“He said he wouldn’t call.”
Meg laughed at her over the phone.
“I can’t concentrate at work.” Here she was on her lunch break, eating a sub sandwich and talking to her BFF over the phone about a boy. “This is why I didn’t want to go out with him.”
“He’s a sexy distraction. I’ll give you that.”
“I need to work.”
“Because it takes all your brain power to file and play the mailman. Geez, Judy, it’s not like you have some high-power, high-stress job.”
“Even if I did, I’d be staring out the window thinking about him. I should just call him and tell him I can’t do this.”
“Oh, stop. If you called him, he’d just show up at your work and call you on the sizzle.”
Why had Judy told Meg every detail of their kiss? She should have known it would all be thrown back at her.
“This is crazy.”
“Isn’t your brother coming home on Friday for the fundraiser?”
“Yeah.”
“Doesn’t Rick play bodyguard for Mike?”
“Sometimes.”
“Then you’ll probably see Rick on Friday at the house . . . or at the fundraiser.”
Judy pushed her lunch aside. “Great, telling Dr. Dangerous that I need to concentrate on my career and not him in a room full of the rich and famous ought to be fun.”
“You’re not going to tell him that. You’re going to take one look at him and melt.”
“You’re so not helping, Meg.” The fact that Meg saw Rick almost every day since she worked in the downstairs office in the Tarzana house he lived in made everything worse. If Rick wanted to pass on something, he had a direct link. Yet nothing came from the man.
“Oh, you want me to help?”
“Isn’t that what friends do?”
“OK, let me see . . .” the phone sounded like it was dropped, and then Judy heard Meg’s voice yelling in the house. “Hey Rick?”
Judy’s heart jumped. “Meg!”
“Yeah . . . Judy’s on the phone. Says she wants to jump your bones—”
“Meg! Don’t you . . . oh, shit.” The people sitting on the outside patio of the sandwich shop were watching her as she lit into her best friend.
Meg’s laughter filled the earpiece. “You’re so freaking easy.”
“He better not be there.”
“I told you I hardly ever see him. I usually leave before he gets home. Relax.”
When Judy felt her heart return to a normal beat, she cursed her friend. “I’m going to get back at you for that.”
“I would expect nothing less.”
After a few more complaints, Judy hung up and stared at her half-eaten sandwich. She really shouldn’t have allowed his kiss. Because kissing led to dreams and dreams led to desire.
She cursed herself and clicked into her war game on her phone. For a couple of brief minutes she stopped thinking about kissing and scent and battled her cyber enemy. “Take that!” she told her phone as she raided Spike, an enemy who used to be on her cyber team. He’d jerked out during the summer-long online battle, bitching the team wasn’t spending enough real money to win their faction battles. Now he popped up from time to time on her rotating list of enemies, and she had no problem sending him a game kiss by blowing up his buildings and taking his cyber money. In the notes, she wrote waving and placed a winking emoticon on his page. Judy turned off her game, tossed her lunch in the trash, and headed back to the office.
Mike was home by the time she got off work on Friday. The energy in the house completely changed with his presence. Blaring music greeted her as she walked in the front door. In the drive, his Ferrari had been pulled from the garage and evidence of someone coming by to wash it was left in the way of puddles. Judy didn’t expect to see Meg since she was already at Zach and Karen’s prepping for the evening. The entire event was set up and managed by Karen, but the opportunity for Meg to learn how to rub elbows with rich clients while mingling among all of Mike’s and Zach’s friends was too good to pass up.
“Mike?” Judy called through the house, attempting to raise her voice over the music.
“In here.”
Judy followed her brother’s voice and found him standing in his bedroom, his dress shirt open and his hair still wet from his shower.
She opened her arms to her brother. “So glad you’re home.”
Mike lifted her with his hug and kissed her cheek. “It’s great to come home to a house with people. Where’s Meg?”
“At Karen and Zach’s. She went to work for Samantha.”
Mike blinked. “With Alliance?”
She gave him a playful smack to his arm. “Yes, with Alliance. I didn’t realize you used an actual service to hook up with Karen.”
Mike offered a strange look. “Seemed practical at the time.”
Judy stood back while Mike buttoned his shirt. “How long are you going to be in town?”
“I’m flying out Tuesday night.”
“Geez, that’s not a lot of down time.”
“Not sure how much down time there will be. It won’t be easy keeping my eyes open tonight with the jet lag.”
“You didn’t sleep on the plane?”
“Even private charters are bumpy.”
She started to leave the room. “You can tell me all about your exclusive plane trips on the drive out. I need to shower and get ready.”
Judy walked out of her room forty minutes later in a floor-length sequin job and three-inch heels.
Mike whistled. “Who are you and what did you do with my sister?”
Judy rolled her eyes. “Dork.”
“You look amazing.”
Even from her brother, the compliment made her smile. She ran a hand over her flat stomach and twisted. “I borrowed it from Karen. You bought her a ton of clothes.”
“Took me four months to get her to break down and spend some money.”
“I can think of worse traits in a woman.”
Mike grabbed his dress jacket and swung it over his arm. “You don’t have to borrow Karen’s stuff.”
“I can’t afford this stuff. And before you can offer . . . no.” They were walking beside each other and out the front door.
“No, what?”
“I’m not taking your money. You’re already giving me a place to live.”
“It’s just money, Judy. I have more than I’ll ever spend.”