Boston pulled down the sun visor on the driver’s side. She wiped a fleck of dry mascara from underneath one eye—thinking how grateful she was that her own auburn hair held natural gold highlights—closed the mirror, and opened the car door.
“Will you grab the chocolate milk mix, Steph?” she asked.
“Sure,” Steph agreed, retrieving the mix from the backseat before getting out of the car herself.
As they started up the sidewalk toward Danielle’s house, however, Boston felt her phone buzzing. Quickly she plunged one hand into the depths of her purse, rummaged around a moment, and retrieved the device. She smiled as she looked at the caller ID—Logan West!
“Go on in, Steph,” Boston said. “I’ve gotta get this.”
“Okay,” Steph said, continuing up the sidewalk while Boston remained still and turned her back to the direction of Danielle’s door.
She pushed send, put the phone to her ear, and said, “Hello?”
“Hey, Boston,” Logan responded. Boston smiled, delighted by the way his deep voice spoke her name. “This is Boston, right?” Logan asked.
“Yep! This time it’s really me,” she said. Her smile was so broad it hurt. “How are you, Logan?”
“I’m well,” he said. “Just wondering if you have time to go out with me tomorrow.”
“Of course!” she exclaimed. She worried her excitement was perhaps a little too obvious. “What were you thinking?” she asked, trying to tone down the excitement in her voice.
“Oh, I don’t know. Do you golf?” he asked.
“If you can call it that…the way I play,” she said. Boston liked golf well enough; she just wasn’t very good at it.
“Then we should make a perfect couple out on the course,” Logan chuckled. “I stink at it.”
She laughed. “Good!”
“I’ll get us an early tee-time…like maybe eight a.m. Sound good?”
“Sounds great!” Boston giggled.
“Awesome! I’ll pick you up at your place at, say, 7:30?”
“Perfect,” Boston said. She smiled at the goose bumps suddenly prickling her arms. Logan West? It was too dreamy!
“Don’t worry about clubs. I’ve got two sets,” he said.
“I thought you said you were no good at golf,” Boston reminded, mortified that she might have to play with a good golfer.
“I’m not good at all. Just thought it was the clubs’ fault the first six months…so I bought another set.”
“Did it make a difference in your game?” she asked.
“Not one bit,” he chuckled. “See you in the morning then?”
“Of course!”
“Okay. Have a good night.”
“You too. I can’t wait!” she exclaimed.
“Me neither! Bye, Boston.”
“Bye.”
Boston sighed with delight, dropped her phone in her purse, and hurried toward Danielle’s apartment.
“I cannot believe this!” she exclaimed, giggling to herself. “Logan West! I can’t believe it!”
Bursting into Danielle’s apartment, Boston began, “You guys will not believe this, but—”
She gasped slightly, startled as Steph stepped directly in front of her and said, “First come, first served. I saw him first. Just remember that, Boston.”
“What?” Boston breathed. The determination and warning flame in Steph’s eyes confused Boston as much as the threatening tone of her words.
“What the heck, Boston?” Halle asked, rather pushing Steph out of the way and embracing her in a friendly greeting. “What has you all wound up?”
“Just Logan West,” she giggled.
“Did he ask you out again?” Kara asked, embracing Boston next.
“He did. We’re golfing tomorrow!” Boston said.
“Oooo! That’s an all-day event,” Danielle said, coming to hug Boston.
“I know! I’m so totally excited!” Boston sighed.
Her friends—they were so important to her. She realized in that moment, consciously realized, how stifling Steph was to her mood—to her very soul. When Boston was in the company of her good friends, she was able to be herself—say and do the things her character and personality naturally did. But when she was sequestered at home with just Steph for company, she was self-conscious, often frustrated, and unhappy. As she gazed into the smiling faces of her true friends, she sighed. Yep, it was time to get an apartment—an apartment of her own.
“Logan West! Mmm! Maybe tomorrow will bring on the first kiss,” Halle teased.
