laughed. “It’s not that racy.”
    “Spill it. The kids are in school. It’s morning mommies’ coffee and dirty secrets time.” Heather sipped her coffee. “C’mon, I could use a few good stories.”
    Arden quickly outlined her past with Shane—the whole brief but torrid affair.
    Heather nodded. “I had one of those. I call them the Open Doors. You know, sometimes they just don’t close?”
    “Open Doors. Perfect description,” Arden said. “But just because a door is open doesn’t mean you have to go through it.”
    “Doesn’t mean you can’t take a helluva peek at what’s inside!” Lida laughed. “Arden, I keep telling you. You need to get laid. And yes, get a boyfriend if that’s what you want, but satisfy the body’s needs and maybe the heart will follow.”
    Arden rolled her eyes. “You’re backwards. Besides, Lida, after disaster dates one and two, I’m not so sure I have the energy to try again.”
    “Girlfriend, you can’t give up after only two tries,” Heather said. “Do you know how many dates I went on before I met Leo?”
    “Luscious Leo.” Arden grinned. “No, but I remember when you went on your first date with him.”
    Lida rapped the table. “Don’t tell me you waited to have sex until you met him, Heather.”
    “Hell, no!” Heather laughed. “No way. I had some sex before I met him.”
    “See, even Heather thinks you just need to get laid. Get it out of your system. Once you realize you don’t have to be in love to have sex, the pressure will be off and you’ll be readier to find the right guy.”
    Something about that logic didn’t sound right, but Arden was used to Lida’s outrageous advice. “Why am I afraid when you say that? You’re the same person who convinced me to wear a hot pink-and-lime-green polka-dotted prom dress complete with matching shoes, right?”
    “Bad fashion advice is totally different than bad sex advice, Arden.”
    “Lida, my love, forgive me, but when’s the last time you had to wonder if you were going to have sex with Bill or how it would make you feel in the morning? Married sex is way different than single sex.”
    Lida gave a dramatic sigh. “Don’t I know it!”
    The three of them laughed around Arden’s kitchen table, three friends enjoying what Jason had always called “female bondage time.”
    Lida’s expression got serious. “If you still want to take a chance, though, I have someone in mind.”
    “No. No, Lida.”
    Heather and Lida exchanged looks. Heather raised a brow at Arden. “I wouldn’t pass this up, if I were you.”
    “Why not?” Arden got up to take her empty mug to the sink. Watching her two friends working together to wear down her resolve was…well, wearing down her resolve.
    “Because Philip Davis is drop-dead gorgeous, drives a kick-ass car, and has already said he’s interested.”
    Arden’s mug clattered against the sink. “What!”
    Turning, she glared,