“It’s okay,” Skyler spoke up with a laugh. “She gets a pass. Breakups suck.”

Shannon’s features softened as she looked at Darcy. “Are you doing okay, hon? You keep saying you’re fine, but none of us will blame you if you want to cry a little.”

Grinning, Jayani slid her linen napkin across the table. “Seriously, go for it. Maybe the waiter will comp our meals if you unleash the waterworks.”

Darcy rolled her eyes. “Jay, if you want free food, just flash him that million-dollar smile of yours. That usually seems to work.”

The stunning Indian woman didn’t bother denying it. Jayani looked like she’d stepped off the set of a Bollywood movie, her features so flawless and exotic that she turned heads wherever she went. She was also six feet tall, which only added to her supermodel good looks.

Jayani batted her eyelashes. “It’s not like I actively try to get free stuff. It just gets handed to me. What am I supposed to do, say no?”

Darcy and Shannon hooted, while Skyler giggled. Gage’s girlfriend had joined them at girls’ night enough times to have witnessed the way men looked at Jayani, and how easily she got her way without even having to ask.

“Oh, and to answer your question, I really am fine,” Darcy told her friends.

“Really? You don’t miss AJ at all?” Skyler hedged.

“I miss the friendship part,” she admitted. “But the rest of it…God, this is going to sound horrible, but whenever AJ and I had sex, it was about as exciting as white rice.”

She knew the picture she’d painted wasn’t a pretty one, but it was the truth. Sex with AJ had been blander than bland. Hell, even kissing him had lacked excitement. AJ’s kisses had been nice, but so very sedate.

Reed’s kisses, on the other hand…

Nope, she wasn’t allowed to think about those toe-curling kisses again.

Or the way he’d made her orgasm just by rubbing his thick erection against her fully clothed body.

“Well,” Darcy said brightly, reaching for her menu. “Now that I’ve officially bummed everyone out, how about we order?”

Skyler snorted, then picked up her own menu. “Gage was so mopey that I was coming here tonight,” she said as she scanned the entrée list. “He wanted to make me this new Thai recipe he got off the Internet.”

“Jeez Louise. I can’t believe you landed yourself a man who likes to cook.” Envy dripped from Shannon’s tone. “Tom would eat his own arm first before even thinking about preparing dinner.” She was referring to her husband, who also worked at Jefferson as the Phys. Ed teacher.

Darcy loved watching Tom and Shannon together at school. The couple fought like cats and dogs, but she had no doubt they loved each other. And with that kind of palpable passion, she suspected their sex life was hot enough to set their bed on fire.

Argh. Why couldn’t she find a man who rocked her world like that?

You did. Saturday night.

Darcy smothered a groan. Jeez, would that inner voice just shut up already? Saturday night didn’t count. Reed didn’t count. She wanted to set fires with a man she’d actually be able to keep.

“Yeah, Gage is a real Martha Stewart in the kitchen.” Skyler broke out in a grin. “But in the bedroom he’s anything but.” She paused. “Unless Martha is a secret  p**n  star or something. In that case, he’s like her in all areas of life.”

Jayani picked up her glass of Merlot and took a dainty sip. “Boyfriends are overrated. Me, I’m having way too much fun playing the field to even think about settling down.” She winked at Darcy. “Now we can play the field together. And you’re in luck—I make a damn good wingman, if I do say so myself.”

“I might take you up on that in the future, but right now I’m thinking I want to be alone for a bit, at least until I figure out what I really need from a relationship,” Darcy said with a sigh.

Their regular waiter walked up to the table, greeting the four women with a smile. His dark eyes twinkled playfully as he gestured to their menus. “I don’t know why you bother looking at those. You ladies always order the same thing.”

He was right—none of them were very adventurous when it came to food. As every single woman ordered the exact same dish as last time, the dark-haired man laughed in delight, then wandered away without writing a single thing down.

Skyler leaned close and poked Darcy in the arm, her gaze fixed on their waiter’s retreating back. “Why don’t you ask Tony out? He’s so cute. And he’s single, right?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Those slick Italian good looks don’t do it for me. I like ‘em a little more scruffy.”

Skyler rolled her eyes. “Says the woman who was dating AJ. Doesn’t get much more clean-cut than that.”

“I know some scruffy guys,” Jayani said helpfully. Then she made a face. “Most of them are total douche bags, though.”

“It’s not just the scruffy ones,” Shannon said sadly. “If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say 50% of the male population is all douche.”

Well, wasn’t that a disheartening thought. Darcy knew the dating pool could get pretty grim, and now that she was single again, she wasn’t looking forward to sifting through a whole lot of muddy water in search of that one sparkling diamond.

Crap. She was mixing metaphors again. Good thing none of her students were there to witness it.