Of course Petra had wanted to know who he was and why Rachel hadn’t mentioned him. Rachel had confessed every sordid detail of the crush she’d had on him then, but in the aftermath of her humiliating flight from school a short time later, she’d never told Petra about the night her crush had come this close to making a woman out of her.
His breathing changed. His grip tightened on his pillow and he shifted, turning toward her to peer at her through sleepy eyes. And when he smiled, her heart skipped.
“You’re awake,” he said, then frowned. “Was I snoring?”
She laughed softly and shook her head.
“Good.” He rolled onto his back and tucked the pillow under his head. “Did we sleep the day away?”
“The sun’s just coming up.” She moved in close against his side when he opened his arm for her. “We haven’t missed anything,” she said, laying her head on his shoulder, her hand roaming slowly over his chest.
Her eyes rolled closed as she breathed in the heady, masculine smell of his skin. She sighed when he wrapped his arms around her, one hand resting lightly on her waist and the other covering her hand as it settled over the curve of his chest.
“What do you have planned for today?” he asked, his voice drowsy.
“Not a thing,” she answered, then yawned. “Okay, that’s not true. I plan to sleep.”
He touched his lips to her hair as he chuckled. “So you’re back for good?”
For as much as she’d been berating herself for having failed at living in England—forget not finding a hot British husband and having kids with great accents—she was pretty happy to be able to say she was home to stay.
She nodded and smiled to herself, thinking small talk after the raunchy things they’d done to each other the previous night seemed silly.
“Any job prospects yet?” He sounded as if he was so close to falling back to sleep.
“I have interviews lined up with a handful of spas here in the city, and one at a wellness center that’s being built in Homewood, where I grew up.”
His shoulder started to shake. She lifted her head, looked at him.
He was laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
He kissed her and said, “You’re hired.”
She sat straight up and turned to face him, legs tucked under her with the blanket clutched to her chest. “What did you say?”
He laughed—a rich, deep sound that would have been contagious if she wasn’t so freaking creeped out by what he’d just said.
“The Homewood Cardiac Health and Wellness Center is the new branch of the center my dad has here in the city,” he told her once he’d composed himself. “I’ll be one of the doctors on staff. Wait.” He grabbed for her as she scrambled off the bed, taking the blanket with her, but she slipped out of reach. “Where are you going?”
He looked way too amused. And way too sexy lying there stark naked, propped casually on his elbows with those longs legs, well-defined muscles and gorgeous cock—impressive even at rest—unabashedly on display.
“There’s no way.” Panic was making her heart start to race. “Dr. Marks runs the Homewood Center. I did my research. There is no Dr. Richards on staff.”
“Well,” he said slowly, “there will be me when it opens. Dr. Marks is my stepfather.” He tilted his head to one side. “Are you sure you didn’t know I was going to be at the party last night?”
She bristled and wrapped the blanket tighter around herself.
He sat up and narrowed his eyes. “This wasn’t some kind of grand scheme to get in my good graces so you’d be sure to get the job, was it?”
Rage and shame flooded her, overloading her exhausted system. She found his pants by the side of the bed and whipped them at him, followed by his shoes.
Ben ducked to one side and then the other, laughing as he dodged the onslaught.
“I’m kidding.” He leaped off the bed and got his arms around her from behind. “Rachel,” he spoke calmly into her ear. “I’m kidding.”
She stilled, hoping he’d let her go.
“I’ll call first thing Monday and cancel my interview,” she said quietly.
He chuckled and kissed her neck. “You’ll do no such thing.”
“We can not work together after this, Ben,” she said, easing herself out of his arms. “We were just set up through a sex party, for God’s sake.”
“It’s not like we’d be working together. The docs and physical therapy team consult with each other, but massage therapists deal almost exclusively with PT.”
She turned to face him. “Are you part of the hiring team?”
He shrugged. “So what if I am?”
“I’d rather get hired on my own professional merits.” She went to the closet, found her robe and put it on with the open closet door shielding her from his sight. “Not those merits,” she added, gesturing to the abandoned bed.
“And you will,” he assured her.
The playfulness he’d had a minute earlier was gone. She missed it immediately.
He took his pants from the bed and jammed one leg into them. “I’ll go.”
It was the last thing she wanted. It was Sunday morning, her favorite time of the week. She wanted him to stay, to crawl back into bed and sleep off the long night next to her. She wanted to wake up beside him, maybe fool around in the shower, get something to eat and spend some time catching up on the years they’d missed.
Not one word came out of her mouth to stop him from leaving.
She watched him dress with a dark, heavy feeling of dread. The night had been amazing. It couldn’t end on such a sour note, but she didn’t know how to reverse what was already done.
He stuck his bare feet in his shoes and looked at her pensively for a moment. Then he sighed and crossed the room to her.
“Don’t cancel your interview,” he said wearily. He kissed her without tongue or urgency—just a lingering touch of his soft, masculine mouth to hers that had her body stirring to life again. “‘Bye, Rachel.”
And then he was gone.
* * * * *
Ben showered, reluctant to wash Rachel’s smell off his skin despite the way the night had ended, and dropped into bed, hoping he’d fall instantly into oblivion.
