Just Her Type (18 page)

Kendra smiled as she checked her Post-a-Pic feed.
“Aurora Chastain’s” photo and next posts appeared.

Alyssa read its caption aloud:

 
“I’m absolutely
OBSESSED with the gold-plated massager featured in the upcoming
installment of
In the Billionaire’s Bed
series. It’s super presh! Coming in thirty days, ladies. Until you read how
Steele works it, want to nab one and an
All Night Long
T-shirt? Going to the first one hundred to respond #SteeleEverheart.
Twenty-five entrants are eligible for a drawing to win a spanking new e-reader
and a $100 gift card to shop at your favorite bookstore!”

“Sounds good,” Kendra said.

 
“All
done!” Alyssa exhaled as if she’d put in a long, hard day sewer cleaning in
Calcutta. “Even with a highly-efficient assistant on payroll, an author’s work
is never done.”

 
“‘Super presh’? There’s nothing
precious
about a vibrator, okay?” Selena
pointed out.

“It’s a
personal
massager
for working out the knots and kinks, you know, like the one
featured in Chapter Seven.” Alyssa tucked the selfie stick back inside her bag.

“Like I said,
a
vibrator
.”

“Wait until my street team sees the extra swag I
have in store for them,” Alyssa said. “They’re going to go bonkers!”

Selena clucked her tongue.

“Didn’t you do a long run
and
boot camp sessions this morning?” Alyssa asked. “Your
endorphins should pop all over the place, but you’re in such a prickly mood.”
She looked at her phone again and smiled. “Hey! That post has 1,025
twinkle-dinkles already. Oh, no, wait, make that 1,225, no wait, 2,411,” Alyssa
sang and shoved her phone at Selena, who took it. “And check out all the
re-twinkle-dinkles. They’re sharing it like crazy!”

“I bow at your feet, Aly. You’re working it.”
Kendra high-fived her. “And to think, I knew you back when your agent was still
snail-mailing submissions to me. Now look at you.”

“Your baby, all grown up,” Alyssa said. “And gone
viral!”

“I know you have another huge hit on your hands,”
Kendra added.

“Okay.” Selena conceded with a slight smile as she
passed the phone back. “Wow. Look at the response to that post. Whatever works,
Aly.”

“Speaking of ‘working it,’ what’s this I hear
about you hooking up with Dominic Tobias, Kendra-kins?” Alyssa launched her
ambush.
 
“I have four friends who
attended the Maui conference. They sent texts to keep me in the loop. Obviously
you
were too busy with your new
boyfriend. They said you and Dominic were quite the item at the conference.
‘All over each other’ and ‘trysting in the hotel parking garage’ is what one of
them reported.”

Kendra inwardly cursed Alyssa’s gossipy
author-friends. So that shadowy, secluded corner in that garage hadn’t been so
shadowy or secluded after all.

“
Humph
.”
Selena drew her lips tight.
 

Last time Kendra and Selena had lunched, Selena
had grumbled about the way Dominic made her “jump through hoops” for a
manuscript. She’d kept the details to herself while she and Dominic worked
through deal particulars.

Alyssa had a more charitable impression of him.
She usually took the opposing view to keep their discussions lively.

“Don’t look so surprised that I know,” Alyssa
continued. “Every time they turned around there were Kendra and Dominic.
Together. That’s what I was told. I believe ‘clearly besotted’ is the way
another one described you two. How could you keep something like this from us?
For nearly a month! No wonder you dodged my texts and emails while on the
island and since you returned.”

Aunt Jackie approached them, but detoured toward
to the nearby restroom. “I’ll be with you girls shortly.”

Only after Kendra heard the restroom door click
closed did she respond. “I barely had the chance to phone Aunt Jackie and
Brittany while I was there, what with the tight schedule, time difference, and
all.”

“Excuses, excuses,” Selena said.

“Yeah, you didn’t even post one measly selfie to
rub it in, not one Post-a-Pic with oiled up legs, lounging on the beach
with—”

“Mai Tai in hand,” Selena added.
 
“Hashtag,
mycurrentsituation.
”

“Yeah, it is mandatory, you know,” said Alyssa.
“What’s the point of having a Post-a-Pic account if you’re not going to make
people pea green with envy every now and then? Yours is the most lackluster
ever.”

