“I meant—never mind, I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, feeling hurt that her friends thought she’d get involved with someone who was married.
“I’m sorry,” Willow said. “I guess you cut a little too close with your questions about Jack and I wanted to strike back. I know you’d never have an affair with a married man.”
Nichole nodded but she wasn’t ready to forgive yet.
“Don’t be mad, Nic. We can’t always choose the people we’re attracted to. We never thought you’d do anything with a married man, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t fall for one,” Willow said.
“You’re right about not being able to choose who we fall in love with,” Gail added. “I never thought I’d fall in love with a playboy. I mean Russell just wasn’t my kind of guy … but then somehow I started caring for him.”
“He was your kind of guy. You just couldn’t see it because of all the flashbulbs that surrounded him,” Nichole said, letting go of her hurt.
“I had a crush on Jack in high school,” Willow blurted out. “It ended badly and I’ve been wanting to get back at him ever since.”
“Get back how?” Nichole said.
“Some kind of humiliating revenge. I thought I’d gotten past it, but I haven’t.”
“Oh, dear,” Gail said.
“Oh, dear? What are you, ninety-two?” Nichole asked. “Our BFF is contemplating revenge. We need to use stronger words here.”
Gail shook her head. “Willow isn’t going to change her mind no matter what we say, and I have a feeling it’s going to be—”
“Complicated!” Willow said. “Just like Nichole’s situation.”
The women laughed as the doorbell rang. Once the pizza was on the table, talk turned to the TV show and Nichole let Conner and how he complicated her life dominate her thoughts. There had to be another way to get her story and still get him. Because she wasn’t ready to let him slip away just yet.
Conner worked up until the last moment when he could leave and get to his sister’s apartment but still be fashionably late. If Nichole had been here to see him, she’d have realized that he wasn’t a social animal. He dreaded parties and other social gatherings because he didn’t do small talk.
Yeah, right. He didn’t like them because he hated being around strangers who might know too much about his past. He didn’t know how Jane was able to survive her life in the spotlight. There were always people who wanted to prod her about the past and ask questions about how it had felt to go through that public humiliation.
Something that Conner hoped never to relive. When he was a block from Jane’s apartment, he remembered that he hadn’t picked up flowers and didn’t have a bottle of wine. And there was no way he could show up at the home of America’s leading hostess without a hostess gift. Janey would nail him for it.
“Stop at the corner, Randall,” he said to his driver. “I need to get a bottle of wine.”
“Yes, sir,” Randall said.
Conner ran into the corner store and bought the best bottle of wine they had available. It wasn’t a pricey vintage, but he knew it was one his sister liked. As he was waiting in line to pay, he caught a glimpse of Nichole’s face next to her byline in America Today that the woman in front of him was reading.
Glancing over the woman’s shoulder he saw that the article was about Jack Crown’s latest daredevil stunt. Conner had met Jack since he had been brought in to host the reality TV show, but he hadn’t had a chance to get to know the other man.
“Why don’t you buy your own copy?” the lady said, folding the paper in half and putting it on the counter.
“My apologies,” he said, embarrassed to be taken to task by the woman. But he wasn’t going to read the society column of any paper. It was little better than gossiping and he wouldn’t do it. Though, if he’d been pressed about it, he would have had to admit that Nichole’s writing style was very inviting. He’d wanted to read more.
But not today. He paid for his wine and shoved the sexy, redheaded reporter out of his mind as he got back in his car. Randall drove the rest of the way to Janey’s high-rise but when he pulled up to the curb, Conner was reluctant to get out.
“I’ll text you when I’m ready to leave,” he said. “It might not be too long.”
Randall laughed. “I’ll be in the garage waiting for your text.”
Conner took the elevator to the penthouse, entering the code that would take him straight to his sister’s place. When he exited the elevator, he had the uneasy feeling that he hadn’t timed his entrance to be as late as he’d hoped. The first person he saw when he walked into her hallway was Palmer Cassini.
“So, she roped you into this as well,” Palmer said.
“Sadly, yes. But I was corraled because of an uneven number of guests.”
“She used a different technique to get me to come tonight. How have things been?”
“Good. Business is business, but we’re turning a profit and in this economy that’s all anyone can ask for.”
“You say it like you’re blasé about it, but I know that you’re in the black because of your savvy and leadership,” Palmer said.
Conner tucked his hands into his pockets and tried to look nonchalant, but Palmer had hit the nail on the head. Conner wasn’t about to let years of hard work go down the drain because of a downturn in the economy.
“Where’s my sister?”
“In the kitchen with another guest. One I suspect she may have invited for you,” Palmer said.
“Should I leave now?” Conner asked jokingly.
“I wouldn’t. She’s a very sexy woman.”
“Do you wish she’d invited this mystery woman for you?” Conner asked. He’d be more than happy to bow out of the dinner and let Palmer go after her.
“Not at all. I shouldn’t tell you this, but I’m very interested in your sister,” Palmer said.
“You are?”
“Yes, but she’s stubborn and refuses to let me get too close.”
“Don’t mess around with Jane,” he said. “If you hurt my sister …”
“You’ll come after me, I know. But it is she who hurts me. She doesn’t want anything serious to develop between us and every time I get too close she shuts me out … the way she did at the Fourth of July party.”
He sympathized with his friend. It was hard to court a difficult woman. And though he wasn’t courting Nichole, she was difficult and he did want her. He clapped a hand on Palmer’s shoulder. “If it’s meant to be, it will happen.”
“I’m not sure I want fate on my side. She can be a cruel mistress,” Palmer said with a laugh. “Come on, let’s go join the women.”
Conner wasn’t too sure he wanted to, but hopefully whoever Jane invited would take his mind off Nichole, even if it was only for tonight. He needed to put the attraction to her in perspective. He’d been working too hard. That was probably why he’d been so consumed with her lately. She was, after all, the only woman he’d kissed and held in his arms recently.
Of course, he was going to be thinking about her all the time. In fact, he was doing it again, he thought. The woman in the kitchen