Four

Dana ran into her office grinning from ear to ear. “Lisa just called and said that she was sure Dylan took the bait. She told him about your big date and what time Paul was supposed to arrive.” Glancing down at her watch, she added, “That gives us half an hour to turn you into a woman who’ll have them both swallowing their tongues. Now, did you bring the maxi dress?” Zoe pointed to the garment bag hanging behind her desk. She’d actually been surprised that Dana had picked a dress that came almost to her feet even with the heels she’d be wearing with it. She didn’t remember much of anything else about it since she’d been so tired from shopping by that point that she’d agreed to anything Dana suggested. Dana unzipped the bag and pulled the silky fabric out before handing it to her. “Go ahead and put this on while I check on things out front. Then I’ll be back to help you with your hair.”

It was on the verge of Zoe’s tongue to tell her that she’d managed on her own for years, then she remembered Dylan’s reaction this morning. Obviously Dana knew way more about what men liked than she did. She reached over and locked the door before quickly stripping out of her work clothes. She pulled the long dress over her head and sighed in pleasure at how the slinky material felt against her skin. The neckline was a bit low, but not horrible. Turning to the side, she checked out her profile in the mirror she had on the wall, and that’s when she noticed it. Oh God, how had she missed the fact in the store that it had a slit down one leg almost to her panty line. When Dana walked back in, Zoe wailed, “I can’t wear this hoochie dress! If it rides up at all, my underwear will be showing. Why in the world did you let me buy it?” When she attempted to pull the dress down farther, it bared her breasts. There was no possible way to make any adjustments without exposing a body part.

Holding her hands up, Dana giggled, “Hey, you picked it out. I wondered about it, but you seemed determined.” Dana studied her for a moment before saying, “It looks amazing, though. Paul is gonna choke when he gets a load of you in that. Plus, there’s plenty of material in the skirt. When you sit down, just fold it over and you’ll be covered. It won’t gap open too much when you’re walking, and you’re not likely to run anywhere in those heels . . .”

Zoe crossed the floor several times and found that Dana was right. She could see flashes of her leg, but nothing X-rated. She had to admit that it was more than flattering and so very comfortable. She’d just be mindful of the split tonight and everything should be fine. “All right, I guess it’s okay,” she conceded before sitting again to pull on the strappy sandals she’d brought to match it. She still wasn’t comfortable wobbling around in heels, but wow, they made her legs look endless, so maybe Dana was right about them being a necessary evil.

“Let’s get to the makeup, then.” Dana pulled something that resembled a suitcase from the corner and hefted it up onto the desk.

“What in the world is that?” Zoe asked.

“It’s the holy grail, my dear,” Dana replied as she unzipped the case and showed her tons of makeup as well as a flat iron, which she promptly plugged into a nearby outlet. “I thought we’d go the smooth route on the hair tonight and maybe a smoky eye for the makeup.”

She had helped Zoe get ready for her dinner with Dylan the night before, but it had been with makeup that she had in her purse and a can of hairspray. Obviously tonight she’d brought everything she owned with her. Zoe tried to back away, thinking she was in over her head, but the other woman caught her by the arm and backed her into a chair. “Oh, no you don’t. I promise you’ll love the end result. It’ll look like you—only better.”

Barely daring to breathe, Zoe sat perfectly still while Dana worked on first her face, then her hair. She was afraid if she moved she’d end up with third-degree burns from the huge flat iron Dana was wielding with such frightening speed. “Um . . . are you almost finished?” she dared to ask when Dana stepped back, studying her as she would a science experiment.

Giving Zoe a satisfied smirk, she said, “Oh, yeah, I’ve made a masterpiece. You should have both Dylan and Paul in some serious lust when they see you.”

“You realize that I only care about Dylan’s reaction, right?” Zoe pointed out. She had no intentions of seeing Paul again and thought of him as just a means to an end.

“Oh, sure,” Dana agreed as she began packing her huge bag once again. “But you need some experience with men and the whole flirting thing. You’ve been one of the guys for too long. Now that you snagged Dylan’s attention, you need to know how to handle it. You want him touching you like a woman, not popping his fist on your shoulder.”

“That doesn’t hurt,” Zoe said defensively. “It’s just our special thing that we do together.”

Looking skeptical, Dana asked, “So, you’ve never seen him do that with any of his guy friends? It’s only for you?”

Shifting in her chair, Zoe admitted, “Well, I guess it’s more of a thing he does with his close friends. But he does it to me the most,” she felt compelled to add.

Dana spoke slowly as if trying to get through to a child. “That’s because you’re with him the most, sweetie. That’s not what you want from a man you’re hot for. It’s the universal guys’ informal handshake or something like that. You want a man who goes in for a hug, like a full-body one. Or at the very least stares at your boobs until his eyes cross.”

