And the sex had been damn good.
Long caramel brown hair, sky blue eyes, slim and pretty. Combine all that with a sexy server outfit and legs that went on for miles and he had lost his mind. The frustration of the wedding, standing outside at the beautiful waterfront estate and watching Deana hold hands with someone else—it all built up until his usual reserve cracked.
The mystery woman had been staring at him for the entire reception. He had told himself if she did it one more time, he’d make a move. She did and then he did…and then they did.
“Hello?” Seth snapped his fingers a few times. “What’s wrong with you?
“Just thinking.”
“About Deana?
For the first time in months, the answer to that question was no. Eric’s mind kept wandering to the woman he’d pulled under him and then left without even asking her name. In the list of asshole male moves, that one ranked right up there.
“I do think of things other than my ex, you know,” Eric said.
“So, you’re saying you’re not carrying a torch.”
“No, I’m not.” He sure as hell was, but there was no way he would admit that out loud. He’d only conceded it in his own mind when the usher had asked him if he was there for the bride or groom.
Seth flopped back against his chair. “So, you’re saying you went to that wedding to see if it was really over between you and Deana?”
“I went because I got an invitation in the mail and because I’ve known Deana forever. I also happen to be a professional acquaintance of her new husband.”
Seth tapped his fingers against his coffee cup. “That’s quite a mouthful of proper talk right there.”
“Would you prefer my fist?”
“Eric, this is me.”
“Trust me, it’s over.” Not by his choice, but the end wasn’t a question now. “Besides, Josh would kick my ass if I touched his new wife.”
Seth’s eyes widened. “So, you’re admitting you want to touch her.”
Eric knew he’d walked right into that one. “Are you going to shut up anytime soon?”
“And to think I gave you a perfectly good condom.” Seth shook his head in mock frustration. “Hoped you’d find yourself a nice bridesmaid and have a fun evening.”
Eric swallowed a smile. No way was he telling Seth about the waitress. And no way was Eric saying “fine” one more time either. One reference could pass but by the third time credibility was gone.
“Word is you cut out of the reception early.”
Eric refused to ask how his friend knew even that much. “Yeah.”
Seth made a clicking sound with his tongue. “Missed opportunity. You had all of those available women milling around, feeling lonely and bad about not being the bride, and waiting for some dude to buy them a drink.”
“The drinks were free.”
The clicking grew louder. “Either way, it was a wasted opportunity.”
Leave it to Seth to skip right over the facts and continue with his argument. “Do you know anything about women?”
“Well, I wasn’t the one alone last night. I put my condom to good use.” Seth gestured with his arms open wide and his mouth in constant motion. As usual. “Can you say the same thing?”
Eric actually thought about answering honestly and then decided not to. “No.”
“You disappoint me.”
“My apologies.”
Seth exhaled as his puffed-up chest fell. “So what now?”
Eric knew the answer to that one. He’d worked it out that morning in the shower. He needed to do a little damage control. Better to apologize to his mystery waitress than run the risk of having her show up in his opponent’s campaign commercial and make the story even worse.
Yeah, he’d find her, make an ally, and if they got naked again, well, he wouldn’t complain.
Chapter 2
“There you are. Where did you disappear to at the end of the wedding? I haven’t seen you since yesterday.” Cara Long talked in a nonstop stream as she buzzed around the small catering kitchen, putting away pans and stray cake ingredients. “Hate to think a little honest work terrified you so much that you had to take off for the night.”
Katie wanted to ignore her big sister’s prodding. Admitting the truth seemed dangerous. There really wasn’t a good way to say, “I used your business to hunt down a guy at the wedding…and then lifted my skirt for him in the bathroom.” Not when Cara had worked so hard to establish her business and had nearly fainted when she was handed the opportunity to do something as prestigious and impressive as the wedding of a wealthy socialite and her big-time hero DEA fiancé.
Cara had fought back against every piece of crap life threw at her and kept going. Bad husband. A checking account balance that hovered near zero. Single parent to a baby who demanded her attention every two seconds.
None of that sounded good to Katie. Of course, neither did being homeless, which explained why she took the job watching Eric. Someone wanted information on the guy’s activities and she needed the money. It was a simple matter of math.
She kept repeating that in her head every time the doubt threatened to overtake her. Taking cash so soon after having sex left her with a dirty feeling she could not shake. Watching Eric at his ex’s wedding was one thing. Dropping her panties and wrapping her legs around him…yeah, not part of the assignment.
“Uh, hello?” Cara stood in the middle of the one-room business with cookie sheets stacked in a pile on her arms.
“What?”
Cara’s eyes narrowed in the disapproving way she’d mastered as a responsible teenager horrified by her baby sister’s antics. She’d been using it ever since. “Where did you go?”
“What are you talking about?” Katie knew but she asked anyway because stalling for time seemed like the right choice.
“You’ve got this dreamy, I’m-about-to-cause-trouble look in your eyes.” Cara shook her head. “I’ve seen it before and am not a fan.”
When in doubt, hide behind false outrage. The plan had rarely worked for Katie in the past during sister-to-sister battles, but she decided to try it again anyway. “I helped out at your big job and this is the thanks I get?”
Cara lost all color in her face. “Oh, no.”
Katie recognized the horrified look. It meant one thing. Busted. “What?
The color came back to Cara’s cheeks but it was kind of a yellowish-green tint. Not all that attractive. A little scary, actually. “Oh, this is bad. Like, when you got picked up on the drug charge, bad.”
It had been almost a week since Cara brought up that little gem. Katie had started to think the memory might have faded. Apparently not.
She waved off the reminder even as she winced inside. “That was three years ago and a complete misunderstanding.”
Fact was, she was a person who stepped in crap every time she turned a corner. Luck had never been her friend. But sleeping on the floor of an acquaintance who claimed to waitress at a club but really spent her evenings dealing drugs was a particularly awful