Just Her Type

by Laudat, Reon

Besides, their personal and professional lives could feel a bit too intertwined. Though Alyssa and Selena could be argumentative with each other at times, Kendra likened them to an old married couple, whose occasional sniping was another expression of their deep affection for one another. In all the years the trio had been close, personal and professional secrets shared had not been divulged outside their circle, as far as she knew.

  “Hey, Aly!” Kendra air-kissed and hugged her friends. “And Sporty Spice!” She trilled her nickname for Selena, who had an affinity for all things fitness related. That morning her friend had dressed in one of her many pairs of Sweaty Betty workout tights in eye-popping prints, a second-skin running top with thumbholes, and high-performance athletic shoes with small chain-like grips for the snow and ice.

  Alyssa stood, opened a white cardboard box, and removed a mocha mousse-like confection that resembled a small but elaborately decorated hat box. “From that little French Patisserie on Gale Avenue,” she said after noticing Kendra’s questioning look. Alyssa snapped several photos of it and swiped the face of her phone a few times. “You want it?” she offered the treat to Selena and Kendra.

  “No way, I brought my own eats.” Selena claimed the gingham chair, gesturing toward her ever-ready cooler, filled with cans of tuna (packed in water only), baked skinless boneless chicken breasts, plain pasta (with just a pat of margarine), and bottled water. Snack of champions.

  When Kendra declined, Alyssa dumped the dessert in the trash and sat on the gingham sofa.

  “What was that all about?” Kendra sat next to Alyssa.

  “You have a phone. Check Post-a-Pic,” Alyssa replied.

  Kendra tapped the Post-a-Pic icon on her own cell. Alyssa’s pastry photo topped her personal feed. She read the caption: “THIS just happened, y’all. Nom, nom, nom, nom!”

  “Liar, liar, pants on fire,” Kendra said.

  Alyssa removed healthful snacks from her tote bag. “Nobody salivates over a baggie of celery sticks, baby carrots, and low-fat Greek yogurt dip.”

  “I do!” Selena popped two fish oil capsules and washed them down with a big gulp from her usual chia seed and detoxifying charcoal smoothie.

  “Keep that to yourself. I’ve seen both of you wash the sugar glaze off Krispy Kreme doughnuts before eating them,” Kendra said. “Sacrilege.”

  “I have an image and a figure to maintain,” Alyssa said. “If I actually ate all the decadent junk I posted, my weight, not to mention my cholesterol and blood sugar levels, would shoot off the charts.”

  “Readers aren’t morons, Alyssa.” Selena flicked the long fishtail braid snaking out of her perspiration-wicking beanie. “They don’t actually expect you to live as hedonistically as your characters, no more than they expect the author of Until I See You Dead -The Groundskeeper series to maim and murder people with pruning shears.”

  “So? I think it’s great for my brand. It’s important for readers to feel I’m writing what I know or have experienced. This approach is one of the keys to my success.”

  “And don’t forget your crackerjack storytelling skills,” Kendra added.

  Alyssa’s literary specialty was a heady fusion of envelope-pushing erotica, swoon-inducing romance, and sudsy drama with glitzy backdrops reminiscent of those eighties “bonkbusters” featuring old monied and nouveau riche people breaking the Ten Commandments on mega yachts with elevators, Blackhawk helipads, submarines, Baccarat crystal staircases, white-stingray-hide decor, and koi pond flybridges. The character who connected and prominently appeared in all In the Billionaire’s Bed series books was a charismatic hot alpha she’d christened Gunnar “Steele” Everheart. Her readership could not get enough of Steele and his gang of equally hot alpha billionaire buddies. “Cash,” the former investment banker; “Flash,” the former rock star; “Clash,” the former Navy Seal; “Ashe,” the former firefighter, and “Lash” (Whiplash), the former Formula One race car driver. Three had obtained their fortunes through ground-breaking inventions that changed their respective industries. One had made wise investments while another came into a huge inheritance after discovering he was a sultan’s long lost illegitimate son.

  Alyssa’s prose was merely adequate, if truth be told. But the woman sure knew how to spin an entertaining tale that not only titillated, but also engaged her readers’ wits and emotions. “Wild escapism at its best” was how most critics described her work.

