by Nona Raines
HIS AND HERS
AND HERS
Nona Raines
www.loose-id.com
His and Hers and Hers
Copyright © November 2012 by Nona Raines
All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this e-book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from Loose Id LLC. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
eISBN 9781623000905
Editor: Rory Olsen
Cover Artist: Ginny Glass
Published in the United States of America
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San Francisco CA 94104-0809
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This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning
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Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank Mike at the county Department of Transportation for answering all my questions and taking me on a tour of his facility. Thanks also to Stacy and Donna for explaining the realities of running a consignment shop. And as always, many thanks to my critique partners Denise and Suemarie.
Chapter One
The antique sleigh bell at the door of New Again jingled.
Last-minute shoppers, of course. Where were they during store hours? Cassie DeSantis straightened the costume jewelry in the glass case at the front of the store. “I’m sorry, we’re closing.”
“Chill out; it’s just us.”
She glanced up in surprise and smiled at her friends Jordan Brougham and Kyla Denster. “Hey, you guys! What’re you doing here?”
Jordan held the door open while Kyla swept in ahead of him. “Nice greeting,” he said. “You welcome all your customers that way?” He thrust his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. “Brr. Man, it’s cold out.”
“Well, November’s just around the corner.”
Jordan stepped to the door of the consignment shop, fastened the lock, and turned the OPEN sign to CLOSED. “There you go.” He faced her again, grinning.
He was adorable when he smiled. Adorable anytime. Cassie could spend an hour just looking at him. His frame was muscular but lithe. His wavy brown hair was a bit too long, brushing his collar in back. He had the most amazing green eyes and a slight cleft in his chin that almost begged to be touched.
And there was his smile. It always hitched up higher in one corner, as though he was in on some joke that the rest of the world missed. Cassie’s pulse always sped up a bit when he fixed that smile on her.
Get it together. He belongs to Kyla.
Kyla, who topped five feet by only a couple of inches but all the same seemed larger than life. Her curves were too ample for current fashion, but Kyla didn’t give a rip. She ate what she wanted, said what she thought, and did whatever the hell suited her. Cassie, with her lanky frame and dishwater-blonde hair, felt washed out and dull next to her dark-haired, full-figured best friend.
That best friend marched through the store as though she owned it, not waiting for permission to go behind the counter. A plastic bag was looped around her wrist.
“What’s that?” Cassie asked.
Kyla’s answer was succinct. “Clothing.” Her brown eyes swept Cassie’s tall form in a critical fashion. “What are you wearing tonight?”
“Tonight?”
“She means for your big date.” Jordan rubbed his hands together and waggled his eyebrows like the villain in an old-time movie.
A flush heated Cassie’s face. “Big date. It’s just drinks. That’s all.”
Kyla had pushed her to sign up at some Internet dating sites and wouldn’t let up until Cassie agreed to try it. She and Jordan had even insisted on helping to write her profile.
“Put down hot single female—” Jordan told her.
“No, don’t say that, it’s ridiculous. I’m not hot.”
“You are too hot.” Kyla was a loyal friend. “Isn’t she, Jordan?”
“What’d I say? Smokin’.”
Cassie rolled her eyes.
“Cass has a point,” Kyla cut in. “Hot is crass. And it sounds conceited.”
Cassie said, “Put reasonably attractive, single female—”
“No way!” Kyla howled. “That’s horrible. Reasonably attractive? Pffhht.”
“I don’t want a guy to think he’s getting Natalie Portman and be disappointed.”
Jordan was way ahead of them. “Put down if you enjoy candlelit dinners, long walks on the beach, and watching the sun set—”
“That’s the lamest thing I ever heard.” Kyla’s mouth twisted in distaste. “How cliché can you get?”
“It’s romantic!”
“Says you, Mr. Romance. The guy who thinks wearing socks to bed is sexy.”
“Hey, can I help it if my feet get cold?”
Somehow amid the squabbling they’d managed to get a profile compiled that wasn’t too clichéd or corny. And after winnowing through a number of prospects, Cassie had finally connected with one man and had arranged to meet him tonight.
“Well, I was going to wear this. What I have on.” She gestured to her outfit, slim black slacks and a fine-gauge white cotton sweater.
Jordan’s green-eyed gaze traveled the length of her form, sending a secret shiver through her. “Looks good to me.” His voice seemed to lower an octave. He cleared his throat abruptly.
Kyla, though, pursed her lips and shook her head in disapproval. “Nope. Uh-uh.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” Cassie looked down at herself. She usually wore flowing skirts matched with loose, drapey sweaters, but Kyla had nixed that combo for this evening.
“You look like you’re dressed for a job interview,” Kyla answered. “You want to look hot. You want to knock this guy’s socks off.” She sighed and held up the plastic bag. “It’s a good thing I brought this stuff. Come with me.”
Cassie followed her into the tiny back room. Once there, Kyla rummaged through the bag. “Okay. Get undressed.”
Cassie knew better than to argue. She peeled off her top as her friend pulled something from the bag.
Kyla handed her a black lacy thing. “Try this.”
