Damage Control (4 page)

Claire patted Andrea's knee. “I agree with him. Again. Big shocker there. Go on.”

“We split a bottle of wine, then for some reason I agreed to share another. I must have been out of my mind. We were both pretty giddy when we took a cab back to my place. The next thing I knew, we were in my bedroom and I was asking him to unzip my dress.” She snapped her mouth shut, though she'd already said enough. The look in Claire's eyes told her as much.

“Hold on a second. Did you do what I think you did?”

Did I seduce my best friend then kick him out in the morning? Of course I did.
Because drinking that much hadn't been stupid enough all on its own. “That depends. What do you think I did?”

“Andrea, please. I've seen the guy. He's freakin' hot. Tall, dark, and sexy to the max. And a sweetheart to boot. If I were you, I would have jumped him a long time ago. Hell, I would have done it without the alcohol.”

A long time ago, Andrea hadn't even known she was interested. She'd been too busy trying to get ahead at work to notice much of anything. Fate had apparently decided it was time to shake up her boring life a little. Now, whenever she thought of Brian, she didn't think of him as a friend. She thought of him as a lover.

She wanted to tell Claire nothing had happened, but at the same time, knew she had to tell somebody. This wasn't a secret she could keep all to herself, and Claire would figure it out, anyway. She'd always been intuitive. “Don't say anything to Lena. She'll think I'm trying to overshadow her on her
big day.
I sort of slept with Brian.”

Claire let out a squeal that had the few dress shop employees, as well as an irate-looking Lena, glancing their way. “Was he good? Please tell me he was good. No, wait. Don't. Tell me he was
great.
Amazing, even. It would ruin all my fantasies if you said he sucked. Because a guy who looks like that, well, there's no way in hell he could ever suck, right?”

Andrea had to laugh. Leave it to Claire to get straight to the point. “Yes, he was good. Now that's all I'm going to say about it.”

She stood, then walked toward the chair where the dresses lay, intent on finding some sort of distraction. She started rifling through them, trying to pick out one or two of the least offensive ones.

Claire grabbed her arm. “No way are you going to leave it at that. I need more details, Andrea. Lots more. After we're done dealing with the bride from hell for the day, you and I are going out for coffee. You owe me a decent story. I always tell you about my dates.”

And there had been lots of them.
Lots.
Claire, the free spirit of the family, had a different boyfriend every week. Most of the time, the stories fell into the realm of too much information. Once in a while, they were a little disturbing. Claire was a whole lot more adventurous than Andrea could ever dream to be.

“I can't. I have to be someplace.”

Claire waggled her eyebrows. “I don't think so. No chickening out, little sister. I want to hear all about it. I want to know if he lives up to my dreams about him.”

Andrea narrowed her eyes. A sliver of jealousy wedged itself in her gut. She didn't like the fact that her sister was having dreams about Brian, but she didn't have time to analyze the new emotion. Lena came around the corner with another stack of dresses and piled them on top of the first.

“So which ones did you guys choose?” she asked, a bright smile on her face and a serene look in her brown eyes. The maelstrom seemed to have passed, at least for now, but Andrea had seen enough of the new facets to Lena's personality to keep her guard up. One wrong word would set her off again and they'd be right back where they started.

“Talk about bipolar,” Claire whispered in Andrea's ear. With a shake of her head, she returned her attention to Lena. “We like them all, sweetie. The important thing here is which one
you
like the best. It's your day, after all, and you want everything to be perfect.”

Lena seemed to think about Claire's words for a minute before she nodded, the smile growing. She ran her finger along the lacy fabric of one of the uglier gowns. “I guess you're right. I was thinking the bright orange one. It'd be perfect for a fall wedding, don't you think?”

While Claire nodded, Andrea shrank down in her seat. If Lena would just elope, it would make life so much easier for the whole family. She'd have to see if she could talk Jerry into kidnapping his bride and dragging her to Vegas.

