Naturally Naughty - Leslie Kelly [28]
“I don’t really care, because for the first time in forever, we’re talking about your sex life, not mine!”
“No, we’re not talking about it.” She walked past him onto the sales floor. The overhead lights were on, though they wouldn’t open for an hour. Pretending she needed to check the bondage section, she busied herself counting leather masks and handcuffs. Big sellers, particularly around the holidays.
“Kate, stop pretending you don’t care this guy didn’t call. You’ve been moping for ten days, ever since you got home from Tortureville. Track the bastard down and confront him about it.”
“I can’t. The last words I said to him were there’s no guilt, no regret, and he didn’t have to call.”
Armand rolled his eyes in disgust. “Well, of course, but you didn’t mean it. Darling, all men—including the heterosexual ones—know that speech is complete bullshit.”
She ignored him. “Besides, I don’t know his last name.”
“Stranger sex. I still can’t believe you went for it.”
She wished she’d never told him. But Armand was a sexual bloodhound. He could smell naughty secrets, even days later.
“So, you see, I can’t track him down, even if I wanted to.”
Which she didn’t. Jack’s silence in the past ten days spoke volumes. He knew where to find her and he hadn’t looked. She’d cared at first. Too much. Then she’d reminded herself she knew what she was getting into. She could have walked away at any time, but she wanted great sex, with him, then and there. And she got it. So she couldn’t now hate him for not following up on his promise to see her when he got back to Chicago.
“Please, Armand, let it drop,” she said, rubbing a weary hand over her brow. “It was great, now it’s done. I’m over it.”
“You’re such a phony, Katherine Jones,” he replied. Then he stepped closer and took her in his arms, hugging her close. Kate allowed herself to be comforted, burrowing into Armand’s hard, masculine chest the way she would with an older brother.
“It’s really a shame you don’t like women,” Kate said, looking up at him. “You’re funny, loyal and a total hottie.”
Armand smiled, a heart-stopping smile that could make women try to reform him and gay men sit up and beg. “I adore women. I just don’t want to sleep with them. Besides, I wouldn’t want to be one of those men you push away as you close yourself up in your prickly, tough shell, keeping out anyone you think could hurt you. This way we can love each other without any sex or commitment stuff getting in the way.”
“I love you, too,” she said with a gentle smile, not acknowledging his probably all-too-accurate description of Kate’s views on trust, love and relationships.
Before they could get any mushier, the phone rang. Kate answered, smiling as she heard her mom’s voice. The smile faded as Edie told her some bad news about her Pleasantville house.
“Vandalized? How? Did the Keystone Kops do anything?”
“Sheriff Taggart assures me he’ll do everything he can to catch those who did it,” Edie said. “Tag’s a nice young man, you’d like him. He and your cousin have apparently already met.”
Kate snorted, still unable to believe Cassie had gone to Pleasantville. “Yeah, the son of a…I mean, the sheriff, gave her a ticket last night, her first night in town. Sounds like Pleasantville’s as pleasant as ever to the Tremaines.”
“It’s not the whole town, Kate. Only a few bad apples.”
“Enough to fill Mrs. Smith’s pies for a decade.”
Her mother tsked. “Obviously your cousin disagrees with you, since she’s decided to spend the summer there.”
Kate could have told her the real reason Cassie had gone to Pleasantville. But the cousins had agreed not to. Edie and Flo didn’t need to know that Cassie was, in essence, hiding out from a troubling situation. A possibly dangerous situation.
At least Pleasantville is better than dead. Kinda.
“In any case, the real estate agent is having a handyman repaint,” Edie said. “He also tells me he had a call asking if the house was available for short-term rental. What do you think?”
Kate, the accountant-at-heart, nodded. “Good idea. If you can rent it out to cover the