Cassie examined it dubiously. “You can see through this.”
“Put it on. It’s peekaboo. You want this guy to get a little taste, so he’ll want more.” As she watched Cassie change tops, Kyla’s mouth curved into a teasing smile. “You’ve got some pretty cute underwear on, chickie. You hoping for a little more action than just drinks?”
Cassie’s ears went hot. Her black bra and panties were a splurge from an expensive boutique. They made her feel sexy and confident. God knew she needed an extra portion of confidence tonight, consi
dering how long it had been since she attempted anything resembling a date.
At the magic word, underwear, Jordan poked his head through the curtains separating the front and back parts of the store. “Need any help, ladies?”
His girlfriend pushed him back to the other side. “Back off, pervert.”
Cassie muffled a snort of laughter.
“You look hot, Cass,” he called through the curtains.
Her laughter dried up as his words sent a spike of heat through her. Did it show? She glanced quickly at Kyla, who watched her with an odd expression.
“Yeah,” she said. “You do.”
Something flickered between the two women. It happened so quickly that Cassie wondered if she imagined it. To distract them both, she looked down at the formfitting lace top she now wore.
“I’ve never seen you in this.”
Kyla snorted. “Come on, one of my tops could wrap around you twice. I borrowed one of Jilly’s bar-hopping outfits.” Jilly was Jordan’s younger sister. He came from a big family—Cassie couldn’t keep track of how many siblings he had. “She’s a skinny bitch like you.”
The words were spoken with affection, not jealousy. “Okay. Now this.” Kyla tossed a tube-looking thing at her. A skirt. Holy hell, a skirt that would barely cover her butt.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Cassie said.
Kyla arched an eyebrow. “Put it on. If you had your way, you’d dress like some nun wannabe applying at the convent of Our Lady of Something or Other.”
“Novice.” Cassie had seen The Sound of Music a million times. She slipped off the slacks and stepped out of them.
“Yow!” Kyla shrieked. “Girl, is that a thong you’re wearing?”
Cassie’s whole body turned red. “Shush!”
“Thong?” Jordan howled as though he’d been harpooned. “Oh God, you’re killin’ me out here!”
Grinding her teeth, Cassie shimmied into the sausage-casing skirt. Yep. Just as she thought—her ass was practically hanging out. “I can’t wear this!” She shivered just imagining the cold October wind whistling up her lady parts.
“Everybody wears things like this out on the town. Jilly does, and so do all her friends.”
“Jilly’s what? Twenty-one? Come on, I’m a lot older than she is.”
Kyla’s eyes flew wide, her mouth forming an O. “Oh my God, what was I thinking? That’s right; you’re already thirty. Teetering on the brink of decrepitude! Hey, Jordan, did we bring a wheelchair with us?”
Jordan’s response was “Huh?”
“Ha-ha. Very funny,” Cassie grumbled.
“You’re a pain in the ass. Sit down and shut up. I need to do your makeup.”
Sitting was no easy feat in the ass-grabbing skirt. Cassie had to perch on her hip on a rickety chair propped against the wall. “I have makeup on already.”
“And it’s fine. For serving tea at the church ladies’ Sunday-afternoon social. Not for making some awesome guy want to jump your bones. Now be quiet.”
“Is that Jilly’s makeup too?” Cassie sniped.
“No, smart-ass. It’s mine. Shut up and let me work.”
Cassie sat meekly as her friend applied blush and lipstick. She felt like she was in some bizarro retread of My Fair Lady. But in this version Henry Higgins, Kyla, wanted to transform Eliza Dolittle, Cassie, not into a lady, but into a hottie. “Try not to make me look like a female impersonator.”
Kyla huffed a laugh and then leaned close, grasping Cassie’s chin, and peered into her face. “Close your eyes.” Cassie felt the soft sweep of the eye-shadow wand on her eyelids. She smelled cinnamon on Kyla’s breath from her favorite brand of chewing gum. Kyla’s touch on her jaw was firm but gentle. The same calm and assured way Cassie imagined her friend touching her patients at her job in St. Vincent’s emergency room.
“Okay. Open up now.” Cassie obeyed and stared into Kyla’s big brown eyes as her pretty, round face hovered close. The scent of cinnamon made Cassie’s nostrils tingle and her mouth water. Ky’s full lips, glossed in a rosy shade, were close enough to kiss. All she had to do was lean in…
Again that flicker of something passed between them. Something? Oh, hell, who am I kidding? I want her. Just the way I want Jordan.
Sure, Cass. And if you ever tell them that, you’ll lose them for sure.
Cassie had felt a connection the day Ky first visited New Again nearly a year ago. Kyla had wandered in, drawn by the window display. She stayed to browse through the used-book section and snatched up several items by Stephen King and Clive Barker.
“I’m an ER nurse,” she’d confided. “I see so much real-life horror that zombies and vampires don’t make me blink an eye.”
