Kiss the Girl (24 page)

“It just
feels good
?  It was an
impulse
?”  Karl shook his shaggy head at Erik in disapproval.  Then he turned on Nixie again.  “And you.  You’re
okay
with
a
quick grope in the hallway
?
  Haven’t I taught you anything?
”

“It wasn’t a moonlight and roses kind
of moment
.”  She shrugged.  “My self esteem will survive.”

He peered past them down the empty hall way. 
“Any asshole with a cell
phone walks by and
you and Romeo here are
front page news
.  What were you
thinking
?”
 

She shut her mouth.  This wasn’
t about her self esteem
.  Of course it wasn’t.  This was about her
brand
.  She reached for a neutral tone of voice and said,
“I w
asn’t expecting you for a few more weeks
, Karl
. 
What are you doing here?”

“
Elementary PR, looks like
.”  His round glasses had slid down an impressive beak, and he was glaring at her over the wire rims.  “Get inside, both of you.  Now, please.”

Nixie looked at Erik. 

“You don’t have to stay,” she told him.

“What?  And miss all the fun?”

She walked into the apartment, Erik at her heels.  Karl clicked the door shut behind them and leaned back against it, arms folded over his chest.  He tucked his chin into his chest and drilled Nixie with his patented brand of disappointment-laced reproof. 

“Don’t look at me like that,” Nixie said, though she sidled away from Erik like a guilty teenager.  “He’s not a reporter or anything.”

“You could have called,” Karl said.  “I know we haven’t been on the best of terms lately, but you could have at least called.”

“Why?  So you could do a background check on a guy I’m not dating?”

“So I wouldn’t have to scramble for a spin when the pictures hit the tabloids.
”

“There are no pictures, Karl.”

“There are always pictures.”  He shook his head.  “
You’re a
brand
, Nixie.  How many times do I have to tell you that?  If we’re going to be of service to anybody, the brand has to stay pristine.”

Nixie rolled her shoulders under the sudden, familiar weight of guilt.  “
Tell it to Sloan.”

“Sloan is her own brand.  Very different.”

“No kidding.” 

“
Introduce me to your friend, Nixie,
”
Karl said
.  His overly patient tone made her feel petulant and sulky so she plunked herself down on the beige couch.  It was
hard,
as uncomfortable as it was
expensive
. 

“Dr
. Erik Larsen, meet Dr. Karl
De
ttr
e
ich
.” Nixie said.  “Karl is my political advisor
, and COO of Leighton-Brace Charitable Giving
.”

“Ah.”  Erik nodded.  “Pleased to meet you.”

“Erik is on the board of directors at the clinic where I’m working.”  

“You’ve associated yourself with a clinic?”  Karl’s
grey
eyes were aggrieved behind his glasses. 

“I told you I was looking for a project.”

“
And I told you to keep me in the loop. 
For Christ’s sake, Nixie
.”  He stalked toward the laptop humming on the coffee table at Nixie’s knees.  “
Sloan
!” 

Nixie covered her face with her hands.  “Oh,
God
. 
Mom
’s here?”

“
Sloan Leighton is here
?” Erik asked
in awed tones
.  Nixie ignored him.  It was bad enough that he
r old life had just hijacked her new one
. 
Did she really have to watch while the object of her raging and unrequited lust turned into a slack-jawed, starry-eyed fool over her mother?

Sloan
strolled out of the kitchen
, a
n
iPhone
in her hand, a wireless phone bud parked in her ear
, only to find her daughter--whom she’d last seen from
a prone
position beneath their mutual lover--parked in the center of the sofa
.
  She looked miserably unhappy.  Sloan could have told her not to sit on that couch.  It was desperately uncomfortable.
 

“We’re booked on the eight o’clock flight out of Dulles,”
Sloan
said
to Karl
, flipping her curls over one shoulder
an
d smiling at the tall, broad stranger
standin
g beside the coffee table
.  “Scheduled to touch down by nine tomorrow local
time.”  She
let her gaze drop
to her daughter
.  “
Hello
, Nixie.”
 

“
Hey, Mom. 
How’s
James
?
” Nixie asked.  “
Or should I say how
was
James
?  I understand you dropped him somewhere in Prague.
”
 

Sloan fluttered a hand dismissively
.  “
I did. 
He
was such a bore, and a
bit of a disappointment once the dirty wore off.  Didn’t you think so?”

Nixie stared at her.  “I am
not
going to compare notes on men we’ve both slept with.”

Sloan laughed lightly.  “You
are
a paragon, aren’t you?  Note to self:  Nixie doesn’t mind a bad lay.  Steer clear of her boyfriends in the future.” 
She cut her
eyes toward the silent stranger
.  “Though I may m
ake an exception in this case
.
”
  She
draped herself over the arm of the couch, offered
him
a languid hand and said, “I’m Sloan Leighton.”

He took Sloan’s hand
, gave her a smile that, had Sloan been
a few
years younger and
several lifetimes more innocent
, might have sparked an interest.  As it was she only thought
Nixie’s latched onto a live one this time.  Careful, baby girl
.

“Erik Larsen,” the man said.
 
“
It’s a pleasure, Ms. Leighton.  I’m a big fan.”

Sloan
dropped her lashes and gave him a little smolder.  “The pleasure’s all mine,” she purred automatically,
but
her attention
was fixed inward
.  She should feel something, sh
ouldn’t she? This was the first time she’d seen Nixie since seducing the poor girl’s boyfriend, after all.  Surely even she ought to suffer a twinge of nerves or guilt or...something.

She poked at the arid, barren place where her conscience used to live and a
faint glimmer of feeling rose up inside her.  Was it shame?  How
wonder
fully novel.  She hadn’t had the self-respect to feel ashamed of herself in years.  Had she finally gone too far?  Had she finally been outrageous enough to shock even herself?  To wake up the dead weight that was her heart?

She focused on the sensation curling in her stomach, willed it to strengthen, to grow, as if it were a tiny spark she could coax into a flame.  

Shame, she told herself.  For shame, Sloan. 

But her heart was silent.  Dead.

She felt nothing.
 

“Don’t bother
with the sex-kitten routine
,” Nixie said
, rolling her eyes
.  “
This one’s spoken for, and not by me.  His heart belongs to
his best friend Mary Jane
.”

“How...sweet
,” Sloan said as
Erik continued to hold
her
hand and grin at her
with that slightly dazed look men so often wore around her.
 

“Isn’t it?” Nixie said.  She
stood up
and
deliver
ed
a sharp slap to the back of Erik’s head.  “Pull it together, lover boy.”

Erik frowned at Nixie
and
let go of Sloan’s hand. 
“
God
.  Cut me some slack.
”  He rubbed the back of his head.
 
“
That was the fulfillment of a twenty year old fantasy.”

Sloan gave a twinkling little chuckle.  Nixie plunked herself
back
down on the unforgiving couch
and said,
“
Eyes on the prize, doc.  Moony idiots never won fair ladies.
  Think of Mary Jane.
”

Karl snapped shut his laptop and seated himself in the chair to Nixie’s right.  “Cancel the flights,
Sloan.
”

“What
?
  Why?
”

“Nixie’s aligned herself with a local clinic.”

Sloan sighed and punched a few buttons on her cell.  “Amelia?  It’s Sloan again.  Cancel the tickets, will you?  Nixie’s giving us trouble.  Thanks, darling.  I’ll be in touch.  Soon, I hope.”

She
slid
bonelessly
into the square arm chair to Nixie’s left.  It was just as beige and hard as the couch, but
Sloan
worked hard to make
every piece of furniture she touched
look like a love nes
t
.
 
There were appearances to maintain, after all
.