As they slid their trays onto a table together, they discussed a plan of action, with Sarah helping Daniel and Tom assisting Wendy with the day’s chores. After they’d eaten, Tom stood to get them all coffee. He was well versed in getting Wendy and Sarah coffee. This had been their version of hazing him when he joined the firm. Daniel said he couldn’t stay because he needed to leave to check on Colton, whom he hadn’t babysat all morning.
As he rose, Wendy couldn’t let him go without some moral support. Impulsively she hugged him around the waist. He put his arms around her, too, and gave her a quick squeeze. Electricity shot through her at his touch. Surprised, she tried not to miss a beat as she said, “Call me if you need me. Or fall down.”
He waved vaguely and headed for the corridor back to the hotel. She watched him until he disappeared around the corner. He was walking normally now, a fast gait that meant he was all business.
Finally she turned around and realized Sarah was watching her. Wendy plopped down across from her at the table.
“Wow,” Sarah said. “After talking to him about work for just a few minutes, I’m thinking, Mr. Blackstone, if only I could shadow you for a month.”
“He’s good,” Wendy acknowledged, trying to tamp down the hint of pride she heard in her own voice. “The thing is, he doesn’t give a shit about this job. I would kill to have his talent. It’s totally wasted on him.”
“I got that impression, too.” Sarah arched one eyebrow. “So, tell me what’s going on between you two. If I hadn’t seen his head in your lap, I still would have been able to tell you’re together by the way you were acting.”
Wendy eyed her suspiciously. “How was I acting?”
“Kind of, ah . . . ” Sarah looked into space, searching for the words. “Like a lady.”
Wendy snorted.
“Like you were very concerned that he heard you, and you heard him, and you understood each other. Normally you wouldn’t bother. If a guy didn’t agree with you, at the slightest provocation you would quote a feminist philosopher.”
“Or just tell the guy to f**k off,” Wendy added.
“Or both,” Sarah said.
“There has been all kinds of that,” Wendy said. “I’ve been giving him lots of attitude. You just haven’t seen it.”
“Oh really,” Sarah said. “Did you bend him over your knee and smack that tight ass?”
Past Sarah’s shoulder, Wendy saw Tom stop short a few feet from them with a cardboard holder and three coffees.
Seeing Wendy’s face, Sarah’s eyes widened. “What is it?” Sarah whirled to glance behind her. “Oh, Tom! Thank God. The way Wendy looked, I thought you were Daniel, eavesdropping on us.”
Tom sauntered over to the table and sat down, eyeing Sarah. “You think it’s good business policy for Wendy to slap Daniel Blackstone on the ass?”
“I think she already has,” Sarah said.
Wendy kicked Sarah under the table.
“Metaphorically,” Sarah said without missing a beat. “I was just making fun of the way Wendy talks about men when you’re not around. Wait, you didn’t need to know that, either.” She looked to Wendy for help.
“We both apologize,” Wendy said, trying her best to sound like Audrey Hepburn. “We are very sorry you walked in on our sexist language. Sometimes in our private discussions, we are not very professional.”
“Professional?” Tom’s brows shot up. “You two? I think we left that place about five minutes after I started work.” He put his chin in his hand, settling in to find out more.
Wendy gave them the brief version of everything that had happened in the past three days. She mentioned but downplayed Daniel’s suspicion that Rick was her attacker. Last night she’d been so sure he was right, after brushing past the Colton-like character in the club. But in the bright light of day, she wasn’t so sure anymore—though she was still wary of passersby and kept one hand over the top of her paper cup of coffee.
Since they were so curious, bordering on disbelieving, she unfurled her bun and showed them the three places where her hair had been lopped off, and the gash stitched together in the back of her head. She explained that the attacks were why she’d stayed the last two nights in Daniel’s room. As she pinned her hair up again, Sarah and Tom grilled her about why the police hadn’t done anything, and then about what else had been going on between her and Daniel.
“How much do you know about this guy?” Tom demanded.
Wendy opened her mouth to explain that she’d known Daniel by reputation her entire adult life—and then stopped. Tom had turned the tables on her somehow, making her feel like he was her older brother rather than her younger one, and she needed to defend her boyfriend to him. “Daniel’s not my boyfriend,” she said testily. “I don’t need to know anything about him.”
“It sounds like you’ve been tumbling all over each other like puppies,” Tom insisted.
“No, that would be you and your girlfriend, Miss New Jersey,” Wendy countered.
“Whoa whoa whoa,” Sarah said, putting a hand between them to interrupt their glares at each other. “Seriously, Wendy, we need to talk about what tack Tom and I are supposed to be taking when it comes to Colton, who’s officially a client for a rival PR firm.”
Wendy stared at her without speaking.
“What?” Sarah asked.
“Are you wearing a bra?”
Sarah hung her head. “No.”
Tom looked at the ceiling.
“We need to take care of this,” Wendy said, sweeping her hand in a way that indicated all of Sarah. “Come with me. Walk and talk.” She raked her chair back from the table and led them out of the food court, into the mall. In a high-end shoe store, she chose an ankle boot with a three-inch heel and approached the counter. “We’d like to try this in a seven, please.” Then she sat across from Sarah and Tom where they’d settled on the store’s low seats. “I thought I’d made it clear what tack you should take,” she told them. “Daniel and I are working together to make it look like Lorelei and Colton are reuniting. I need you guys to help us any way you can, and that includes helping Daniel.”
“But what if I just happen to skew Lorelei’s PR in a way that makes her look good and Colton look bad?” Tom asked.
“And there are so many ways I could sabotage Colton’s PR without Daniel knowing,” Sarah added.