One Hit Wonderful (15 page)

He laughed, tossing her a wave over his shoulder as he walked away.

She got the check, noting that she hadn’t been charged for the second margarita. “He must have spit in it,” she murmured, and added a generous tip for the jilted waiter.

The restaurant was only a short walk from the hotel, and she took her time getting back, enjoying the summer sun. The heat felt good after the overly conditioned air in the restaurant, seeping into her skin through the thin silk of her blouse. She idly thought that if it was a few degrees cooler it would be perfect picnic weather, and wondered if she could tempt Nate into joining her in the park on her next afternoon off.

She was smiling as she strolled into the hotel. “Hi, Katie. How’s it going?”

The clerk had her head bent to the reservations computer. “Just fine, Ms. Michaels,” she said. She looked up absently, still clicking away on the keyboard, then did a double take.

“What?” Lily asked, checking her blouse for signs of spilled guacamole.

“You look great.” Katie leaned in and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Who is he?”

Lily looked around, wondering who the heck Katie was talking about. “Who is who?”

“Whoever put that look on your face.” If possible, Katie’s voice went even lower. “You look really good today, Ms. Michaels.”

“Um…thanks?”

“I mean, really good. And really relaxed, if you get me.”

The light dawned, and Lily started to laugh. “What, am I wearing a sign?”

“Nah. You just look really, really relaxed.” Katie grinned, and waggled her eyebrows. “Besides, a courier just dropped off a package for you. A present, with a big red bow on it.”

“Really?”

“I put it in your office.” Katie trailed behind Lily as she darted behind the check-in desk to her office. “So, is he cute or what?”

Lily saw the package on her desk and grinned. “He’s adorable,” she said, crossing to the desk. She plucked the card from under the red velvet bow and tore it open. “In case dinner is a disaster,” she read. She looked at Katie. “I wonder what that means?”

“Open it,” Katie encouraged, practically bouncing in her penny loafers.

Since it was what she wanted to do anyway, Lily slipped off the bow and peeled away the wrapping. Flipping open the top of the box, she started into it for a moment then burst out laughing.

“What?” Katie asked, trying to peer into the box.

Lily pulled out the pink bottle, holding it up with a grin.

Katie frowned. “What kind of present is a bottle of Pepto Bismol?”

“It’s kind of an inside joke,” Lily explained, grinning like a fool at the economy-sized bottle.

“If you say so,” Katie said doubtfully. She turned to go back to the front desk, mumbling, “I’d rather have flowers.”

Lily set the bottle of Pepto on the corner of her desk, reaching for the phone as it rang.

“Hello?”

“Lily?”

“Bridget.” Lily sat down, swiveling the desk chair around so her back was to the door. “Are you okay?”

“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?”

Lily frowned at the strained tone. “Now who’s the big fat liar?”

Bridget laughed. “Okay, okay. I’m a little blue.”

“Is it because Max has been bothering you?”

“What?”

“He’s been calling Charles,” Lily explained hurriedly at the shrill tone of her friend’s voice. “And me, a couple of times. Charles said he couldn’t find you, that you’d checked out of the hotel.”

“I had to,” Bridget explained, irritation plain. “He kept calling day and night, and sending flowers to my room. He even bribed a desk clerk to ignore the
Do Not Disturb
I had on my phone and put him through in the middle of the night.”

“Honey, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. He called you again?”

“Last night,” Lily explained. “I missed the call, but he left a message. He says he just wants to get in touch with you, but he sounds to me like he wants something. What does he say when he calls you?”

“His messages say the same thing, that he wants to get together to talk, all calm and reasonable. But the one time I answered the phone—you know how I am about phones that ring in the middle of the night.”

“Yeah, it’s always bad news.”

“Right. So even though I knew I’d put the
Do Not Disturb
on, I answered it. And he wasn’t so calm and reasonable. He started yelling at me, some bullshit about how I owe him.”

“Owe him what?”

“I don’t know, I hung up on him.”

Lily grinned. “Doesn’t he hate that?”

“Oh, like the plague.” Satisfaction was ripe in her voice. “I unplugged the phone and the next morning I checked out of the hotel.”

“So which hotel are you in now?” Lily grabbed a pencil.

“I’m not sure I should tell you.”

“What? Why?”

“If I don’t tell you, and Max asks, you won’t have to lie.”

Lily dropped the pencil. “You think I’m afraid of lying to Max?”

“No, it’s just—”

The mild concern she was feeling earlier suddenly coalesced into something much sharper, more urgent. “Bridget, what’s going on? Is he threatening you?”

Bridget sighed heavily. “Not really. I just don’t like the tone of his messages. The only time he was ever sweet was when he wanted something from me.”

“And he’s being sweet?”

“Except for last night, he’s acting like spun sugar,” Bridget said dryly. “Look, I just want to stay gone for a while.”

“You can’t avoid him forever.”

“I know. I just want to avoid him for the time being.”

“I can understand that. But you have to tell me where you’re staying.”

“Lil.”

“Bridge,” Lily countered, her voice as implacable as Bridget’s was wheedling. “I swear, I’ll only tell Charles, and neither one of us will tell Max. Trust me.”

Her friend’s sigh came across the line as both resigned and exasperated. “Fine. I’m at the Hawaii Prince on Waikiki.”

Lily grabbed the pencil and jotted down the number Bridget rattled off. “Fancy,” she commented.

“I’m spending every last bit I got from the jewelry I sold,” Bridget told her.

“That’ll learn him,” Lily said dryly, and Bridget laughed.

“I miss you,” she said. “Why don’t you take some of that vacation time you’ve got coming to you and fly down here for a holiday? You could take a surfing lesson.”

