“Shame.”
Jules quirked an eyebrow. “Ugly Kitty? And who is this handsome man speaking to us?” Like I said, Jules came from a very open house. She had no filter. If she thought it, it slid right down a steep slide from her brain and popped out her pink-painted lips.
Chase blessed us with his full, mega-watt dimpled smile and extended his hand down to Jules. “Chase Parker. Reese and I work together.”
Jules turned to me, bug-eyed. “Chase as in Chase, who we were just talking about?”
Chase raised an eyebrow. “All good, I hope?”
“Look at you! What could possibly be bad?” she said.
Chase chuckled and shook his head. “You ladies want a refill? I have an early meeting I need to run to after I get my caffeine fix.”
“I think we’re good. But thanks.”
“See you in the office later, then.”
“Highlight of my day,” I teased.
Chase was barely out of earshot when Jules started in.
She held up her hand, showing me her palm. “No need to explain why you’ve lost interest in Bryant. That man is delicious. You know my theory that handsome men aren’t as good in bed as the non-handsome crowd because they’ve never had to work for it hard enough?”
“Yes. What about it?”
“One look at that man and I can tell you, he’s the exception.”
“You know he’s good in bed just by looking at him and that short conversation?”
She put on a serious face. “Without a shadow of a doubt, I do.”
Jules was nutty, but I tended to agree with her. I knew from Chase’s personality that he would perfect anything he focused on. He was also naturally aggressive, which I was certain would translate into dominant in bed.
I sighed. “He’s really smart, too.”
“Poor guy. Gorgeous, smart, and good in bed. What does he do at the new job? Let me guess—sales. Whatever he’s selling, I’m buying.”
“I guess you could say he does a little of everything.”
Jules thought she understood. She shook her head. “Admin assistant? That’s okay. You have a good job. You can be his sugar momma.”
“He’s actually the CEO. Chase Parker owns Parker Industries. And not in the same way that sleazy Derek Eikman will someday own Fresh Look. Chase is self-made. He invented most of the products the company sells, and he runs the company himself.”
“Oh, Jesus. All right, all right. Let me think.” She tapped her pointer finger to her chin a few times. “So you obviously shouldn’t sleep with him, because we know how that can turn out from your little moment of temporary insanity with Derek. But there is absolutely no reason whatsoever that I shouldn’t hop in the sack with that pimped ride.” Jules wiggled her eyebrows.
“Pimped ride?”
“I’m trying a new phrase on for size. How’s it working?”
“It’s not.”
“Well, this could work out for both of us. Actually, it works for four of us. Think about it. If I sleep with him, you’ll think it’s too weird to sleep with him, too. You’re not the kind of person who can explore where your friends have already planted their flags. So he’ll mentally become off limits to you. Eventually you’ll look at him like art you admire instead of a steak you want to eat, and that will free up your appetite for other food—like Bryant. That will make both you and Bryant happy. And, of course, Chase and I are going to be extremely happy…because we will both have had the best sex of our lives.” She shrugged. “Problem solved. You’re welcome.”
I laughed. “I really do miss having you around all the time.”
“Me too. It really sucks without you. Someday we need to start our own advertising firm. We’ll hire only powerful women as management and hot men as assistants.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
“So what are you going to do with Bryant and Bossman?”
“I need to give things a real try with Bryant. My dating life hasn’t exactly been full of eligible bachelors. I’ve had one relationship that lasted more than two months in the last five years. And you know how that ended. Alec was a nice guy, but he was still so hung up on his ex that he called me Allison every time we were in bed—usually during his grand finale.”
I sighed. “Bryant really seems to be a great guy without baggage. I should just sleep with him and get it over with.”
“Now that sounds like how I’d want the person I was dating to think of having sex with me for the first time. Get it over with.”
Chapter 9
Chase - Seven years ago
Eddie had been missing from his usual spot for three days. After lunch, Peyton made me walk around the neighborhood with her to see if he’d turned up yet. I had a bad feeling after seeing that gash on his head last week. Peyton must have, too. As we rounded the corner, a sense of relief came over me when I saw him. Only he wasn’t alone. He was being hassled by two cops. The taller one—Officer Canatalli, according to the badge on his puffed-out chest—had just kicked Eddie’s feet.