Lush (33 page)
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were of him or the ranch. They were good, she thought. Even
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Lauren Dane
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if she did say so herself. The gleam of the chrome on his drums
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catching in the sunlight at the Gorge. The steam rising from the
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fi elds in the early morning. Ezra on a horse, or dealing with his
04
animals. Paddy and Vaughan, heads bent close sharing some
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trouble of one kind or another. Violet.
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She needed to frame some of these.
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She was going to get mopey if this kept up. He had a life. She
08
had hers. They had just seen one another a week and a half
09
before so it wasn’t like months had passed or anything. She had
10
work every single day so she couldn’t have taken a break anyway.
11
She called Daisy. “We should go dancing.”
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Daisy gasped. “We totally should. Like tonight? Are you
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busy?”
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“I had a lunch thing but I’m free now.”
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“I’ll be at your house in an hour. I’ll call Jules and you try
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Gillian?”
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“Got it.”
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Gillian was delighted by the idea and everyone would be
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meeting at Mary’s house in an hour.
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Mary rushed off to take a shower. Dancing would keep her
21
mind off how she wasn’t with Damien.
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“You’re totally not going to wear that.” Daisy gave Mary a
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critical eye as she got dressed. “You have a gorgeous body; why
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are you wearing a potato sack? You’re usually way better at
25
this.”
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Jules laughed. “Better you than me.”
27
Daisy was sort of the fashion police of Delicious. She had
28S
excellent taste and quite often little gifts would show up in
29N
Mary’s house. A blouse or a dress. Something she may have
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never chosen for herself but Daisy, as always, had a strong sense
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about it.
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Daisy moved to go through Mary’s closet and tossed out a
03
few things. “The blue one I think.”
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She held up the minidress. “It’s October. This is an August
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dress.”
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“We’ll be in a club. It’ll be a million degrees. You can wear
07
a wrap until we get inside.”
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She sighed and obeyed. Daisy wouldn’t quit until she did
09
anyway.
10
Daisy grinned once Mary had fi nished.
11
“Perfect. You look hot. We need to take a picture of all of
12
us and text it to our respective boys. It’ll do them all good to
13
know what they’ve got. Also, Gillian, baby, are you okay to be
14
out tonight?”
15
“I’ll have to forgo the tequila shots of course, and the wild
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sex with random passersby. But I can dance and visit with my
17
friends. It’s been ages since we’ve done this.”
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It had. They’d all been falling in love over the last two years.
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Each one, bit by bit, and things had changed. Mary was still
20
adjusting, but it was overwhelmingly good.
21
“Since we’re headed to Seattle, I think we should invite Erin,
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Elise and Ella. I bet Ella would love a night out.” Daisy grabbed
23
a wrap and tossed it Mary’s way. “That one.”
24
“She may not want to leave the baby for very long, but we
25
should defi nitely invite her.” Their friend Ella had a two- month-26
old and a gorgeous husband, so Mary wouldn’t blame her one
27
bit if she said no, thank you.
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“I’ll call while we’re on the way.” Gillian said. “I’ve got
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Lauren Dane
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Adrian’s SUV. The windows are smoked so you can’t see much
02
out the back. Or we could take the bridge and go around.” Gil-
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lian looked to Jules casually. Jules had a horrible fear of water.
04
The ferry was not her favorite thing. She rarely said a word, but
05
they all tried to spare her when they could.
06
“I’ll stay in the back between these hot mommas. Gillian,
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let Mary drive.”
08
“I’m pregnant, not unable to drive, for goodness sake.”
09
Jules laughed. “I know. Humor me.”
10
11
12
It had been far too long since she’d shaken her ass until she was
13
red in the face and sweaty. Well, she thought of Damien for a
14
moment, in a nonsexual fashion. Ella and Gillian hung out at
15
the table, laughing and chatting. Jules alternated between the
16
group dancing and the table.
17
Daisy was ridiculous. No one danced like her so Mary had
18
gotten used to it. But she had her own groove and she worked
19
it in her own way. Elise, also a dancer, was graceful and sexy,
20
her pale hair whipping around as she moved. Every once in a
21
while Erin would take a picture on her phone and send it god
22
knew where, most likely to her men. Daisy took a few of herself
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and Mary, most likely sending to Twitter or one of her other
24
social network addictions.
25
Every few minutes a dude would dance up and try to grind.
26
If he kept his distance and didn’t touch her with his cock, she
27
danced with him a while. If he touched her in any way, she sent
28S
him packing. Even without Damien she’d have sent them away.
29N
She didn’t go out dancing to have men buy her drinks or rub all
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over her. She could buy her own damn drinks. She liked being
01
with her girlfriends, laughing, getting a good workout and hear-
02
ing some great music.