  Her street team of super fan girls spread the word about Aurora Chastain’s books with gospel-like fervor to score coveted slots on her short beta readers list. Kendra often felt like snuggling with her own e-reader and bringing it breakfast in bed after reading one of Alyssa’s torrid love scenes. Was she thinking about love scenes more often? Or was spending time with Dominic just making her notice she was thinking about them?

  “It’s always about the brand, brand, brand.” Alyssa removed the pin holding her dark hair in a topknot as she slicked a glossy lipstick over her kisser. “Aurora Chastain can sell the heat and all the trappings. Aurora lives that life. Her world is aspirational. It’s about the fantasy.” She released the three top buttons of her shirt, fluffed her hair for sex-kitten volume, and then reached inside her bag to remove a collapsible selfie stick on which she clipped her smartphone. Extending the stick about three-feet overhead and angling the phone on the top end just so, she posed, puckering her full lips and serving up her “best side.” She pressed the remote button to snap the shot. She would stagger post it, along with a give-away announcement to promote her upcoming novel Steele Everheart: All Night Long, to her numerous social media accounts.

  Alyssa retracted the selfie stick and removed the phone to place on her lap while she twisted her long hair back into a topknot. Soon, her fingers swiped over the face of her cell again.

  Kendra smiled as she checked her Post-a-Pic feed. “Aurora Chastain’s” photo and next posts appeared.

  Alyssa read its caption aloud:

  “I’m absolutely OBSESSED with the gold-plated massager featured in the upcoming installment of In the Billionaire’s Bed series. It’s super presh! Coming in thirty days, ladies. Until you read how Steele works it, want to nab one and an All Night Long T-shirt? Going to the first one hundred to respond #SteeleEverheart. Twenty-five entrants are eligible for a drawing to win a spanking new e-reader and a $100 gift card to shop at your favorite bookstore!”

  “Sounds good,” Kendra said.

  “All done!” Alyssa exhaled as if she’d put in a long, hard day sewer cleaning in Calcutta. “Even with a highly-efficient assistant on payroll, an author’s work is never done.”

  “‘Super presh’? There’s nothing precious about a vibrator, okay?” Selena pointed out.

  “It’s a personal massager for working out the knots and kinks, you know, like the one featured in Chapter Seven.” Alyssa tucked the selfie stick back inside her bag.

  “Like I said, a vibrator.”

  “Wait until my street team sees the extra swag I have in store for them,” Alyssa said. “They’re going to go bonkers!”

  Selena clucked her tongue.

  “Didn’t you do a long run and boot camp sessions this morning?” Alyssa asked. “Your endorphins should pop all over the place, but you’re in such a prickly mood.” She looked at her phone again and smiled. “Hey! That post has 1,025 twinkle-dinkles already. Oh, no, wait, make that 1,225, no wait, 2,411,” Alyssa sang and shoved her phone at Selena, who took it. “And check out all the re-twinkle-dinkles. They’re sharing it like crazy!”

  “I bow at your feet, Aly. You’re working it.” Kendra high-fived her. “And to think, I knew you back when your agent was still snail-mailing submissions to me. Now look at you.”

  “Your baby, all grown up,” Alyssa said. “And gone viral!”

  “I know you have another huge hit on your hands,” Kendra added.

  “Okay.” Selena conceded with a slight smile as she passed the phone back. “Wow. Look at the response to that post. Whatever works, Aly.”


  “Speaking of ‘working it,’ what’s this I hear about you hooking up with Dominic Tobias, Kendra-kins?” Alyssa launched her ambush. “I have four friends who attended the Maui conference. They sent texts to keep me in the loop. Obviously you were too busy with your new boyfriend. They said you and Dominic were quite the item at the conference. ‘All over each other’ and ‘trysting in the hotel parking garage’ is what one of them reported.”

  Kendra inwardly cursed Alyssa’s gossipy author-friends. So that shadowy, secluded corner in that garage hadn’t been so shadowy or secluded after all.

  “Humph.” Selena drew her lips tight.

  Last time Kendra and Selena had lunched, Selena had grumbled about the way Dominic made her “jump through hoops” for a manuscript. She’d kept the details to herself while she and Dominic worked through deal particulars.

  Alyssa had a more charitable impression of him. She usually took the opposing view to keep their discussions lively.

  “Don’t look so surprised that I know,” Alyssa continued. “Every time they turned around there were Kendra and Dominic. Together. That’s what I was told. I believe ‘clearly besotted’ is the way another one described you two. How could you keep something like this from us? For nearly a month! No wonder you dodged my texts and emails while on the island and since you returned.”

