How to Love (29 page)

“I highly recommend it,” Dennis said to the others. “Joe, you were talking the other day about some of the dysfunction in your group. This would be perfect.” He looked back at Carlos and Mike. “Do you have business cards with you?”

“Of course.” Carlos whipped out his wallet and handed out cards.

Huh. Who would’ve thought they’d be getting new business at this shindig?

Mr. Stockwood was looking at them with deeper interest, his gaze tracking back and forth between them.

“Hey, doll,” Carlos said to Jules. “Can I get you another glass of wine?” He nodded at her empty glass.

“Yes, please,” she said with heartfelt gratitude, and he smiled and touched the tip of her nose with one finger.

It wasn’t an overtly sexual gesture but along with the endearment it did speak of intimacy and familiarity, and Mr. Stockwood frowned again as Carlos turned to head back into the house.

“I hear you’re a photographer,” Norm said, still trying to move in on Jules.

“That’s right.” She smiled with cool politeness. “I have a small portrait studio and a gallery in San Amaro. I do custom framing also.”

“San Amaro’s a pretty little city.”

“Yes. It is.”

“I need new business head shots done,” Norm said. “I should call you and set something up.”

She looked at him. “I’m sure you could get something like that done here in San Diego.”

Norm’s mouth compressed and he nodded. “Yeah. Probably.” He shot a glance at Mr. Stockwood.

Mike looked down at Jules and squeezed her a little tighter. Her eyes were big and dark lavender when she turned them up to him, and she gave him a look of desperation.

“Daddy, can we have another one of those drinks?” Madison spoke. The two little girls had been fidgeting, twirling around, and obviously bored. “A…what did you call it?”

“A virgin,” Olivia spoke up. “Yes, please, we want another virgin.”

“Go ask your mother,” Mr. Stockwood said. “Where is she, anyway?”

“I’ll take them in and make them a drink,” Jules said. She smiled at the men. “So nice to meet you. Excuse us.” She grabbed Mike’s hand and dragged him into the house. Olivia and Madison skipped along behind them.

They found Carlos at the bar with Candy, smiling up at Carlos and batting long eyelashes, her breasts practically popping out of her tight black dress. One finger twirled a strand of platinum blonde hair around it.

“…cycling, kayaking, rock climbing,” Carlos said, obviously telling her about the business now.

“That sounds amazing!” Candy breathed. “No wonder you’re so physically fit.” And she reached out to brush her hand over his shoulder and squeeze his biceps.

Mike felt the tension grip Jules. Oooh boy. This was some party. Jules was going to be ready to snap by the time they left.

“Here’s your wine,” Carlos said, handing her the glass. Mike watched as Jules took it from Carlos and then pressed herself up against him and looked up into his face.

“Thanks, babe,” she purred and went on her toes to kiss his jaw.

Carlos grinned. His eyes met Mike’s above Jules’s head, and Mike gave a barely perceptible shake of his head in response.

Now it was Candy eyeing both of them, her eyes going back and forth between Jules and Carlos and him.

“We want another drink,” Olivia said.

All attention went to the little girls. “No more juice,” Candy said to them. “You’ll get fat. Only diet pop.”

Mike’s jaw went slack.

“They’re six and eight years old!” Jules protested. “Good heavens, they’re not going to get fat from a little juice.”

“Juice has a lot of sugar and calories in it,” Candy said. “It all adds up.”

“I want another one of those virgins,” Madison pouted. “With the pink juice.”

“All right. But just one more. And only one cupcake.”

“Oh my God,” Jules muttered. “Here, chick pea.” She poured some cranberry-blend of juice into two glasses, added a dash of club soda and topped them with maraschino cherries. “Do you want a straw?”

“Yes, please.”

They were little sweethearts.

“Hey, what’s that behind your ear?” Carlos asked. He reached toward Olivia’s head and when he pulled his hand back there was a quarter in it.

Olivia’s eyes went huge. “How’d you do that?”

“It was in your ear. You shouldn’t put money in your ear.”

Both girls giggled. “I did not do that!” Olivia said.

“Do me, do me!” Madison begged, all but jumping up and down.

Carlos looked at her, first one ear, then the other. “Nope. No quarters in your ears.”

Her bottom lip pushed out a bit.

“Oh wait,” Carlos said. “It’s in your hair.” And he seemingly plucked a coin from the high mass of blonde curls her hair had been pulled up into. She squealed with delight.

Mike watched a smile tug at Jules’s lips. Clearly the way to her heart was through her little sisters. Which made his own heart trip a little.

“Come to my room, Jules!” Olivia tugged at Jules. “You can see my new Barbie house.”

“Oh, I’d love to see it.” Jules shot an apologetic look at him and Carlos. “Um…you guys okay? Or do you want to come play Barbies?”

“Uh…no. We’re good.”

They’d scope out her scarecrow-skinny stepmother with the fake boobs and her scary father a little more.

Luckily Candy got sidetracked by some late guests arriving.

“Wow,” Carlos said, leaning against the kitchen counter.

“Yeah.” Mike sighed. “Jules wasn’t this tense when she was climbing up the rock face.”

“Hell. I hate seeing her like that. But those little girls sure love her.”

“And she loves them.” Mike looked down at his beer. “I…uh…kinda told Jules how I feel about her earlier.”

Carlos gave him a blank look. “What do you mean? How you feel about her?”

“Yeah. I told her I’m in love with her.”

“What? Are you crazy?”

“No. Yes. Fuck. You know I can’t lie about shit like that.”

“But you’re the one who keeps telling me to slow down!”

“I know, I know. But I hate not being honest with her about that.”

“But…” Carlos went silent. Mike turned to face him.

“What?”

Carlos met his eyes. “I don’t get it, man. What about…fuck, this sounds pathetic. What about me?”