Kendra had taken numerous photos while on the
island, but didn’t post any for public consumption.
 
“You know I don’t go all out on social
media.
 
I only do what’s absolutely
necessary to promote the agency, my authors, and The Sassy Sheep. But that’s
just me. If you like it, I love it for you.”

“Like I said,
lackluster.
Now, back to you and Dominic,” Alyssa said. “And why haven’t you reached out to
us before now?”

“Yeah, what’s the deal?” Selena chimed in.

Kendra couldn’t look at Alyssa and Selena so she
searched through the tote next to her feet. “But I have reached out to you both
since I’ve been back. You didn’t get my texts?” she fibbed. “I’ve been so,
so…”
 
Awful.
Kendra usually prided herself on not downgrading girlfriends
on her priority list no matter how hectic her life became
.
Even in the throes of first rushes with her former
fiancés, she hadn’t done it. However, the electricity between her and
Dominic had taken over. She couldn’t stop thinking about him and wanting to be
with him. He seemed to feel the same way. Between business and their dates,
both had called or texted each other several times a day.
 
They shared random snapshots with syrupy
captions:

This sugar
cookie is not nearly as sweet as your lips.

Counting the
minutes until our date tonight. Tick. Tock.
 

When Dominic sent that kitschy twenty-three-piece
howling wolf bath set from the
Fingerhut
catalog to celebrate Kendra’s recent paranormal romance series sale, she and
Brittany had the best laugh. His intention to court Kendra was unwavering.
However, she would not become one of
those
women
who ditched her best friends for a man.
 
Well, not for long, anyway.

When Dominic hinted at the two of them possibly
spending some time together on Thanksgiving, she’d gently demurred, citing
plans with her aunt and closest girlfriends. Major holidays were huge steps for
a fledging friendship. Adding a man, no matter how tempting, to the mix.
Too much. Too soon.

“You could’ve emailed or texted
any
time while you were on the island,”
Alyssa said while Selena, who sat across from them, sulked.

“You’re absolutely right. I should’ve made time.
I’m so sorry, guys.”
 
Kendra removed
the latest scarf she’d completed from her knitting bag. “I have plenty of Maui
photos on my phone. You can look at them before we leave the shop, or I can text
the best ones to you later. How’s that?”

“It’s a start,” Alyssa said. “I’ll forgive you for
ignoring us and sitting on all this juiciness as long as you give us the dish
about Dominic, with all the details right now. And this had better be good. Did
your eyes meet his from across a crowded room? Was there a bolt of lightning?
Then wham!”

“That only happens on
Looney Tunes
,” Kendra said, though the effect Dominic had on her
was comparable.

 
“So
when and how did you two meet in Maui?” Alyssa asked.

Brittany, who was closer to Kendra than she was to
Alyssa and Selena, would not disclose Kendra’s secrets.
 
So these two still knew nothing about
her pre-Maui encounters with Dominic because at the time she’d been unsure how
to handle his interest in her.
 
She’d thought it best to keep quiet until she’d made a decision so as
not to become overly influenced by their opinions of him, along with
Brittany’s.

“Dominic and I are exploring a friendship,” Kendra
said. “We went hiking, zip-lining, camping, and sightseeing. We feasted on
delicious food, strolled on the beach and—”

“Oh, brother,” Selena rolled her eyes, “boy meets
girl, boy is hot for girl, girl is hot for boy, next chapter O.S.S.”

“There was no
obligatory
sex scene,
thank you very much.” Kendra sat up straighter.

“Sex on the beach is tired anyway. Cliché,”
Selena said.

Aunt Jackie walked by again. “I’ll be right with
you girls.”

“No rush,” Kendra replied, though her aunt’s
presence would most definitely provide a reprieve from Alyssa’s interrogation.

“Things often become cliché for a reason,
because they’re damn good.” Alyssa flashed a vamp’s grin. “So, you didn’t have
awesome sex on the beach with Dominic, Kendra?”

“No.”

“It wasn’t awesome?”
 
Alyssa asked, crestfallen.

“We didn’t have sex on the beach.”

