Page 31 of Dancing With Lies

“I got you.” She nodded in agreement. “Do you want me to get started tomorrow?”

“That would be good. Also, I, uh, could you make one of those, ahem, rooms for me?”

She blinked at him with innocent confusion he suspected was totally fake but was convincing. “What rooms, Lincoln?”

He stared back at her, feeling the heat rise up his neck. “You know, Roxie.”

“Oh, a playroom like Kai’s you mean?” She grinned with devilish amusement and he knew she’d known all along what he meant. “That would mean you’d need to come with me, of course.”

“Um, why?” He was the one blinking now.

“Because, you have to know what you want, and you won’t know until you’ve explored what’s out there.”

“Oh, well, get the basics, for now, I guess.” He couldn’t look at her now, that teasing gleam in her eyes was too much to take.

“I’ll get you started, don’t worry.” She replied, and he just wanted to sink into the floor and die. What had he got himself into?

12

Roxie

Roxie pulled up to a store Emily had taken her to before and stopped the car. “Alright, ladies. I have a credit card and a huge list. Are you ready?”

She looked back at Emily and River in the back seat and then at Kitty. They were all excited to be shopping with Roxie, but probably not as excited as she was. Lincoln told her there was no budget, to get what she thought was best, and she’d run with that. She’d have more room in her car if she hadn’t brought the other women, but she’d need help with small appliances as she had no knowledge about them really. She even had to call Emily about the coffee maker she’d bought for Lincoln that first day she worked for him.

It was a strange job, she knew what Lincoln did, his business, but she never really dealt with any of that. She wasn’t really an office assistant so much as a Girl Friday. He paid her a salary for it, and he’d paid Nathan’s bail, so it didn’t matter. She missed dancing, but this would do for now. She’d get practice in when she had time and, in a year, she’d get back to the world she knew and loved most.

They were in the store for two hours, buying everything from laundry soap to dish towels. They all took a room at first, then converged to buy for the other bedrooms and bathrooms.

“The easiest thing to do is to just get different colors for each bathroom,” Emily suggested so that’s what they did.

Roxie took Lincoln’s bedroom however and chose shades of crystal blue and black for his bedding and the decorations. It ended up being a coastal theme by the time she was done, but she liked it. It didn’t dawn on her that she’d chosen items that were the color of her eyes.

Once they had everything crammed into her car, Emily made a call to Dylan to bring a truck over to deliver the stuff to Lincoln. And Roxie took the ladies out to lunch.

It was nice to buy stuff without Emily offering to get it for her, for a change, and though she usually hated the way rich people just bought things randomly, it was nice to get what she wanted. Even if it was all for Lincoln. He was paying for lunch, however.

She didn’t want to think about how much money she’d spent, not just because she’d lived on a budget for too long, but because it reminded her that her parents had died because of money. Her dad wanted to keep up a lifestyle that he couldn’t maintain, and that had ended in tragedy.

She wanted to just enjoy the day, spending Lincoln’s money. She didn’t know what the limit on the card was, or if there was one, but she doubted she’d come anywhere near it. In a way, it was kind of like payback, spending all of this money, for all the nasty things he’d said to her when they were kids and the way he’d treated her since she started to work for him. Although he’d kind of calmed down over the last week. Kind of.

“I wish Elmo’s was still open,” Kitty said once they’d ordered and got their drinks.

“I do too,” Emily said with a sad smile.

“What’s up?” Roxie asked and leaned towards Kitty.

“It’s just the sleazy customers at the place I work at now. They let just anybody in, you know?” She frowned and rolled her eyes. “Like this guy showed up last night, already drunk. He kept trying to drag me off the stage. Called me a whore and ended up getting thrown out, but he shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

“No, that wouldn’t have happened at Elmo’s.” Roxie agreed immediately.

“Yeah, I understand why they screened the people that came in there now.” Kitty sipped her red wine then put the glass down. “I felt so much safer working there.”

“I didn’t know they screened customers at Elmo’s.” River chimed in and looked between Roxie and Kitty.

“They did, very well.” Emily piped in. She smiled with a wink at Roxie. “They screened us very well, but the customers were screened just as thoroughly.”

“That they were.” Roxie smiled at Emily’s mention of her time at Elmo’s. It had been a personal dare Roxie worried would go too far but Emily had ended up married and in a healthy relationship.