Mike frowned. “You know I love you.”

“Yeah, but…why’d you tell her that without me there? Honestly, I’m falling for her hard, but hell, I’m not sure if I’m there yet, ready to tell her that. Christ.” He closed his eyes. “Okay, maybe I am, but it fucking scares the shit out of me. And…” He opened his eyes again. “What did she say? What did she think? She’s gonna think you want something, just you and her. This is supposed to be the three of us.”

Mike thought about that. His stomach cramped remembering her reaction. “Shit.”

With a muttered curse, Carlos shoved away from the counter and left the kitchen.

“Shit,” Mike said again.

Chapter Nineteen

Although Jules wasn’t sure if she approved of her little half-sisters playing with Barbies, she decided she’d rather hide in Olivia’s bedroom playing with dolls than go back to the party. The only thing that dragged her out of there an hour later was guilt over leaving the guys to fend for themselves in a party full of strangers.

She found them in a deep business discussion with a couple of other men. She refilled her wine glass yet again then perched on the arm of the chair Carlos was sitting in. He slid an arm around her hips, his hand idly rubbing her butt as he talked. It made her all tingly and…hot.

“Have fun with the Barbies?” he asked a moment later.

“Barbies shouldn’t be allowed,” she said, looking down at her wine.

“Why not?” She picked up the amusement in his tone.

“Oh you know all the arguments. It creates unrealistic expectations for girls about how they should look, yadda yadda. Bah. I don’t actually believe that. If those two girls have unrealistic expectations about how they should look, it will come from their mother, not from Barbie.” She tried not to scowl.

“Yeah. She’s kinda…shallow.” Carlos spoke in a low voice.

“As a puddle.”

He laughed.

“We need to get out of here,” she muttered. “When is she opening her gifts? Do we have to stay for that?”

“It’s up to you, doll.”

“She’s not going to like what I gave her.”

“Why do you say that? It’s an awesome picture.”

“She’s never liked anything I give her.” She chuckled. “At one time, I decided if she wasn’t going to like the gifts I picked out for her, I might as well pick something really hideous. I gave her granny panties one year.”

Carlos guffawed and quickly covered his mouth. Mike glanced over at them.

“And another time a house dress. You know, those loose flowered things housewives used to wear in the fifties.”

He lifted his beer bottle and clinked it against her glass.

“The girls are going to bed soon,” she said. “I’m going to say good night to them and then let’s go.”

“Whatever you want, doll.”

She found Candy giving instructions to the nanny about bedtime. “Candy, I’d love to have the girls come for a weekend again. Can we plan something? Next weekend?”

Candy frowned. “Well. Let me talk to your father. But I don’t want you taking them to your gallery. I don’t want them exposed to that pornography.”

Jules’s throat tightened and she bit the inside of her cheek. “Fine. I don’t have to take them there. We’ll go to the beach, the pier. Fun things.”

“I’ll let you know.”

Jules hugged and kissed her sisters. “Your mom and I are planning a weekend for you to come visit,” she told them, her throat aching just a little as it always did when she said goodbye to them.

“Yay!”

She went back downstairs. Tempting as it was to make an escape without saying goodbye to her father, she knew she had to. She found him at the bar. “We’re leaving now, Dad.”

He frowned. “Already?”

She nodded, smiling. “It was a lovely evening.”

“I need to talk to you,” he said and took her arm, drawing her across the kitchen and into his den. She shot a look at Mike and Carlos and shrugged.

“What is it?”

“Who are those guys?” he asked. “And why won’t you golf with us tomorrow? Norm is interested in getting to know you better. He’s the CEO of Dearing Communications. He’s a great catch for a young single woman.”

She stared at him. For a moment, her mind was a swirl of thought fragments, and she couldn’t put a sentence together. Then she said, “I can’t believe you’re doing this again.”

“Doing what? I’m trying to help. You need a husband.”

“No. I don’t.” She shook her head. “Dad. You don’t care about me. You just want to set up your friend with a young trophy wife. Like you have.”

He regarded her impassively. “That’s what you think of Candy?”

She wanted to roll her eyes. “I’m not going to get into that with you.”

“You had no trouble dating my friends in the past. What about Ben Eldridge? And Jeremy Scott? You seemed to like the fact that they had money and spent it on you.”

A painful lump materialized in her throat. “I did that because… Oh hell. I give up. You’re right. I did that. But I’m not doing it again. And you know what, Dad? I’m sleeping with Carlos and Mike. Yup. Both of them. At the same time.”

She smiled as his face flushed scarlet. “Jesus, Jules.”

“I may be a slut, but I’ll pick my own men to be slutty with. Good night, Dad.”

She took a couple of deep breaths and kept a determinedly cool expression on her face as she once again rejoined her guys.

Her guys?
What was that?

She had to admit having them there gave her a huge boost. Like they always had each other’s back, she felt they had hers too, looking out for her, reassuring her. She felt stronger, better able to deal with the crap her dad and his wife threw at her. Like she wasn’t all alone. She froze with her hand on the front doorknob.

“What’s wrong?” Carlos asked. “Forget something?”

She turned to look at him. His hand rested protectively on the small of her back. He gave her a half-smile, and her heart turned over in her chest. “No. Nothing. Let’s go.” She yanked open the door and strode out into the cool night air.

In the car, she stared out the side window all the way back to the hotel. Memory of Mike’s earlier confession about his feelings slammed into her and made her stomach swoop. She didn’t want to go back into that hotel room with them. A feeling of pressure building inside her made it hard to breathe, her insides twisting themselves into knots. Her palms were damp and her heart bumped painfully.

“I want to go home,” she said abruptly.

Mike glanced at her from the driver’s seat. “We are, baby.”

“No. I mean home. To San Amaro.”