Two grueling hours later, Andrea sat across from Claire at one of the local mom and pop coffee shops, cradling a chipped blue stoneware mug between her palms. The headache had finally started to abate, and once the second dose of aspirin she'd popped kicked in, she was hoping she'd feel almost back to normal. The place smelled of grease and coffee, and it had taken Andrea a few minutes of deep breathing to get used to it. Her stomach still threatened to rebel.

Claire munched on a plate of greasy fries, and every time Andrea glanced down at the table, the sight of them made her gut churn. Though she hadn't eaten all day, the thought of food didn't settle right.

“How are you holding up?” Claire asked with a giggle in her voice.

In the process of taking a sip of her coffee, Andrea glared at her sister over the rim of her mug. “You're not very funny. You know what they say about payback.”

“Oh, I think I'm hilarious. And as for revenge, that's not really a threat. Remember all those times you harassed me for being hung over when I was in college? This
is
payback, honey.”

“Save it. I'm not that hung over anymore.” She took another sip of the coffee in her mug and winced at the acidic taste. Even loaded with cream and sugar, the stuff was still bitter. No wonder she'd never really gotten into drinking it. “Do you know how many calories are in that plate of food? That's probably your whole daily intake right there.”

Claire shrugged before stuffing another fry into her mouth. She chewed before answering Andrea. “I have a high metabolism and a gym membership. And I'm only thirty-three. Maybe you should try to lighten up and enjoy yourself once in a while.”

“Dad died when he was ten years older than you. Heart attack, remember?” The thought of their father should have made Andrea sad, but she couldn't quite muster the emotion. So much time had passed, and Anthony Ray had never really been close to his children. The one thing he'd done right was to instill them with a good work ethic. Other than showing them how important a person's career was, he'd pretty much left them alone. Their mother had raised them, though all four of them would likely admit she hadn't done the best job. The nannies and day-care providers had been more loving than her. Even now, she still couldn't manage to be more than lukewarm to her children.

“Dad had other problems besides a plate of French fries every once in a while, and the doctors told Mom it was the stress that killed him.” Claire shot Andrea a pointed glare.

“What?”

“You and Todd both followed in Dad's footsteps. You work too much, and don't have nearly enough downtime. I already lost my father too young. I don't want to lose my brother and sister, too.”

Andrea sighed. Talk about blowing things out of proportion. “I had downtime last night.”

“I'll say. When you decide to let your hair down, you go all out.”

Andrea's face flamed. She took a big gulp of her drink while she tried to think of something to say in response. Claire's gaze locked with hers and stuck while Andrea set the mug back on the table. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

“Is that all you have to say about it? Come on. Can't you give me any details?”

Andrea laughed. “No. And I can't sleep with him again. It's against company policy.”

“If you're quiet about it, no one in the company will find out.”

“Claire!” Andrea kicked her sister's shin with the rounded toe of her shoe. “This is serious. As much as I enjoyed it, I can't let him back into my bed. It would be wrong on so many levels.”

“Oh, please.” Claire kicked back, shaking her head. “It was only a matter of time before this happened. You couldn't have gone on forever pretending there was nothing between you.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Men and women can't be that close without eventually hitting the sack.”

Andrea silently fumed, but she didn't understand why. She had no argument against what Claire said. It had taken them five years, but she and Brian had ended up right where Claire said they would.

“You never mentioned that theory before.”

“Because I knew you'd refute it. Now you can't.”

Andrea picked up her spoon and turned it over and over in her fingers. No, she couldn't refute it, but she didn't have to accept it, either. Men and women
could
be friends. She and Brian had managed it for years before the little mishap. “What happened was a fluke. If we hadn't been drunk, we never would have gone to bed together.”

“Sweetie, you're lying to yourself if you think that. It would have happened. Eventually. He's a sexy guy and you're a gorgeous woman, though it's hard to tell with the way you've let your appearance go. If he never made a pass at you before, it's because you always dress so…boring. No offense, but there are other colors out there besides gray and black. And why have all that long hair if you're going to tie it back in a knot every day?”

