Page 60 of Moonshine and Magnolias
“How do I know? She got some kind of bee in her ball cap and started rewriting Fountenoy Hall procedure.”
“I’m not talking about Jordan and you damn well know it. Don’t make me call Aunt Leslie and get her involved.”
So much for avoiding the subject. And the threat to call Wendy’s mother was a bluff. Probably. “How many different ways can I say nothing?” She flushed when Brandi arched an eyebrow at her and tried to wait out the silence. And failed. “Oh, fine. Not nothing.”
“Ha! I knew it. I could tell.” Brandi made her way through the filing cabinets and cardboard boxes to the supply cabinet. She disappeared for half a second, then reappeared with a bottle of whiskey and a couple of plastic cups.
“It’s ten in the morning. I do not need a drink.” Wendy frowned. “And how did you know that was there, anyway?”
“So what has you freaking out?” Her cousin placed the bottle squarely in front of her.
Wendy fixed her with a stare.
Brandi poured a few fingers of the amber liquid into one of the cups. “The sooner you answer, the sooner you can go back to yelling at Jordan.”
“I wasn’t yelling at… okay.” Keeping it all to herself wasn’t helping anyway. Wendy took a swig, the familiar burn coating her throat. “I was nervous. That’s all. Now can we get back to work?”
“Nervous.”
She refused to acknowledge the heat creeping up to her face. “You know. Like how you get the first time you’re with someone.”
“Don’t go anywhere.” To her surprise, her cousin got up and left the office.
Now Wendy could escape, before everyone came back for the meeting, and keep the other reason for lashing out to herself. Whether it was being with Rob or staying in Claremont, her temper flare was too new to voice. She capped the whiskey and stood up.
Not fast enough. The door opened and Brandi came back in, followed byJordan.
“You needed reinforcements?” Wendy asked.
“Hell no. But you know I’m going to tell Jordan what’s going on, so it would be much more efficient if you told us both at the same time.”
That made sense, in a twisted Brandi way. “Where’s Sebastien?”
“I think he went off to sketch Eulalee. Besides, you know he always leave when we start talking dirty.” Jordan leaned against the desk. “So. You banged the doctor. Nice going.”
If only.
“So what’s the problem? Didn’t you…” she waved her hand. “You know. Like it.”
“Yes.” Wendy pulled her hair over her shoulder. The papers on her desk had shifted out of alignment when her cousin had slammed her hand, and she nudged them back in place. “It was very nice.”
Brandi snorted and shook her head. “Nice is a cold drink when you’re thirsty or reading a book under a warm blanket when it’s raining. Sex should never be nice.”
“Amen to that.” Jordan toasted with the whiskey bottle. “Did he scream someone else’s name?”
“No.”
“Did you scream someone else’s name?”
Wendy groaned and leaned back in the chair. She covered her face with her hands. Looking at them was too embarrassing. She was doing well enough just talking.
“Oooooh.” Brandi leaned forward and rested her elbows on the desk. “You did. Did you?”
“No.” She peeked between her fingers. “I didn’t… finish.” Which wasn’t completely true, but she didn’t need to go into details. Her face burned enough as it was.
“So it was bad?” Jordan turned to Brandi. “We should have made popcorn.”
“Better than any soap opera,” she agreed.
