Page 45 of Baby One Last Time
“Six other people.” Mai widened her eyes. “Sounds like a lot of work. I can’t even stand one guy for much longer than a night. And even then, I prefer he get the hell out before morning.”
I wasn’t surprised to hear this about her, but Alder frowned. “See, that sounds lonely to me. We’re open to adding more lovers to our group if any of us meets someone else who’s special, and if the rest of us bond with them. Oh, and they have to be a fractal geek.”
“Seriously? That’s a rule?” Sparks asked.
Alder nodded.
Mai shrugged. “Different strokes.” She grinned. “No pun intended.”
Sparks grimaced. “Punsointended, and we all know it. What about you, Kessler?”
I should have been prepared to deflect, but I wasn’t. I blamed it on my view of Derek chatting up a pretty cocktail waitress.
Mai caught my hesitation and rode to my rescue. “My crewmate is hopelessly devoted to hot, inappropriately young bartenders.”
“I knew it!” Alder pumped her fist in the air.
The waiter delivered our drinks, and Alder lifted her glass. “To hot bartenders of all ages.”
“Hear, hear.” We all threw back our shots.
“Sparks, what about you?” I asked, anxious to move on to the next play so Alder didn’t have more time to examine my false narrative.
“Not much to tell. I stupidly got married in college to a surfer dude who dealt mushrooms out of the back of his van.”
“What?” the other three of us exclaimed in unison.
“I think there’smuchmore to tell about that story,” Alder added.
Sparks shook her head. “Not really. Divorced in grad school when I was an intern at the NSA and found out I couldn’t get a clearance unless he cleaned up his act.”
“So, the man or the mission,” Mai said.
“It was an easy choice,” Sparks said. “He and I were pretty much over after two years anyway. Now I only date straightlaced business types. Nice and boring.”
“Not all of them are boring.” Alder slid a look in my direction. “Kessler’s old partner runs a business empire as a sideline and a cover. And, woo, howdy, is that man easy on the eyes.”
My heart hammered and blood whooshed in my ears. Newly minted friendship aside, I wasn’t steady enough to carry on a conversation with my coworkers about Derek’s hotness as if I were a casual observer who’d never been in his bed.
“And so off-limits,” Mai told Alder, then shot a quick look at me.
“We all know that,” Sparks said. “But Alder’s right. Wilder’s a snack.” She grinned. “And I hope no one her is starving, because he’s headed our way.”
I whipped my head in his direction and twisted my hands in my lap. He was about ten feet away from us, bearing down on our happy, little group. I barely caught my breath by the time he reached us.
“Hi ladies.” He smiled at each of us.
The temperature in the air around us ticked up, and the four of us together exuded so much estrogen, it was a wonder the men at the nearby tables didn’t ovulate.
“Have you come to join us for a drink, sailor?” Alder winked at him. It was easy to see how her light, flirtatious joy had attracted six lovers.
“I actually came to invite you to join us up front,” he said.
“Sorry.” There was an edge of ice in Mai’s voice, and I realized maybe only three of us had responded physically to his presence. “It’s ladies’ night.”
He held up his hands. “Of course. At least let me buy you a round. How about tequila? They have a nice, smooth Don Julio here.”
“Sounds yummy,” said Alder.
