by Autumn Skye
I threw my suitcase into the backseat of her SUV. She didn’t bother to pack for herself. I imagined she had a closet full of clothes waiting on her at home. She seemed in high spirits as we made drive, singing along to the radio and occasionally taking her right hand off the wheel to rest it in my lap. It was strange to me that such a small touch could feel so intimate, set my whole body on fire to the point it took all my restraint not to ask her to pull over at the nearest motel. This fling was reducing me to the mentality of a high school girl in the throes of her first crush. Like at the lake when I’d taken control and nearly devoured her right there on the water’s edge. I wasn’t the kind of girl who took control of anything, not even my own life, but here I was, demanding more and more from this stranger I hadn’t known a month ago. No, this wasn’t like me at all, and maybe that was a good thing, because I couldn’t ever remember being so happy. That is until I asked the one question you should never ask when things are going so well. What could go wrong?
It didn’t take long for me to get my answer.
***
Danielle wasn’t exaggerating when she’d said the house was a masterpiece. When we pulled up to the estate on Ocean Drive, located just ten minutes or so away from the downtown bay area, my breath caught in my throat. I knew this house. It was practically a landmark in Corpus. It had been built back in the 1920s, structured in the style of a French Chateau with cobblestone siding.
“Oh, my God, this is your house?” I squealed.
“This is it. I’d wanted it since I was a kid. Jared is the one who just had to have a mansion, but I’m the one who decided it had to be this one. It went up for sale while we were looking. I threatened him with divorce if he didn’t buy it for me. Come to think of it, he got the short end of the deal the way it turned out, didn’t he?” she remarked with an ironic laugh. “Wait till you see the inside. You’re going to love it. I hope you do, anyway, since I did it myself.”
She needn’t have worried. I was duly impressed when I stepped inside. Everywhere I looked I saw elegance and a style only she could brand as her own. The marble floors, high ceilings, and chic furniture all had her stamp on it.
“It feels good to be home. It feels even better to not be here alone.” She gave me an affectionate look that made me blush before taking me by the hand and leading me to the kitchen.
“I’m guessing you enjoy cooking,” I said. There was an island in the middle of the room and open shelves filled with pots and pans.
“Sometimes. Right now, the only thing I’m making is a pitcher of iced tea. It’s a hundred degrees out there. Summer has come early.”
“We’re in Texas. Summer always comes early and stays late.”
“Good point. So how about we stay inside where it’s cool and watch movies tonight? It’s a bit late to hit the beach today.”
“Mrs. Whitmore, I didn’t realize you were coming home,” a surprised voice spoke, causing both of our heads to jerk to the doorway.
“Ah, Cecily, yes, I’m back, but not for long. A couple of days at the most. This is my friend, Lily.”
“Hello,” the woman who I presumed was the maid greeted me.
“Nice to meet you,” I replied. “Of course, such a massive house would be staffed.
“I was getting ready to leave for the day. Everything is to your liking? You don’t need anything?”
“We’re fine,” Danielle answered.
“She doesn’t live here?” I asked when the woman left the room.
“No, she cleans a few days a week and oversees the landscaper and pool men while I’m away.”
“I almost forgot that you’re wealthy,” I said.
“Wealth is a matter of perception. It means to not want for anything. I want a lot of things. It just so happens money can’t buy them all,” she said.
“I get that.”
“I figured you would,” she paused. “Hey, I changed my mind about staying in tonight. We should go out and have a few drinks, go dancing.”
“I haven’t been dancing in a long time. We should go,” I consented.
“I packed the dress we got for you.”
“You did?”
She nodded. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t.”
“Good instincts,” I grinned. “It reminds me of something my mother would try to throw on me.”
“There’s not too much about your mother I like from what you’ve told me, but it does sound as if she has good taste. That dress was made for you.”
I watched as she made a pitcher of tea and poured two glasses over ice and gave each one a squeeze from a bottle of lemon juice. Somehow, I’d tuned out and gotten lost in my own thoughts when she handed me my glass.
“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve left the building. Is there someplace you’d rather be?” she teased.
“No, I was thinking how odd this is.”
“What’s so odd?”
“Less than two weeks ago I was-floundering might be the word. I felt-
“Go on.”
I didn’t want to say lonely. That sounded pathetic. “Lost is the word I’m looking for, I guess. It was depressing. I thought I was doomed to a life as a boring, spinster secretary. I might as well have been one of those stuffy librarians for all the fun I had.”
“Librarians can be very sexy once they let their hair down. That scenario sells a lot of porn,” she giggled. “I think secretaries do okay, too. Want to play mean boss, bad employee?”
“Very funny.”
“Well, I’m glad I could get you to let your hair down, but I don’t think you give yourself enough credit. You’re no boring prude. We did meet because you were spying on me. That makes you a naughty little voyeur.”
“I know you’re joking, but that’s actually true.”
“It most certainly is. You never fooled me with all that denial. A lady can protest too much.”
“It still embarrasses me to think I did that,” I shook my head.
“You’re embarrassed? I’m the one who was running around naked.”