“So
where
did you have sex with him?” Alyssa scooted closer to Kendra. “You were on an
island paradise, for crying out loud. If you say a boring hotel bed, I will
stab you in the neck with a knitting needle. So where did you do
the deed
and when? Details.”

Aunt Jackie appeared again and disappeared behind the
door next to the restroom, which led to a storage area filled with boxes of
newly arrived merchandise and overstock items.

“We didn’t actually do ‘
the
deed’
in the bed,
either,” Kendra whispered after Aunt Jackie was no longer in sight.

Alyssa started, “But, but you’re glowing. I
thought for sure—”

“Don’t mind me.” Aunt Jackie walked by again; this
time she had a big box of organic cotton yarn hanks to place inside
transparent, backlit cubbies on a nearby wall.

Kendra waited for her aunt to finish and move back
up front. “We did not have
intercourse
on the beach or
anywhere else
for
that matter,” she said in a stage whisper. “Have I finally made myself clear?”

“And why the hell not!” Alyssa asked. “Why didn’t
you go for it? Gorgeous guy, beautiful island.
 
Perfection.”

“Not so perfect timing,” Kendra replied. “C’mon, I
just met the man, remember? And we were just friends spending some time
together and getting to know one another. We did more talking than anything
else.”

“Talking? Just talking?” Alyssa said with a
flippant wave. “Girl, bye.”

“Yes,
talking
,
the best way to get to know someone. So on the island we talked, talked, and
then talked some more.” Kendra used the next half hour to fill them in on her
last few weeks with Dominic, starting with their first meeting on the plane and
ending with their last couple of dates, one at the Metropolitan Museum of
Modern Art and the other at a Halloween costume party hosted by a friend of
Dominic’s. She left out all the tongue tangling and mutual groping they’d done
in their host’s walk-in closet.
 

Alyssa, who’d been riveted by Kendra’s story, had
interrupted only a couple of times.

 
Selena’s lips remained drawn tight as she
removed her work in progress from a bag and began knitting.

“You girls need more cookies?” Aunt Jackie.
Again
. On her way to the supply closet.
She usually did most of her restocking after hours.

“We’re good. Thanks,” Alyssa replied.

Kendra gave them a hand signal to wait until Aunt
Jackie finished her supply-closet business.

“Don’t mind me, girls.” Out popped Aunt Jackie
with a box of patterns.
 
“Last trip
before I come check on your progress.”

“Take your time,” Kendra said sweetly as she
watched her aunt return to the front of the store to join Mrs. Findley again.

Alyssa nudged her. “And you were saying?”

“That’s it.” Kendra said.

“Your story could’ve used a lot more spicy
details,” Alyssa said. “Is he a good kisser?”

“I will neither confirm nor deny,” Kendra said,
while thinking his lips had enough heat to melt her panties off.

“Well, did you at least get to verify what he’s
packing?” Alyssa asked, her words barbed with impatience.

“In his suitcases?” Kendra replied.

“An artless dodge if I ever heard one,” Alyssa
said. “You know exactly what I mean. I’m trying to keep it clean and classy here.
Avoid using the cruder euphemisms.”

“Is nosiness about a man’s privates, no matter the
euphemism, ever clean and classy if you’re not his urologist?” Kendra replied.

 
“Well,
excuse me. You’ve never held out on us before. You usually give us
something
good.” Alyssa pouted. “Why so
coy this time?”

 
“But I
told you. Dominic and I are just friends,” Kendra reiterated, though when she’d
plastered herself against Dominic that particular asset felt as if it met the
porn-flick gold standard.
 
Kendra
had once overheard Vanessa telling Aunt Jackie that she’d boast about the way
honey bears spoiled her with material things, but she kept certain details to
herself, particularly those hinting at bedroom prowess, lest other women get a
hankering for their own test runs. As if true-blue Aunt Jackie would ever be
the least bit interested in one of Vanessa’s pawing pinheads. Kendra trusted
her closest girlfriends with her life. Still, it didn’t feel right sharing such
intimacies about Dominic. She wouldn’t want him blabbing their most private
moments to his friends, either,
especially
those in the business.

Kendra had placed her cell on the coffee table
face up and uncovered.
 
It vibrated,
drawing attention to Dominic’s face flashing across its screen.