“What do you think?” Julia asked as she twirled around to give a full view of the bra, panty and stocking set.
A well-known fashion blogger, her sister has suggested this chic boutique for the shopping trip. Now, McKenna surveyed her up and down, pressing a finger to her lips as if she were studiously considering the undergarments in question. “It’s a good thing you don’t get cold easily. It’s chilly in New York in April. I was just there.”
Julia rolled her eyes. “It’s not as if I’m going to strut around the Big Apple in this get-up only,” she said, gesturing to her lingerie ensemble.
“I’m just checking,” she said with a wink. “You’ll pair it with what? A trench coat?”
“No. This thing called a skirt. Ever heard of it? Then a blouse too. Then the trench coat.”
“I am pleased to inform you,” her sister began, flashing a bright smile, “You have the Fashion Hound seal of approval on your sexy outfit.”
“Exactly why I keep you around.” Julia began stripping off the stockings, the underwear and the bra.
“Wait. Don’t I get a little sashay of the hips and all? A lap dance maybe?”
“I’m saving that all for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”
“You must really like this guy if he gets your whole weekend. You haven’t given anyone three days in a long, long time.”
“I haven’t given anyone any days in a long, long time,” Julia corrected, as she neatly folded the items, then pulled on her jeans.
“Not since Dillon.”
“Yep, not since Dillon,” she said, turning away because she didn’t want McKenna to see how much it hurt to even hear that name breathed. Dillon was the reason she kept secrets from her sister, and from everyone. She shifted gears to her sister’s upcoming wedding. “Hey, when are we going for your next dress fitting?”
“When you get back from New York, and we can pick your maid of honor dress too,” McKenna said in a voice laced with true happiness. She’d found her match, and her happily ever after was in her hands. Julia wasn’t jealous, not one bit. She was glad for her sister, even though the notion of a happy ending seemed about as far away to her as living on the moon.
*****
Cubic Z was buzzing at happy hour. Thursday night was one of the busiest of the week, drawing in the one-more-day-til-the-weekend crowds of twentysomethings as they spilled out of their nearby offices here in the SoMa district of San Francisco. Finance and tech guys and gals abounded, ordering up microbrews or fancy cocktails.
As Julia mixed a vodka tonic, she turned to her partner-in-crime Kim. The petite brunette behind the bar was pouring a raspberry ale from the tap, while absently running a palm across her round belly. She was due in a few months. The first baby for Kim and her husband.
“You’re all set to run this place solo for the weekend?” Julia asked.
Kim rolled her eyes and shot her a look as if to say she were being ridiculous. “I run this place when you’re not here. I know what to do. Besides, Craig is going to help me out,” she said, as she handed the glass to a regular customer, a skinny guy who always stopped by after work. Kim and Julia were both part owners of Cubic Z; they’d bought an ownership stake a year ago, so they served drinks and made sure drinks served the bottom line. Kim’s husband had just finished bartending school but hadn’t nabbed a job yet so she was the sole source of support for the two of them.
“I know. I just wanted to make sure. What can I say? I’m looking out for you and the baby already,” Julia said, as she slid the vodka concoction to a customer.
“Yeah, protect us from all the unsavory types,” Kim joked, because Cubic Z was upscale, and didn’t attract that sort of clientele. “Like that guy,” she said, lowering her voice to a whisper as she tipped her forehead to the door. A man stood with his back to them, talking to a friend, a shock of white in his dark hair. Tension knit itself tightly inside Julia, shooting cold through her bones. She didn’t want Skunk anywhere near her bar. He’d been here once and once was enough. He’d parked himself in a bar stool, ordered a drink, and said one thing and one thing only, as he nodded, surveying the joint, “Yeah, I like this place. I like it a lot. You give good pour.”
But when the man swiveled around, he wasn’t Skunk. He wasn’t anyone Julia knew. And there wasn’t a reason for her veins to feel like ice. She shrugged it off, the worry that tried to trip her up now and then, the fear that Charlie or Skunk would hurt her or someone she cared about. They hadn’t yet. But they could in a heartbeat.
Chapter Two
Clay finished off the rest of his scotch, then glanced at his watch.
“Got someplace to be?” Michele asked.
Damn. He was caught checking the time again, a bad habit he’d started since he invited Julia to join him in New York this weekend. It was nearing ten, and he should cut out of this bar and head home. She’d be arriving tomorrow, and tomorrow evening couldn’t come fast enough.
“Yeah. Bed,” he said dryly. Michele was his best friend Davis’s sister, and his friend too. The three of them had known each other since college. She was one year younger, but had followed in her brother’s footsteps, attending the same university.
“I remember when you used to be out til all hours,” Michele teased, shooting him a knowing smile, as she ran her fingers through her dark hair. Michele was a pretty woman, always had been, but there was nothing between them. Not since they’d shared a kiss one night at a drunken college party. A kiss that had never been repeated, and he’d chalked it up to her being sad that night over the anniversary of her parents’ death and needing some kind of connection. Understandable. Completely understandable.
“Hardly,” he said, because he wasn’t the party boy type, but then he wasn’t usually the first one to leave either. Tonight, however, needed to end early because tomorrow was the one he wanted to last all night long. He called for the check, fished some bills from his wallet, and paid for their drinks.
“Why are you leaving so soon?”
“Because the glass is empty. I’ll get you a cab,” he said, and walked out with her, the neon lights of the diner across the street flickering behind them. “Do you want to…” she said, but the rest of her words were swallowed by the sound of a siren a few blocks over.
“Want to what?” he asked when the noise faded.