“And yet you aren’t the least bit embarrassed, are you?”
“No,” she chortled.
“We’re very different.”
“Not as different as you make us out to be,” she disagreed. “We’re alike in the ways that count, or you wouldn’t be here.”
“I suppose that’s also true,” I acquiesced.
“I still wouldn’t mind playing the bad secretary game. I am your boss in a sense. We have a business arrangement. It could be a fun game.”
“Maybe later,” I gave her a smile to show her I could tease, too.
“It’s way too soon in our relationship for you to be getting headaches.”
Relationship? Hadn’t she said she didn’t want to define whatever it was going on between us? Now we apparently had a relationship. Had she forgotten to tell me? She sure did a good job of keeping me off balance.
“So where are we going?”
“There’s a place on the island. It has an outdoor bar with live music right on beach.”
“I’ll warn you. I’m not much of a dancer.”
“So, I’ll lead,” she said with another grin. “You aren’t getting out of it, Lily. You will dance with me before the night is through.”
“Okay, I give in. We’ll dance the night away, or whatever.”
I had to admit that it sounded like the perfect evening. I’d have never guessed that it could go so terribly wrong.
Chapter Eleven
Danielle
I should have known better than to take her out for a night on the town, this particular town, anyway. Corpus was my old stomping ground. My ex-husband’s, too. The divorce had been quite public, but I was still recognized as Jared Whitemore’s wife. There were only two types of people I was likely to run into that night, the ones who thought I was a gold digger who’d taken Jared to the cleaners and the ones who were simply glad to see the cleaning lady knocked out of the elite circle I’d managed to marry my
self into. There was a reason that I no longer spent much time in this city. No matter how much I loved my home town, the adoration was unrequited amongst most of the locals. I liked to pretend otherwise, though, and having Lily by my side gave me courage to face the stares and whispers that were usually directed my way when I ventured outside the gates of my home. Or rather, it had once been my home. Now it was my fortress.
I’d brought Lily’s dress, but I’d forgotten all about shoes. We were the same size, so I loaned her a pair of my sandals. After we drank our tea I showed her to my bedroom where she could change.
“This house has six rooms, but I thought we’d share the master.”
“There’s plenty of room on that monster of a bed,” she said.
“That’s the idea. It was made for two.” I responded, placing my palm on the small of her back.
“More like three.”
“Now whose being kinky?”
“No worries. I’m not the slightest bit into threesomes. You’re enough for me.” she countered, hopping onto the mattress and lying back. “Oh, wow, it’s so comfortable. Are you sure I can’t change your mind about going out? I’d love to just lie here all night.”
Her t-shirt had risen up over her midriff. The sight of her creamy pale skin made her proposition more than appealing, almost downright irresistible. I recalled how she’d so pleased me with her hungry mouth that day on the lake and I was tempted to do the same for her then and there. I had to tell myself we had time for that later. Not much time, since she’d be going back to Houston in a few days, but I wanted a chance to enjoy being with her both in and out of the bedroom. If I could control my own urges, that is. She was making it hard, lying her feet on the mattress, her luscious thighs parted as she fixed her smoky blue eyes on me, bedroom eyes.
“If I were into threesomes, that maid of yours, Cecily, is a blond bombshell.”
“She was fucking Jared. I think she took him moving out harder than I did.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Why does she still work for you? I’d have fired her.”
“If it hadn’t been her it’d would have been someone else. Besides, I get the satisfaction of knowing she has to scrub my toilets now. She needs the money now that Jared isn’t taking care of her.”
“That’s evil.”
“I never said I was an angel.”
“No, you didn’t, but you don’t have a mean bone in your body that I’ve seen. What’s the real reason you didn’t fire what’s her name?”
“Melissa is her name, and I didn’t fire her because I get where she came from. Jared is quite manipulative and she’s young and dumb, like I was when I met him. He probably charmed her right out of that uniform. And I don’t care, either. Revenge is a sign that you care about what that person has done to you, and I don’t. I refuse to waste a minute bitching and moaning about the past.”
“Everyone should be like that.”
“We should get changed if we’re going,” I sighed, ready to change the subject.
It took me an hour to get ready. I wore a black cocktail dress and pinned my hair up, curling the ends and letting them dangle on my shoulders. I was used to getting ready for Jared, who insisted I look my best wherever we went. Lily wouldn’t had given a damn if I’d worn sweats and not bothered to run a brush through my hair, but old habits were hard to break.
“Want to borrow some of my makeup?” I offered.
“I think your foundation would be a shade too dark. I should have brought mine, huh? I’m going to embarrass the shit out of you. The frumpy librarian in me is showing again.”
“And what did we say about librarians?”
“They’re sexy,” she answered with a roll of her eyes.
“That’s right. Besides, you don’t have to work to impress me. You already have.”
“I hope you remember that when you’re dancing with me in public. I’m not lying about being really bad.”
“You’ll catch the rhythm. I have confidence in you. Just don’t step on my feet.”
“I can’t promise.”
“You don’t get to be a wallflower, Lily, not tonight,” I said, my tone mocking sternness.
