“Isn’t it divine?”
Davee spread her arms and executed a pirouette to show off her outfit. Made of red raw silk, it consisted of tight hip-hugger pants and a top cropped just below her breasts. The pants rode dangerously low on her abdomen. Her waist was encircled by a thin gold chain. On each arm she wore at least a dozen gold bangles.
She ended the turn with a nasty bump and grind. Hammond laughed. “Divine.”
Lowering her arms, she frowned at him. “Fat lot of good it does me for you to think so. Hammond, why aren’t we lovers?”
“I’d have to take a number.”
“Fuck you.” He laughed, but her frown only deepened. “How can you say something so mean when I don’t even have a date for my own party?”
“Where’s the masseur?”
“Sandro. I had to let him go.”
“Since Sunday? That was quick.”
“You know how I am once I make up my mind about something.”
“He was rubbing you the wrong way?”
In response to his bad joke, she gave him a sarcastic, “Ha-ha.”
“Sore subject?”
“God, no. He wasn’t a heartthrob, just a crotch throb. His penis is a whole lot bigger than his brain.”
“Every woman’s fantasy man.”
“For a while, maybe. I got bored.”
“And boredom is anathema to you.”
“Positively.” Looking down at the crowd, she sighed. “And I’m there now.” She reached for his hand. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”
She drew him down the hallway and into her bedroom. By closing the door, they were granted a blessed reprieve from the music. She leaned against the door and closed her eyes. “Enough of that. I was developing a bitching headache.”
“You can’t abandon your own party, Davee.”
“Only a handful of those people know me. They were just looking for a party and they found one. It doesn’t matter whether or not I mingle. Besides, they’re all on their way to becoming blind drunk.” As she moved across the room, she stepped out of her high-heeled sandals and set her drink on the small table near the chaise. “Want another?”
“No, thanks.”
She took his sweating glass from him and set it down beside hers. What happened next caught him completely by surprise. She reached for his hands and positioned them on her bare waist, then came up on her tiptoes and kissed him, doing another bump and grind against his middle that wasn’t as exaggerated as the first, but even more suggestive.
He reacted with a start, jerking his head up and back. “What are you doing?”
“You have to ask?”
She looped her arms around his neck and tried to kiss him again, but when he didn’t respond, she lowered her heels and gazed up at him with evident disappointment. “No?”
“No, Davee.”
“Just for the hell of it? If you can’t fuck an old friend, who can you fuck?”
“Whom can you fuck.”
She grinned and tried to lock lips again, but he angled his head back.