Page 90 of Big Stick Energy
“Let’s not get carried away.” I still cringe when I think about it.
“No, I’m serious. That boy needed a shove. What do you think will happen after the wedding?”
“Nothing,” I say quickly. “This is just a fling.”
“Is it though?” she asks, excitement in her voice. “What if the season starts back up in August and you realize you can’t keep your hands off each other? What then?”
I try to picture it—Eric sneaking into my hotel room on road trips.I just can’t stay away, he says.I’ve just never felt this way about anybody else.
Then I laugh. “That is not how these things work. He sleeps with A-listers and dates nobody.”
“You’re an A-lister,” Zoe says immediately, like a good friend should.
“I’m theadmin,” I correct her. “And a really convenient hookup at the moment. After this wedding is over, there’s no way I’ll seem like a good idea to Eric. In fact, he’ll probably avoid me at work.”
“Maybe.” She’s quiet for a second. “I can’t guess what he’s thinking, Darcy. And I’m not there. But you sound like you have everything decided for both of you. Shouldn’t Eric get to weigh in?”
I close my eyes and picture his ruddy, sexed up face right after he took off my blindfold. “He’s having fun, Zoe. Carefree fun. He’s letting off steam. And I’d be an idiot to take it for more than that.”
“Butlikinghim doesn’t make you an idiot,” she says softly. “You know that, right?”
“Sure,” I lie. Because counting on Eric to pivot from a weekendof fun into some kind of epic love affair would be pretty damn stupid. “Zoe—it doesn’t matter, though. Whatever this is, it’s fun. I promise.”
“Oh, I believe you. Just try to keep an open mind?”
“Will do.”
“Also—red lipstick. Makes you look like a classic movie starlet.”
I snort. “Roger.”
We hang up the call, and I put on another carefully chosen Wedding Experience outfit.
Then, damn it, I put on some red lipstick before heading down to the lobby. In the elevator, I check my look in the mirrored button panel and try to see things with Zoe’s brand of optimism.
Nope. Life just doesn’t work that way. Eric was joking when he called me a bad girl.You didn’t tell me, he’d said.How good it would be.And I’d pointed out how many times he’d walked past me at work and not realized it for himself.
He was teasing. But I wasn’t. I’d been invisible to Eric foryearsbefore I accidentally propositioned him. And I know why—I’m not the kind of person he notices. We’re at opposite ends of the pecking order.
I don’t even blame him for it. It is what it is. But I won’t fool myself, either.
The elevator doors part in the lobby, and I head outside. The air smells salty and warm, and I stop outside the doors to take in the view. The deep green lawn. The sky that’s deepening to a purplish blue. The gentle crash of waves against the distant sand. Someone’s laughter carries faintly on the breeze.
The sight of Eric’s warm gray eyes sweeping my body, just before he smiles. His hands on my wrists…
Whew.My joy may be fleeting, but it’s still magical. I wish I could close my fist around this memory and carry it around with me wherever I go.
With my sandals sinking into the grass, I turn around like Maria inThe Sound of Music.The beach is alive… with the sound of Eric Tremaine’s dirty talk.And it’s glorious.
I only stop when I see something moving in my peripheral vision. It’s a woman in a powder blue dress. She’s hurrying beneath a towering lilac hedge toward the party.
But there’s something almost furtive about the way she’s avoiding the main path.
Then I recognize her. “Patty?”
Eric’s mother startles. “Oh, Darcy! Good evening. Are you heading to the cocktail hour?”
I cross toward her. “I was on my way. You?”