“Don’t even say that! You know it wigs me out. I get all nervous. The anticipatory anxiety freaks me out!” Boston scolded, smiling.
“But golf is a long game. You have to do something while you’re walking to the next hole,” Danielle said.
“I know!” Boston giggled. She sighed as she thought of Logan’s dazzling smile, tawny hair, and broad shoulders. How had she rated a date with him? How had she rated a second date?
“Excuse me.”
Boston’s smile faded—but only slightly—as a tall, muscular guy pushed his way through her friends and to the door. She recognized him at once from the family photos Danielle had around her apartment—Vance Nathaniel, Danielle’s older brother. He was dressed in a pair of swim trunks, a rather ragged white T-shirt, and sandals, and he boasted dark hair, smoldering green eyes, and a rugged five o’clock–shadowed jaw. Vance Nathaniel was even more handsome in real life than he was in photographs. Boston couldn’t help but find her smile suddenly broadening again. Danielle’s brother resembled his sister so perfectly—as perfect an example of gorgeous, iconic masculinity as Danielle was the ideal representation of flawless femininity.
“Oh, Vance,” Danielle began, “this is Boston.”
“Hey,” he greeted almost warily it seemed.
“Boston, this is my big, bratty brother, Vance,” Danielle said. “And don’t let him fool you. Tall, dark, and handsome he may be…but he’s a total brat.”
“Nice to meet you,” Boston greeted.
“You can stay and have dinner with us, Vance,” Danielle suggested.
“Yeah! You should totally stay!” Steph exclaimed.
Boston nearly laughed out loud. So Danielle’s brother was what Steph had been talking about when she’d nearly growled to Boston, I saw him first.
“It’s okay,” Vance said, shaking his head. “I’m going down to the pool. And besides, nothing messes up a chick party like a ratty, old rooster.” He smiled a little, and as Steph sighed with obvious admiration, Boston fought to keep from rolling her eyes with disgust.
“Looks like Steph has chosen her next victim,” Halle whispered.
Boston giggled, feeling only sympathy for Danielle’s brother. No doubt Steph would pursue him like a rabid pit bull. The guy didn’t have a chance.
“You ladies have fun with your chili dogs and girl movies,” Vance said. “It was nice to meet you all.”
He left the apartment. As soon as Vance had closed the door behind himself, Kara said, “I thought he wasn’t coming until next week, Danielle.”
Danielle nodded. “He wasn’t going to…but his landlord was pressuring him to get out of the apartment so the new renters could move in.”
“When will his house be ready?” Halle asked.
“A month, I think. He’s just gonna stay with me until it’s ready.”
“So he’s a zookeeper?” Steph asked.
“He’ll be the curator of exhibits at the city zoo,” Danielle explained. “But he doesn’t start for three more months.”
“What’ll he do until then?” Steph asked.
Boston sighed. It was so obvious that Steph was already planning her wedding to Danielle’s brother, wondering how she could time the nuptials just right so she and Vance could move into his house and have a month or two of marital bliss before he started his new curator job.
“He’s gonna work road construction,” Danielle answered.
“Ooo! That’s a br
utal job this time of year,” Halle exclaimed.
“Yeah…but Vance likes physical work. He likes to keep busy,” Danielle said.
“Well, he’s gorgeous, I’ll give him that!” Steph said.
“I guess so…if you like that kind of thing,” Danielle said.
“You mean like rippling muscles, washboard abs, square jaw, handsome face, shoulders like a Viking…” Halle teased.
“Whatever, you guys. He’s my brother…so to me he’s just the brat who used to drop toads in the tub when I was taking a bath and is way too overprotective of me now,” Danielle laughed. “A Viking?” she giggled, looking at Halle. “Maybe a Vulcan?”
Halle frowned. “Like in Star Trek? He doesn’t look anything like—”
Steph laughed out loud, shaking her head at Halle’s innocent assumption. “Halle,” Steph began, “I swear…you’re so stupid sometimes. A Vulcan…like in Roman mythology, not Star Trek. Vulcan was the Roman god of fire and metalwork, and he was ugly. Vance is far from ugly. Sheesh, Halle! Can you at least pretend to have a brain?”
