“For inviting me in here all those months ago. I don’t think I’ve ever thanked you before.”
Addie snorted. “It was strictly a business decision. You looked like a drowning cat, and I was afraid you’d scare away potential customers, so it was best that you were in instead of out. Besides, it turned out to be my pleasure, but you’re welcome. Now, let’s get back to the subject at hand: we were talking about dick, right? What’s up with it? Who’s getting it?”
Chapter Two
“That’s the problem,” Bella said with a smirk. “It isn’t up—not for Tori, anyway.”
“Ba-da-pum,” Victoria retorted and lifted her cup. “But seriously, folks, I’m here all night,” she murmured wryly before taking another sip of tea, smiling when the other two laughed.
“It is your turn, though,” Addie reminded her. “Both Bella and I have taken steps to get out of our cock droughts, and now it’s your turn.”
“Yes, darling,” Bella said with a pat on her hand, “that loser has been out of your life for months now. It isn’t as if he’s worth pining over. Is that it? Are you pining over him?”
Insulted, Victoria raised one perfectly arched brow and just looked at Bella.
“Oh, pardon me. Guess not,” Bella murmured.
“As far as I’m concerned, he doesn’t exist anymore. Besides, I’ve gotten on with my life too. I have,” Victoria protested when both of them threw doubtful looks her way. “I don’t dwell on what happened with that anthropoid who called himself a man, and I’ve got my work and you guys.”
“Mostly work,” Bella commented.
Victoria held her hands up, palms out. “Well, I do have to make a living, you know.”
“Is that whining, welching, or both we hear coming from Ms. Thing over there?”
“Cue the violins,” Bella said.
“All right, all right!” Victoria muttered. “I’ll do it.”
“That’s a big girl.” Bella patted her hand in condescending approval, prompting Victoria to chuckle and snatch it away.
“But seriously, Tori,” Addie commented, “I sense reluctance in you. Do you not want to do it? I mean, I know our little deal to go out and meet other people to get over our breakups was a little silly, but it was meant to cheer us and help us get on with our lives. Is there something you want to tell us?”
Guilt pricked at Victoria’s conscience again. “You’re right, Addie, I have been holding back. I’d planned to divulge a secret tonight—”
“Knew you were holding out.”
“So did I.”
“Anyway,” Victoria said repressively. “As I was going to say, I’ve been holding out on you guys. The night I was dumped, I didn’t take it as easily as you might have thought.”
“But I thought he was just someone you had sex with,” Addie said. “I know you didn’t know about the other women, but it was only about sex for both of you, right? You guys always got together on Wednesday nights, right?”
“Yes,” Victoria confirmed and studied her nails. “I’m afraid when Keenan and I heard the term ‘hump day,’ we chose to interpret it literally,” she finished in a low, amused voice.
The comment produced bawdy laughter and a few verbal responses.
“I heard that!”
“Get your freak on!”
“I know that’s right!”
“Go on, Tori,” Bella said when they had quieted.
“Well, it’s like I told you all those months ago. Keenan chased me until he wore me down. At first I was just a challenge to him, and I knew that, but things changed. I wasn’t playing hard to get when I met him; I really didn’t want a relationship. I gave in to him because I thought I could trust him, and, well”—she hesitated and shrugged jerkily—“I was horny and I like sex,” she tried to say in a smooth voice, “and Keenan gave it to me in spades. I didn’t want, nor did I expect, the typical relationship with him, but I also didn’t expect him to be sleeping with two other women at the same time and treating us as if we were cars he had out on a test drive. We were supposed to be friends, and I trusted him.” She lifted her cup to drink more tea but found it empty.
“Don’t stop now,” Addie demanded. “I’ll get you more tea. Bring a big pot of black cherry for her,” he called to one of his waitstaff as he pointed to Victoria. “And bring refills for Bella and me too.”
Victoria started again. “He should have told me what he was doing so he could have made the choice as to whether or not I wanted to be included, which of course I wouldn’t have,” she said softly as she looked down at her hands, which had a tight grip on the cup.