I drove us to the oceanside bar and we were there ten minutes later. In Corpus Christi, you’re never more than twenty minutes from the water no matter which direction you live. A lot of natives say they rarely visit the beach and you can always tell whose new in town by how much time they spend there, but I was always drawn to the serenity of the water. I’d spent my youth on the beaches of Corpus and this was my favorite place, an outside bar with a pavilion and a dance floor just a few feet from the sand and waves. To the left was the south jetty and if you walked to the end of the pier you usually saw more sea turtles than you could count and even the occasional dolphin. Lily and I ordered Pina colodas and headed out that way. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intentionally setting a romantic mood. She didn’t object, so that was a good sign.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed.
“You act as if you’ve never seen the ocean. You’ve surely been to Galveston.”
“Sure, but not with you. This is nice. Everything is nice with you,” she whispered.
“Lily, you almost sound shy.”
“I am shy.”
“But not with me. We’re way past that.” I kissed her cheek. My lips only lightly brushed hers, but she glanced around as if afraid we’d be caught in the most intimate of moments. “Wow, you are shy.”
“I wish I wasn’t going home so soon.”
“Then don’t go.”
“Oh, what, quit my job?” she laughed.
“What if you do? You already have a new one with me.”
“That’s a weekend gig. It’s not a full-time career.”
“It could be.”
“Since when?”
“Since I’ve decided I don’t want you to go home, either.”
“That’s a big leap, Danielle. I’d have to give up my apartment. Where would I live?”
“The same place you’ve been staying the past two weeks.”
“Move in with you?”
“Don’t make it sound like the worst idea you’ve ever heard. You’ll hurt my feelings.”
I can’t do that to Farah. She sent me here to get away, let me use her cabin. I can’t go back and tell her I’m quitting and running off to start a business with my new lover. She’ll think I’ve lost my mind.”
“Your friend, Farah, is a grown woman. She can handle finding a new secretary. As far as losing your marbles goes, insanity can be underrated. When I decided what I wanted I didn’t think twice about running away.”
“You ran with a couple million dollars in your bank account. You’ll be fine no matter what happens with your business.”
“Yeah, but there will be lots of secretary positions still available if it doesn’t work out. You’d be fine, too. And it wouldn’t be the first time you ran to live your own life.”
“You’re referring to my family? I didn’t run. I just walked away from the money. I’m not disowned. If anything, my mother has tightened the reins on me since I left. Nine times out of ten when my phone rings it’s her. In the time since I met you I’ve accumulated seven missed calls from her. I haven’t returned a single one, come to think of it. She’s fuming right about now.”
“Why does she call so incessantly?”
“She can always find a reason to call. This time it’s about my sister’s baby shower. She wants me to fly to Dallas with her next month. I should really call her back.”
“Do you want to attend your sister’s shower?”
“Hell, no,” she snorted.
“Then don’t.”
“I do wish I could be more like you, but I’m not.”
“As I said before, I believe you are, more so than you realize. You should consider my offer.”
“To work full time for you?”
“With me. That sounds better,” I corrected her.
“I’m not ready fo
r that, but I’ll keep it in mind?”
“Life is full of rain checks that never get cashed. Don’t think on it too long, or you might never do it.”
“This is crazy, you and me. You came out of nowhere, Danielle.”
“You haven’t seen crazy until you’ve seen me dance. Let’s go. I warned you.”
I led her back to the dance floor. The band was playing a classic soft rock song from the eighties. She didn’t recognize it and gave me a quizzical look.
“I didn’t say the band was any good. We’ll make the best of it,” I shouted over the music, pulling her to me. She wasn’t lying about not being a dancer. “Just sway. That’s how you fake it,” I advised with a smirk.
She did her best and I was satisfied to have her in my arms. I didn’t take my eyes off her and was about to give her another kiss when a well-manicured hand tapped my shoulder. I turned to see who it was and came face to face with Marissa Lawrence, the wife of one of Jared’s oldest friends. I stopped moving to the music and gave her a stare that felt hard and resentful, though I was hoping those emotions didn’t show on my face.
“Danni, I haven’t seen you in forever and a day.”
“Hello, Marissa. It has been a while. I’ve been out of town.”
“Yes, we’ve all wondered if you were ever coming home. And you have company, too. Who is this?”
My arm tightened around Lily’s waist. “This is my friend, Lily.”
Marissa extended her hand to shake Lily’s, giving her a sly look. “Friend? Don’t be coy, Danny. We’re friends, but I don’t remember us ever dancing so close together. I think there’s more to it than that.”
“I should hope so. We’re being quite obvious about it,” I said.
“And does Jared know about your new friend?”
“Why should it matter? Our divorce is final.” My defensiveness was creeping into my voice. Marissa and I had never been on great terms. She was in the Jared camp. I was just a gold digger who’d married above me as far as she was concerned. She wasn’t looking to catch up and reminisce about old times. She was after a juicy piece of gossip she could spread as fast as she could whip out her cell phone and start texting. I could hear her in my head. Poor Jared. Who’s going to be the one to tell him?