Best Friends With the Billionaire (The Rochesters) (16 page)

“Oh, things like—like hanging out with friends, and taking weekend trips down the coast, and… stuff like that.”

“You don’t do stuff like that in Sydney? From what your aunt and uncle said, it sounded like you did. And you’re like a daughter to them.”

“They’re great, but my family is here.”

He took another drink of water. “So option two is to say thanks but no thanks to Mario, and do what? Move back here? Would you really want to do that?”

Why did he have to sound skeptical? Was he afraid she had designs on him now that they’d slept together a few times? God, that hurt. After witnessing all the desperate women who had chased after Kirk in vain, to be cast as one of them was a dagger in the heart.

“It’s a possibility.” She strove to sound airy, unconcerned. “I didn’t consider it until Uncle Mario made his offer. I don’t want to hurt his feelings. If I turn him down, I have to give him a good reason, and he couldn’t be put out if I said I wanted to return here.”

Kirk wiped his mouth slowly. “And what about Russell? Does he figure in your deliberations?”

Crap, she’d forgotten about her supposed ex. Maybe she should tell Kirk that she and Russell were definitely through. Maybe Kirk would be happy about that. But what if he wasn’t? He might start to feel cornered if she sent her ex-boyfriend packing, turned down her uncle’s big promotion, and talked about moving back to San Francisco.

She couldn’t do that to Kirk. He’d never promised her anything more beyond their friends-with-benefits arrangement. And here she was throwing out hints about as subtle as a Mardi Gras drag queen. Ugh. How pathetic.

“Yes, of course I’m going to talk things over with Russell.” The way things were going, she’d need a shoulder to cry on soon, and luckily Russell had a very accommodating one.

“You’ve got time.”

She screwed the cap onto the bottle, twisting it hard until it bit into her fingers. “And you, Kirk? What do you think I should do?”

“You really want to know?”

“Of course, or I wouldn’t have asked.”

He straightened from the counter. “I think you’ve often lacked confidence in your own abilities, but if you tackled something big and scary, you’d discover it’s not so big and scary, and that would be good for you.”

Her spirits dipped. “So you think I should take the promotion.”

He didn’t answer immediately. He stood there contemplating her, as if assessing all her strengths and weaknesses.

“Yes, I do,” he finally said.

She clenched her jaw as his words hit her and snuffed out the last spark of hope.

…

“Well, that’s fricking great!” Lillian snapped as she tossed her cell phone aside.

Cassie looked up cautiously.

“Mark says his cousin can’t make it. He tells me this at the last minute!” Lillian gestured at the littered table where they’d been doing the place cards for the wedding reception. “My table arrangements are totally screwed up.”

Cassie was about to point out that one cancellation was hardly screwing anything up, but she changed her mind when she saw Lillian’s furrowed brow. Three days out from her big day, and Lillian looked like she’d explode at the slightest prod.

After a long day with the florist and the caterers, they were back at the apartment. Cassie had done a calligraphy course back in high school, and Lillian had set her to write all the place cards.

“That table will be two men short now,” Lillian muttered as she pored over her seating diagram.

“Would you mind if I brought a friend along?” Cassie asked.

Lillian brightened. “Kirk Rochester?”

Cassie ignored the pang triggered by hearing Kirk’s name. “No, a friend from Sydney. Russell flew in unexpectedly, and I haven’t been able to spend much time with him.”

When she’d called him this morning, he’d sounded a bit down. Jet lag, he’d said, but she wasn’t fooled.

Lillian pursed her lips. “Is he presentable and sociable? I don’t want some sleazebag hitting on all the single women.”

“Russell is handsome and won’t hit on any woman.” The more Cassie thought about it, the more she liked the idea. Russell enjoyed social gatherings, and he’d be her release valve if the wedding became too much for her.

“Oh, all right,” Lillian conceded rather ungraciously. “Your friend can come as long as he wears a suit.”

“Thanks.” Cassie grinned.

“What happened to Kirk? I thought after he turned up in Carmel that things were developing there.”

The grin faded from Cassie’s lips as she picked up another card and ruled a couple of lines. “Nothing important happened in Carmel.”

Lillian gave an unladylike snort. “Nothing? You’re lucky I didn’t tell Mom or she’d be giving you the third degree.”

“Thanks for not telling her.”

“No sweat. So nothing came of it, huh?”

