Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
THEY KEPT ON going until the bar stopped their progress.
Roxie slapped a hand down as the bartender came their way. “Two pina coladas, please.” The guy frowned. “Got a problem?”
“No, ma’am,” he said and retreated to mix the drinks.
“Sit, sit,” Roxie said, hopping onto a stool of her own. “How are you doing?”
“You heard about the kiss?”
“Saw it, baby,” Roxie said. “Nothing wrong with lovin’ your man.”
“I embarrassed him.”
“I don’t think you did. Did he say that? If he’s got a problem—”
“No, he would never say that. I’m just… an idiot.”
“Why?” Roxie asked. “Not a bad thing to be so into a guy you can’t contain yourself. Resisting that can be painful. Honestly, it’s bad for your health.”
“Yeah, and what’s everyone going to remember about me? What a great first impression on his friends.”
“Okay.” Roxie laid a hand over hers. “Yes, Bastian probably knows most people in this room, but they’re not his friends. Not the ones that matter.”
“You know his friends? His real friends.”
“Yes, and they’re not here.”
“Will they hear about this though? I’ll forever be the woman who molested a stranger in polite company.”
“For starters, he’s not a stranger—” Roxie turned toward the bar when the server brought their drinks. And that tension in her brow wasn’t promising. “Where’s my umbrella?” The guy blinked in surprise but met Roxie’s eye when she looked up. “This should have an umbrella.”
“I—”
“Mandatory umbrella,” Roxie said. “If it doesn’t have an umbrella, I can’t drink it. Are you a qualified mixologist? I should have a little paper parasol, right here.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Kyst. I don’t think—we don’t have cocktail umbrellas.”
Roxie sighed. “It’s not your fault. Someone will be hearing about this though. Imagine sending your mixologists into the wild without paper umbrellas. A travesty.” She waved the guy away. “Go on. Back to work.” The drink wrinkled Roxie’s nose. “My boyfriend better never hear about this.”
“Your husband.”
“My—right, my husband! I’m surprised that doesn’t feel icky.
” Roxie pushed the second drink closer and raised her own.
Okay. They were drinking. “To spontaneity.” That was one word for it.
After drinking, Roxie licked her lips a few times, concentrating on the liquid.
“Not bad. Not perfect. But not bad. To my palate, Z’s would be a whole different story. He’s pernickety.”
“He knew who you were.”
“He knew—the bartender? Yeah, a lot of people know who I am these days.”
“Have you met before?”
“No, it’s a Crimson thing.”
She’d recognized Roxie too, maybe not too accurately, but the face was familiar.
“I don’t know how you do it, go around with everyone… Don’t you worry what people think?”
“I do,” Roxie said, straightening her spine. “My Casanova. I worry what he thinks. He’s really the only one who matters. These days. I trust my girls to think positive and my guy to open the confusing labyrinth of his mind to me without prompting.”
“Have you met his family?”
“Yes.”
“Did they push you together?”
“No,” Roxie said, laughing after another sip. “No, the people in his life were wary of me to begin with. I was an unknown factor. A crisis event waiting to happen and I’ve fulfilled that role many, many times.”
“I had it with Damon,” she said, stirring her drink with the straw. “My family wanted us to be together. My dad wants—none of that matters now.”
“Exactly. None of that matters. Dickwad Damon doesn’t matter. On with the show,” Roxie exclaimed, tossing an arm in the air. “What comes next? Who comes next?”
Roxie’s confidence was enviable. She liked to think of herself as strong, assured, in some areas of life: love wasn’t one of them.
“Do you know Robyn?”
“Never met her.” Roxie directed her straw between her lips, the depth of liquid in the glass went down, paused, and down again.
This woman could hold her liquor. “But I know they broke up. By all accounts, she and Bastian weren’t that great together.
If you want to meet her, I can make it happen.
” Roxie twisted fast and grabbed the arm of someone passing by. “Is Tripp in town?”
The bewildered person took a second before answering. “Madrid, I think.”
“Thanks.” Roxie let them go and returned to her drink. “I’ll call him later.”
“Tripp?” she asked. “Who was that person you stopped?”