“Are you kidding?” Lily tore off the page with the hotel information on it and tucked it into her purse for safekeeping. “I can’t even run outside without tripping over a crack in the sidewalk. I’d kill myself if I tried to learn how to surf.”

“Trust me, it’s so worth it. It’s an amazing workout, you know?”

“That is not a selling point,” Lily pointed out dryly.

“Okay, then how about the instructors are all crazy hot and put their hands all the hell over you while they’re showing what to do? Aaaaaand…if you’re clumsy—”

“Which I am.”

“Which you are…they put their hands on you even more. For safety.”

Lily laughed. “I can almost hear your eyebrows wiggling as you say that.”

“Hey, I’m very serious about safety.”

“I bet you are.”

“So what do you say? Come down and hang with me, and we can drink and flirt and be single girls together again.”

“I’d love to, Bridge,” Lily sighed regretfully. “But I can’t. There’s too much going on here right now.”

“At the hotel?”

“Ah…yeah.”

“Oh no, I heard that.”

“Heard what?”

“That hesitation in your voice. Things aren’t busy at the hotel, so that means they’re busy at home. Which means…you’re sleeping with the musician!”

Lily shook her head, not really surprised. “At least you didn’t call him the boy bander, like Charles does.”

“He’s just jealous. How was he?”

“Who, Charles?” Lily asked, deliberately misunderstanding.

“No, silly! Nate, how was Nate?”

“He’s fine,” Lily said, lips twitching as she pictured her friend dancing in place with frustration. “He’s probably working today, I think he’s got a new project coming up.”

“That’s great, how fabulous for him, I don’t give a shit. How is he in
bed
?”

Lily laughed. “Bridge, come on. You know I don’t kiss and tell.”

Bridget huffed out a breath. “I know, I hate that about you.”

“Sorry,” Lily said, clearly not.

“Well, if you’re not going to spill—”

“I’m really not.”

“Bitch. Give me something at least.”

“Like what?” Lily was enjoying herself now.

“I don’t know! Something you’d normally never tell me but that I’d love to hear.”

Lily snorted. “You really think that’s going to work?”

“Come on, Lily. I just got dumped by my fiancé—”

“You dumped him!”

“After he cheated on me! With trash! I need something to restore my faith in romance.”

“I don’t know if I’ve got romance, yet.”

“Then restore my faith in sex.”

Lily sighed. “Fine. I had some.”

There was a moment of silence before Bridget burst out laughing. “You’re a bitch,” she managed between giggles.

Lily grinned. “I know. Okay, I’ll tell you what I told Charles—shower sex is every bit as fabulous as I thought it would be.”

“Yeah?”

“And…”

“Ooh, and what?”

“He cleaned up the bathroom after.”

“Well, that makes him perfect for you.”

Lily laughed. “We’ll see.”

“Are you sure you won’t come down here?”

“Yeah. I miss you though.”

“I miss you too. I’ll call you in a few days, okay?”

“Yeah. Love you.”

“Love you too. Bye.”

Lily hung up with a sigh, feeling suddenly blue. She missed her friend. And now that it looked like she might actually be starting something resembling a relationship with Nate, she missed having someone to talk to. Well, there was Charles, but his attention span lasted about as long as it took to drink a champagne cocktail when the topic wasn’t about him.

She frowned, tapping the pencil against her desk blotter. This business with Max was troublesome, and getting more mysterious, but it was hard to believe he was actually dangerous. Max was not a fighter. He could usually cajole or seduce what he wanted out of someone, and failing those things, he’d harass and annoy, but fighting just wasn’t part of his repertoire. He wouldn’t want to get his hands dirty.

“Weird,” she decided, “but hardly dangerous.”

She shook her head and put Max out of her mind. She had more important things than petty, childish men to think about. Like what the heck she was going to wear tonight.

Chapter Ten

At seven thirty that night, Lily walked across the lawn to Nate’s house, a bottle of white wine in one hand and a DVD in the other. She wore a sweater in the softest pale blue cashmere over her favorite jeans, narrow-strapped sandals showing off the pedicure she’d wheedled the salon manager for that afternoon and a new scent that the sales girl at Macy’s swore was the perfect blend of sweet and spicy.

Her lips twitched when she saw Beau on his back in the middle of the lawn, all four feet in the air. He wasn’t sleeping, but was writhing around, rubbing his back against the fresh-cut grass in a display of doggie hedonism. Lily could only hope he hadn’t found something dead and disgusting to revel in, or the plan of dinner and a DVD was going to get a revision.

The dog leapt up and shook himself vigorously before burying his snout in a nearby bucket. The loud slurping told her he was getting a drink, and thinking to make it to the kitchen door Nate had instructed her to use before he spotted her, Lily picked up her pace.

Unfortunately, her heels clicked when she stepped from lawn to driveway, and she watched in dismay as Beau’s head snapped up at the sound, water streaming out of his mouth. He gave a joyful woof and bounded toward her, drool and clumps of grass and dirt flying as he ran.

“Oh shit,” she muttered, and dove for the side door.

She got there just in time to throw it open and duck inside to plaster herself against the wall. She saw Nate turn from the stove, saw his smile bloom in greeting. She opened her mouth to warn him, but all that came out was a squeak as Beau came flying through the door.

She tried, she really did, but the look on Nate’s face just before he went down in a heap of arms, legs and fur was just too much. A combination of surprise and resignation, as though he’d been in this pickle before and expected to be in it again, just tickled her funny bone.

She did wince in sympathy through the giggles as Beau’s enthusiastic pouncing landed him on a very sensitive area, though she had to choke back more laughter at Nate’s response. She wasn’t sure his muttered suggestion was physically possible for a human to carry out, and surely a creature without opposable thumbs would never be able to pull it off.