He frowned. “What makes you think that?”
“Just a guess.” She unwrapped her legs from around him. “What’s going on there these days anyway?”
He shrugged. He found it strange that his job held such interest for her. “The usual.”
“Seems like the place is doing pretty well.”
“Seems like it is.” He pulled back from her hands still clinging to his biceps, ducked under the water one last time and climbed out to find his towel. Time to go back to his parents’ house. Talking about Chassy with Adele wasn’t worth getting too little sleep for.
“I’ll see you around.”
“Sure.” She smiled at him from the pool. One thing he’d say for her, his rejection hadn’t upset her much. He liked that about her. Attraction, dating and mating were all about success and/or rejection. Too many women took it too personally when he simply wasn’t wired to want them. Of course he hadn’t thought he was wired to want someone like Lindsay.
He raised a hand in farewell and started for the changing room. It struck him that Adele always showed up after he got there and always left after too. He didn’t even know where she lived. Maybe he should ask next time he ran into her. In case he came to his senses and decided he could use a few nights of pure fun.
He glanced back one more time as he left. Adele was in the center of the pool, clinging to the raft, lips pursed in a kiss that turned into a fountain of water exiting her full lips. He grinned, waved again and she smiled wickedly, a half-naked, sexual-fantasy-come-true she-devil in the moonlight…
And he’d turned her down.
2
BY THE TIME TANYA SHOWED up for the Martinis and Bikinis party, Lindsay was ready, standing by the entrance to the curtained back room where their monthly meetings were held, offering a smile and a tiara with flashing red hearts.
Valentine’s Day was nearly two weeks away, but she’d gone with a Love or Lust? theme, alternating garlands of red-and-white paper hearts with the tackiest Lust item she could find, a similar-size garland of shimmering gold-and-silver penises that made her both cringe and want to giggle.
The Valentine’s Day tree, a slender trunk with bare branches painted white, she’d decorated with demure cutouts of wedding splendor—brides, grooms and assorted wedding loot—alongside models from a Victoria’s Secret catalog and colorful depictions of a wide range of marital aids. Two bowls, one on either side of the door, were filled with favors for departing guests. One held white Jordan almonds tied in white net bags with silver ribbon and various “gold” wedding/engagement rings. The other held assorted condoms and tiny bottles of vodka, gin and tequila.
On the table against the back wall sat the Dare Box, a carved wooden box with a hinged lid that Lindsay filled with dares for the member nominated to be so honored that evening. All members of the nominating committee, but especially Lindsay, tried to get to know each woman in Martinis and Bikinis so they could select those women ripest for change and push them in whatever direction they needed help in going. Lindsay had successfully steered each of her new half sisters into the arms of men they wouldn’t have otherwise approached so boldly. Katie and Liam and Joey and Sebastian were already engaged. Lindsay was sure Brooke and David would follow suit soon.
After her divorce Tanya had joined Martinis and Bikinis on the advice of her therapist. Since she was definitely the group’s shyest member, Lindsay had gone easy on her so far. However, Sherry, the nomination committee’s most gungho participant after Lindsay, had reported Tanya dropping timid hints about a cute new member of her lab team. When Sherry suggested to Tanya she was ready for a dare, rather than turning pale with terror, she’d blushed and giggled. Lindsay agreed. Tanya was definitely ready for a few more exciting experiments in chemistry than her lab made possible.
“Hi there, Happy Valentine’s Day.” Lindsay handed Tanya a heart tiara. It looked adorable on her, even though the flashing scarlet hearts clashed with her red curls. “I take it you’re putting yourself in the love column tonight instead of lust?”
“Yeah.” Tanya gestured to her midcalf red skirt and white shirt buttoned up under her chin. She tried to look dismayed, but was unable to squash her trademark giggle. “I’m not wild enough to be lusty.”
“We’ll see about that.” Lindsay gave her a wink and smiled when Tanya started looking panicked. The dares Lindsay picked out tonight had to be the tamest in their chapter’s history. At worst Tanya would have to ask the guy of her dreams out for coffee or a dinner date. For most of the women that would sound about as exciting as an evening doing algebra problems. For Tanya, it was the equivalent of having to walk naked through the Boston Common.
“Happy Valentine’s Day a couple of weeks too early, Lindsay. Hi, Tanya!” Sherry arrived, definitely lusty, wearing a midriff-baring white camisole and red shorts riding so low, they immediately suggested Brazilian wax job. On her feet, achingly high red heels that made her beautifully shaped legs look even longer. Every man in the bar must have noticed when she strutted past. Even Denver.
And here stood Lindsay in her standard bar black with sensible shoes. Ooh, baby. For a second she stupidly wondered what Denver would think of her in shoes like Sherry’s. Even with them on, he’d still top her by an inch or so…
Enough. She handed tiaras to Sherry and tall elegant Lauren, who could be either love or lust in an exquisitely tasteful, strapless black minidress. True to form, she politely greeted Lindsay, then made a bawdy comment about the penis garlands, which nearly made Sherry’s heart tiara fall off when she burst out laughing.
The women kept coming, close to the full thirty-member contingent. Lindsay handed out tiara after tiara, keeping a smile on her face, hoping her staff could keep up tonight.
Her smile turned warmer when three familiar and increasingly dear faces appeared in the line. Her half sisters: the youngest, Katie, tonight a very lusty French maid—the outfit in which she’d originally seduced her fiancé Liam thinking he was someone else; next Joey, equally naughtily dressed as a motorcycle mama, her favorite alter ego; and third, Brooke, the oldest—second oldest if you counted Lindsay, which Lindsay kept forgetting to do—who somehow managed to dress the right side of her body in demure bridal linen and the left in leather and chains. Love and lust.
Lindsay gave the trio a quick wave and greeted a few more women in line in front of them. After growing up the only child of parents who’d planned to adopt more kids but changed their minds after the supposed hell that was Lindsay—never letting her forget it—having half sisters was like something out of a fairy tale. Forget that the Winfield trio actually got to live a fairy tale, growing up adored by their parents, surrounded by money so old it probably built the Mayflower. For Lindsay, it was fairy tale enough that they seemed to enjoy her company, treating her as family in as many ways as they could. More often than she should, she resisted, feeling like the dairy maid among princesses when she was around them.
“Lindsay!” Katie gave her a bear hug. “Why aren’t you dressed?”
“I’m working tonight.” She gestured awkwardly. Katie’s graceful exuberance always made her feel stiff and dull in comparison.
“Say it isn’t so.” Joey came up for her hug. “We wanted you to be able to party with us.”
“Absolutely.” Brooke’s turn, her hug was also affectionate, as was the kiss she planted on Lindsay’s cheek. A few months earlier Brooke had discovered John Winfield wasn’t her father by blood. The girls’ late mother, Daisy, apparently had something of a past, since the four girls had three fathers. One for Lindsay, who was given up for adoption. One for Brooke, who Daisy kept since she was marrying into the Winfield family while pregnant with her. Then the late John Winfield had fathered Joey and Katie.
Lindsay sympathized with Brooke. Not only did she have to deal with a shock similar to Lindsay finding