Page 63 of Push & Pull
Simone zipped up her jeans and pulled the seatbelt back across her chest. “Would it be weird if I said thank you after that?”
“Only a little.” Petra tossed the wipe into a paper bag in the backseat. “Looks like the rain has finally let up. Now’s our chance to share a smoke.”
“From sixty to zero…” Simone muttered.
“Hey, gotta be ready for anything. Including a change in the weather.” Petra opened her door. “Coming or not? I’d prefer to have some company for the next ten minutes.”
Although she hesitated, Simone didn’t have anything against sitting on the hood with Petra while they prayed the rain didn’t begin to fall again. It was bad enough their bottoms were soaked through by the time they finally slid off the hood and got back inside.
Chapter 22
“Here’syourmartini.”Thedapper young man with stubble on his face and a black shirt that forgot how to button up presented Simone with a glass and a napkin. “Enjoy.”
“Thank you.” She was about to sneak a peek at her cheap cell phone when the bartender’s presence reminded her that phones weren’t allowed in the nightclub. Not the kind that charged hundreds of dollars in membership fees every month, and that was for abasicmembership.
Apparently, Simone’s father had bequeathed her with the Platinum Membership.
She scanned the new arrivals for a familiar face. After arriving in New York City a few hours ago, Simone had popped into the shower while Petra only came into the bathroom to announce she was going out to run some errands that must be accomplished before her meeting the following night. Although Simone was a bit sad that her new companion wasn’t spending every waking moment in the hotel with her, she had made Petra a deal.“Fine. Go out and leave me here to think of nothing but you and what you do to me. In return, you’ll meet me at this club later this evening. I’ll be waiting for you. There’s a dress code.”
Petra had barely batted an eyelash at the address. If she knew this was a high-end kink parlor, then she didn’t let on. Then again, Petra seemed the type to call these places her second home.
Simone sipped her martini. As always, the vermouth was top notch and the gin as smooth as her blazer.I should have packed more clothes.She was wearing the same outfit she had worn to the Zeta Nu brunch, not that anyone in the club could have known that. Besides, it was such a versatile outfit. One that could be dressed up for lunch with snooty friends, or ripped off in the back of the club.
Assuming Petra got a clue…
“I’ll have what she’s having.”
That voice caught Simone off guard, but only because she had been so stalwart in her search for Petra’s face. Yet she had not been prepared for how her companion had styled herself that night. The slicked-back hair was jarring – and attractive – enough, but it was the graphite gray fitted jacket and the brand new jeans that made Simone’s jaw drop. The cute black boots that hadnotbeen in Petra’s luggage before? A lovely touch that brought the whole outfit together.
“Close that mouth of yours, princess.” Petra hopped onto the stool next to her, taking Simone’s hand and letting it dangle between them. “I promise it’s me,” she said with a wink laden in smoky eye makeup.
“You’re wearing makeup,” was the first thing out of Simone’s mouth.
“Uh oh. Don’t tell me that dried you up.”
Simone rolled her eyes, reclaiming her hand for her drink. “I barely recognize you.”
“Ooh, do we have a problem? You told me to dress up for your fancy club, so here I am, dressed up. Kinda had fun putting this outfit together. It’s amazing what you find in the New York thrift stores.”
“You didnotget all of that from a thrift store.”
“Not a single one, no, but by the third one, I had everything I needed.”
Were those your errands? Thrifting?Simone could hardly believe it. Except she could, because nothing Petra said surprised her now.
“You look good,” Simone eventually said, granting Petra undivided attention. “Really good. Great, even.”
“I must if that’s blush coming back to your cheeks.” Petra thanked the bartender for her martini. “So, how are things looking tonight? How many guys have propositioned you?”
“None, thank God.” It did happen sometimes, especially when Simone was feeling more vulnerable than usual.I somehow broadcast that to every Tom, Dick, and Larry in the club.When it wasn’t ladies’ night, that’s what Simone put up with. “Why? Trust me when I saythat’snot a kink of mine.”
Petra held up her martini glass. “I can drink to that.”
Simone didn’t make a habit of asking her new friends personal questions, but after a few days in the car – and in bed – with Petra, she embraced the casual feeling in the nightclub and asked, “Not that you strike me as the type, but I’m guessing you’re not into men like that.”
A dark look was about to wash over Petra before she turned her head. Simone wrote it off as a trick of the dim lights in the club. “Nah. Been with some here and there. You know, sometimes the opportunity presents itself and you think,‘Maybe it ain’t so bad this time,’but it’s always boring at best. Doesn’t help I’ve never met a man who actually turns me on. Ladies, though.” Her elbow slid along the bartop, bringing her slicked-back hair and moderate eye makeup closer to Simone, who hid the satisfied smile pricking her chin. “Girls are the best. Especially the ones who let me go crazy on them.”
“You don’t have to flirt with me so hard,” Simone said with a susceptible whisper. “I’m a shoo-in for you tonight.”
