It was just so hard to know how Dani felt about men.Reallyfelt.
But, yeah. I believed her.
I took another hit off her joint, then handed it back to her. Her blue eyes met mine.
“I’m still pissed at you about Jackson, though,” she said.
“I know.”
We watched a crew of girls pile into a cab and drive away.
“I should call him.”
Dani shot me a look. “Who?”
“Ashley.”
“Oh no, you don’t,” she said.
“Why not? First you want me to hook up with him, now you don’t want me to call him…”
“Nope. You are not drunk dialing Ashley Player. As your winglady, I forbid it.”
I sighed again. “Then let’s go back to my place and eat barbecue chips with ranch dip.” I practically salivated just saying it.
My sister rolled her eyes. “You and your barbecue chips with ranch dip.”
“I have black licorice,” I sang, because damn right, I knew her go-to binge food, too. She didn’t binge often, but black licorice had always been Dani’s weakness.
“Okay,” she said, with a half-smile. “I’m in. But I get to pick the movie.”
* * *
Later that night, after we’d pigged out and made it halfway throughSwingers, I may have drunk dialed Ashley, just a little bit.
It wasn’t totally my fault. My sister had fallen asleep on my couch right in the middle of winglady duty.
“Change your mind?” he asked when he picked up, in that sexy, rough voice of his, husky with sleep.
I took his sleepy voice, not to mention the fact that he’d answered my call, as a great sign—a sign that he really hadn’t gone off and fucked someone else after I’d sent him away all horny and frustrated.
“No. I still wish I’d come home with you.”
He sighed. “Then come over. Jesus, I thought you were blowing me off.”
“I wasn’t,” I said. “But… I can’t. When we said good night at the bar, it came across wrong, though. I like you, Ashley. I just want to proceed with caution.”
“Why?”
“I just think while I’m working for you we should keep things professional. But, also… I wasn’t about to betray my sister for a guy. Any guy. Sorry.”
“Betray her… how?”
“I don’t know. It’s stupid. I know there’s nothing between you and her…” I heard my own voice, and it still lacked conviction.
“There isn’t,” he said. “And we can keep things professional if that’s important to you. Until you’re done here.”
Okay, that made me feel better. If he was willing to wait just a little bit longer…