Andrea glanced down at her black T-shirt paired with jeans and old, comfortable sandals—her standard weekend wear. “What's wrong with the way I dress? I'm not trying to impress anyone.”

Claire patted her hand. “You're not in any danger of doing
that
.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“You know what I mean. I understand, Andrea. Your life is all about your career. You want to make it big, and I don't blame you. Hell, I applaud you for it. I'm just saying it wouldn't hurt to liven things up a little, and to learn to have a little fun.”

“I do know how to have fun.” Unfortunately, most of the fun she'd had lately had been with Brian. Movies on Saturday night, bowling or hitting the batting cages on Sundays. Runs in the park near work on weeknights. That was sure to change now, since things were so awkward between them. All her free time—not that she'd had much—had been spent with him. “I'm a regular barrel of laughs.”

“Okay, okay. Relax. I'm not trying to insult you. In fact, I think you're a goddess. You slept with Brian Storm. Remember the cookout I had last summer? You brought him with you and all my friends went crazy over him.”

Andrea groaned. Why did Claire keep fixating on Andrea's huge mistake? She remembered the cookout. Brian had gotten a couple of dates out of it. With Claire's wild friends. At the time, she hadn't thought anything of it. Now the idea of him with any of them made her blood boil. She clenched her hands into fists on the table.

“Are you really that upset about sleeping with him?” Claire asked.

“Of course I am. I've probably lost my best friend.”

“Maybe he wants more from you than friendship.”

Even if he did, she didn't. Couldn't. A romantic relationship between them would never work. They were in different places in their lives. “I doubt it. I'm not Brian's type.”

“And what would that be?”

She wrinkled her nose. “A woman who wants to be a stay-at-home mom. He's old fashioned like that. The type who likes being the provider. He wants a house and a marriage and a big family. Probably a bunch of dogs and cats, too. I don't want any of that. At least not for a while.”

“How do you know he hasn't changed his mind?”

“Please. I've known him for a long time. He doesn't change. Period. Actually, he resists it big time.”

“Kind of like you?”

“No. Worse.” And that was why she was so shocked he hadn't tried to pretend their night in bed had never happened. Usually when something bothered him and was out of his control, he acted like it didn't exist. “He thrives on stability in every aspect of his life.”

“There's nothing wrong with stability.”

“No, but he's almost compulsive about it.” It was one of the few traits about him that bugged her. Claire didn't realize it, but Andrea wasn't the only one in need of lightening up. Brian was so stuck in his routine that he even wanted to eat at the same restaurants every week. She had to be sneaky about getting him to try new places.

“I think you're trying to change the subject. Would it really be so bad to actually end up in a relationship with that impossibly sexy man?”

“Oh, okay. I see what this is about.” Andrea shook her head. Why hadn't she known this was coming? For the past five years, Claire had been dropping little hints, trying to get Andrea to bring Brian around more often. It all made sense now. Andrea forced a smile, but inside she seethed. “Do you want him?”

Claire shrugged. Her expression turned serious for a few seconds before her playful smile was back full force. “Yeah, actually I do. But I can't have him. He's taken.”

Not even close.
“No. Trust me, he's not.”

 

 

 

On Monday morning, an hour before he had to leave for work, Brian slammed his fist into the punching bag hard enough to make pain radiate down his arm. His knuckles hurt like a sonofabitch, but he pushed past the throbbing. He'd been at it for the last hour, beating the shit out of the bag hanging from his basement ceiling. Any more and he'd be bleeding. If he wasn't already. He'd thought a good workout would get Andrea off his mind, but he wasn't that lucky. She was stuck there, not going anywhere, and until he talked to her at work later that day he had a feeling there wasn't a damned thing he could do about it.

What the fuck had he been thinking?