No such luck.
Too much had happened and his mind wasn’t going to shut down any time soon. Having Rachel show up out of the blue had been a shock. Finding out Petra knew something about their brief history and never thought to mention it the entire time he’d known her had been another. He’d met Petra through Jude years ago, had heard her talk about her friend Rachel from time to time, but she’d never once mentioned the mutual connection they had to her.
And Rachel having an interview at the new facility in Homewood? What were the fucking odds of that?
He rolled onto his side and clamped a second pillow over his head, trying to smother the feeling that he’d made a mistake by walking out on her. He could have stayed. He was a persuasive guy. He could have calmed her down and talked her back into bed, into sleeping off the amazing night they’d spent together and worked it out after they were rested and clearheaded again.
And why, he wondered, would he want to do something like that? It wasn’t as if she was some kind of long-lost love or anything. They didn’t have any shared history aside from some failed tutoring and a handful of silly conversations that hadn’t meant a damn thing. And even if he’d kind of liked her back then, hadn’t she been the one to walk away without looking back?
The pillow went flying across the room, landing heavily against his dresser, making the lamp and a couple of bottles of cologne rattle as they rocked against each other.
Ben threw the blankets off his legs and stalked to the kitchen.
“Bad night?” Alex asked, his back to Ben as he poured a cup of coffee.
“I haven’t slept much yet,” Ben grumbled. He had no idea how late he and Rachel had been up the night before, how much time he’d spent watching her after she’
d fallen asleep or how long he’d been dozing when he realized she’d woken up.
“So it was a good night then.” Alex passed him the mug. “How was she?”
Ben slid him a look and Alex raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
“You don’t have to tell me.” He chuckled, getting a second mug from the cupboard. “I’d’ve thought she’d be better than that. Seriously, she was smokin’ hot in those heels, braless under that little dress.” He shook his head appreciatively and whistled low.
“How do you know who I ended up with last night anyway?” Ben asked, teeth clenched on the last word. “You went up before me.”
“Petra told me this morning. And I wasn’t asking about you, so don’t get all big-headed about it. I wanted to know who she spent the night with. You know, scope out my competition. For next time.”
Alex had been his closest friend since they were kids. He was a great roommate. The urge to punch his lights out was unsettling.
“Jesus,” Alex snorted. “What the hell is wrong with you? Getting laid doesn’t usually make you surly.” He went out the kitchen door and sat on a stool at the counter between the kitchen and living room. “You need to talk, sunshine?” He propped his elbows on the counter and his chin on his laced fingers. “Hmm? Anything you need to get off that sexy chest of yours?” He batted his eyelashes.
Any other day it would have been funny, but it wasn’t any other day. Ben took his coffee and headed for his office.
“Oh, come on, Benny. Don’t leave me hangin’,” Alex called after him.
Ben showed him his middle finger without turning back.
“So does this mean I can get her number?”
That stopped him just inside the doorway.
“I’ll take that as a no,” Alex said when Ben backed up a step and looked at him.
Ben went into his office and closed the door on the sound of Alex laughing.
If he wasn’t going to get any sleep, he might as well get a jump on the work he needed to start the next day. But as soon as he opened his laptop he knew any attempt to work was going to be futile.
“God damn it,” he muttered, scrubbing his hands over his face.
For a fleeting moment between rounds with Rachel he’d considered doing something to thank Petra for making sure he and Rachel ended up together that night. Now he wasn’t sure he was ever going to forgive her.
* * * * *
“Morning, sunshine.” Petra smiled serenely from her seat at the kitchen table. “There’s a fresh pot of coffee.”
“You’re an angel.” Rachel stuck her head in the refrigerator and took her time looking for the cream, sparing herself from Petra’s scrutiny for a precious few seconds. “Is Jude up yet?”
“No.” She could hear Petra folding the newspaper she’d been reading. “He works tonight, so he’ll probably sleep most of the day.” There was a moment of silence. “So?”
Rachel’s shoulders hunched toward her ears. “So what?” she asked, her back to her friend as she added a spoonful of sugar to her mug. It was pointless to resist talking about her night with Ben. Petra would get it out of her eventually.
“Mornin’, sluts.” Bree shuffled into the room, barefoot in her party dress with her hair in a messy knot on top of her head, and made a beeline for the refrigerator.
Rachel added cream to her coffee and joined Petra at the little table in the breakfast nook. “No sleeping in today?” she asked Bree.
“It’s wedding-dress shopping day with my future sister-in-law.” She came to the table with two bottles of water. “I’m supposed to meet her in an hour.” She sat, tucked one of the bottles into her crotch and sighed. “Lord, I’m gonna be walking crooked for a week.”
Rachel’s eyes went big and Petra nearly did a spit-take with her coffee.
“You need one?” She held the second bottle toward Rachel. “Just asking.” She gave Rachel a wink and a knowing smile. “They don’t call Ben and Alex the foot-long twins for nothing,” she added, cracking the seal on the cap and touching it to Rachel’s mug.
Rachel stifled the wave of jealousy that threatened to rise.
