Alina’s mouth fell open, not sure if she was more offended by Kathy’s sly sexual innuendo or the fact that her best friend had just outed her complete lack of cooking skills. She was about to blast Kathy with a snappy comeback—as soon as she came up with one—only to be interrupted by her partner.
“So, Kathy, you take care of Alina’s dog every day, even when she’s traveling? How do you pull that off and work too?”
Kathy smiled. “I work from home, so it’s not a big deal.”
When Trevor returned her smile with one of those roguish grins of his, Alina thought her friend might melt right there on the spot.
“Do you telecommute or own your own business?” he asked.
“Kathy owns her own business,” Alina answered quickly. Her friend didn’t like to talk about how she made a living. “She sells socks on the Internet.”
Trevor looked back and forth from her to Kathy and back again, as if he expected one of them to start laughing and say, just kidding. When neither of them did, he turned to Kathy.
“Socks…seriously?”
“Yes. I sell socks on the Internet,” Kathy admitted, slightly indignant, before turning to shoot Alina a vindictive glare. “And I’ll have you know that I sell a lot of them, thank you very much.”
Trevor glanced at Alina, who shrugged. “I have to admit, she’s right about that. As crazy as it sounds, she makes a buttload of money selling socks.”
“So how exactly does one get into the sock business?” he asked Kathy, his face completely serious. Which was a good thing, since Kathy could get rather irate if she thought people were ragging on her chosen line of work.
“Purely by accident,” Kathy explained. “A couple of years ago, I went to this outlet center down near Potomac Mills specifically to buy these thick, warm socks that I loved. They were cozy to wear around the house or in bed but were also perfect with the shoes I wear. I’d go through a dozen pairs a year, I wore them so much.”
Trevor frowned in confusion. “Okay, not seeing the start of a thriving new business yet.”
Kathy held up a finger. “I’m getting there.”
He leaned back against the kitchen counter, a move that only served to tighten his abs and make him look more delicious than ever. And yeah, Kathy noticed. She almost lost her place in the story as her gaze was drawn to that rippling display of muscles just above Trevor’s belt.
What was it about tight abs that did it for almost every woman on the planet?
“So,” Kathy continued, “I go to this outlet store I’d been going to three or four times a year only to find out they no longer sold my favorite socks. I completely freaked! And I wasn’t the only one. There were three other women there who were as upset as I was. But the manager of the store said the company discontinued the entire line and told me there was nothing she could do about it.”
“That must have been traumatic,” Trevor said, still somehow managing to keep a straight face.
“It was,” Kathy agreed, apparently not noticing how hard Trevor was fighting to keep from grinning.
“So I came home and ended up finding the socks I liked online being made overseas. The only problem was that I had to buy in bulk—a hundred pairs. I was desperate, so I bought them, figuring I could sell some of the extras to other people I knew who loved the socks as much as I did. Those friends and acquaintances ended up buying every single pair I’d ordered before they even arrived. So I ordered more, and people bought those, too. The next thing I know, I’m quitting my day job so I can stay home and sell socks on the Internet.” She smiled. “Honestly, I couldn’t do any of it without my boyfriend, Armen. He’s the one who makes most of the deliveries to UPS.”
“He drives a minivan,” Alina pointed out, not because she thought Trevor would be interested in that fact, but because she liked to tease her friend about it.
“What’s wrong with minivans?” Kathy demanded.
“Nothing at all,” Alina said before turning to Trevor with a mock whisper behind her hand. “She won’t admit it, but I think Kathy has a thing for guys who drive minivans.”
Kathy rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah. Minivans really get me going. And guys who drive minivans? You just can’t get any hotter than that.”
They all laughed at that, then talked a little more about minivans, socks, and working from home before Kathy announced she needed to head back to her place and get some work done before she went to bed.
“Besides,” she added with a smile, “I’m sure you two would probably rather get back to what you were doing before I interrupted.”
Alina laughed, but now that she thought about it, having Trevor all to herself again might be fun.
“See you in the morning,” Alina said to her friend as she held the door open for her. “I’ll drop Molly off at the normal time.”
“Really?” Kathy whispered as she stood in there in the doorway, glancing at Trevor, who was still in the living room playing with Molly. “Any chance you two might, you know, sleep in a little late tomorrow?”
Alina wasn’t sure how to answer, especially considering the fact that Trevor had probably heard every word of it. Finally, she shook her head and went with the safe response, just in case.