“And that’s why he didn’t tell you, hon,” Addie said. “He knew you’d bail the minute he suggested such a thing.”
“Yes, I figured that out, but I trusted him. And what he did when he revealed his true self to me was take away something that I’d just started to get back when I met him. He took away my trust in my own judgment.” She smiled her thanks when the waitress brought the tea and refilled her mug.
“Go on,” Bella encouraged her after she’d watched her doctor her tea with honey.
Victoria looked at the two faces eagerly awaiting her story and grimaced. This was the hardest part. Given all that they’d shared with her, she shuddered to think how they’d react when they learned what she’d been holding back. She took a bracing sip of her tea. “Once upon a time, I was engaged to be married. I thought he was perfect for me. We wanted the same things: a family, our careers.
“We’d grown up together, and what I really liked about him was that he was able to see beyond the senator’s and socialite’s daughter to me. And he was open to a little rough”—she cleared her throat and focused her gaze on a painting on the wall behind Addie—“uh…trying new things in the bedroom. I mean, he barely batted an eye when I told him that I wanted to try bondage. We had just started to dabble in it when, two days before the wedding, he left me,” she finished and looked down to stir her tea. She waited for their responses.
Silence had never been so loud before.
She looked up, and her eyes went wide. Well, good heavens, she thought with a wince as she studied her friends, I didn’t think the facial expression of horrified shock could exist anywhere but in pages of fiction. Mouths slack and preternaturally still, both of her friends had their unblinking, dazed eyes focused on her. Lord, she thought, involuntarily shivering, they look like a couple of cult followers.
“Anyone for grape Kool-Aid?” she murmured before clapping her hands loudly. She didn’t think that her news had been worthy of such a strong reaction. “All right, snap out of it. Surely what I said is not that shocking.”
“It is coming from you,” Addie retorted. “And did you say something about grape Kool-Aid?”
Victoria smiled. “Never mind about the Kool-Aid. Can I assume your shock is because of what I said about bondage?”
“Being that you’re you and bondage is…well, bondage, the fact that you’re into it is more than a bit shocking. But personally, I’m more interested in the whole him- leaving-you-two-days-before-the-wedding part,” Bella said. “That must have been just awful. What happened?”
Victoria shrugged. “I don’t know what happened. He just left town two days before. All I got was a note saying that he couldn’t go through with it. I assumed he didn’t love me.”
“Yeah, I guess I’d assume the same thing,” Bella agreed. “And I see now why you’re reluctant to get involved again, especially after that. I mean, it’s a double whammy, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is,” Victoria said.
“Are you going to start dating? And let’s be clear—neither Addie nor I will understand if you refuse.”
Victoria frowned and looked at Addie.
He nodded in agreement with Bella. “Let’s face it, honey—there’s no time like the present for you to start moving on. No point in getting stuck in neutral.”
“And besides,” Bella chimed in, “you said you weren’t in love with Keen
an anyway and that you’re not pining, so what’s the BFD?”
“BFD? Big fucking deal, right?” Victoria looked at Bella for confirmation and continued when she nodded. “It’s not a BFD in that sense, but at any rate, you don’t have to worry; I agreed to do it, so I will. And besides, you two seem to be having such fun with it, I don’t want to be left out,” she joked. “I’m just glad I didn’t draw the short straw and that now I get to go last. I’m not embarrassed to say that I am really kind of nervous about it. All those months of watching you guys put yourselves out there gave me time to think and prepare mentally.”
Bella nodded. “Good, because I think you need to go after that long drink of water you slept with the night you left here after bawling your eyes out. Trying your hand at Italian now, dear?” she asked with a sly smile.
Chapter Three
Victoria’s mouth flew open, and she felt her entire body flush with embarrassment. “He…h-he’s Indian, not Italian. But when did you… H-how did you…?”
Bella frowned. “Indian? But isn’t he just a little, well, pale to be from India?”