“Who’s they?” Petra asked.
Bree finished drinking half the water and breathed out heavily.
“Me, mostly.” She grinned. “Maybe you could fix it so she ends up with Big Red next time,” she said to Petra.
“And maybe you could be less obvious when fixing the game next time.” Rachel gave Petra a look. “Isn’t random hooking up the point of a key party?”
Petra shrugged innocently and sipped her coffee.
“Seriously,” Bree continued, to Rachel this time. “You have to see Alex’s dick. It’s gorgeous.” She volleyed back to Petra. “Am I right?”
Petra gave her a wide-eyed look. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen it.”
Rachel sat back and shook her head. “I haven’t had enough coffee to be hearing this just yet.” It came out much more impatiently than she’d intended.
She caught the quick look her friends exchanged.
“You all right?” Petra asked.
“I’m fine.” She tried to smile, but she didn’t feel fine. “I’m just tired.”
“Tired means you hardly got any sleep,” Bree said, patting her hand indulgently. “That’s a good sign, sweetie.”
“If you say so,” she muttered into her mug, then sighed. “He works at the new cardiac wellness center in Homewood. I have an interview there on Tuesday.”
Petra sat up straight, sensing the reason for Rachel’s gloom. Bree, who always saw the sunny side of things, pumped a fist into the air.
Bree’s expression fell when Rachel just looked at her. “That’s not a good thing?”
Rachel occasionally forgot Bree didn’t know as much of her history as Petra. She hadn’t been friends with Bree during the time of The Asshole Incident, as Petra liked to call it. Rachel had taken a few months off to clear her head between quitting college and starting massage school. She’d worked in a restaurant as a waitress to make a little money but ended up making a fool out of herself instead.
“I don’t date coworkers,” Rachel said. “Ever.”
“Well…” Petra let her thought trail off unfinished.
“I did once, and it ended very badly.” Rachel pushed back from the table and went for the bag of bagels on the counter. “So I don’t do it anymore.”
“How badly did it end?” Bree asked.
Rachel put the bagels on the table. “He spread rumors about me all over the restaurant where we worked,” she said, finding a cinnamon one for herself.
Bree held up her hand when she offered her the bag. “What was the rumor?”
She tore off a bite. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Sure it does.” Bree shifted in her seat and repositioned the water bottle between her legs, making Petra snort. “You know my deepest secrets, Rach. Spill it.”
Rachel took a drink of coffee to help her swallow the bite lodged in her throat. Petra slid her a look before taking a deep breath.
“She was dating this cook right before I introduced the two of you,” Petra started. “He was cute, he took her out on fun dates, they hung out.”
“One night a couple of months into dating, I slept with him,” Rachel said, taking over the story. “I’d only been with one other guy before, and he was a straight missionary man, so I had zero experience.”
She didn’t feel the need to tell Bree how the coworker had bragged about his oral sex skills, or that when he actually got down there to show her, she hadn’t felt a damn thing. In fact, it had been one of the most disgusting experiences of her life.
“I didn’t realize it then, but the sex was horrible. I thought it was me.” She blushed at the memory and the humiliation of saying it out loud, even after all the years that had passed. “He told everyone we worked with I was terrible in bed. The next day.”
“Oh, sweetie.” The water bottle wedged between her legs fell to the floor as Bree jump
ed out of her seat and threw her arms around Rachel’s neck. “You poor thing.” She took Rachel’s face in her hands and looked into her eyes. “You know it’s not you now, right? Because yours weren’t the only moans and groans I was hearing through the floor last night.”
The heat in Rachel’s face grew. She closed her eyes. “Yes, I get that now.”
“Good.” Bree sat and held Rachel’s hand. “Honey, listen. You haven’t interviewed yet, and the job isn’t guaranteed even after you do. And you’re talking about the difference between a doctor and a line cook, who likely never had the ambition to be anything else. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I’m just saying.” She squeezed Rachel’s fingers. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve worked with my share of asshole docs, still do in fact, but I think it’s safe to say they tend to be a more discreet breed of asshole.”
“She has a point,” Petra said.
“Thank you.” Rachel gave her a withering look. “I hadn’t caught that.”
“And it’s not like Ben’s the kind of guy who keeps a steady girl around.” She gestured to Petra. “You said yourself you’ve never known him to date anyone longer than a few weeks, and never seriously.”
Now that made her stomach take a turn for the worst. Just what she needed was to get involved with another man with a short attention span.
She dropped her bagel onto the table and brushed crumbs from her fingers. “None of your points matter,” she said to Bree. “I’m not going to the interview. It’s not like I need the job. I have money saved from working for the cruise line and living cheap with my friends. I can take a spa job instead.”
“Rachel,” Petra said quietly. “You’ve been wanting a job in therapy for so long.”
“Yeah,” Bree added. “You’ve been talking about getting out of the fluff and fold business for years.”
Rachel burst into much-needed laughter.
“Fluff and buff,” Petra corrected, grinning.
Bree gave her a flat look.
“Fluff and fold is laundry, darling,” Petra added.
Bree’s nostrils flared. “Whatever.”
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