  Aunt Jackie approached them, but detoured toward to the nearby restroom. “I’ll be with you girls shortly.”

  Only after Kendra heard the restroom door click closed did she respond. “I barely had the chance to phone Aunt Jackie and Brittany while I was there, what with the tight schedule, time difference, and all.”

  “Excuses, excuses,” Selena said.

  “Yeah, you didn’t even post one measly selfie to rub it in, not one Post-a-Pic with oiled up legs, lounging on the beach with—”

  “Mai Tai in hand,” Selena added. “Hashtag, mycurrentsituation.”

  “Yeah, it is mandatory, you know,” said Alyssa. “What’s the point of having a Post-a-Pic account if you’re not going to make people pea green with envy every now and then? Yours is the most lackluster ever.”

  Kendra had taken numerous photos while on the island, but didn’t post any for public consumption. “You know I don’t go all out on social media. I only do what’s absolutely necessary to promote the agency, my authors, and The Sassy Sheep. But that’s just me. If you like it, I love it for you.”

  “Like I said, lackluster. Now, back to you and Dominic,” Alyssa said. “And why haven’t you reached out to us before now?”

  “Yeah, what’s the deal?” Selena chimed in.

  Kendra couldn’t look at Alyssa and Selena so she searched through the tote next to her feet. “But I have reached out to you both since I’ve been back. You didn’t get my texts?” she fibbed. “I’ve been so, so…” Awful. Kendra usually prided herself on not downgrading girlfriends on her priority list no matter how hectic her life became. Even in the throes of first rushes with her former fiancés, she hadn’t done it. However, the electricity between her and Dominic had taken over. She couldn’t stop thinking about him and wanting to be with him. He seemed to feel the same way. Between business and their dates, both had called or texted each other several times a day. They shared random snapshots with syrupy captions:

  This sugar cookie is not nearly as sweet as your lips.

  Counting the minutes until our date tonight. Tick. Tock.

  When Dominic sent that kitschy twenty-three-piece howling wolf bath set from the Fingerhut catalog to celebrate Kendra’s recent paranormal romance series sale, she and Brittany had the best laugh. His intention to court Kendra was unwavering. However, she would not become one of those women who ditched her best friends for a man. Well, not for long, anyway.

  When Dominic hinted at the two of them possibly spending some time together on Thanksgiving, she’d gently demurred, citing plans with her aunt and closest girlfriends. Major holidays were huge steps for a fledging friendship. Adding a man, no matter how tempting, to the mix. Too much. Too soon.

  “You could’ve emailed or texted any time while you were on the island,” Alyssa said while Selena, who sat across from them, sulked.

  “You’re absolutely right. I should’ve made time. I’m so sorry, guys.” Kendra removed the latest scarf she’d completed from her knitting bag. “I have plenty of Maui photos on my phone. You can look at them before we leave the shop, or I can text the best ones to you later. How’s that?”

  “It’s a start,” Alyssa said. “I’ll forgive you for ignoring us and sitting on all this juiciness as long as you give us the dish about Dominic, with all the details right now. And this had better be good. Did your eyes meet his from across a crowded room? Was there a bolt of lightning? Then wham!”

  “That only happens on Looney Tunes,” Kendra said, though the effect Dominic had on her was comparable.

  “So when and how did you two meet in Maui?” Alyssa asked.

  Brittany, who was closer to Kendra than she was to Alyssa and Selena, would not disclose Kendra’s secrets. So these two still knew nothing about her pre-Maui encounters with Dominic because at the time she’d been unsure how to handle his interest in her. She’d thought it best to keep quiet until she’d made a decision so as not to become overly influenced by their opinions of him, along with Brittany’s.

  “Dominic and I are exploring a friendship,” Kendra said. “We went hiking, zip-lining, camping, and sightseeing. We feasted on delicious food, strolled on the beach and—”

  “Oh, brother,” Selena rolled her eyes, “boy meets girl, boy is hot for girl, girl is hot for boy, next chapter O.S.S.”

  “There was no obligatory sex scene, thank you very much.” Kendra sat up straighter.

  “Sex on the beach is tired anyway. Cliché,” Selena said.

  Aunt Jackie walked by again. “I’ll be right with you girls.”

