“With who?”
“Kane Wright.”
Red just laughed. “I think you and your friend Danielle have both been drinking the same Kool-Aid.”
“I’m serious.”
The waiter came with Nicole’s black and white milkshake, which tasted amazing.
Red looked her in the eye. “Nicole, there’s no way in hell I’m going to be BFF with Kane Wright just because he put the moves on your roommate.”
“You’re the one who said my friends are your friends now.”
“Is Kane Wright your friend now?”
“Maybe he will be,” she replied, drinking her shake.
Red’s expression darkened. “I don’t think so.”
She leaned forward, lowering her voice. “We have a chance to smooth things over for a while. Let’s do the right thing and have a double date. Let’s be the bigger people.”
Red just shook his head. “He’s going to burn us if we let our guard down.”
“I didn’t say that we should make him the godfather of our child. I said we should maybe have a drink with him and try and play nice for awhile.”
“Our new company is going to do anything and everything but play nice with Kane Wright and his organization. We’re going to be battling it out day and night to take back what he stole from us.”
“Fine. I understand that we’re starting a company and I want to be a part of it. But can’t we at least call a truce between you and Kane Wright until after the wedding?”
The waiter brought their food and both of them were quiet for a time. Red was picking at his salad, clearly preoccupied. Finally he put his fork down and looked at her. “You’re right. I’m letting my emotions get the best of me.”
“Thank you for seeing that,” Nicole said, relief flooding her. “It will make things so much easier if the four of us can at least be civil with one another.”
Red smiled darkly. “And as Sun Tzu says in The Art of War, we must keep our friends close and our enemies closer.”
***
Nicole’s mother called her at almost seven o’clock that Friday and told her they were stuck in horrible traffic just outside the city.
“How long before you get here?” Nicole asked, rolling her eyes, as Red came over and massaged her neck.
“Honey, I have no idea how long. I don’t know if there’s been an accident or if this is just normal Friday evening traffic.”
“Well how far away are you?”
“The GPS said we were less than an hour away until we hit this gridlock. Nothing’s moving as far as the eye can see.”
“Well, there’s nothing you can do about it. I’ll just keep the food warm and hope it lets up soon.”
“We’ll call back to give an update in the next half hour or so.”
“Thanks, mom. Bye.” Nicole got off the phone and looked at Red.
“That bad?”
“They’re running way late. They would have been late even without traffic, that’s what annoys me most,” Nicole said, opening the oven and checking on the chicken. She took her baster and squirted more broth over it to keep it moist. “It’s ready now. In an hour it’s going to be completely dried out.”
“Relax. What’s the worst that happens—we have chicken jerky for dinner. I like chicken jerky.”
“That’s not funny,” she said, but she was laughing just the same.
He put his fingers under her chin and tilted her face up towards his, and then he leaned in and kissed her deeply.
As usual, the anxious thoughts and fears seemed to slowly ebb, like the tide going out. “If you could just kiss me all the time, I’d really be happy the whole day,” she told him.
“Why didn’t you say so? We can arrange that, no problem.” He leaned in and kissed her again, then on her neck, then moving toward the swell of her cleavage.
“Red! Stop it!” She pushed him away, giggling.
He grabbed her ass with both hands and pulled her against him. “Come on. Now we have time for sure.”
“I need to make sure I keep an eye on the food,” she said. “Please don’t get me crazier than I already am.”
“You’ll be totally relaxed afterwards. Think about it,” he said. “Danielle’s gone out with Kane, your parents are stuck in Friday rush hour traffic. We can get completely naked right in this kitchen.”
She felt her nipples stiffening and her body responding, especially her lower half. Nicole was still surprised at how wet he could get her just with his talk. But she shook her head no. “Time for that later,” she said. “I need to be on my game right now.”
Red sighed. “Fine. Have it your way.”
“Do you think it was a mistake having them over to my apartment?”
“Nicole, we went over this and over this,” Red told her, walking to the fridge and grabbing a beer. “You said you didn’t want to freak them out by having them come to our house.”
“Our mansion,” she corrected him.
“I believe your exact words were that you didn’t want them to get smacked in the face by my opulent lifestyle.”