Satisfaction Guaranteed (4 page)

Granted, these are your friends, but…” He let the sentence trail off. Sela knew

exactly what he was talking about. “It"s weird,” she finished for him.

She shouldn"t have let the prospect of meeting up with the people who had

been her friends, enemies, and frenemies in high school freak her out, but telling

herself something was one thing. Feeling it was another. “After you, my dear,” she

murmured with a slight laugh as she cocked her head in the entrance"s direction.

One blond eyebrow lifted. “I may be the best friend, but I know better than

that. Ladies first.”

Sela decided to step up to the plate and opened the screen door. The etched

wooden door was thrown open before she was fully standing before it. A tall, long-

limbed, beautiful redhead with caramel skin stood in the entranceway. “Sela

Newton! My goodness, look at you!”

14

Tuesday Morrigan

The woman lunged at Sela, nearly knocking her to the ground before Sela got a

chance to respond. For one moment Sela teetered precariously in her platform heels.

And then she felt the reassuring pressure of warm male hands against her shoulder

blades.

The redhead released her and stepped back. She looked Sela over. “You always

were a looker, Sese.”

It took her a moment, but when it hit Sela, she wondered how she could forget

about her girl, even if for only a second. “Rosa? Rosalinda Redford? Girl, what are

you doing here?”

Rosa was the most responsible vagabond she knew. The woman was always on

the move, living in a new exotic locale. This year she was a visiting professor at an

Australian university. She was the last person Sela had been expecting to see at the

reunion.

“You damn well better remember who I am.” Rosa laughed with a playful slap

against Sela"s arm.

Her touch snapped Sela out of her shock. “What the hell are you doing here?”

she yelled even as she wrapped her arms around Rosa and pulled her close. “My

God, I haven"t talked to you—”

“It"s been almost a year,” Rosa filled in as she hugged Sela back. Best friends

all through high school, they barely managed to keep contact with each other, but

they were dedicated. Thank God for e-mail.

Before college, she, Rosa, and Rome had been the trio.

Unlike the rest of them, Rosa went abroad for college. Less than three weeks

after their high-school graduation, Rosa took off for England, determined to explore

the United Kingdom before her first semester at Oxford.

“What did you do to your hair?” Sela asked as she fingered the lustrous

strands.

Rosa winked. “You know that age-old question about whether blondes or

brunettes have more fun?”

“Yeah.”

Rosa"s lush mouth spread into a wicked grin. “Well, I know for a fact that the

answer is redheads. I can"t keep the men off me.”

“I might have to color my hair.”

“I doubt you need to do that.” Sela turned at the sound of Nick"s voice. She"d

forgotten she wasn"t alone.

“Rosalinda, meet my good friend, Nickolas Landing. Nick, this is Rosalinda

Redford, the woman who single-handedly brought excitement to Truman High

School.”

Sela stood to the side as the two shook hands. It didn"t go unnoticed that it

took Nick and Rosa a long time to release each other"s hands.

Satisfaction Guaranteed

15

“Hi, Rosa.” Three pairs of eyes turned to find Rome standing several feet away

from them. He stood at the porch railing, broad shoulder propped against a wide

painted column. He looked both dangerous and inviting.

Sela felt her mouth go dry at the sight.

Rosa shrieked. “Rome Vicenza, you bastard! Why didn"t you tell me you were

coming?” she yelled before briskly walking to him. Rome opened his arms and

caught Rosa in a hug.

“I take it you missed me,” he whispered against her nape before stepping back

a little and placing a soft kiss against her cheek.

“Of course I missed you. It"s been six months since I"ve seen you.”

Six months
? Sela turned away, feeling like an intruder. They were obviously

much closer than she thought. All this time Rosa never said a word, probably

because she believed Sela didn"t want to hear about Rome. They hadn"t parted on

good terms, after all.

“Darn, I"m such a bad semihostess. We can"t be standing out here talking.

Come on, let"s go inside.”

As a group they trudged in, Rosa manning the helm, introducing them all to

the graduates who"d bailed from the scheduled reunion activities.

“What"s wrong?”

Sela lifted her head at the sound of Nick"s concerned voice.

“Nothing. Why?”

“You look pissed at the world.”

“I am not!” she said. Too late, Sela realized her response was a little too

vehement. As much as she told herself to forget about it, she couldn"t stop thinking

about Rome and Rosa"s relationship. Just how close were they?

“Where did you run off to?” Nick took off the moment they entered April"s

living room. He didn"t know anyone, so where the hell could he have gone? He gave

her a smug smile. “Wouldn"t you like to know?”

“Breaking hearts already?”

His smile widened. “You know me better than that, Sela. I don"t break hearts.”

No, he didn"t. At least Nick tried his hardest not to allow things to come to

that. He always let his women know he was incapable of settling down. Those who

didn"t believe him learned the hard way that Nick wasn"t a liar.

“Would you like anything?”

They both turned slightly to answer Rome"s question. Rosa stood beside him.

“I"ll just have whatever is available,” Sela replied. He nodded in agreement and

went to get her something.

“I"ll help you with the drinks,” Nick offered and followed him.

The moment the two men disappeared, Rosa pounced. “So give it up. What"s

his story?”

16

Tuesday Morrigan

Sela grinned at her friend. She knew it must have been killing Rosa to wait to

ask the question. “He"s thirty, single, straight, and has a good-paying job.”

Rosa"s jaw dropped. “You"re kidding!” she gasped.

Sela shrugged. She had been through it before. Nick was like a beacon in the

night for straight women. He was a single, smart, sexy guy with a good personality.

The icing on Nick"s cake was… “And he has no kids.”

“Oh my God.”

“I know.” Sela nodded. “He"s a gift from Aphrodite herself.”