Lillian didn’t seem too surprised. Why would a rich, handsome guy like Kirk Rochester fall for plain, average Cassie Cooper?

“We’re still friends,” Cassie said steadily as she drew the first curlicue. “In fact, I’m meeting him for drinks in a couple of hours. Some new bar on Union Square.”

“And you’re going like that?” Lillian cast a disparaging glance at Cassie’s cropped pants, printed T-shirt, and flat shoes. “No wonder nothing came of it. You need to make more of an effort if you want to hold his attention.”

“I don’t want—” Cassie stopped and exhaled. She’d already done the makeover thing when she’d gone to dinner with the Parnells, pretending to be Kirk’s girlfriend. She’d grabbed his attention that night for sure, but that had been a temporary thing, and dressing up wasn’t going to work a second time. On the other hand, she
was
too casually dressed to go to some trendy wine bar, especially since the gorgeous Jacinta would be there, too. She wanted to look her best. For her own badly bruised self-confidence, at the very least.

“I don’t have time to go back to Kirk’s place and change,” Cassie said. “Do you have anything dressy I can borrow?”

Lillian gaped at her. They weren’t the kind of sisters who borrowed each other’s clothes.

“You’ll never fit into any of my clothes!” Lillian ran her palms down her dainty size four figure.

Cassie winced. “Maybe you’ve got something stretchy or floaty?”

“I doubt it. I like my dresses tight.”

Cassie pursed her lips. “Well, in that case I’ll have to leave early and go back to change.”

“But what about the place cards?”

“I’ll get to them tomorrow, or you can finish them.”

Lillian instantly jumped to her feet. “Oh, all right. I’ll look through my closet, but don’t hold your breath.”

A few minutes later she returned with a dress. “I picked this up at a sale. They didn’t have my size so I got a size up, but it’s never fit me properly.”

Cassie took the dress from her sister. It was a navy blue bandage dress, so the stretchy fabric might just fit her. She went into Lillian’s bedroom and, after a lot of contorting, got herself into the dress. The hem ended mid-thigh, far shorter than she liked, but at least the dress fit her and gave her an air of elegance.

“You look good,” Lillian said, sounding reluctant. “You’ll have to wear your own sandals, though. Your feet are gigantic.”

“Thanks for the dress. I’ll be careful with it.”

“You’d better be. Now, can you get back to the cards?”

Cassie returned to her task, not minding her sister’s bossiness now she’d lent her a glamorous dress.

Several hours later, she was outside the wine bar, where she paused to straighten her hem and tried to gather her confidence. This morning, when Kirk had casually mentioned meeting Lex and Jacinta, she hadn’t been sure if he wanted her to go or not. But then she’d reasoned if he didn’t want her there, he wouldn’t have told her about the invitation, so in the end she’d accepted.

The situation between her and Kirk was so confusing, and growing more complicated by the day. She’d considered moving back to her mom’s place, though the guest bedroom had now become the bridal dressing room and was overflowing with supplies. But despite everything, she clung on to a wisp of hope that somehow, miraculously, she might still get Kirk to see her in a serious light, to consider that she had so much more to offer him than friendship.

She entered the bar, nervously tugging at her dress. The damn thing squeezed and pinched her flesh and made her want to scratch her butt, not exactly the sexiest thing to do in front of Kirk. The bar was crowded, but she had no problem spying Kirk, Lex, and Jacinta sitting at a corner table. She pushed her way through, vaguely conscious of a few admiring leers from various men, though all her attention was concentrated on Kirk.

Lex spotted her first and waved before nudging Kirk. When Kirk turned, he did a visible double take, and she held her breath, desperately hoping for his eyes to light up and smolder with admiration. But instead his gaze narrowed, and a veil fell over his expression. She exhaled slowly, feeling deflated, and moved forward to greet them.

“Gorgeous dress,” Jacinta said when she’d sat down. “I love it. Doesn’t she look great, Kirk?”

Kirk gave a non-committal grunt. He continued to scrutinize her, but for the life of her she couldn’t detect any admiration in him.

“Are you going somewhere else later?” he asked.

She sucked in her stomach, battling her hurt. So Kirk assumed she hadn’t dressed up for him. That she suffered this itchy, squeezy dress for someone else.

She shook her head nonchalantly. “Nope. I’m just having fun with my sister’s dress.”