“He was doing that this morning,” Zoe said, and grinned. “It wasn’t for that long, but he was definitely looking at them. And sweating a lot again. I’m still afraid he’s getting sick. I hope he does drop by so I can check on him.”

Dana rolled her eyes. “He’s fine. According to Lisa, he was playing Angry Birds with his feet propped on his desk. She said he’s gotten lazy.”

Before Zoe could reply, there was a knock on the door. Cat, their afternoon barista, stuck her head in to say, “There’s a guy named Paul here to see you, Zoe.” Wiggling her brows, she added, “Way to go. He’s a total babe.”

Zoe could feel herself blushing as she thanked Cat and took a deep breath to settle her nerves. She’d been so determined to make Dylan jealous that she hadn’t really thought about the fact that she’d be forced to spend a whole evening with a virtual stranger. Even if Dana had suggested a movie, she still had to sit beside the man. What if he tried something? She hadn’t had an actual date in ages. Dana was right—she desperately needed some experience in how to talk to a man because she had almost none. Turning to Dana, she whispered, “Maybe I should cancel. This is probably a big mistake.”

Instead of answering her right away, Dana walked over to the door and cracked it open. She stood there for a moment before turning around to face her. “Guess what, babe? Dylan’s here and sitting at the bar. He’s only two stools away from Paul. Now, if you want to chicken out, I won’t stop you, but you’d be missing a golden opportunity to make your man jealous. Just the fact that he’s here tells me that he may not even know it yet, but he doesn’t want you with anyone but him. You can either go out there and drive that point home or you can be content with whatever you guys have been doing for the past eighteen years. Totally up to you.”

Biting her lip, Zoe knew her friend was right. And what was one evening out of her life? Paul was a friend of Dana’s, so he wasn’t likely to get out of hand. Plus, she worked with the public so she simply needed to call on her customer skills to survive the next few hours. She’d make polite conversation, enjoy a good meal and a movie. No problem. Squaring her shoulders, she marched toward Dana. “Let’s do this,” she muttered and saw the other woman beam her approval as they walked out to meet her date.

Zoe had to agree with Cat that Paul was more than a little good looking. But it was the man sitting a few seats away glaring at a seemingly oblivious Paul who had most of her attention. She wanted to stand and enjoy the notion that he was jealous, but Dana cleared her throat loudly before moving over to give her former boyfriend a hug. “Good to see you, honey. I see you’re not slacking in the gym.”

Paul crushed the petite woman to his chest for probably longer than was appropriate when your date was watching, but Zoe didn’t really care. “Hey, baby. Have you ever known me to miss a day working out?”

Zoe heard Dylan mumble something under his breath, but couldn’t catch what it was. Dana had finally put some distance between her and Paul and was proudly pointing to Zoe. “This is my friend that I told you about. Isn’t she beautiful?”

Taking that question seriously, Paul looked at Zoe from head to foot, then back again before saying, “She’s a knockout. Damn shame to waste all of that on another wo—”

Before he could complete his sentence, Dana planted her spiky heel on his foot, effectively stopping him from outing Zoe as a lesbian. Paul was hopping up and down, howling in pain while Dana pretended to be sorry that she was so clumsy. The whole thing looked like a circus. Dylan was shaking his head in confusion, while Zoe pretended not to notice the glances he was shooting her way. “I’m so sorry, sugar, I’m a big old klutz. Thank goodness you’re such a tough guy and can handle a little bit of pain.” Dana’s backhanded compliment seemed to be just what Paul needed to recoup.

He gave Dana a side hug, again holding it for a bit too long. “It’s nothing, honey. You’re so light I barely felt it.”

Zoe had to fight the urge to gag since he’d been staggering around just moments ago as if he were dying. She reluctantly crossed to his side when Dylan got to his feet. His eyes widened and he appeared to be staring at her feet. Looking down, she immediately knew what had his attention. Her purse strap had somehow gotten entangled in her skirt, pulling the long slit apart and exposing an obscene amount of flesh. She was pretty sure the edge of her panties was even visible. Luckily Paul had been too caught up in Dana to notice yet. She quickly untangled the strap and tugged the fabric closed. “Maybe you should go change,” Dylan hissed, not appearing satisfied that she was once again covered.

“It’s fine.” She waved him off with more confidence than she felt.

“Don’t you have one of your old uniforms in your office?” he suggested.

Dana, having obviously overheard him, piped up loudly, “No, she doesn’t.” She grabbed Zoe’s arm and pulled her away from Dylan. “You two should get going. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she added, which of course, probably confused the hell out of Paul since he thought Zoe batted for the other team.

