Make Me Beg for It by C. Margery Kempe

the news. They were quiet as they drove home to Hazardville.
    “I can’t believe it,” Jeri said. “Your gran is the best.”
    “I know,” Ella said as they pulled up at her best friend’s house. “So are you. Thank you for everything, Jeri.”
    They hugged tightly.
    “You’ll be thanking me for a long time,” Jeri said ominously. “You don’t know the half of it.”
    Ella laughed at her friend’s enigmatic words, a little puzzled as she watched her run up the steps. She turned the corner and headed home to the unexpectedly dark house, only to pause when she saw the outline of a man on her porch. Stepping out of the car, her worried look quickly disappeared in a smile. “Hello there.”
    J.D. stood and grinned sheepishly, holding a single red shoe before him. “Jeri called Matt, my pal, and let him know where you lived and what was going on. I’ve been waiting here to make sure your grandmother was okay.” He looked down at his offering. “And to give you back your shoe.”
    Ella stepped up, took the shoe from him, and stretched to her tiptoes to kiss him. “Thank you.”
    “So, can I finally ask you name?” J.D. blushed. She could see it even in the dim porchlight. It lit up his crooked smile and made her stomach knot with desire once again.
    “Ella,” she told him, pulling him into a deep kiss. “My name’s Ella.”
    “That’s a nice name,” he said when she finally let him go.
    “You want to come in?”
    “I thought you’d never ask.” He lifted her into his arms and carried her inside.
    Ella tossed the shoes aside and pointed toward her bedroom. Who needs a glass slipper ? It’s not the only way to find a prince. Ella sighed.
     
    The End

Text Me, Sir
    For Pony Boy
     
    Give me your mobile number.
    Natalia laughed in surprise. Typical; he doesn’t even say please.
    She looked at the devious smile on his Facebook photo. It was hard to believe it had been ten years since she last saw Andrei. It was harder still to believe he’d changed at all. Sure, he was a little more portly, sporting rotundness under his expensive silk suit. There were a few less hairs on his head, too. That grin, though . . . .
    Didn’t we all change? Natalia looked down at her own sagging middle as she considered what to type in response. It had taken her by surprise when his name appeared in her inbox. The little red flag usually meant that Melanie or Liz had a great idea for some weekend hijinks, so clicking on the little word balloon icon would generally bring up one or the other of their smiling faces or Melanie’s little pug, whose face just as often as not replaced her round visage and unruly mop of auburn curls.
    But today it had been Andrei with his wicked grin and his Saville Row suit and the seductive words, I should never have let you go. Natalia let an hour go by before responding. In the space of that time a wave of emotions washed over her parched skin. His words intrigued her—and let’s admit it, fed her ego—but would she be interested if she hadn’t kicked Bryan to the curb six months before? She stared at that little cleft between his eyebrows as if trying to bore a hole into his brain in order to see his true thoughts.
    Did he mean it? That’s what she kept asking herself. Does it matter?
    A voice that sounded a lot like Melanie’s answered her at last. Just have fun.
    The thought of some fun unfroze her hands and let her type a response. Forget the call he’d made five years ago, when she and Bryan were happy and fearless. Then she had smugly told him there was no need for him to call her again. But now single, again, Natalia looked at his hands in the photo and remembered the things they had done to her and how good they had felt. You gave up too easily, she typed in her reply at last, hesitating a moment before hitting send, but smiling as she did so. Let’s see where this goes.
    Natalia was a bit nervous because she’d seen no relationship status on his profile at all. He could