Faithful (4 page)

We arrive at Kimberly’s house a little after eight to find people I don’t recognize are already spilling out of the house onto the front lawn.

“Lauren! Imogene!” someone screams from the crowded living room as we walk through the front door. Yadi bursts through the people and sandwiches us into a hug. Her black hair has been styled into a pixie cut, showing off her long neck and strong features, dramatic cat eyes with heavy eyeliner, and a wide smile with bright red lipstick.

“You look so different,” I say, remembering the girl from high school who had hair down to her butt and didn’t wear a stitch of makeup.

“When I moved to Chicago, I decided to reinvent myself. I decided to be braver and put myself out there the way I always dreamed of doing in high school but was too afraid. I finally grew out of my awkward stage.”

“It suits you,” Lauren adds.

“You look more sophisticated,” I nod. “Exotic and pretty.”

“Thanks. You two look great, too. I heard you have a serious boyfriend, Lauren.”

“He lives with us,” I explain. “I’m going to have to find a new home soon.”

“His name is Leo and he’s wonderful, and Imogene does not have to move.” Lauren frowns at me.

“So you’re working with Kimberly?” I ask, scanning the crowded room for her.

“Yeah. When I lost my PR job in Chicago, I couldn’t afford to live there, so Kimberly gave me a decent administrative job. I like it and the people are so much nicer than the cutthroat PR world. The paycheck is seventy percent smaller, but it’s something. Kimberly was already renting this house, so she doesn’t charge me much.”

“What are the male prospects here?” I ask bluntly.

Yadi sighs. “We’re a little low on nice hotties. There are three groups of guys here from what I can figure. There’s group one, the immature idiots who wish they were still in high school because they don’t want to grow up. Avoid them. Group two is the married guys who are out, pretending they are still single and trying to escape from wives or babies or both. Avoid them. Then there’s the third group. They are the nice guys who can actually carry on conversations. They’re scattered around here somewhere and about as hard to find as a gold-plated toilet. I have to go stock more wine and beer in the kitchen if you’d like to get a drink.”

“I’ll help you,” Lauren offers and gives me a pointed look.

“Not me. I’m going to check out the guys.”

I regret saying that the minute I see Brian Torrance telling some poor, unsuspecting woman a joke about pigs that ends with him asking her to pull his finger. The woman looks around uncomfortably for an escape, and I cover the side of my face and zoom by so Brian doesn’t notice me. I squeeze through a group of people and end up behind a tall potted fern. It gives me a moment to scan the room, and that’s when I see Cooper.

His back is to me, but I’d know that sexy, shoulder-length blond hair and long V-shaped muscled back anywhere. It’s the perfect topping to a nicely packaged butt. Hidden behind him is my old friend, Kimberly. She’s a petite woman with an adorable smile framed by honey-colored corkscrew curls. She throws her head back and laughs at something Cooper says.

“Here you are.” Lauren pops in next to me, behind the fern. “I got you a beer. Why the hell are you hiding behind this plant?”

“It seemed like a good place to check out some of the guys at this party.” I take a swig from the bottle.

“Ugh, I know. I just saw Brian Torrance.” Lauren sips from a mini seltzer bottle. “I bet he still picks his nose in public. But there are some nice looking men here, too. Oh! There’s Cooper. Look.”

“I saw. He’s talking to Kimberly.”

“Why aren’t you going over to say hi?”

“I don’t want to interrupt their conversation. Maybe it’s private.”

Lauren looks at me in disbelief. “We’re at a very crowded party, no one is having private conversations. We’re supposed to interrupt people and say hello. It’s called mingling.”

“What if they’re dating? How else would he know her?” I sneak another glance at Cooper and look away. The image of him tooling around town on his Harley with Kimberly hanging on to him gives me a stab of annoyance.

“Maybe he was invited by some other friends and met her tonight. I don’t know. Let’s go talk to them.”

“No,” I mutter. “Do you know who he’s dated? Was he serious with anyone? Leo would tell you, right?”

“Good grief. What has gotten in to you? Why don’t you go ask him? The Imogene I know would walk right up to a guy and be very direct with him.”

“That was the old me. I don’t want him to get the wrong idea.”

“What idea? That you’re interested in him?” Lauren grins.

“I haven’t decided if I am. I have been down this road too many times with a lot of Cooper look-a-likes.”