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“I need a drink. This round is on me.” Daisy tugged on her
04
arm and they left the dance fl oor, heading toward the big bar
05
at the far end of the room.
06
While they waited they danced and laughed. “I’ve missed
07
this.”
08
“I’m sorry!” Daisy hugged her. “I feel like I’ve aban-
09
doned you.”
10
Mary tipped her head back and laughed. “Baby, you’re in
11
love. That’s amazing and wonderful and I’m thrilled. You haven’t
12
abandoned me at all. You just made room in your life for Levi.
13
Like you should. Everyone’s lives are going in such a great direc-
14
tion. It’s all good.”
15
The bartender gave her a tip of his chin, his gaze sliding over
16
her breasts. It made her smile. A girl needed to feel desired, and
17
this night was all those things in spades.
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He poured their drinks quite liberally and brushed his fi ngers
19
over hers as she grabbed her glass. She winked and they danced
20
their way back to the table, passing around drinks and the water
21
they’d picked up for Gillian.
22
“That person over there keeps taking pictures of you guys.”
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Ella nodded toward a far corner.
24
Erin turned and snarled. “That’s the asshole who caused all
25
the drama with Gillian. What is he doing here?”
26
“That creepy reporter who started that fi ght outside the club?
27
The one that almost broke Gillian and Adrian up?” Mary could
S28
still remember how torn up Gillian was when the reporter had
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Lauren Dane
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dumped the story of her criminal father on Adrian and his fam-
02
ily. All to hurt them and try to create a juicy story. Mary had
03
never seen Gillian cry so hard.
04
“No, you stay here.” Mary took a sip. “I’ll handle this.” Dude
05
seriously needed some violence in his life if he thought he could
06
hurt her friend ever again.
07
“I’m coming with you.” Daisy rose. “Wheee! Just like the
08
old days.”
09
“Of all of three years ago. Let’s go deal with this asshole.”
10
“It’s better if you just ignore them.” Gillian put a hand on her
11
arm. “You’re going to learn this yourself. But if you give him any
12
attention, he’ll make it into a story.
What was the pretty wife of
13
Adrian Brown up to that she sent her friends over to silence the
14
press?
”
15
Mary curled her lip. “He shouldn’t be taking pictures with-
16
out your permission. At the very least, let me track down some-
17
one who works here to deal with that.”
18
Gillian thought a moment and then nodded.
19
“In the meantime, if you adjust and switch places with Jules
20
all he’ll be able to see is the back of your head.”
21
“Good idea.”
22
She found a bouncer and whispered in his ear. He nodded,
23
spoke to someone off to the side. A manager came out quickly
24
once Adrian’s name had been spoken.
25
“There’s a guy over there by the back bar. He’s been taking
26
pictures of Gillian Brown all night long. She’s never given her
27
permission. All we want to do is come here to have some fun.
28S
It’s not much fun if we can’t even hang out without this sort of
29N
thing.”
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She cocked her head, adding a little wistful, a little guile and
01
a little sexy. He exhaled and nodded. “We obviously want our
02
patrons to be comfortable.” Especially their celebrity ones, she
03
knew. And for once she wasn’t hesitant about using that. Gillian
04
deserved some damned privacy.
05
He was gone and they went back to the table for a few min-
06
utes before they headed out to dance again.
07
08
09
“Dude.” Paddy peered over his shoulder as he looked at his
10
phone. Mary had forwarded a picture of her and her friends
11
when they’d gone out the night before. “Wow. Your woman is
12
fucking hot.”
13
“Shut up.”
14
She did look hot in a pretty blue minidress that showcased
15
her tits and her legs. He bet she and Daisy tore that place up.
16
And then he frowned. He bet she got hit on too.
17
“Why are you frowning?”
18
“She looks hot.”
19
“And that’s a problem why? You prefer your women not hot?
20
’Cause I call bullshit on that.”
21
“Shut up. God.”
22
“Oh, I get it, she’s not supposed to be hot when you’re not
23
around.”
24
“Well. She probably got hit on. Dudes probably danced with
25
her. She won’t commit to me; god only knows what she got up to.”
26
Paddy socked his arm really hard.
27
“Ow!” He shoved Paddy, who fell back over the arm of the
S28
couch. “Dick.”
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“Fuck you, crybaby. You’re a dick.” And he socked Damien
02
again, dancing out of the way of any retaliation. “You really
03
gonna tell me you think she gave a guy a BJ in the bathroom?
04
I’m not even dating her and I can tell you that’s bullshit. She’s
05
not like that, which is why you dig her so much. But she has a
06
life without you, which is why you’re so bugged. And you know
07
it’s stupid and shitty to be bugged, which bugs you more.”
08
“Why’d she send this picture then?”