“As always, we recite the rules first.” Lindsay pantomimed unrolling a parchment and held up the invisible rules in front of her. “The members chosen for the dare must be approved by a majority of the membership present. As you swore when you joined Martinis and Bikinis, once you agree to pick a dare, there’s no backing out. Period. Even quitting the group will not exempt you from your most serious obligation.” She looked out over the gathered women. “Hands up if you understand.”
Everyone except Katie raised their hands. She was only visiting.
“Then by the completely nonimportant authority vested in me by the Martinis and Bikinis Organization, I announce that Sherry will take the first dare this month. Everyone agree?”
It was a unanimous vote.
Sherry, a thin but curvaceous blonde with short spiked hair and crimson lipstick, bounced up to the front of the room. Katie noticed her hand shook slightly as she drew out a scrolled piece of parchment wrapped with a red ribbon. These women took their dares seriously.
After untying the ribbon, Sherry rolled down the scroll and read her dare aloud. “Take a ride in an expensive Italian sports car, but do it completely in the nude.”
The women hooted and catcalled and craned forward with interest. “Go, Sherry!” someone shouted.
Pfft, that sounded easy to Katie. She thought of the Babes Gone Braless video she’d appeared in during spring break her sophomore year of college. Now that was a dare.
Remember, you’ve sworn off doing rash things. Maybe this group isn’t for you if they encourage people to do rash things.
“Katie.” Lindsay held up the box and shook it. “Your turn.”
She splayed a hand to her chest. “Me?”
“Yes, you.”
“But…but I’m new.”
Lindsay looked around at the group. “Anyone opposed to Katie picking tonight?”
Katie was the only one who raised her hand.
“Majority rules.” Lindsay wagged the box. “You’re up.”
“I’m not even an official member,” Katie protested.
“You can join tonight.”
Katie shook her head. “I’m not sure I’m ready to make that commitment.”
“What’s the matter? Are you too afraid to empower your life?” Lindsay challenged.
Katie narrowed her eyes. She knew what this was about. Lindsay was getting even with her for that control-freak comment by making her choose a dare on her very first night.
Not one to back down from a challenge, Katie shot to her feet. For a split second, a wave of panic washed over her. Here she was again, jumping headlong into something without considering the consequences. But she wasn’t about to let Lindsay see her hesitate.
With a toss of her head, she marched to the front of the room, stuck her hand in the box and drew her first dare.
She slipped the red velvet ribbon from the crisp parchment scroll, unrolled it and read out loud to the room. “You have drawn a three-part dare. Each of your dares is to be completed within one week’s time. The second and third dares will be mailed to reach you by the Thursday of each week. For this week, your dare is to make love to the man of your dreams in a forbidden place.”
Stunned, Katie turned to gape at Lindsay. It was as if the dare had been tailor-made for her. Correction. Tailor-made for the old Katie. The one who used to do foolish things like make love to strangers in closets.
“Ball’s in your court, Katie.” Lindsay smirked. “Are you all talk? Or do you dare?”
ANTICIPATION.
A heightened sense of expectation had been nipping at his heels for three days. Liam was so stoked about seeing Katie again that he pulled into the secure parking lot three blocks down from Sharper Designs fifteen minutes ahead of their scheduled Friday meeting.
All week long, he’d kept thinking about Tony’s advice.
Seduce Katie Winfield. Have a good time. Sow a few wild oats.
His body tensed with the thought of her. His mouth filled with the remembered taste of her sweet lips as he hopped out of his Lamborghini, briefcase in tow and headed for Sharper Designs.
And then, as if he’d conjured her from thin air, Liam spied Katie standing on the sidewalk, peering into the window of a pet store.
Irresistibly, his eyes were drawn to her. Her sleek blond Boston Brahmin hair was capped off by a bright red beret. She looked incredibly jaunty as she raised a lithe hand, doffed the beret and lightly combed her fingers through her tousled tresses before putting it back on again.
She wore a soft fuzzy sweater the same color as the beret. He had no doubt it was made from the finest cashmere. The hem of her swingy black skirt molded to her slim thighs when she moved, fluid as water. Just watching her caused his muscles to tighten.
She seemed to encapsulate all the things he longed for, but feared he could never have. Good breeding, perfect manners, high-born status. A genuine sense of fun.
Did she have any idea how impossibly beautiful she was, with that silky smooth skin, long, swanlike neck and the cutest little overbite. Did she have a clue as to how many men would give their right arm to be with her?
“Fancy meeting you here,” he said as he approached, but then felt like a total idiot for saying something so stupid and clichéd. Smooth move from the guy dubbed Boston’s most eligible bachelor of the year by Young Bostonian magazine.
She turned and the minute she saw him, her face lit up, warming him from the inside out. “Liam.”
Their gazes met and he saw such a melancholic expression come into her eyes that it made him pause.
What was she so sad about?
His gaze drifted to the pet-shop window. There was a cocker-spaniel puppy in the window, paws pressed against the glass, eyeing Katie with total puppy love. A feeling he understood well.
“Friend of yours?” He smiled.
“I drop by to see him every day on my lunch hour. Sometimes I even go in to pet him. Honestly, I can’t understand why he hasn’t been adopted. Isn’t he the most adorable thing?”
“Yes, he is,” Liam said, but he was looking at her, not the puppy. “Why don’t you buy him?”
“Me? Oh, no.” She shook her head. “I can’t even keep goldfish alive.”
“Says who?”
“Everyone in my family.” She chuckled. “Just ask them.”
“I’m not asking everyone in your family,” he said. “I’m asking you.”
Katie shrugged. “My apartment doesn’t allow pets.”
“Oh, is that it?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
His gaze caught lazily on her lips. “Would you like to take him for a walk?”
“We’ve got a meeting in ten minutes.”
“I’m the client. I can delay the meeting if I want to. Would you like to take the puppy for a walk?”
“We could do that?”
He shrugged. “When you’re Boston’s most eligible bachelor…”
“You can do anything,” she finished for him, and grinned.
“You’ve got it.”
“But what’s Max going to say?”
“Let me take care of Max.” Liam pulled out his cell phone and gave Max Kruger a call to tell him he was commandeering his employee and pushing the meeting back for half an hour. “We’re all set.”
Five minutes later, Liam and Katie left the pet shop with the exuberant puppy, headed for the nearby park. The sun was warm, the breeze cool and the smell of autumn crisp and fresh. The puppy tugged hard on the leash, happy to be out of the window and exploring the world.
“Did you ever have a dog when you were growing up?” Liam asked.
“Once, but I wasn’t allowed to keep him. Brooke turned out to be allergic. You?”
He shook his head. “We couldn’t afford the food and vet bills.”
“Poor us. We’ve been so deprived.” She laughed; a soft melodic sound that lit him up inside.
You can say that again.
“Look at the way his hair flows, so soft and silky.”
“I’m looking,” he said, but his eyes weren’t on the cocker spaniel.
“He’s so proud and proper, the way he holds his head up and prances.” Katie tilted her own head. “I wonder if he has a pedigree.”