Just Deserts - Brenda Jackson [37]
He closed the door to his bedroom and began stripping off the rest of his clothes as he headed for the bathroom. He hoped the water blast from the shower would somehow wash some sense into him, because he suddenly felt like a love-smitten fool.
An angry Danielle snatched her cell phone off the dresser, wishing she could snatch the scalp off Tristan’s head, instead. What on earth was the matter with him? With a soft curse she punched in a few numbers and waited. Boy, was she mad.
“Hello?”
“Alex? This is Danielle,” she tried saying in a calm voice. “We need to talk. Hold on and let me get Renée on the line with us.”
Before Alex could either agree or protest, she was placed on hold while Danielle switched over to punch in Renée’s number. As soon as Renée answered, Danielle said, “Hold on Renée, let me pull in Alex.” And with a flip of the wrist she had both women on the line with her.
“So what’s going on?” she asked, determined not to let Tristan get on her last nerve, but inwardly acknowledging he already had.
Not surprisingly, it was Alex who answered. “I took Little Sweetie to be groomed today.” And as if on queue, the sound of the dog’s bark could be heard.
Danielle rolled her eyes. “That’s nice. Have either of you heard anything more about—”
“Where’s Tristan?” Renée interrupted to ask.
Danielle rolled her eyes again. “He’s in his bedroom.”
“Then why aren’t you in there with him, instead of waking us up in the middle of the night?”
Danielle winced. She’d forgotten about the different time zones. “Sorry, guys, I didn’t think to check. I’ll let you—”
“What’s wrong, Danielle? I can tell something is bothering you,” Alex said in a soft voice. Danielle could hear genuine concern in her voice, and she knew that no matter what had brought the three of them together, somehow they’d become a sisterhood. Normally, when something bothered her she could go to Tristan and talk about it, but she couldn’t do that in this situation because her problem was Tristan.
“He made me mad,” she heard herself saying.
“What did he do?” Renée asked in a tone that indicated she was now alert.
“Well, we’re thinking about expanding the business, so today we met with a potential business associate. The man and his attorney remembered me from my modeling days and they were very kind and—”
“In other words,” Renée said, interrupting, “they fawned all over you, instead of paying attention to the business at hand.”
Danielle rolled her eyes. “Like I said, they were nice and Tristan got mad about it.”
“And why do you think he got mad, Danielle?”
“He evidently thinks that now that we’ve shared a bed he can—”
“Oh, the two of you finally got around to doing that, huh?” Alex asked sweetly.
Danielle frowned. “Look, Alex, I’m not in the mood.”
“Then that’s a personal problem. Hunter can attest that I’m always in the mood. He has no complaints.”
“Alex, I think Danielle meant that she was not in the mood for us to make any comment about her and Tristan finally getting around to doing it.” Renée’s tone was the epitome of decorum, thanks to all those classes she’d told them she’d taken over the years.
“Oh.”
Danielle shook her head. She couldn’t help but smile. “You two are simply crazy.”
“But you love us anyway, right?” Alex said, chuckling.
Danielle could imagine Alex wiping her curls away from her face when she’d made the statement. “Yeah, I love you guys.” And she meant it.
“And Tristan loves you, Danielle,” Renée said.
“Of course he loves me. I’m his best friend, although I could just kill him!”
“I think he’s more than your best friend now, Danielle,” Alex pointed out.
“No, we’re still best friends, and that’s what has me upset. He got mad at those guys for no reason.”
“Sounds like there was a reason,” Renée piped in. “He loves you. And I’m not talking about best-friend love or brotherly love. I’m talking about the same kind of love Hunter has for Alex and that Chris has for me. That man-love-woman kind of love.”
“That’s crazy!” Danielle said adamantly. “It’s not that way between us.”
“Then explain why the two of you slept together,