“He’s not from India; he’s from Georgia, was born and raised there. Now tell me—”
“But he looked Italian, like a southern Italian, of course. But still Italian. I—”
“Oh for heaven’s sake, Bella! What difference—” Victoria began, infuriated until she saw the teasing glint in her friend’s eye. “Will you just tell me, please?”
“Tell you what? How I saw you? I was on my way home from spending the night here after Addie so graciously offered us the use of his place to sober up. And since I was close to the Hotel Carlisle when the call came in about a disturbance taking place there, I decided to check it out. Well, imagine my surprise when as I’m making my way through one revolving door, I see you rushing through the other, but in the opposite direction.
“You looked thoroughly and enviously used. Your hair was mussed, your lips were swollen, and you had that cat-that-swallowed-the-cream smile. I started to call out to you but changed my mind because we didn’t know each other very well, and you seemed like the type to be embarrassed to be seen leaving a hotel looking like you’d just had a serious schtupping.
“Anyway,” she said, ignoring Victoria’s pleading look at the ceiling, “I was further surprised when I walked into the hotel and no more than two minutes later saw what I thought was a tall, gorgeous Italian guy striding through the lobby. His hair was wet, and I could tell he’d dressed in a hurry, because his shirt was unbuttoned—he has quite a chest, by the way. Tori, you should be congratulated—”
“But you digress,” Addie said with an impatient glare.
“Oh no,” Bella said with a wicked grin. “No, I don’t. His chest was quite a thing of beauty. But anyway, he was looking around like he’d lost something—or someone—and me being a public servant, I went over and asked him if everything was all right. I just had to do my duty—”
Victoria narrowed her eyes. “I’ll just bet you did.”
“Serve and protect, Tori,” Bella reminded her in a singsong voice, “serve and protect. Anyway, he said everything was okay, but just to be sure, I got specific and asked him if the pretty little black lady I’d just seen run out like she had stolen something had done anything illegal to him or his person—”
Insulted, Victoria drew herself up indignantly. “Well, really! I have never—”
Bella simply spoke over her. “And he flashed me a smile so sexy it almost made me rethink my stance on poaching, said, and I quote, ‘Yes, ma’am, she stole somethin’, all right, but it’s nothin’ I didn’t mind losin’. But I reckon I’ll catch her, and as soon as I do, I aim to get some of mine back’—said it just like that, ‘mahn back.’”
Arms crossed, Victoria sniffed and muttered, “‘Reckon?’ He would never, not in a million years, say—”
“Mm, sounds yummy,” Addie purred. “Does he really sound like that, Tori?”
“Oh, so now you want my input?”
“Shit, Tori, just tell me what the man sounds like!”
“Well, first of all,” she said with a chiding look at Bella, “Scarlett O’Hara here exaggerates. And besides that, she has an absolutely horrible Southern accent.”
“Damn it, Tori. Stop stalling!”
Despite her reservations, Victoria got swept up in their enthusiasm. She smiled as she remembered that one night long ago. Her heart hammered, her breath quickened, and her brain stuttered out an instinctively honest answer. “He sounds…he sounds…dangerous.”
Smirking, Addie said, “So now I know why you refused my invitation to sleep over that night.”
“No, he’s not the reason. I didn’t stay over because”—she hesitated and then decided to be honest—“I didn’t really know you guys, and I didn’t feel comfortable staying. I wasn’t ready to go home yet, so I decided to stop in at the hotel for another drink. I bumped into Sanjay at the bar.”
Two faces went completely blank for a moment and then, “You picked him up?”
“No!” Victoria said vehemently. “At that time I’d known him about six months because we worked together.”
“Sanjay? Like that doctor on television? Sanjay Gupta?”
“Yes, but this Sanjay is much hotter.”
“I’ll second that,” Bella muttered.
Addie smiled. “He is, is he? And shame on you, Bella, for not sharing the news about him a long time ago.”
Bella’s shrug was patently unconcerned. “I couldn’t. I figured Tori had her reasons for not saying anything, and it wasn’t up to me to tell.”