“No idea, never seen them before in my life.” And Roxie must’ve read her confusion. “Everyone knows Tripp Breckenridge. He’s probably not in Madrid, but I buy he’s not in town. I haven’t spoken to him for a while—since the wedding, I think.”
“You think?”
“Ah, parts of the last week or two are a little… hazy. Zairn has not been shy about handing out those orgasms. Not that he ever is.” Confident.
Proud. Together. The enviable list went on and on.
“I’d call Tripp but my phone is dead…” The beauty’s head turned this way and that. “Probably. Wherever it is.”
“I didn’t know Bastian was seeing anyone.” And why should she? Their contact was supposed to be fleeting. “I don’t want to step on toes or cause issues for him.”
“They are not together.” Roxie took another drink then linked their hands. “They broke up way before you… Before you, anyway, I don’t know exactly when. I can find out.”
The openness, the kindness, it was humbling.
“Everyone in Bastian’s life is so nice.”
“Not everyone. Z’s more in his life than I am. I’m closer to Carolyn.”
“He’s apologized for her being so bold, but I’m amazed just how much she loves her children.”
“Who loves their children?” Another female joined them: Keely. “Who are we talking about?”
“Your mom,” Roxie answered without hesitation and gestured to the bartender for another drink. “Not everyone grows up with such a dedicated mother.”
“This is cause of Bastian, right?” Keely asked, the warmth in those big, beautiful eyes nodding one way then the other. “Is he mad at Mom?”
“No!” God, she was worried about embarrassing the man, now she had to be aware of stirring up mischief in the family too. “He’s not mad.”
“It’s difficult to tell with him,” Roxie added. “He plays his cards close to his chest.”
“Yeah, he never talks about relationship stuff,” Keely agreed, going to the stool behind her, putting Harper in the middle. “Mom tries to talk to him, I do, even Dad. He just doesn’t like talking about that stuff.”
“He doesn’t want to let anyone down.” The sweet liquor coated her throat. “Your mom is eager for him to settle down, he doesn’t want to give her false hope.”
“You don’t want to settle down with my brother?”
Her horror went to Roxie first, the woman raised her brows.
“I didn’t say that,” Harper said. How was she digging herself deeper…? Again! “Your brother is a wonderful man.”
“Wonderful? Is there a less sexy word to describe a guy?” Keely said, grinning when the bartender came with her cocktail. “Thank you…” She picked it up to drink. “I love it when you come out to play, Rox.”
“I love it too.” Roxie touched the surface of her drink. “When are we going to hook you up with your forever guy, Keely, honey?”
“Bastian will never accept any guy. I’ll die a spinster.”
Roxie leaned in. “Who says he has to know? Come stay with us in New York. We might even hook you up with a Breckenridge.”
Keely laughed. Her drink dropped a little as she shook her head. “Oh my God, that’s practically incest!”
Ew, okay, the less said about that…
“Your brother is sexy,” she said in hope of leaving a better lasting impression. “Too sexy.”
“That why you made out with him? Bastian’s not usually… naughty.”
“Harper brings it out in him.”
“People will be talking about that for months. Years! You’ll be legendary.”
And that was exactly what she didn’t want to hear. Years? Long after she’d returned to her mess of a life, when Bastian was just trying to get along, people would remember…
“Nothing wrong with that.”
No? She felt sick. “Years?”
“Geez…” Roxie said, putting down her glass and twisting her stool around to scan the space. “Let’s clear this up now…”
“Clear it up?”
“Watch and learn.” Roxie kicked out her leg as she pounced off the stool.
Her set pace and determination cleared people from her path, opening up a direct route to her husband—Roxie swept away his glass so fast that it fell from his hand.
Then she was grabbing him down, kissing him like—oh and there was the leg to his hip, a bounce and… Wow, Roxie was—wow.
Keely’s giggle came with a sigh. “I love her so much. Isn’t she amazing?”
Zairn would wonder where such passion came from so suddenly. Or maybe he wouldn’t. They weren’t a couple who apologized for their love and were proud of it everywhere.
Maybe she could take a leaf from their book and learn a few things… If she didn’t terrify Bastian in the process.
Wait. No. Not Bastian. She wasn’t with Bastian, she was… they really needed to figure this out.