Don't Deny Me Read online

  Alice snorted soft laughter and rolled her eyes. “What, you won’t let me share with you this time?”

  She’d been half joking, but Jay’s silence gave her pause. She stopped working and twirled in her chair. The last trip to Bernie’s, she and Jay had shared the loft room he always snagged because it had a small, private balcony where he could go to smoke. The double bed had been too small for two, especially if they weren’t lovers, which she and Jay of course had never been. She didn’t want to share a room with him, but the fact he wasn’t offering meant something important.

  “Jay!”

  “I … invited someone along.”

  “Yeah, you told me you had a new friend. Mick, you said his name was.”

  Another beat of silence. “No, another friend. He’s … special.”

  Jay hadn’t had a boyfriend in about eight months. His last breakup had been bad, right around the same time as hers. They’d both vowed off men for a while.

  “What’s his name?”

  “Paul.”

  “Not the guy from the club!”

  “The guy from the club,” Jay admitted. “I know. It’s trashy. But …”

  “It can’t be that trashy if you’re bringing him to Bernie’s for the weekend. Unless you’re trying to get rid of him, thinking we’ll scare him away.” She grinned.

  Jay laughed. “You might anyway.”

  “We’ll be extra super nice to him. You know that.”

  “Yeah. That’s what might scare him away.” Jay made another muffled noise. “Hey, gotta run. Bernie and Cookie just got back from the grocery store and I promised I’d help with the marinade. Or something, I thought it was marinade but who knows, I might’ve agreed to anything. Get here! I miss the hell out of you.”

  “Me too. I’ll be there by dinner time.” She made kissy noises into the phone and hung up, then spun her chair another time or two, thinking of the weekend ahead.

  Nothing but sunshine, booze, food, and relaxing. She was so ready for it. Work had been brutal over the past month or so, somehow made more indignantly awful because the weather had been so stinking hot. Not even the end of June yet, and already there’d been heat warnings all over the place. She couldn’t wait to get to the lake house.

  She’d meant to leave work at noon and be on the road by one, get to Bernie’s place in Northern Virginia by three or four at the latest, but she ought to have known better. Getting out on a Friday was never easy, especially not when she was taking Monday off. Everyone in the world had the same idea about avoiding traffic of course, and she’d needed to stop for gas and an extra-large coffee to pep her up since she’d been up until past midnight packing and taking care of all the stuff she always managed to wait until the last minute to do. Now here she was on the road on a Friday afternoon and hitting all the traffic on 83 South toward Baltimore—and yep, there was an accident that closed the road, diverting traffic to the alternate route.

  For six hours.

  By the time she was able to finally get off the rural highway and back onto the state route, Alice had gone through every CD in her car a few times over. She’d stopped for gas and to use the bathroom as well as stock up on some road trip snacks, since at this point, making it to Bernie’s house by dinnertime was so not happening. Thank God for her sleeveless summer dress, because she’d had to drive with her windows down to keep her engine from overheating. By the time she finally pulled into Bernie’s driveway, Alice felt frazzled.

  “I’m here!” she cried when she opened the door, flinging it wide and stumbling through it on legs numb from sitting so long, her bag heavy enough to keep her off balance. Graceless, awkward, uncoordinated, she didn’t care how she looked as she let go of the bag and tripped into Bernie’s living room. “Who’s bringing me a drink?”

  Too late, she saw the video camera. Bernie waved at her, and she waved back, self-conscious but only a little. She was among friends, after all.

  And some strangers, Alice realized as the man talking to Bernie turned and gave her a half smile. It couldn’t be Paul, she knew that at once. Jay had described his new flame as blond and blue-eyed, a Viking. This guy had thick black hair and eyes of piercing, vivid blue beneath dark, knitted brows. Mick, then—Jay’s other friend—unless Bernie had invited some other new stranger for the weekend.

  “That’s Mick McManus,” Jay confirmed ten minutes later while Alice dumped her stuff in her room. “Irish as Guinness and Lord of the Dance.”

  Alice unzipped her bag and shook the three dresses she’d packed to get the wrinkles out, then hung them in the closet, debating if she needed to change her clothes after the horrendous trip. “How’d you meet him?”

  “We worked on a project together last year. He’s one of the few guys from Herston Tech I can handle for more than an hour at a time.”

  “I thought you could handle most guys for more than an hour at a time,” Alice teased.

  Jay made a face and lounged on the bed while she dug through her bag to lay out the rest of her stuff. “Anyway, we’ve managed a couple projects together since then, and sometimes we’ll have drinks after work, and then I just ended up inviting him here. You know Bernie and Cookie love to meet new people.”

  “And he’s straight?”

  “So straight,” Jay said.

  Alice went into the Jack-and-Jill bathroom she was sharing with Cookie’s niece Tanya and ran some cool water on a washcloth she used on her face and the back of her neck. A quick swipe under her arms. After a second’s hesitation, she grabbed her makeup bag and swiped on some powder. A little gloss. From the bedroom, Jay made a woo-woo noise.

  Alice poked her head out of the bathroom. “Shut up.”

  “I thought you were swearing off guys.” Jay grinned.

  “What? I’m just trying to look like I didn’t spend six hours on a three-hour car ride.” Alice shrugged and smoothed on a touch of mascara, eyeing her reflection. Her hair was a mess, but not in a bad way. And she didn’t look like she’d made a huge effort at primping. She came out of the bathroom. “Hey, do I smell bad?”

  Jay chortled but took an obligatory sniff. “Like spring flowers and gas station doughnuts.”

  “You can be such an ass.” She punched his shoulder, and he grabbed her wrist to tug her down next to him.

  “Missed you.” He hugged her.

  Alice squeezed him. “That’s the problem with being adults, right? Gotta work, pay bills, do responsible things.”

  “Yeah.” Jay sighed against her neck and flopped back onto the bed, arms out, to stare at the ceiling. “Shit, Alice. What am I gonna do about Paul?”

  She poked his side and got up to put her bag away in the closet. “Where is he, by the way?”

  “Later than you, and he’s not stuck in traffic. Maybe he’s not coming. Maybe,” Jay said dourly, “he’s blowing me off. Again.”

  That sounded bad. “Again? Don’t tell me you settle for that.”

  Jay gave her a look. Alice sighed. Shook her head.

  Jay sat up. “He’s worked his cock magic all over me, Alice.”

  “Oh, lordy.” She raised both brows, but not in judgment. “That bad? Or good, whichever.”

  “He’s …” Jay’s voice trailed away, not quite dreamy but definitely a little starry eyed. “Just … so …”

  “I get it. I get it.” Alice held up her hands. “And you know I’ll be there with you every step, even if it means picking you up after you fall. That’s our deal.”

  Jay looked solemn and held out his hand. “Pinkies.”

  “Always.” Alice linked her pinky with his, both of them curling their fingers tight. “You know it.”

  * * *

  Mick didn’t believe in regret, but he was sort of wishing he hadn’t let Jay talk him into coming along this weekend. It was always a little weird being a houseguest anyway, and being a guest in the house of someone he didn’t even know was just that much stranger. Not that Bernie or his wife, Cookie, had made Mick feel anything but welcomed