Boston felt sick. She hated when Steph belittled people! She could be so cruel. How had they all put up with her for so long? But the answer was simple: they didn’t know what else to do. What could they do, show her the same cruelty she often showed others? Of course not! That kind of cruelty wasn’t in any of them—especially Boston. Still, what she’d said to Halle was so unkind.
“Then we’ll stick with a Viking,” Halle said cheerfully. Boston was ever astonished at the way Halle seemed to let Steph’s cruelty just slide away, like water off a duck. “Vance the Viking,” Halle giggled. “Can Vikings have dark hair though?”
Everyone laughed. Halle’s questions were often so simply—yet so entirely—amusing.
Even Steph laughed, though Boston was certain her roommate was still silently planning her wedding to Danielle’s brother, the black-haired Viking.
“So Boston, tell us about Logan,” Kara said then, entirely changing the subject, thankfully. “Are you totally stoked or what?”
“I am,” she admitted. “I can’t seem to settle down. I mean…I never in a million years thought he’d give me a second thought!”
“Everyone gives you at least a second thought, Boston,” Halle giggled. “Those green eyes, that gold-streaked auburn hair, that perfect complexion.”
“Whatever,” Boston said, rolling her eyes. Halle was always trying to build Boston’s self-esteem where her appearance was concerned. “But the question is, did you get the job, Halle?”
“I did!” Halle exclaimed. “I start Monday!”
Everyone squealed congratulations and took turns hugging Halle. Boston glanced to Kara’s left hand—no ring on her finger. Max was so in love with Kara—so intimidated by her beauty and self-confidence—and Kara loved Max desperately. She determined she was going to have to give Max a little talking-to—a little more ego boosting. After all, Max already had the ring; he’d shown it to Danielle and Boston only two days before. What the heck was he waiting for?
“Everything’s ready for dinner, you guys,” Danielle said. “Let’s eat…’cause I skipped lunch today!”
At that moment, the apartment door opened, and Vance stepped back in. “I forgot a towel,” he mumbled. Boston noted the way he seemed to avoid looking at any one of them directly in the eye. As he strode through the room, her eyes fell to his right leg—to the large, deep scars marring his calf. They literally looked as if something had torn chunks of meat out of him. It was obvious the wounds had been skin grafted. Even though the scars appeared to be very old, the thought of the pain that must’ve accompanied the injuries that caused them made Boston’s stomach flip-flop with sympathy. She wondered what had happened to Danielle’s brother to leave such scarring.
Vance disappeared into Danielle’s bathroom and returned a moment later with a red towel clutched in one hand.
“Red towels, Danny?” he asked, grinning at her.
“Yeah?” Danielle giggled. “What’s wrong with red?”
Vance winked at her and said, “Nothing.” Holding the towel with both hands lengthwise out at his side, he stomped one foot and quickly spun the towel around itself, whipping one end out and hitting Danielle on the behind. “Olé!” he chuckled as he left the apartment once more.
“Oh my heck! He’s so hot!” Kara giggled. “The girls must be rabid after him, Danny.”
Danielle nodded. “Yeah…pretty much,” she said, rubbing the cheek of her bum where her brother had whipped her with the towel.
Halle frowned for a moment and seemed lost in thought. “Maybe he’d be a better matador than a Viking,” she said.
Everyone giggled and headed for the kitchen area.
“Well, I’m starving,” Boston said, picking up a paper plate from the counter. “I skipped lunch today too. I didn’t want to be late.”
“Me too!” Kara said. “I want extra cheese, by the way.”
Boston giggled as she and her friends nearly dove into the buns, boiled hot dogs, slow cooker of chili, and condiments. She loved Friday nights. And she was going to love golfing on Saturday even more!