“Really?” Victoria asked. “Then why on earth are you squealing like a stuck pig now?”
“Your comparison leaves something to be desired,” Bella muttered with a frown, “but to answer your question, you opened up more tonight, and I just figured it would be okay.”
Addie put his teacup neatly in its saucer. “Is he the one you’ve chosen? Or are you already seeing him, and we just don’t know about it?”
“I’m not seeing him. It was only for one night.”
Bella smiled. “Will you start to see him now, though, is the question.”
“It’s complicated, but the short answer to that question is I don’t know. I’m thinking about it.” And with that answer, she was done talking about it. Her face said it all when she looked at her friends. “Anyone up for Chinese tonight?”
They took the hint and didn’t ask her another question. And as they rose to leave for the restaurant, Victoria sighed in relief that the discussion was over. There was no way in the world she was ready to discuss the fact that the man she’d slept with was not only the hottest lay she’d ever had, but he was thought to be a corporate thief as well.
Chapter Four
Sanjay Banerjee pushed back from the large conference table and wandered over to look out the window. He was sick of the meeting, sick of most of the people in the meeting, and especially sick of his ex-boss.
“Mr. Banerjee!”
The lawyer impatiently enunciated every syllable of his name, but Sanjay ignored him. He continued to stare out of the window. The grounds of the compound were as lovely as they had been when he’d worked there. Several people went by on Segways, and he tracked them across the square. Two of them went toward the tennis courts, and the others veered off toward the enclosed, heated pool. There was also a gym, a half-size regulation basketball court, a game room, a sleep room, a café, and several other diversions to keep employees happy. The place was more like a playground for adults instead of a place of business, but Sanjay didn’t miss it. He’d felt stifled while working at MoonandStars.com. He frowned. He didn’t know why he’d allowed his perversity to overcome common sense and convince him to take this meeting. He snorted and grinned. Probably because I’m perverse.
Principle owner of MoonandStars.com, Zachary Tettler, scowled as he stared at Sanjay. He would almost hate the guy if he didn’t admire his ballsy attitude and brilliance so much. De
spite Sanjay’s arrogance and odd ways, he’d always kind of liked him—he had from the day he’d hired him to work for the company. And that was why he’d been so disappointed when they found that he’d stolen from them. He’d also been surprised. Sanjay struck him as an honest man; he was too ornery to be anything else. His lawyer called Sanjay’s name again, and Zachary sighed. “Never mind, Andrew. It will do you no good. He’ll come back when he’s good and ready and not a minute before.”
“But—”
“Leave it alone. He’s a contrary son of a bitch, and your needling him will just keep him over there longer and drag this meeting out.”
The lawyer turned red with indignation. “Needling him! I’m not needling him. I’m simply trying to get him to tell us about his theft, or why he believes his theft isn’t theft.”
“Leave it,” Zachary warned in a low voice, and the frustration in his eyes was clear in his voice as he watched Sanjay. In a wrinkled plaid shirt and jeans that were faded and white in several stress points, he still had the attention of both women in the room—Andrew’s partner and the paralegal. While he and Andrew—of course Sanjay didn’t ever bother to bring a lawyer—in their thousand-dollar suits barely merited a glance.
Zachary brooded a moment longer. Yes, Sanjay with his long, athletic body and pretty face had had a way with the ladies almost since he’d arrived at the company. But there was one lady in particular who had never fallen for his charms, and she was the one he’d been interested in. Almost everyone in the research department had known it, and the news had trickled up. Rubbing his chin, Zachary thought about his next move.
Sanjay heard the restless movements and the mumbling behind him and decided it was time to put everyone out of their misery. As he turned, he caught a bit of movement in his peripheral vision. He turned back and then frowned. There she was, the girl of his dreams. All buttoned up and not a hair out of place, she’d beckoned to his lust from the first. His frown deepened as he watched Dr. Victoria Howell turn decidedly toward the building that housed the research labs. That was typical. There were no fun and games on the job for the good doctor.
After the Morning After Page 2