His gaze lingered on her tightly bound breasts. “Is it fun being trussed up like a mummy?”

Her breasts tingled despite the constricting fabric. Damn it, even when he baited her she couldn’t help reacting to his eyes.

“It’s mostly itchy,” she said. “If you catch me scratching my ass, please look the other way.”

“If you scratch your ass, you’ll have half the bar offering to help you.”

Lex and Jacinta grinned, but Cassie’s cheeks heated. This dress so wasn’t her. Instead of empowering her, it made her feel she was trying too hard, looking too desperate.

“Stop teasing her,” Lex said as a waiter arrived to take their order.

“You can’t drink beer wearing a dress like that,” Kirk said, clearly not taking his cousin’s advice. Without consulting her, he turned to the waiter. “She’ll have a White Russian.”

Why was he acting like a dick, making fun of her outfit and ordering cocktails she hadn’t asked for? Was it because she looked different? Maybe this dress was a huge mistake. Self-conscious, she tugged at the hem and tried to join in the conversation that had fortunately moved onto other subjects. The drinks had just been delivered when a woman pushed through the crowd and leaned over the table toward Kirk.

“Hi, Kirk! I thought it was you.” Shawna Parnell rested her frosted fingernails on the table, a thick cloud of perfume enveloping everyone.

Kirk greeted her politely. “You remember Cassie, don’t you? And this is Lex and Jacinta.”

Shawna flashed a smile at Lex and gave a limp nod to Cassie and Jacinta. “When am I going to see you again?” she purred at Kirk as if the two of them were completely alone.

Cassie clenched her hands as she watched Shawna bend over, giving Kirk a prime view of her impressive cleavage. She had to admit Shawna wore the micro mini dress with the right flair. It suited her, whereas Cassie was an imposter in her borrowed bandage dress. The only consolation was that Kirk didn’t appear very interested in Shawna’s cleavage. But then Kirk drew up a chair next to him for Shawna. Lex didn’t seem surprised, maybe because they were discussing business, while Jacinta shot a frown at Kirk before giving Cassie a sympathetic grimace. Cassie’s fingernails gouged into the flesh of her palms. What the hell was going on? Did Kirk want to spend time with Shawna after all? Cassie took a gulp of her cocktail and choked as the alcohol hit the back of her throat.

Kirk frowned at her. “You okay?”

Oh yeah,
tres
sophisticated, spluttering vodka and cream all over her borrowed Herve Leger dress. Nodding, she wiped the corners of her lips, hoping to sink into the background.

Jacinta was talking to her about the wedding, and somehow Cassie managed to respond, though all her attention was consumed by Kirk and Shawna. Maybe Kirk had come to see Shawna in a different light after he and Cassie had slept together. Or maybe this was his way of gently showing her that their little affair was over. Or maybe he was being an asshat. Whatever the reason, he surely couldn’t know that her heart contracted more each second he spent with Shawna, and that very soon she’d have no heart left except a wrinkled prune.

…

Kirk inhaled gratefully as he and Lex stepped outside the wine bar. The warm night air felt good after the crowded confines of the bar.

“The girls shouldn’t be too long,” Lex said, referring to Cassie and Jacinta, who had stopped off at the bathroom. “Jacy doesn’t fuss too much with her looks, and I think Cassie’s the same, isn’t she?”

Kirk blew out his breath. He didn’t know what to think about Cassie anymore. When she’d sashayed up in that drop dead sexy dress, all he could think about was how to get the damn thing off. What was she doing to him? Why was she teasing him like this? Maybe she still wanted to sleep with him, even though Russell was back in the picture.

It had almost been a relief when Shawna had showed up. Far easier to look at her, knowing she did nothing for him, than staring at Cassie and wondering if she’d let him scratch her ass. He could envisage his hand cupping her butt, shaping the stretchy fabric, rubbing his palm around and around. His cock hardened, and he had to stamp his feet to distract himself.

“Is Shawna Parnell trying to prove something to you?” Lex asked.

Kirk shrugged. “Maybe she’s trying to prove herself to her father, and unfortunately she thinks flirting will get my attention. I didn’t want to be rude to her.”

“Jacy didn’t like her, and I’m betting Cassie didn’t, either.”

“Cassie knows it’s just business.”

“Does she?” Lex slanted him a penetrating look.

“Yeah, sure.”

“You’re lucky she understands after you poked fun at her dress.”