18
She missed him.
She didn’t want to. Didn’t plan to. But she did anyway. Missed the way he said her name. Missed the feel of him next to her in bed in the mornings. Missed the sex most assuredly. Mainly though, she missed talking with him about the flotsam and jetsam of her daily life.
Of course her daily life was menus and catering jobs and his was winning awards and making records. He was probably bored with her stuff. Maybe.
This was dumb. She stood up decisively. For something to do she uploaded the pictures from her camera to her computer. Of course there were hundreds of shots and 90 percent of them were of him or the ranch. They were good, she thought. Even if she did say so herself. The gleam of the chrome on his drums catching in the sunlight at the Gorge. The steam rising from the fields in the early morning. Ezra on a horse, or dealing with his animals. Paddy and Vaughan, heads bent close sharing some trouble of one kind or another. Violet.
She needed to frame some of these.
She was going to get mopey if this kept up. He had a life. She had hers. They had just seen one another a week and a half before so it wasn’t like months had passed or anything. She had work every single day so she couldn’t have taken a break anyway.
She called Daisy. “We should go dancing.”
Daisy gasped. “We totally should. Like tonight? Are you busy?”
“I had a lunch thing but I’m free now.”
“I’ll be at your house in an hour. I’ll call Jules and you try Gillian?”
“Got it.”
Gillian was delighted by the idea and everyone would be meeting at Mary’s house in an hour.
Mary rushed off to take a shower. Dancing would keep her mind off how she wasn’t with Damien.
“You’re totally not going to wear that.” Daisy gave Mary a critical eye as she got dressed. “You have a gorgeous body; why are you wearing a potato sack? You’re usually way better at this.”
Jules laughed. “Better you than me.”
Daisy was sort of the fashion police of Delicious. She had excellent taste and quite often little gifts would show up in Mary’s house. A blouse or a dress. Something she may have never chosen for herself but Daisy, as always, had a strong sense about it.
Daisy moved to go through Mary’s closet and tossed out a few things. “The blue one I think.”
She held up the minidress. “It’s October. This is an August dress.”
“We’ll be in a club. It’ll be a million degrees. You can wear a wrap until we get inside.”
She sighed and obeyed. Daisy wouldn’t quit until she did anyway.
Daisy grinned once Mary had finished.
“Perfect. You look hot. We need to take a picture of all of us and text it to our respective boys. It’ll do them all good to know what they’ve got. Also, Gillian, baby, are you okay to be out tonight?”
“I’ll have to forgo the tequila shots of course, and the wild sex with random passersby. But I can dance and visit with my friends. It’s been ages since we’ve done this.”
It had. They’d all been falling in love over the last two years. Each one, bit by bit, and things had changed. Mary was still adjusting, but it was overwhelmingly good.
“Since we’re headed to Seattle, I think we should invite Erin, Elise and Ella. I bet Ella would love a night out.” Daisy grabbed a wrap and tossed it Mary’s way. “That one.”
“She may not want to leave the baby for very long, but we should definitely invite her.” Their friend Ella had a two-month-old and a gorgeous husband, so Mary wouldn’t blame her one bit if she said no, thank you.
“I’ll call while we’re on the way.” Gillian said. “I’ve got Adrian’s SUV. The windows are smoked so you can’t see much out the back. Or we could take the bridge and go around.” Gillian looked to Jules casually. Jules had a horrible fear of water. The ferry was not her favorite thing. She rarely said a word, but they all tried to spare her when they could.
“I’ll stay in the back between these hot mommas. Gillian, let Mary drive.”
“I’m pregnant, not unable to drive, for goodness sake.”
Jules laughed. “I know. Humor me.”
* * *
It had been far too long since she’d shaken her ass until she was red in the face and sweaty. Well, she thought of Damien for a moment, in a nonsexual fashion. Ella and Gillian hung out at the table, laughing and chatting. Jules alternated between the group dancing and the table.
Daisy was ridiculous. No one danced like her so Mary had gotten used to it. But she had her own groove and she worked it in her own way. Elise, also a dancer, was graceful and sexy, her pale hair whipping around as she moved. Every once in a while Erin would take a picture on her phone and send it god knew where, most likely to her men. Daisy took a few of herself and Mary, most likely sending to Twitter or one of her other social network addictions.
