Mr. Imperfect

chapter 20



For once, Rori slept. The fatigue of riding horses and spending the day under the sun added to the evening’s fireworks was a perfect sleep cocktail that had her grudgingly opening her eyes the next day when someone called her phone three times in a row. The first time she ignored it. The second time she debated getting up. The third time she tracked her phone down just to put it on silent.

Then she saw who was calling.

“Kate?” she said, picking up. Her voice was an embarrassing rasp.

“There you are,” her friend replied in her prim British accent. “One would think you fell off the edge of the earth. Where in heaven are you?”

Rori chuckled, her eyes still not fully open. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Well, according to your Facebook update you’re in some Salt Lake City suburb, though I can’t imagine how that came to be. Aren’t you supposed to be in New York about now?”

“Yeah.” Rori sighed. Where could she even start to explain?

“But before we cover that, I wanted to make sure you approved of me giving your phone number to Sydney. Remember her?”

Sydney? “No one comes to mind.”

“You would have met her a year or so back. In London. An American socialite of sorts. Likes to skinny dip?”

“Sorry,” Rori said. “Not pulling anything up.”

“Well, the point is that you two are friends on Facebook and she responded to your picture post of your ‘spare hottie’ by buying a plane ticket. She’s in Salt Lake right now and she wants to meet up with you all.”

Rori’s fell back on the bed, speechless. Of all the mornings and all the days, this had to happen today?

Of course it did.

“Hello? Are we still connected?” Kate asked on the other.

“Yes. Merda.”

“Rori, is everything all right?”

“Yes, yes,” Rori said quickly. “Just a little bit of drama.”

“Ah, I see. Well then Sydney should fit right in. May I give her your number? If not, check your Facebook. She’s tried to contact you exhaustively there. I’m certain she’s checking that as well. Then she can stop calling me at all hours.”

“Facebook it is,” Rori said, not needing her phone to ring. “Sorry for the hassle.”

“Not at all,” Kate said. “You’re not the one acting like an insane person and calling everyone in her phone book on a scavenger hunt for a hot f*ck. Although I did hear about your new beau and I expect to see a picture soon. Congratulations, my dear.”

“Thank you. And you will. I’ll call you as soon as I have things here under wraps, how about that?”

“Looking forward to it,” Kate said. “Oh, and my advice? Stay away from bodies of water with Sydney. She has a bit of an exhibitionist streak.”

Perfect. Just perfect. “Thanks for the warning.”

“Not at all. Cheers.”

“Cheers.”

Rori hung up and stared at the wall for a moment. She really didn’t remember anyone named Sydney, but perhaps a picture would jog her memory. Pulling up Facebook on her phone, Rori found Sydney in her friends and enlarged the picture.

Oh, no.

Yes, Rori remembered Sydney, and yes, that memory included a swimming pool. The woman had implants the size of a book shelf. It made her pretty hard to forget.

Great. How was she going to explain this? Because she certainly couldn’t ignore the situation when she’d been the one to issue the invite. A joke, true, but it wasn’t like she’d made that clear in the post. Sydney liked boy toys and Rori had posted a picture of a stud.

To save Kate from getting another phone call, Rori posted Are you still in SLC? on Sydney’s wall and went to search for Kris. When she didn’t find her in her room, Rori headed for the kitchen.

“Kris,” she called out, hoping against hope that the other woman was in the house and found Mrs. Cannon instead.

“She’s not here—Oh, goodness!” Mrs. Cannon said giving Rori a once over. “Would you like to put some clothes on, dear? You never know who is going to walk in.”

Rori looked down, realizing she was wearing only bikini briefs and a tank. No bra, and it kind of showed.

“Sorry,” she said, backing out. “Do you know where Kris is?”

“She didn’t say, but do you have her number? You could call her… after you get dressed.”

“Of course,” Rori said backing away.

“I’ll write the number down for you. It’ll be right down here when you come back.”

“Great. Thank you.”

Rori was headed back to the stairs when the front door opened.

“It’s too late to head to Moab,” she heard Kris say. “We wouldn’t get there until the afternoon.”

“And we can stay the night,” Luke said looking very much himself as he followed Kris through the door. Apparently things had been resolved a bit while she’d slept.

“Some of us have work in the morning,” Kris said, before the conversation came to an abrupt halt as they all caught sight of her. As a rule Rori wasn’t particularly self conscious about her body, but the expressions she was looking at inspired a streak of modesty in her.

“My apologies,” she said. “I was just going up to get some clothes on.”

“Not on my account,” Luke said stepping forward. “You look good to me.”

Kris gave his arm a little slap. “You’re not the only man in the room, Luke. Clothes would be a good thing.”

Rori tried to avoid looking at Mike, but as she fled up the stairs she glanced at him to see his reaction only to find he had turned his eyes away. He wasn’t even looking, which annoyed her somehow.

It took her less than a minute to throw on some pants and a bra before she raced back down the stairs and found the threesome right where she’d left them.

“Luke, we need to plan trips like that in advance,” Kris was saying. “Wherever we go today, it can’t be overnight or Mike and I can’t go.”

“Pardon,” Rori said interrupting. “But I’m afraid I may have accidentally complicated things.”

All three turned and looked at her and Luke offered her one of his smiles. “Got in trouble already?”

“Perhaps,” Rori said, looking at Mike. “This is doubly awkward because I’m not even sure you’re single. Are you?”

Mike blushed lightly. “At the moment—”

“Yes,” Kris answered for him. “Why?”

“Oh, well. That’s good at least. How do you feel about being set up? Just one date. Sort of a favor?”

That earned her three confused looks.

“You know people here?” Kris asked just as Luke broke out a smile.

“Is this about your Facebook post at the party?” he asked. “Who won the auction?”

“Auction?” Kris echoed while Mike chose to stay silent.

“Not an auction, per se,” Rori said quickly. “A random post—a joke, really. I took a picture of Mike and said I had a hottie to spare. I didn’t expect a spoiled American to get on a plane.”

For a moment Mike’s face was blank. Then he pursed his lips in a sly smile. She would draw it later. “What does she look like?”

“Attractive,” Rori said pulling out her phone. “And what God didn’t give her, modern science has.” She picked a picture and handed him her phone. Then she watched Mike took the phone and studied it, his pupils dilating as he focused in. She fought the urge to snatch the phone away.

“Holy hot!” Luke said peeking over his shoulder. “He’s in.”

“She’s here?” Mike said, still looking at the picture.

“Yes,” Rori said taking the phone this time. He’d looked long enough. “What do you say, Mike? She’s in town just for you. Want to skip some editing today and go on a date?”

He didn’t ask how she knew his schedule for the day. From what Rori could tell he didn’t have enough blood in his brain to think that hard. “Sure. If it helps.”

Even Kris saw through that one and snorted with laughter. “Yeah, anything for charity, right bro?”

“I like to be a team player.”

That earned a laugh from everyone but Rori.

“Excellent,” Rori said. “I’ll find out where she is and let her know we’ll pick her up. Let me go get ready.”