“No. But are you delusional?”
“Blow me!”
“Whoa!” All three men reared back, and she inwardly groaned at the return of the foul-mouthed Bronx girl she had been. Damn Mace!
Vinny held his hands up, palms out. “Calm down, woman. You know we’re kidding.”
“No, you’re not. And you’re paying for my éclair.”
Jimmy stared at her and Dez knew why he didn’t spend a lot of time alone. She did really have the most gorgeous male friends. Although they were a little…different. Sal lived in his own world. Vinny brought being an egotistical prick to a brand-new high or low depending on your perspective. And Jimmy always seemed angry. She never saw him smile with anyone but the three of them. He probably came out of his mother’s womb with that scowl permanently plastered to his gorgeous face. Sometimes she wondered if smiling might actually be painful for him.
“So who is he?”
“He’s actually an old friend of mine. Just got back into town.” She sipped her coffee, then said while staring into the coffee mug, “He’s Navy.”
Dez ducked the balled-up napkins thrown at her.
“Have you no shame?” Jimmy sighed.
“Oh, shut up.”
The men took chunks of her éclair. “So who is this Navy guy?”
Dez swallowed at Jimmy’s question. “Uh…Mason Llewellyn.”
The silence that followed…kind of painful. Finally, Dez couldn’t take it anymore. “What?”
Vinny barely smothered a laugh. “You expect us to believe you’re dating a Llewellyn?”
“I’m not dating a Llewellyn. We went to school together. I told you about him.”
“You went to school with a Llewellyn?”
“Well,” Jimmy cut in, “I went to school with a Rockefeller. Of the Brooklyn Rockefellers.”
Dez gazed down at her empty plate. They’d completely demolished her éclair. She inwardly sighed. Of course they didn’t believe her. Why would anyone think Dez MacDermot would know, much less date, a Llewellyn? Especially one as tasty as Mace?
“She did tell us about him. They went to the Cathedral School together. He was her first big crush. A cute little guy who couldn’t control his hair.” The three of them gaped at Sal. “What?”
Dez pushed the empty plate away. “I’m always surprised when I realize you were actually listening to me.”
“I listen. I just don’t say anything unless necessary.” He shrugged. “It felt necessary.”
Jimmy leaned back, and Dez winced as the chair creaked loudly. All that muscle on one man often seemed kind of inhuman. Not a lot of chairs held him easily. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with you going out with a Llewellyn.”
Startled, Dez looked at her friend. He’s not comfortable?
“I agree with you, Jim. I’m not sure you should go through with this.” Now Dez turned her eyes on Vinny.
“Have you both lost your minds?”
“I mean, who is this guy?”
“And when exactly was the last time you saw him?”
“You know, I’d expect this crap from Bukowski, but not from you guys.”
“Bukowski’s uncomfortable with this too, huh?”
“This conversation”—Dez rapped her knuckles against the Formica table—“is over.”
“Be careful, Dez,” Jimmy stated earnestly.
“And don’t sleep with him the first night,” Vinny warned. “We know what a slut you can be.”
Dez turned to Sal. “Do you have anything to add to this bullshit?”
“Yeah.” Sal looked down from the ceiling he’d been staring at. “Based on the structure of this building, if we removed that pillar back there, we could take out this whole block.”
Dez sighed.
Mace sat down next to Smitty and glared at the man. “Could you explain to me again why we’re here?”
“Because my sister wanted to come to Macy’s. See all the pretty Christmas displays. Some people actually like this holiday, Mace.”
“I understand why we’re at Macy’s. I don’t understand why we’re in the lingerie department of Macy’s.” It sure as hell wasn’t helping his present situation. He kept imagining Dez in all the different panties and bras on the sales floor. It simply wouldn’t make dinner an easy event if he walked in sporting a hard-on.
“You think I’m comfortable?” Smitty shook his head. “I’d rather be driving bamboo shoots through my fingernails than thinkin’ about my sister in any of this…stuff,” he growled. “And she better be gettin’ somethin’ flannel.”
“Yeah, right.” Smitty always wanted to believe his baby sister remained some kind of untouched virgin. At twenty-nine and seriously cute, Mace doubted that.
“I’ll have you know wolf women are very into flannel.”
“Not the wolf women I’ve known.”
Surprised, Smitty turned to Mace, who smiled and shrugged. Smitty really thought he knew everything about him, didn’t he? Foolish puppy.
“What can I say? I’m a male. They were three healthy females. It was the Philippines. Do the math.”
“And after all that you think you can settle down with one woman? A human, no less?”
“Of course I can.” Mace grinned. “Cause she’s Dez.”
“I met her, Mace. She’s a nice girl and all, but I don’t get it.”
“Good. Keep it that way.”
Smitty chuckled. “Man, hoss, you got it bad.”
“I know.” He stood up. “You better tell your sister to get a move on. I’ve got to head downtown soon. I am not going to be late for this.”
Mace wandered away to check out all the lingerie. He wondered how long before he and Dez would be at the “It’s okay to buy me lingerie” stage of their relationship. He hoped it would be tomorrow. Although even he had to admit that might be pushing it a little.
Or maybe dinner would prove she had changed after all. So much he’d rather stick his hand in an open flame instead of spending one more second with her. It would definitely make things easier since she insisted on being damn difficult about all this. Yet he wasn’t holding out hope for that scenario either.
Mace had just passed a line of demi-cup bras that actually made his mouth water when he saw her. Looking beautiful and sexy—and desperate. She was talking to some short guy with no neck. Actually, no-neck was doing all the talking. Dez seemed trapped. She nodded as if she were really listening, but her eyes seemed to search for anyone who could rescue her. Eventually their eyes locked, and Mace could practically hear her screaming for help. He realized how much of their time together she did remember, when she made a move he hadn’t seen in more than twenty years.
Dez ran her hands through her beautiful auburn hair, brought her fingertips over her ears, lingering on the right one as she gave it a gentle and subtle tug.
It had been their sign. The move they made when Amber Kollerici backed you into a corner to discuss the fun world of knitting or when Dominic Bannon had you backed into a corner threatening to pound your face in. Their secret sign for “Get me the fuck outta here!”
With a smile he didn’t try to hide, he held up the bra and panty set he’d been eyeing and pointed at it. He raised an eyebrow. Immediately she caught on. If I help you, you wear this…
She scratched her forehead with one finger. The middle one. He laughed and went off to save his damsel in distress.
Wasn’t holiday shopping for your family bad enough without having to add running into the ex-husband? Especially when he stopped to buy lingerie for his fiancée. Then she did that thing again. That thing her post-breakup therapist told her never to do when she met up with her ex to go over property splits or paperwork.
Ask him how he was doing.