Every few minutes a dude would dance up and try to grind. If he kept his distance and didn’t touch her with his cock, she danced with him a while. If he touched her in any way, she sent him packing. Even without Damien she’d have sent them away. She didn’t go out dancing to have men buy her drinks or rub all over her. She could buy her own damn drinks. She liked being with her girlfriends, laughing, getting a good workout and hearing some great music.
“I need a drink. This round is on me.” Daisy tugged on her arm and they left the dance floor, heading toward the big bar at the far end of the room.
While they waited they danced and laughed. “I’ve missed this.”
“I’m sorry!” Daisy hugged her. “I feel like I’ve abandoned you.”
Mary tipped her head back and laughed. “Baby, you’re in love. That’s amazing and wonderful and I’m thrilled. You haven’t abandoned me at all. You just made room in your life for Levi. Like you should. Everyone’s lives are going in such a great direction. It’s all good.”
The bartender gave her a tip of his chin, his gaze sliding over her breasts. It made her smile. A girl needed to feel desired, and this night was all those things in spades.
He poured their drinks quite liberally and brushed his fingers over hers as she grabbed her glass. She winked and they danced their way back to the table, passing around drinks and the water they’d picked up for Gillian.
“That person over there keeps taking pictures of you guys.” Ella nodded toward a far corner.
Erin turned and snarled. “That’s the a*shole who caused all the drama with Gillian. What is he doing here?”
“That creepy reporter who started that fight outside the club? The one that almost broke Gillian and Adrian up?” Mary could still remember how torn up Gillian was when the reporter had dumped the story of her criminal father on Adrian and his family. All to hurt them and try to create a juicy story. Mary had never seen Gillian cry so hard.
“No, you stay here.” Mary took a sip. “I’ll handle this.” Dude seriously needed some violence in his life if he thought he could hurt her friend ever again.
“I’m coming with you.” Daisy rose. “Wheee! Just like the old days.”
“Of all of three years ago. Let’s go deal with this a*shole.”
“It’s better if you just ignore them.” Gillian put a hand on her arm. “You’re going to learn this yourself. But if you give him any attention, he’ll make it into a story. What was the pretty wife of Adrian Brown up to that she sent her friends over to silence the press?”
Mary curled her lip. “He shouldn’t be taking pictures without your permission. At the very least, let me track down someone who works here to deal with that.”
Gillian thought a moment and then nodded.
“In the meantime, if you adjust and switch places with Jules all he’ll be able to see is the back of your head.”
“Good idea.”
She found a bouncer and whispered in his ear. He nodded, spoke to someone off to the side. A manager came out quickly once Adrian’s name had been spoken.
“There’s a guy over there by the back bar. He’s been taking pictures of Gillian Brown all night long. She’s never given her permission. All we want to do is come here to have some fun. It’s not much fun if we can’t even hang out without this sort of thing.”
She cocked her head, adding a little wistful, a little guile and a little sexy. He exhaled and nodded. “We obviously want our patrons to be comfortable.” Especially their celebrity ones, she knew. And for once she wasn’t hesitant about using that. Gillian deserved some damned privacy.
He was gone and they went back to the table for a few minutes before they headed out to dance again.
* * *
“Dude.” Paddy peered over his shoulder as he looked at his phone. Mary had forwarded a picture of her and her friends when they’d gone out the night before. “Wow. Your woman is f*cking hot.”
“Shut up.”
She did look hot in a pretty blue minidress that showcased her tits and her legs. He bet she and Daisy tore that place up. And then he frowned. He bet she got hit on too.
“Why are you frowning?”
“She looks hot.”
“And that’s a problem why? You prefer your women not hot? ’Cause I call bullshit on that.”
“Shut up. God.”
“Oh, I get it, she’s not supposed to be hot when you’re not around.”
“Well. She probably got hit on. Dudes probably danced with her. She won’t commit to me; god only knows what she got up to.”
Paddy socked his arm really hard.
“Ow!” He shoved Paddy, who fell back over the arm of the couch. “Dick.”
“F*ck you, crybaby. You’re a dick.” And he socked Damien again, dancing out of the way of any retaliation. “You really gonna tell me you think she gave a guy a BJ in the bathroom? I’m not even dating her and I can tell you that’s bullshit. She’s not like that, which is why you dig her so much. But she has a life without you, which is why you’re so bugged. And you know it’s stupid and shitty to be bugged, which bugs you more.”
“Why’d she send this picture then?”
