Page 5 of Blame It On Midnight

“I don’t like where this conversation is headed.” He signaled Jo and raised his now-empty beer mug. She quickly brought him a fresh one, then glanced at Collins.

“You want another?”

“No.” Collins nodded at her brother. “I’ll be driving but thank you.”

Once the bartender was out of earshot, Kip looked at her. “Can we just get to the point? Skip all the shit in between?”

“The man was Benton Bridgestone.”

Kip’s mouth fell open. Then he closed it.

“I had sex with Bent.” She lifted her chin. “He’s Cal’s brother.”

“I know who the hell he is,” Kip swore and looked like he wanted to say some things. But he stopped, shook his head, then muttered. “What in the actual fuck, Colly? The guys have more baggage than Mom takes to Europe.”

“It’s not like I went looking for him. It was totally random. He was there for his brother’s concert. We ended up in the same bar and I?—”

“He’s twice your age.”

“Okay. He’s not that old.” Collins knew this was going to be an issue.

“You’re twenty-five and he’s got at least ten, maybe fifteen years on you.”

“So? What does age have to do with it? You just said that I’ve been acting like an adult since I was ten.”

“This is different. He’s got a kid, and from what little I know, things are messy with his ex and…” He stopped and frowned, his eyes now narrowed as he studied her. “Wait a minute. He doesn’t know you’re here.”

Collins focused on her fingers. Stared at the fake nails the makeup artist had applied in Paris. Nude with black tips. She could literally poke out someone’s eye if she wanted to.

“Colly.”

God, she hated it when he said her name like that. “No, he doesn’t know I’m here. He doesn’t even know who I am,” she admitted softly, glancing up at her brother.

“I’m confused as hell. How can he not know who you are if you guys did….” He waved his good hand in the air. “Well, you know.”

She sighed and blew out a long breath. Sometimes men were so dumb. “I picked him up in a bar. I took him back to the condo and we had sex.” She cleared her throat. “It was amazing sex. The best sex I ever?—”

“I don’t need the details.”

“He didn’t recognize me from that one time we met, and I never told him who I was.”

She watched as her brother digested her confession. Watched as he considered it, and when he finally looked at her, she could tell he was angry. Or disappointed. Or something.

“You knew who he was.”

She nodded.

“You went after him.”

“I did.”

“And he left the condo without telling you his name.”

“We said no names. We knew what we wanted, and it was supposed to remain anonymous.”

“But you’re here.”

Again, she nodded.

---