“Mr. Mercer grabbed my butt again today,” Boston said as she sat at the table eating her chili dog.
Danielle put an extra scoop of chocolate milk mix in her glass. “That guy’s a jerk,” she grumbled. “I don’t know how you put up with his behavior, Boston. You should go straight to HR.”
“I don’t know why you put up with it,” Steph said.
“Next time he does that, just turn around and drive a knee right in his—” Halle began.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Boston interrupted. “As soon as I land that assistant scriptwriter’s job, I plan to do just that!”
There was a pause as everyone ate in silence for a moment.
“Max and I are helping Dempsey finish his pond thing tomorrow…if any of you want to help,” Kara said.
“Well, Boston’s going to be making out on the golf course,” Halle giggled, “but I can come if you need me. That reminds me—what brand of bra do you wear, Kara? I need to go bra shopping. That’s always such a nightmare!”
“Oh, I hate shopping for bras,” Danielle whined. “It’s torture!”
“It totally is!” Steph added. “I’d rather clean bathrooms than shop for bras.”
Boston giggled, enjoying the lighthearted conversation of her friends. She opened the fridge and took out the gallon of milk, closing the door with her knee. Her eye was drawn to a photograph on Danielle’s fridge. A magnet that read, Eat Beef—The West wasn’t won on salad, secured a picture of Danielle and her brother Vance to the freezing compartment door.
Both Vance and Danielle were smiling, standing in front of a hotel signboard announcing, Sam Elliott slept here! Boston gazed at the photo for a moment. Vance’s smile was broad—dazzling. Both he and Danielle were much younger in the photo—teenagers—and Boston noted the sparkle in Vance’s eyes, a sparkle that had been absent when she’d met him a short time before.
She shook her head, glanced down at her second chili dog, and wondered. Did her mouth water in anticipation of the chili dog on her plate or because a vision of Logan West had just leapt into her mind?
Chapter Two
“You know, it’s interesting to think about how couples have met…or how they might meet,” Steph said as she sat in the passenger’s seat of Boston’s car. “I mean, some people tell the most random stories of how they got together with their mate. Wouldn’t it be interesting if this became my story—that I just dropped by my best friend’s house one night and met her brother…and the rest was history? I mean, you do hear the most random ‘how we met’ stories. I think this might be the beginning of mine!”
Boston gritted her teeth and tried to keep her level of inward irritation from increasing. Steph had talked about nothing but Danielle’s brother since the moment they’d left Danielle’s apartment. Sure, he was incredibly hot, but he was a complete stranger! Still, it never ceas
ed to astonish Boston the way Steph would obsess over men, whether or not she knew them. The first time Steph had set eyes on Dempsey, she’d nearly fainted. She’d been certain she was going to marry him, she’d once confessed to Boston. But, in the end, Dempsey just had too many faults that couldn’t be tolerated. Boston knew the truth, however—that Dempsey Mattice just hadn’t been interested in Steph, not one breath of interest. Therefore, Steph decided he just wasn’t worthy of her heart. Boston couldn’t begin to count the times Steph had dogged men who didn’t immediately fall at her feet and confess their undying love. It was routine—Boston knew it was—but for some reason, she just didn’t want to go through the same routine for the billionth time.
“Maybe he already has a girlfriend, Steph,” Boston said as she drove toward home. “Have you thought of that?”
Steph shook her head with indifference. “Oh, I can remedy that easy enough,” she said.
Boston felt her mouth gape open; the chocolate Tootsie Pop propped in it almost fell out into her lap. “Stephanie! You cannot just plan on breaking up a relationship! You can’t just plan on dating someone without his consent,” Boston exclaimed. She was feigning a jovial demeanor, but she felt anything but jovial. Steph had set her sights on Danielle’s brother. Boston knew she’d settled on him the moment Steph had stepped into Danielle’s apartment and seen him. Yet how could she settle on someone that way—after just one look—without any consideration for the guy or the other woman that might be in his life?
Kiss in the Dark Page 2
