“Nancy don’t need her chair now,” Tex shared. “But it ain’t somethin’ you forget how to do.”

See, told you Tex was a good guy.

Winnie gave him a grin and patted his hand then looked at me. “You ready?”

No. No, I was not ready. But I had to be ready. Luke had given me one option, and I was going to take it.

Luckily, Daisy was right about Tod and Stevie knowing how to shop. Not only was I wearing the Fuck-Me Outfit of All Time, I had on Manipulate A Macho Man Underwear that would make John Rambo forget that Vietnam even existed.

Not to mention, Indy and Ally showed up at Roxie’s and Indy gave good hair and Jet was a dab hand at makeup – experience gleaned from her days working at a strip club. Daisy stepped in and did a cover up job of my black eye that was so good, if someone took a before and after photo, it would win awards.

Therefore I was vamped out like nobody’s business.

Indy had curled my hair in tight banana curls then she ran her slimed-up-with-hair-gunk-fingers through it, shaking it all around so my head was a mass of sexy, wild, soft curls.

Jet had done my makeup sultry, giving me dark, smoky eyes, barely there blusher and lots of lip gloss.

Tod and Stevie’s Fuck-Me dress was a deep, forest green. It was strapless and fit like a glove from cle**age to hips. It stopped just above the knee and on one side had a deep slit nearly up to my hip. The shoes were killer, totally sex on heels. They were black with pointed toes, high, pencil-slim, spike heels and a thin, complicated ankle strap that took me (and Roxie) ten minutes to figure out how to fasten.

But it was the underwear that made the outfit and you couldn’t even see it. You just felt sexy wearing it. Way sexy. Off the charts sexy.

The undies were two-piece in a deep green, one shade down from forest, a strapless bustier and skintight, satin panties. The bustier was covered in black lace and the panties were also heavy on lace in all the right places. The backs of the panties were cut high (not thong high, but close) so they showed lots of ass. The back of the bustier was dipped low so it showed lots of skin.

The underwear wasn’t the most comfortable thing I’d ever worn but what the hell. No pain, no gain.

“Yeah. I’m ready,” I answered Winnie.

“She ain’t ready,” Olivia muttered.

I decided to ignore Olivia. I had to focus and I didn’t need negative thinking.

We took the elevator up and went to the offices. Shirleen was sitting behind the reception desk talking on the phone.

When we walked in, her tawny eyes came to me, bugged straight out of her head and she said, “Dorothea, I gotta go. My girl’s here and shit… I don’t even know what to say. Words won’t describe it. I’ll get my phone, take a picture. You have got to see this.”

Shirleen hung up and dove under the desk, coming up with her bag at the same time digging out her phone.

“Shirleen, I don’t have time for pictures,” I told her.

“Girl, you want a photo record of this. Trust me,” she returned, pulling out her phone, dropping her bag on her desk and bleeping buttons, tongue sticking out the side of her mouth. “Now how does this thing work?”

“Give it to me,” Olivia said, sashaying toward Shirleen. “I got the same phone. I take pictures all the time.”

I looked at Tex, beginning to feel desperate. By my calculations I had, like, a minute before Luke and the boys “finished” with Noah.

“Will you go get Luke?” I asked Tex.

“Oh, Luke knows you’re here,” Shirleen informed me and the way she said it gave me goose bumps and not the good kind.

As if he knew (which he probably did) that it was his cue, the door to the inner sanctum opened and Luke was there. A man I hadn’t yet met was with him, slightly older than any of the Hot Bunch, blond military haircut, piercing blue eyes and the standard-issue, Nightingale Hottie tight-muscled, zero-body-fat body.

I didn’t have time to check out the latest member of the Hot Bunch, I only had eyes for Luke.

He was feeling the same way. He did a full body sweep, rocked back on his heels and crossed his arms on his chest. Then he did a slight shake of his head like he couldn’t quite believe me but one side of his mouth curled up in a half-grin as if he thought I was amusing.

Really not the reaction I was hoping for.

“Hey,” I said.

“Shit, Luke, you don’t put a ring on her finger, I will,” the blond guy said.

Now, that was the reaction I was hoping for.

“You got a wife and five kids,” Luke told him but didn’t take his eyes off me.

“Oh yeah, for a second I forgot,” the blond guy replied.

It was then I realized I wasn’t breathing so I forced the air out of my lungs.

“Babe,” Luke said, still not moving from his position just inside the room. “You wanna tell me why Mrs. Conrad and her granddaughter are here?”

I stopped breathing again.

Shit!

Get yourself together, girl! Bad Ava shouted.

You made this plan, you have to carry it through. Be strong! Good Ava encouraged.

I started breathing again mainly because I had no choice.

“I figured it’s not fair I get to have my word with Noah since he did the dirty on both Mrs. Conrad and me. I asked her if she wanted to say a few things and she did. So I invited her to the party. You don’t mind do you?”

The blond guy burst out laughing.

Luke did not. “Yeah, I mind.” Luke, as normal, was brutally honest.

“Well, that’s not good,” I forged ahead. “Mrs. Conrad and Olivia came all the way downtown from Aurora. It’s tough for Mrs. Conrad to get around. It would suck if she made this trip for nothing.”

Luke tore his eyes from me, he looked at Winnie and without remorse he said, “This is a closed party.”

“Luke!” I cried. He was ruining my plan!

“Got it!” Shirleen yelled and everyone looked at her. She had her cell phone pointed facing our direction and a little picture of me was on it. “That’s a good one too. That’s so good, I may make it my wallpaper.”

“Shirleen, we’re in the middle of something here,” I told her.

“Oh yeah, sorry,” she mumbled, bent her head and started beeping more buttons on her cell phone, likely sending my photo to half of Denver.

I looked back at Luke. “Can we talk privately?” I asked.

“Nothin’ you can’t say in front of Monty,” Luke replied.

My eyes moved to the blond guy. “So, you’re Monty.”