“Oh, blah, blah, blah.” Lauren huffs with exasperation. “I have a great idea. I’ll pass a note to Cooper and ask him to check the yes or no box for if he likes you.”

“This may seem like sixth grade nonsense to you, but I already know he’s interested in me. The issue is whether or not this is just about sex, and it more than likely is.”

“What has happened to you? You never had dating dilemmas. If you liked a guy, you would let him know. You never sat around, worrying about these kinds of things.”

“I’m a little older and wiser. I don’t want to spend my time with a guy who isn’t serious about me.”

“How can anyone be serious about you if you don’t date them? Honestly, you’re all mixed up lately.”

“Okay, how about that guy?”

Lauren follows my gaze to a tall, handsome guy standing across the room with a group of men. He has short, dark hair and a nice build, filling out his jeans and T-shirt perfectly.

“Who is he?” Lauren asks, eyeing him.

“I have no idea, but he’s hunky and has a great smile, and there’s a plus side to hitting on a guy who isn’t known in town and doesn’t hang out at our neighborhood diner.”

“Really? You’re looking for a one night stand now?” Lauren gives me a judgmental glare.

“I’m going to go flirt and see if I’m interested in him.”

“Why?” she snaps as I pull her arm and drag her off with me.

“You’re my wing girl.”

“Yeah, I’d like to wing you,” Lauren mutters.

As we approach the group of men, Tall-dark-and-handsome flashes a grin and big brown eyes at me. I smile and he steps forward, pushing a couple of his friends aside.

“Hi, I’m Imogene.”

Out of sheer habit, my body language changes. One shoulder dips forward as I take a more poised stance with a hand on my hip and a slightly bent leg with one foot pointed out as if I’m about to pirouette in my platform sandals. I dangle the beer bottle in the other hand, giving maximum stretch across my generous scoop-neck top.

“Oh, brother,” Lauren mumbles behind me.

“I’m Anton.” His voice is deep as his eyes sweep over me from my red toenails up to my face. He didn’t pause at my cleavage before meeting my eyes again. It’s an unfair test since my bosom is on display, but I still like to play the little game, if only to humor myself. Some men can’t help blinking or staring too long at my chest; however, Anton, like Cooper, must be very experienced at this game.

“This is Lauren.” When I point to her with the beer bottle, she reaches out to shake his hand.

“Do you know Yadi and Kimberly?” Lauren asks Anton.

“Yadi is my cousin.”

“Really?” I’m surprised since I’ve never seen him in town. “We went to school with Yadi. You’re not from Hera, are you?”

“No, I grew up in Westchester, but my construction firm relocated out here because of the boom in vacation homes. I built a place for myself between here and New Paltz.” He has the self-assured grin of a man who has no problem getting women. At least I know exactly what I’m dealing with here.

“One of our best friends is also in the home building business. Have you heard of Blackard Designs? They have a furniture company, and they build these amazing houses.” I lay the coyness on a little too thick, but I have Anton’s rapt attention.

“I know Carson Blackard. We bid on the same projects. His houses are more expensive because he uses all that high-end
green
material,” he says with a dismissive shake of his head.

“Hello, ladies,” says a familiar voice from behind me. Then I feel Cooper’s strong arm around my neck as he pulls Lauren and me in for a semi-head lock, making me stumble and grab on to his waist, which makes him hold us more securely against him.

This is not the smooth move I was going for in front of Anton. Lauren laughs as I give Cooper a sideways kick to the shin with my platform sandal.

“Hey, Anton. I see you’ve met two of my favorite people.” While Cooper sounds defiant, Anton frowns.

“We were just getting to know each other.” I push away from Cooper to stand up straight again, but he keeps his arms wrapped around the back of our necks, his hands dangling protectively next to our faces. I look sideways at him to see his gray eyes challenging mine.

He smells fantastic, and I can’t complain about how good it feels holding onto his hard body, but I don’t like getting manhandled when I’m in the middle of my flirting schtick. He’s intentionally blowing this for me.

“I’m loving this town already. Hera has some beautiful women,” Anton says, smiling at Lauren and then letting his gaze settle on me.

“Yeah. This has been fun.” Lauren plucks Cooper’s hand off her shoulder. “You’ll have to excuse me. I’m going outside to call Leo.”