Dylan trailed them, but he didn’t stand a chance against a determined Dana. She literally propelled them out the door. Despite herself, Zoe was impressed. Her petite friend could take on anyone. Or at least she hoped so, because Dylan was scowling so fiercely, Zoe was afraid Dana would need some soothing words to placate him. She couldn’t worry about that now. She had hours to survive with a man who thought she was gay, who was still hung up on Dana, and whom she had nothing at all in common with. Let the fun begin.

•   •   •

Dylan stared incredulously after his best friend and the asshole who was her date for the night. He couldn’t believe that Zoe had left with him, considering the man had groped Dana right in front of her. When the douche bag had walked in the shop, he’d sauntered up to the bar like he owned the place before looking at Dylan and saying, “S’up, bro.” He’d hoped like hell at that moment that this wasn’t the guy she was supposed to be going out with.

Apparently the jock had more muscles than intelligence. Dylan had seen the type around the gym and beach. The ones who worked out three hours a day, then sat around waiting for ladies to drop their panties for them. His Zoe wasn’t that type of woman. But what in the hell was she wearing? He was positive he saw her panties from the big split in that dress. He swallowed hard. She looked incredible. Which stirred up all kinds of conflicting emotions for him. He was stunned that he’d never noticed exactly how gorgeous she was before. And strangely proud of how she’d blossomed into a beautiful butterfly. He also felt fiercely protective. What if this idiot tried to take advantage of her? There was no way she was strong enough to fight him off. He was probably hyped up on steroids and whatever else he could find. Shit, he could go into some kind of rage over the smallest of things.

Dylan put his hands on his hips and glared at Dana. He knew he needed to keep his voice down because there were customers not far away, but right now he had a hard time caring. “Why in God’s name would you fix Zoe up with him? Have you lost your mind?”

Despite being a foot taller than her, Dylan could tell he wasn’t intimidating her in the least. She laughed—actually laughed—in his face then cuffed him on the shoulder. Had the whole world gone insane tonight? “Paul’s a sweetheart, Dylan. Zoe will have a great time with him.” Fanning herself, she added, “Didn’t she look hot tonight? Paul is going to be thanking me later for sure.”

“Wh-what? Er . . . yes, she looked very nice. But that’s really not the point here. What do you know about this Paul? Because I don’t trust him. Do you know where they were going? I should probably swing by and make sure everything’s okay.”

“Nope, don’t have a clue,” Dana said airily. “In case you’ve missed it, though, Zoe’s a grown woman and more than capable of taking care of herself. And I dated Paul for several months so I can vouch for him. I mean, he’s into some kinky stuff once he gets things fired up, but hey, most women like that now. I bet you’ve had some dates that were freaks, huh?” Why does she keep punching my shoulder like we’re buddies?

Irritated at her nonchalant attitude, he snapped, “We’re not talking about me here. Can you please focus for a minute?” When she continued to grin at him stupidly, he pulled his phone from his jacket pocket and hit the speed dial for Zoe. The damn thing rang once and went right to voice mail. “Fuck.” He waited for the tone and left a message. “Hey, it’s me. Can you give me a call back as soon as you get this?” Ending the call, he looked over to see an amused Dana watching him. “That’s what you should have been doing,” he growled. “If you hear from her, tell her I’m trying to reach her. Can you at least do that?”

She actually rolled her eyes before waving off his concerns as if they were nothing. “Oh, relax, Papa Bear, everything’s cool. There is absolutely nothing to get your briefs in a wad over, I can assure you. She’ll have a great evening, and if she plays her cards right, it’ll extend into the next morning.”

He felt physically sick at her words. If she thought that was supposed to be reassuring, she was dead wrong. “If that happens, I’m holding your personally responsible,” he warned before stalking out the door.

What in the fuck was happening around here? He’d been home for a day and everything had changed. He barely recognized Zoe anymore and she was on some kind of dating marathon to boot. He kept feeling like he was the only one missing out on a joke that no one would explain to him, and he hated it. Since when was he out of the loop with his best friend? And Dana . . . He wanted to wrap his hands around her neck and strangle her. Being laughed at and heckled in his own hotel wasn’t something he was used to. In yet another first, he figured he might as well go for broke and head home to stare at his phone while he waited for Zoe to call him back. He’d always laughed at his pussy-whipped buddies who did shit like that, and now he was joining their leagues and there was no sex involved. This was all Zoe’s fault, he fumed as he stalked out. She was too young to be having a midlife crisis so he wasn’t sure what to call her little walk on the wild side. All he knew was it was going to stop if he had anything to say about it. Tomorrow he’d lay down the law. She had always been a sensible woman, and he was sure when he explained how crazy her recent behavior had been, she’d see that he was right and revert to her old self. Because if she didn’t, he wasn’t sure he’d survive another week.