* * *
As soon as Mary entered their apartment, her sister rushed to greet her. “What happened? Did you talk to him?”
“Yes.” And she was still trying to get a handle on the lust-tinged way he made her feel. She removed her sweater and draped it over a dining chair. “I was so nervous I don’t know how I got through it.”
“You have to tell me everything.” Alice grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the sofa.
They sat side by side. Thank goodness the sliding glass door to their itty-bitty patio was open. Mary needed the air.
“So?” Alice pressed.
“Can I have a minute? I need to catch my breath.”
“But I’ve been waiting here for hours.”
“All I’m asking for is a minute.”
“Whatever.” Alice rolled her heavily lined eyes. She went through phases, and currently she was on a cowpunk kick, where she’d patterned her style after a vintage trend derived from cowboy and punk rock influences. At the moment, she wore a skintight Western ensemble and gothic jewelry. Her bleached platinum hair was short and spiked. But no matter how outlandish she looked, her beauty remained evident. Mama had been gorgeous, too. Mary had always been plain by comparison. Yet she was the one who’d just had an encounter with Kirby’s devastatingly handsome son.
“Time’s up,” Alice said. She pointed to the clock on the cable TV box. “It’s been at least a minute.”
If Mary wasn’t so frazzled, she would have laughed. Her sister was one of the most impatient people she knew.
She started with saying, “He seemed to like me.” Just thinking about him was making her breathe harder and faster. “He’s even more striking up close. It was different than checking out his pictures or spying on him from a distance. Looking into his eyes was just so...real, I guess.”
“So he’s hotter than you anticipated? And he seemed to like you?” Alice waggled her brows suggestively. “You shouldn’t have any trouble getting him into bed.”
“I’m not...” Mary frowned, steeped in her own forbidden desires. “I already told you that even if he took an interest in me, sex was off the table. I couldn’t possibly—”
“You’re such a prude.” Alice shook her head. “But you’ll just have to hold his attention in other ways.” She leaned forward. “So tell me the rest of it.”
Mary expounded on the beginning of their conversation, before she’d started fantasizing about being his lover.
Alice listened and said, “I’ll bet you were really scared when he asked you if you knew who he was.”
“I was petrified.” So afraid he’d figured her out.
“It sounds like you handled it just fine. I knew you’d be a natural at presenting yourself as a nice girl.”
“It didn’t make me feel very nice.” For now, she just felt confused. “What if we have him pegged wrong? What if he isn’t responsible for what happened? He might not have even known that his dad was lying about our mom. If he filed the restraining order because he believed that Mama was a stalker, then he was just doing his job.”
Alice gaped at her. “You can’t be serious.”
She hated to think of Brandon as a bad person now that she’d met him. Or maybe she just hated to think of herself being attracted to someone so cold and calculating. “I’m just covering all of the bases.”
“Come on, Mar. Don’t make him out to be innocent in all of this. Attorneys are known for being shrewd.”
“I just want to be sure, that’s all.”
“I don’t have any doubts, and I guarantee when it’s over, you’ll be convinced that he’s as ruthless as his dad.”
“You’re probably right.” But now that the wheels were in motion, she needed to figure him out, to know for certain. “At least I’ll be seeing him next week.”
“You should bring him some pastries. You can bake something special just for him.” Alice waggled her eyebrows again. “A little sugar to tempt his palate.”
“He did say that he had a sweet tooth. But I’ll have to think about what to make.” She had no idea what his preferences would be. “I should bake some doggy biscuits for Cline, too.”
“Oh, that’s perfect. It’s exactly what a nice girl would do. Bring extra treats for that blue-eyed beast of his.”
Mary jumped to the husky’s defense. “Cline isn’t a beast. He seemed really gentle.”
“Maybe so, but that doesn’t make his master a good guy.” Alice frowned, her distain for Brandon obvious. “If he falls for you, I wonder if he’ll post pictures of you on his Instagram. Or maybe selfies of you and him and the dog.”
Mary didn’t want to think that far ahead. Yet she couldn’t help but recall how intensely both Brandon and Cline had stared at her. “In person their eyes are almost the same color.”
Alice squinted. “It’s too bad you’re not going to seduce him all the way. Sex would make the revenge that much sweeter.”
“Not for me.” She feared that sleeping with him would be dangerous to her soul. Not just because of the way he made her feel, but because of her charade, too. “That would be carrying it too far.”
“Okay, so you’ve got your morals. But it’s not as if you’re a virgin or anything.”
“That’s not the point.” Her sex life wasn’t the issue. Or her lack thereof, she thought. She’d slept with only one guy: the boyfriend who’d barely mattered. “Brandon isn’t my type, anyway.”
“I didn’t know you had a type.”
“Well, if I did, it wouldn’t be with a lawyer who might dominate me.”
Her sister looked stunned. “Oh, my God. Did he say something kinky to you?”
“What? No. I didn’t mean it like that.” She tried to explain, without admitting how deeply he aroused her. “He just seems as if he’d be as powerful in the bedroom as he is in the courtroom, or wherever he does his best work.”
“That’s quite an observation.” Alice leaned back on their floral-printed sofa—the one they’d bought during her boho phase—and lifted her booted feet onto the coffee table. “And seriously, who are you trying to kid? You totally want to shag him.”
“Can we change the subject, please?” Mary couldn’t bear to sit here and listen to this.
“Well, I’m all for it. As long as you make him suffer once it’s over.”
What part of changing the subject didn’t her sister understand? “I don’t want to keep talking about this.”
Alice readjusted her position, lowering her feet to the floor. “You brought up the domination stuff, not me.”
“And you’re making a bigger deal out of it than it is.”
“All right, but no matter how attracted to him you are, just remember that we’re doing this for Mama. So whatever you do, don’t fall for him for real.”
“I would never do that.” Mary knew better than to develop feelings for a man she didn’t even know if she could trust.
On Friday night,