Kyla had soon become a regular customer, and Cassie had made a point of giving her first crack at any scary books that found their way into the shop. Cassie had known she was in trouble as they’d gotten to know each other, because her feelings for Ky went far beyond friendship. When Kyla had showed up one day with Jordan, trouble hadn’t begun to describe Cassie’s situation.
“Your lipstick’s smudged.” Kyla brushed her thumb to the corner of Cassie’s mouth, sending a shiver through her and bringing her back to the present.
She leaped from the chair so quickly that Kyla jumped back. “What’re you doing?”
Cassie hurried to the tiny bathroom in back. “I want to see how it looks!” Pretending she couldn’t wait to see Kyla’s handiwork when she actually needed to get away from Ky before she did something stupid.
“I haven’t finished—” Kyla began.
Cassie stopped short at the sight of herself in the cloudy mirror over the sink. The golden-brown eye shadow Kyla applied emphasized her pale blue eyes, opening them up. Cassie would never have used such a bright shade of lipstick, but again Kyla’s choice was just right. “Wow. I look…pretty.”
Kyla’s reflection appeared beside her. “You are pretty.” Their eyes met in the mirror, and Cassie’s insides trembled. The moment stretched as they stared at each other in the glass, but was broken when Jordan called, “Hey, let me see!”
Kyla grabbed Cassie’s hand and pulled her out of the bathroom. “Here’s our girl,” the buxom brunette announced, twirling Cassie through the curtains into the main part of the store. Getting into the spirit of things, Cassie whirled a few more times past the glass jewelry case and the shoe display. She dizzily bumped into Jordan.
“Whoa!” He laughed and grasped her shoulders to steady her. His green gaze ignited as he took in her new look. “Whoa. I hope this guy, whoever he is, knows how lucky he is.”
Cassie rolled her eyes, trying to hide her reaction to Jordan’s compliment. How it warmed her.
A moment of silence enclosed them in a bubble until Kyla spoke. “What’s his name again?”
“Sullivan Markham,” Cassie answered. “But everyone calls him Sully.”
“Sully,” Jordan repeated under his breath, almost mockingly. Cassie shot him a puzzled look.
Kyla smiled and shook her head. “Let’s go. We don’t want to keep Sully waiting.”
Cassie put the day’s receipts in the safe, turned down the heat and cut the lights, and then locked the front door behind her. They walked down the darkened street of Rosemont, New York, with Jordan in the middle, the three of them linking arms.
“Look at that,” Ky remarked as they passed store windows displaying cornucopias and turkeys. “The Thanksgiving stuff’s already out, and it’s not even Halloween yet.”
“That’s how it always is,” Jordan said. “As soon as Halloween’s over, they’ll start with the Christmas stuff. Oops.” He steadied Cassie by grasping her elbow when she nearly stumbled over an uneven patch of sidewalk. “Careful, Cass.”
“Thanks.” The warmth of Jordan’s touch penetrated even through the thickness of her woolen coat. She felt warm all over, just being with him and Kyla.
A gaunt man in a long coat huddled between the Chinese restaurant and the Laundromat. He was som
eone most people would look away from, pretend not to see, but Cassie nodded and smiled at him. “Hi, Walter.”
Jordan held her arm a bit tighter when the man answered, “Hey, Cassie. Looking good tonight.”
“Thank you.” She reached into her purse, pulled out a couple of dollars, and handed them to Walter. “Mighty cold tonight. Got a place to stay?”
“Sure. I got a place at the mission on Scott Street. It’s okay.” He took the bills, his hand shaking noticeably. “Thanks a lot.”
“You’re welcome. Stay warm.”
They were out of Walter’s earshot when Kyla said quietly, “You’ve got a soft heart, Cass.”
Jordan gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “You know he’ll probably just buy booze with that money.”
Cassie shrugged. “Maybe. But if he needs it that badly, I don’t begrudge him.” She pointed to her little Hyundai at the curb. “I’m right here.”
Jordan escorted her to the driver’s side door and opened it for her while Kyla waited on the sidewalk. “Have fun,” Kyla told her, giving her a little wave. Jordan once again wore his I-know-something-you-don’t-know smile. “Say hi to Sully for me,” he said as she slid into the driver’s seat. Before she could respond, he’d shut the door with a thump.
Chapter Two
She should have known it wouldn’t end there.
Cassie entered The Hot Spot and immediately felt out of her element. When she went out for the occasional drink, she preferred low-key places. The Hot Spot was a meat market, especially on a Saturday night, and in Jilly’s outfit Cassie felt like sirloin on a butcher’s block. Well, at least she’d fit in with the crowd.
She fixed a big smile on her lipsticked mouth and took a deep breath. She was hot. Kyla had said so. So had Jordan.
Fake it till you make it. With that as her mantra, she strutted to the bar, pushing aside her trepidation.
She recognized Sully right away, sitting at the bar, chatting with the pretty, dark-haired bartender. They’d exchanged pictures, and he was just as impressive in person. So good-looking, in fact, he was almost a caricature—square jaw, straight nose, and cleft chin. With his slicked-back hair and expensive-looking suit and silk tie, he looked every bit the marketing whiz he claimed to be.
