Triana stood there, stunned to complete silence. In one night, her confused, hurt, and devastated best friend had been transformed into a completely different person after simply spending an evening with a handsome guy she’d just met. Triana had been trying to console her since getting into town and hadn’t gotten anywhere.
“What about you and Remy?” Kim asked.
Triana shrugged. “We’ll probably grab dinner someplace, then walk around the French Quarter. Maybe go dancing.”
Kim smiled. “Sounds like fun, but that’s not exactly what I meant. I was asking if you’re going to sleep with him. You know, make up for lost time and all that.”
Triana opened her mouth to reply, but then realized she didn’t have a clue how to answer what should have been a simple question. She was attracted to Remy. Okay, understatement there. She’d come damn close to dragging him up to her room last night. The intensity of the sensation would be scary if it wasn’t so intoxicating at the same time.
But now that she was out of his hypnotizing presence—and thinking more clearly—she was glad nothing had happened last night. She wasn’t the type to jump into something with a guy without thinking it through. She had her love of all things scientific to thank for that. It made her cautious, linear, and kind of practical. None of those made a woman want to jump in the sack with a guy she’d crushed on in high school, especially one who was only going to be around for a week.
“Earth to Triana,” Kim said, waving her hand in Triana’s face. “I wasn’t asking you to do calculus in your head. Stop thinking so much all the time and just go after the guy you’ve wanted since you were old enough to have those kinds of thoughts. From what you just said, you and Remy had it bad for each other all the way back in high school, and if what I saw last night is any indication, it’s obvious the spark is still there. Why don’t you take a leap of faith and see where the heck it takes you?”
Triana gave her a look. “You’re honestly saying you think I should jump in the sack with him and not worry about what happens when he goes back to Dallas and I go home to Houston?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Just treat this next week as a chance to make up for all that time you wasted back in high school.” Kim grinned. “Worst case, you have a week of unbelievable sex. Because trust me, after watching that man move on the dance floor, there’s no chance in hell he isn’t an Olympian between the sheets.”
“And best case?” Triana prompted, figuring she already knew where Kim was going with this.
Kim’s smile broadened. “Best case, you two fall madly in love and figure out the three-and-a-half-hour drive from Dallas to Houston isn’t that much of an obstacle to overcome. Heck, who knows? Maybe you get so swept up in each other that you chuck it all and run off to live with Remy in Dallas.”
“Or he could chuck it all and run off to Houston to live with me,” Triana countered with a laugh.
“Exactly!” Kim said. “Now you’re talking.”
All Triana could do was shake her head. After everything Kim had been through with Shawn, she was thinking Triana and Remy were going to have some kind of storybook romance. Her mother would be thrilled if that happened. She hadn’t said as much, but Triana knew her mother wanted her to find something special, like her mother had found with Triana’s dad.
Triana wasn’t sure if Remy was that guy, but maybe Kim was right about going with her feelings and seeing where it led. Like Kim said, worst case, there’d be some great sex involved. What kind of girl turned her nose up at that?
She opened her mouth to tell Kim she’d let things take their natural course with Remy when the bell on the door to the shop tinkled.
Triana turned to see an older man in a white linen suit and fancy dress shoes shamble into the shop. He looked around the store with an air of disdain, but his expression brightened when he saw her and Kim. Triana wasn’t fooled for a second. She knew a bullshit facade when she saw it. This guy was full of it.
He walked over and extended his hand. Even though she didn’t want to, Triana shook it nonetheless. She regretted the decision when she got a palm full of cold, clammy hand. Ick, she hated men with limp, sweaty hands. Then she caught sight of the man’s buffed and polished nails. Crap, his manicure probably cost more than her shoes. That was the final nail in the coffin as far as she was concerned.
“Kenneth Murphy, attorney with Taylor and Burr,” the man said in an officious tone. “Is your mother in?”
A shiver ran down Triana’s back. She’d never seen this man in her life, yet he obviously knew her. How else had he known to ask for her mother?
She opened her mouth to ask him as much when her mom stepped out of the back room and leveled a piercing stare at the man.
“You didn’t need to come here, Mr. Murphy. I already told you over the phone that I couldn’t help you.”
The man gave her mother another fake smile. “I completely understand, Mrs. Bellamy. But I thought that if we talked in person and you took a look at the offer I’m making, it might change your mind.”
Reaching into the inside pocket on his suit jacket, Murphy took out a sheet of paper, unfolded it, then held it out. It was a drawing of a necklace in the shape of a wolf’s head. “It’s a copper pendant, and the eyes of the wolf are made of yellow topaz.”
Her mother didn’t say anything. Instead, she stood with her arms crossed over her chest, an irritated look on her face.
“As I mentioned when we talked on the phone, my client is offering a very reasonable sum of money for a trinket such as the one I’m describing,” Murphy said.
“And who is this client of yours, Mr. Murphy?” her mother asked in an icy voice.
Triana frowned. Her mother was never abrupt or cold with anyone. If her mom didn’t like this guy, there was a reason.
The man gave her a syrupy smile. “He prefers to remain anonymous in this transaction, but I can assure you, Mrs. Bellamy, I’m fully authorized to negotiate on his behalf. As I said, five thousand dollars is a very reasonable offer.”
Triana did a double take. That wasn’t chump change for a shopkeeper who sold voodoo merchandise to tourists and some of the locals. That kind of money could pay the taxes on this place for a year, maybe more.