She whispers something in Cooper’s ear and then wades through the crowd. There’s obviously some bad blood between Cooper and Anton; they look like they are about to duel, and I doubt it’s because of me.

“Anton, try my new creation!” Yadi suddenly interrupts with a pink cocktail in her hand, shoving it under his nose.

“Excuse us,” Cooper says, moving his arm down to my waist. “Imogene and I need to have a little chat.”

Anton scowls as Cooper turns me around forcefully and yanks me by the waist through the crowd until we have a private spot in a hallway.

“Why the hell were you coming on to Anton Pierce?” The anger comes through clearly as he gets in my face.

I look at his lips and back at his eyes as I flatten myself against a wall. “I wasn’t coming on to him. We were talking, kind of like what you were doing with my friend Kimberly.”

“What?” he asks in disbelief.

“How do you know her?” I shoot back.

“I’m a customer. She talks to everyone.”

“A customer? Are we talking about the same thing?”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but I actually use the public library. That’s how I know Kimberly.”

“I heard my name,” Kimberly says, rounding the corner of the hallway with a wide smile. “Imogene!” She gives me a big hug, feeling soft and cuddly and sweet, like her disposition.

“I was asking Cooper how he knows you,” I say glumly.

“Oh, Cooper comes into the library almost every week.” Cooper gives me a smug look. “He likes to go through the old blueprints we have on historic houses, and he checks out a lot of non-fiction. Philosophy, right?”

“Philosophy?” I snort.

“Hey, I have to go help pass out some pink drinks Yadi made. Would you two like some?” Kimberly asks.

“No thanks,” Cooper responds. “We’re fine.

Kimberly bounces off with her curls bobbing along with her.

Cooper stares at me and leans in with his hand braced against the wall behind me. “Satisfied?” he asks. “Were you talking to Anton about library books? Doubt it. Do you have any idea how sleazy that guy is?”

“No. I didn’t get to talk to him—you showed up.”

“Good. You’re lucky it was me and not Carson. He’d pummel the shit out of that guy if he saw you with Anton.”

“He’s my friend’s cousin; he can’t be that bad. You’re jealous because he’s a business competitor. He said you guys bid on the same projects.”

“He doesn’t do the same work as us, so he comes in with lower bids. Blackard is doing something unique and it costs money. Our niche market will pay for it, so I wouldn’t really call Anton a competitor. But he does sleep around. Word gets around fast. He sleeps with clients, his staff, and every woman he can hit on. He changes partners so fast I’m sure he doesn’t bother to ask their name.”

“I was striking up a conversation; I wasn’t planning on sleeping with him.”

“Why don’t you strike up a conversation with me for a change? Then I wouldn’t have to save you from those creeps.” As Cooper puffs up a bit, I see that he’s not kidding.

“Are you jealous of him?” Normally, this isn’t something I would need to ask, but a little doubt is making me wonder if Cooper has an issue with Anton’s construction business rather than seeing me with other men.

“Yes,” he says emphatically.

“Is it his business that pisses you off?”

“No. Christ, Imogene.”

“Well, it’s a fair question. I find it hard to believe that you’re jealous about me. You say he’s a sleaze, but in some circles, women speculate and say the same things about you.”

“Oh, really?” Cooper barely smiles. “I think that must be the circle of Imogene and everything Imogene makes up.”

“And I’m supposed to believe you check out library books on philosophy and …”

“Sometimes other things,” he replies. “
‘He must speak and act openly because it is his to speak the truth.’
”

“What?”

“Aristotle.”

“Oh. Huh. Well, you could have gotten that off a bar napkin.”

Cooper sighs. “I’ll always be honest with you, Imogene. I’m pissed that you’d spend any time talking to that guy. I’d rather you talk to me.”

He takes my full beer bottle and places it on a hall table. “Come on.” He then takes my hand and leads me through the crowded living room.

“Where are we going?” I ask, trying to keep up with his long stride.

“I’m going to have Lauren take you home.”

“Wait a minute.” I jerk my hand back. “I want to stay. I have friends here that I haven’t had a chance to talk to yet.”

“You can call them on the phone.” He picks me up and cradles me in his arms, much like I remember from that night a few weeks ago. “Coming through!” he yells, and the people part to let us out the door.