“What is wrong with you? It’s like you’ve never dealt with women before. They always send you pictures of times they look great. Duh. She’s like, hey, dude, look how foxy I am. Not, hey, dude, I’m going to bang a stranger. She wants you to see what you have. You’re dumb. Is she supposed to stay home and wear sackcloth? Because we’re headed out the damned door to go party in Portland. That’s what Mom would call a double standard.”
“I’m not all duded up!”
“You’re going to get hit on by dozens of women. They’re going to show you their tits and buy you drinks.” Paddy shrugged. “Are you going to bang a stranger in the bathroom?”
“No! I told you, I’m with Mary.”
“So why would you expect that she would do that to you? She’s a nice girl. A. Nice. Girl. Sure you’re not used to that, but that’s what Mary Whaley is. You? You’re not so much a nice boy, but you’re not going to f*ck around on her. So I think you should afford her the same trust you’d expect her to give you.”
“When did you get so f*ckin’ wise?”
“I was born wise. One of us has to be smart since the rest of you are dumbasses who lead with your dicks.”
“Oh, the irony. I’m surprised you didn’t get struck by lightning right now.”
“Let’s go get our drink on.” Paddy slapped his shoulder. “I told Vaughan we’d grab him on the way out.”
It wasn’t that Ezra couldn’t deal with the sight of them drinking. He was far enough down his road to recovery that he wasn’t bothered by people drinking around him. But they did it out of respect and also, Portland had great clubs and hot women. Well, for Vaughan and Paddy anyway.
“You drive. I’m gonna call Mary.” Damien settled in the backseat and dialed her number.
“Hello there, Damien.”
He smiled at the sound of her voice. There was enough noise in the background that he knew she was with her friends. It was supper club night.
He missed her.
“Hello there, Mary. What are you up to?”
“Wrapping up supper club and then we’re headed to Adrian and Gillian’s for a movie marathon. What are you up to?”
“Going out with Paddy and Vaughan. Thanks for the pictures you sent last night. You looked hot.”
Her laugh made him miss her even more.
“Thank you. There was some jerk photographer there taking pictures of Gillian. We got him removed.”
So ferocious in the defense of those she loved.
“Did you punch him in the throat? I seem to recall you have a penchant for that.”
Again she laughed. “No, I batted my eyes and got wistful with the management. But I think it was probably more the fact that she’s a sort of celebrity in his club and they didn’t want to lose her business more than my eyelashes.”
He doubted it. She had great eyelashes.
“How’s my pig?”
“Ha! So far she hasn’t reverted to her former ways. But Ezra says she misses you. You should come down again to visit her. Keep her on the straight and narrow. Me too.”
“Are you in danger of straying from the path of righteousness, young man?”
“Only if you’ll discipline me after.”
Her laugh had changed, lowered. Shivers slid through his system.
“And no, I have no plans to stray. You know that, right?” Flirting and joking aside, it was important she understood that.
“I should hope so.”
“When can I see you again?” He hadn’t planned to ask, but he didn’t plan lots of things about the way he felt for her. It simply was. He needed her in his life, damn it.
“Going into some busy times. Over the next three weeks I’ve got jobs every day of the week. Some days I have two. Nice to be able to pay for Christmas presents.”
“We’re going into the studio in November. Would you consider being our personal chef?” He’d broached the idea with Vaughan, who was fine. Ezra had brought it up first anyway. He didn’t care what Paddy thought by that point. Damien wasn’t above admitting he wanted her with him and it would only be fair to have her work there. She was good at what she did. He knew that. She’d be a calming influence. “We work all day and into the night. It’d be good to have real meals and snacks. If you were here to do it for us, we’d probably get a lot more done.”
Paddy gave him a look in the rearview, but held his tongue.
“We can talk about this the next time we see each other.”
“Fine, fine. I’ve got to run. I just wanted to check in with you because I wanted to hear your voice.”
“I’m glad you did. I miss you.”
Pride roared through him. She rarely gave him little bits of praise like this when they were apart. It made him unbearably happy.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“I miss you too. Sweet dreams, Mary Whaley, very nice girl. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Bye, Damien Hurley, very dirty musician with the very big heart.”
She hung up and missing her came right back.
“What’d she say about the personal chef thing?” Vaughan asked.
“She said we’d talk about it when we see each other next.” Which would be very soon because he was sick of not being with her.