“Oh, she certainly is,” I agree. “Especially when she wants something.”
“She said that she just wants you to get out more,” Brainy Brian shrugs, smiling his limp smile. “She’s worried about you.”
I stare at him. Then count to three. “Well, there’s no need, is there? You and I are going to dinner tomorrow night. And I’m fine. And I’m looking forward to dinner, by the way. Where would you like to go?”
He looks blank. “I’m not sure,” he answers. “What do you like?”
I sigh. I think Shade was right about me. I would really like to date someone who will take charge for a while. I’m sick of having to make all of the decisions, even about something so small as a restaurant.
“How about Manini’s on twenty-first street?” I suggest. “I love Italian.”
“I do, too,” Brian says. His face is contorted in a weird way and I can’t really tell if he’s smiling or grimacing. I choose to believe that it’s a grin. “6:00?”
“That’s perfect,” I tell him, still staring at him, trying to decide. “I’ll just meet you there since I have to be somewhere later that evening.”
I leave Brian to his number-crunching.
And by now, now that she isn’t on fire anymore, I’m starting to enjoy the smooth feeling of BB when I walk. There might be something to this whole Brazilian thing. I feel sexy as hell knowing that I am completely hairless.
I’m a freaking vixen.
********
I’m a freaking vixen who managed to stay clear of my new boss for the rest of the day.
I am commending myself on that feat as I sit outdoors on my patio waiting for Sara to arrive. I’ve got four bottles of red Moscato chilling in my fridge at this very moment and I am also making a mental note to buy a wine fridge at my earliest opportunity. It’s a necessity in life, really. It’s a need, not a want.
I need the option of having multiple bottles of wine pre-chilled at any given opportunity for nights just like this. And again, that’s a need and not a want. Obviously.
I lie back in the pool lounger and stare up at the dark sky and the glittering white stars. I stare around the tiled pool, at the silent ripples on the water, at the waterfall that feeds into the pool, at the hot-tub that sits slightly above the pool.
Hot tub.
My thoughts freeze, refusing to take another step past the hot tub.
After my day, I obviously deserve to sit in the hot tub. I quickly decide that BB has healed enough that the hot water won’t hurt. I also, in my slightly inebriated state, decide that I’m too lazy to make the short walk into my house for a bathing suit. I glance around briefly, deciding that the three foot tall fence provides enough privacy and step out of my clothing.
I leave them in a puddle by my chair and walk buck-ass na**d across the stone tiles toward the hot tub. I take a bottle of wine and my glass…the important things. I will worry about unimportant things, like towels, later.
I turn the hot tub on and step in, and the hot water bubbles up and around me, soothing my stress and worry away. The heat doesn’t hurt BB at all, which she silently thanks me for.
I am chin-deep in the water when I hear Sara calling for me.
I poke my head up and wave her over.
“I didn’t bring my suit,” she tells me, standing above me.
“You don’t need one,” I tell her. “It’s only you and me. I’ve seen you na**d a hundred times before.” My thoughts are only a bit blurry now after one bottle of wine.
“No?” Sara raises one thin eyebrow. “Two na**d women in one hot-tub? What will your neighbors think?”
She obviously doesn’t care since she is already stripping off her clothes.
“Well, Mr. Darnell will think that he has won Lady Luck’s lottery,” I tell her with a grin. “He’s always watching Sophie and me when we swim. Perv.”
“Speaking of Sophie, where is she?” Sara asks as she settles into the water, across from me. She props one leg up next to me as she sips her wine. I almost tell her that she needs to shave her legs, but decide against it. She might decide that we’ll start getting our legs waxed too, which is insanity.
“At Hayley’s house,” I answer instead, moving away from the stubble on her legs so it doesn’t cut me wide open. “They’re studying and then she’s just going to stay the night. I’m free for the night. I just might sleep out here. Naked.”
Sara stares at me again.
“Holy shit. What have I done to you? Are you becoming wild? If so, my work here is done.” She makes the sign of the cross on her chest, like she is blessing this event. I roll my eyes.
“Be careful. Your fingers might burst into flame doing that,” I smile sweetly before continuing. “After the events of this past week, I’ve decided that for once, you are right. I’ve been too uptight for the past…all of my life. I’m going to start not giving a flying eff.”
Sara stares at me now. “I think I’m in love with you, girl. Don’t marry someone else. After you sow your wild oats, you can marry me.”
She laughs, tinkling and loud. I laugh too and fill our wine glasses up. “Nope, can’t. I don’t like tacos. Remember?”
Sara laughs. “Oh, yeah. I forgot. Details.”
Somehow, the next hour passes with lightning speed. During four bottles of wine, I tell Sara all about Shade’s little gift, the way Alex had seen my bare crotch, the fact that Alex is strikingly, breathtakingly sexy and the fact that I’m still pissed at her for having Brian ask me out.
“I forgot about being mad at you,” I growl, furrowing my eyebrows. Or I think I furrow them. I’ve had enough wine that my nose and forehead are sort of numb.
“Oh, whatever,” Sara waves my concern away. “You know you’ll get over it. Because you know that I’m right. You’re going to need practice if you’re going to date your boss. That’s a big step—and it takes skill.”
I freeze, staring at her.
“Sara, I am not dating my boss. Not. Gonna. Happen. Please hear me, and don’t do anything AT ALL, to try and arrange something like that, okay? I’ve worked very hard to get to where I’m at. I’m a single woman now- on my own. I can’t jeopardize my career simply because the man sets my loins on fire.”