  “No rush,” Kendra replied, though her aunt’s presence would most definitely provide a reprieve from Alyssa’s interrogation.

  “Things often become cliché for a reason, because they’re damn good.” Alyssa flashed a vamp’s grin. “So, you didn’t have awesome sex on the beach with Dominic, Kendra?”

  “No.”

  “It wasn’t awesome?” Alyssa asked, crestfallen.

  “We didn’t have sex on the beach.”

  “So where did you have sex with him?” Alyssa scooted closer to Kendra. “You were on an island paradise, for crying out loud. If you say a boring hotel bed, I will stab you in the neck with a knitting needle. So where did you do the deed and when? Details.”

  Aunt Jackie appeared again and disappeared behind the door next to the restroom, which led to a storage area filled with boxes of newly arrived merchandise and overstock items.

  “We didn’t actually do ‘the deed’ in the bed, either,” Kendra whispered after Aunt Jackie was no longer in sight.

  Alyssa started, “But, but you’re glowing. I thought for sure—”

  “Don’t mind me.” Aunt Jackie walked by again; this time she had a big box of organic cotton yarn hanks to place inside transparent, backlit cubbies on a nearby wall.

  Kendra waited for her aunt to finish and move back up front. “We did not have intercourse on the beach or anywhere else for that matter,” she said in a stage whisper. “Have I finally made myself clear?”

  “And why the hell not!” Alyssa asked. “Why didn’t you go for it? Gorgeous guy, beautiful island. Perfection.”

  “Not so perfect timing,” Kendra replied. “C’mon, I just met the man, remember? And we were just friends spending some time together and getting to know one another. We did more talking than anything else.”

  “Talking? Just talking?” Alyssa said with a flippant wave. “Girl, bye.”

  “Yes, talking, the best way to get to know someone. So on the island we talked, talked, and then talked some more.” Kendra used the next half hour to fill them in on her last few weeks with Dominic, starting with their firs
t meeting on the plane and ending with their last couple of dates, one at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art and the other at a Halloween costume party hosted by a friend of Dominic’s. She left out all the tongue tangling and mutual groping they’d done in their host’s walk-in closet.

  Alyssa, who’d been riveted by Kendra’s story, had interrupted only a couple of times.

  Selena’s lips remained drawn tight as she removed her work in progress from a bag and began knitting.

  “You girls need more cookies?” Aunt Jackie. Again. On her way to the supply closet. She usually did most of her restocking after hours.

  “We’re good. Thanks,” Alyssa replied.

  Kendra gave them a hand signal to wait until Aunt Jackie finished her supply-closet business.

  “Don’t mind me, girls.” Out popped Aunt Jackie with a box of patterns. “Last trip before I come check on your progress.”

  “Take your time,” Kendra said sweetly as she watched her aunt return to the front of the store to join Mrs. Findley again.

  Alyssa nudged her. “And you were saying?”

  “That’s it.” Kendra said.

  “Your story could’ve used a lot more spicy details,” Alyssa said. “Is he a good kisser?”

  “I will neither confirm nor deny,” Kendra said, while thinking his lips had enough heat to melt her panties off.

  “Well, did you at least get to verify what he’s packing?” Alyssa asked, her words barbed with impatience.

  “In his suitcases?” Kendra replied.

  “An artless dodge if I ever heard one,” Alyssa said. “You know exactly what I mean. I’m trying to keep it clean and classy here. Avoid using the cruder euphemisms.”

  “Is nosiness about a man’s privates, no matter the euphemism, ever clean and classy if you’re not his urologist?” Kendra replied.

  “Well, excuse me. You’ve never held out on us before. You usually give us something good.” Alyssa pouted. “Why so coy this time?”

  “But I told you. Dominic and I are just friends,” Kendra reiterated, though when she’d plastered herself against Dominic that particular asset felt as if it met the porn-flick gold standard. Kendra had once overheard Vanessa telling Aunt Jackie that she’d boast about the way honey bears spoiled her with material things, but she kept certain details to herself, particularly those hinting at bedroom prowess, lest other women get a hankering for their own test runs. As if true-blue Aunt Jackie would ever be the least bit interested in one of Vanessa’s pawing pinheads. Kendra trusted her closest girlfriends with her life. Still, it didn’t feel right sharing such intimacies about Dominic. She wouldn’t want him blabbing their most private moments to his friends, either, especially those in the business.