“Why the hell hasn"t someone snatched him up?”

“He"s not the settling-down kind. To be honest, he"s more of a one-week kind of

man.”

Rosa stared at her. “That"s his issue? He doesn"t want to commit. That"s every

guy I"ve ever met.” She paused. “Seriously, he doesn"t live with his mom, have five

kids, or worse, live with his really attractive best friend who just happens to share

the same bed?”

“Nope,” Sela said succinctly. “He"s all yours.”

“Girl, I owe you big-time,” she said softly, her voice almost a whisper before

pressing a kiss to Sela"s cheek. The soft tone of Rosa"s voice told Sela they were no

longer alone. She turned to find Rome and Nick striding back toward her. Each man

held two drinks.

Rome reached them first. “I thought you might like this.”

She stared at the drink he held in his hand for several moments.

“It"s not poisoned.”

She lifted her gaze and glared at him as she accepted the beverage. He grinned

at her despite her response. Or maybe it was because of her response.

“We"ll see you two later?” Rosa asked. The look in her eyes was begging Sela to

give her and Nick the go-ahead. She glanced at Nick. It became painfully obvious

the two wanted to be alone.

She didn"t want to be stuck with Rome, but more than that, she didn"t want to

put a damper on what was brewing between Nick and Rosa.

“Yeah, sure.” She turned back to Rome, unwilling to watch the two disappear

and leave Sela to her fate. He didn"t appear too pleased by her lack of joy. His words

confirmed it. “Am I that bad, Sela?”

She gave him a brittle smile. “I plead the fifth.”

He shrugged. “I knew I was going to have to work for it.”

Sela ignored his statement and took a sip from her partially forgotten drink

and nearly gasped as the cool liquid burned her mouth and throat. She wasn"t much

of a drinker, and she doubted she"d ever had anything so powerful.

Eyes watering, she asked, “What exactly did you bring me?”

Satisfaction Guaranteed

17

“A Long Island.” He reached for it. “I"m sorry. I should have brought you

something weaker.”

She pulled her arm back, holding her drink away from him. “I"ll be fine. I just

wasn"t expecting it.”

“I can make you something different.”

She took another sip and shook her head. The alcohol would do her good. She

was a little too anxious. She needed to relax. Anything that helped her do that was

her friend. “I"m good.”

He looked at her dubiously. “Don"t blame me if you get drunk.”

“Off one Long Island?” Despite herself, Sela was a little incensed by his

comment. She was a lightweight, but she wasn"t that damned bad.

“As long as we keep it to one.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Believe it or not, you"re not responsible for

me, Rome. You"re not my father.”

He whispered something that suspiciously sounded like “Thank God,” before

looking her in the eye and saying, “I"m sorry. Old habits are hard to break. I guess a

little part of me still thinks of you as the seventeen-year-old girl I remember.”

She refused to touch the comment about the girl she had been a decade ago.

“Apology accepted.”

He nodded. Pregnant silence filled the air between them. She glanced at the

strong hand holding the glass. The lack of jewelry on his left hand caught her

attention.

“Last I heard you were engaged.”

Rome glanced pointedly at the very hand she had been staring at. His lips

turned up in a smirk. “As you can see I"m not currently married, nor am I currently

engaged.” He paused for two heartbeats, drumming his long, golden fingers on the

table beside him with the other hand clenched around the sparkling glass of clear

liquid. Sela seriously doubted his tumbler was filled with water.

“I seem to remember us having this conversation on the dance floor.”

She thanked God for melanin as she felt her cheeks burn up in

embarrassment. Rome was right. She had already asked if he was single.

“What happened?” The question burst from her mouth before she thought

about it.

Damn! Curiosity really did kill the cat
. “I"m sorry. I shouldn"t…”

Rome shook his head. “It"s okay.” He paused and searched her face. “I…we

realized that it wouldn"t work out. We needed a better…foundation.”

She took a sip from her drink.
Oh, so that’s what happened to the latest

supermodel.

18

Tuesday Morrigan

He smiled, flashing her all teeth. For a second Sela was blinded by the sight of

all that male magnetism looking down at her. And then she realized why he was

smiling. She"d actually spoken the words. “I"m sorry.”

He shook his head and drank the rest of his drink. Sela devoured the sight of

the strong muscles in his throat working. She automatically lifted the glass in her

hand to her lips.

Sela had never been so thirsty in her life.

He reached behind her to place his empty glass on the ledge. “What happened

to your own significant other?”

She stuttered at his question. Sela didn"t even know Rome was aware of her

relationships or lack thereof. “Uh…we realized…we needed more of a foundation.”

Rome moved just a little closer and smiled at her. She couldn"t help grinning

back at him. “We"re something, aren"t we?”

Heat flared in his gaze, and his grin grew. “Sweetheart, you have no idea.”

She blinked at the change the conversation underwent. There was no denying

the desire there. The depth of his hunger shocked her into speechlessness.

Thankfully, Rosa chose that second to appear.

“Come on, girl. You can"t spend the whole party talking. You"ve got to do

something.” She wrapped her arms around Sela"s shoulders and peered at Rome.

“May I?”

Rome lifted his cup to give her the go-ahead. Rosa grabbed Sela"s hand and

pulled her across the room. Sela felt the air around them still and dampen until it

felt as though an icy lead ball surrounded Sela. They were in the middle of the

living room, in the center of what had become a makeshift dance floor.

And Sela hated to be the center of attention.

“Come on, girl, and shake that ass.” Rosa leaned forward and brushed her lips

across Sela"s ear. “Give that boy something to stare at.”

Sela couldn"t help but laugh at Rosa"s spunky ridiculousness. She always was

the life of the party.

A quick glance told her no one was looking at them. She breathed a little