Prima Donna (3 page)

Nothing left to do but find a new job. So what if unemployment was at a decade-long high and the CozyMart hadn’t even acknowledged her application yet? It could be worse, right? And right on cue, her phone rang.

“Hello? Tina? Is everything okay? Is Mom—?” Regan gripped the back of the chair, her eyes clenched, her heart thundering in her chest. “You’re sure? Okay, good.”

She released the breath she’d been holding and forced herself to swallow the leftover panic. Tina Works, chief administrator at Hillcrest Psychiatric Home, took a personal interest in every patient, so it wasn’t unusual for her to phone Regan to discuss her mother’s progress, not even on New Year’s Eve. Or in this case,
especially
on New Year’s Eve.

“No, nothing yet, but tomorrow’s a whole new year, right?” She smiled into the phone, but she wasn’t fooling either of them. With costs always increasing at Hillcrest, her mom’s disability pension wasn’t enough to cover everything, which meant Regan’s savings were slowly withering, but moving her mom somewhere else would only happen as a desperate last resort.

“Funding? What kind of funding? What would it cover?”

After all the other forms and applications they’d filled out over the years, it was too much to hope this would be any different, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try. And while she should know better than to get her hopes up again, she couldn’t help it.

“Absolutely, whatever you need. Can I email copies or do they need originals? Yes, I know, but a long shot is still better than no shot, right?…Great…yup, I’ll get it all back to you right away…Okay, and once they have the application, how long until they make a decision? Yeah, okay, good. Thanks…Me? I’m fine. You’re sure Mom’s okay tonight? Is she watching the movie?…That’s good, she loves Gregory Peck…Any chance she’s up for a visit or a—?…No, that’s fine, I understand…Is it okay if I call back later, just to check? Okay, thanks. Happy New Year, Tina.”

Regan ended the call, leaned back against the wall, and slid down until she sat on the floor, knees tucked up to her chest. She looked around at what was left of her salon.

Yup. Happy freakin’ New Year.

“You could use a good kiss.”

Han Solo,
The Empire Strikes Back

“Sweet mother of God, he cut his hair.” Maya’s soft blue eyes gaped over the rim of her wineglass as Carter made his way from the far end of Jayne’s house and waded into the crowded living room.

From where Regan stood in the kitchen, she had to lean way back to look, then grinned and went back to the platter Jayne asked her to fill.

“Choose your next words carefully,” she warned. “That’s some of my best work you’re looking at.”

She rinsed a bunch of grapes in the sink, patted them dry, and set them between slices of Gouda and Havarti.

“
You
did that?” Maya was openly gaping now, her eyes wider than Regan had ever seen them. “Well done, my friend. Very well done.”

“Thank you.” Regan filled a few gaps on the plate with more cheese, then leaned back against the island next to her friend so she could gawk at Carter, too. “Blink, Maya. And for God’s sake, close your mouth.”

Maya did as she was told, then blew a long appreciative breath. “Wow.”

“Yeah.”

What with the voices in the living room and Mellencamp blasting from the speakers, it was impossible to hear what Nick said to him, but Carter ran his hand through his freshly cut hair and grinned; part cocky, part self-conscious, and totally hot.

“Oh sweet Lord, I think my ovaries just exploded.” Maya’s quiet purr faded to an almost whimper. “Please tell me he’s still single and
please
tell me I’m imagining that he keeps checking you out, Reg.”

If Maya had any idea how much Regan had been checking Carter out already, she’d shit a duck. It wasn’t funny, but that didn’t stop Regan from grinning.

“Oh my God,” Maya gaped. “You little tramp! What else did you do to him while you had him in your chair?”

“What?” Regan cried. “Nothing!”

“Uh-huh. You’re such a liar.” She rolled her eyes over the rim of her glass and snorted. “You could fry an egg off that sizzle, Reg, and if I were you, I’d ditch this shindig in a heartbeat and go get me some of that. Dollars to doughnuts he’s the best sex you’ll ever have.”

Regan couldn’t decide if Carter heard Maya, or if it was by chance he happened to grin over at them right then. Either way, she wished she hadn’t just taken the last sip of her drink because as she tried to swallow it, she sucked in a breath and ended up choking.

Not just a quick cough, either, but a full-body, set-the-glass-d
own-and-stagger
-from-the-room-
before-you-hack
-up-a-kidney kind of choke. The last thing she saw as she stumbled toward the bathroom was Carter’s dark eyes laughing at her as he watched her disappear.

Great.

Locked in the bathroom, she tried to keep the coughing quiet, but the more she fought it, the longer it went on, so with a grimace, she forced her lungs to expel everything in a loud ripping cough that would’ve scared a longshoreman.

“What the hell was that?” Maya’s harsh chuckle from the other side of the door was anything but comforting. “I think there’s a doctor in the kitchen if you need one.”

Over a few more coughs, Regan managed to sputter, “Don’t you dare—”

Her friend’s soft laughter faded away until there was silence on the other side of the door again. Regan leaned over the sink, shaking her head at her blotchy reflection. If she didn’t get back out there pretty quick, Maya would no doubt send Carter in. If Ellie was there, she would have done it already.

She used her hands to cup some water up to her mouth, then pressed her damp palms over her cheeks until the red blotches finally faded. Quick makeup check, a couple long, careful breaths…not so much as a tickle…and she was good to go. Now all she needed was a nice cold beer to help her make a casual reentry.

“You okay?” Carter leaned back against the kitchen sink, a Corona in his left hand, the fingers of his right tucked down the front pocket of his jeans.

Damn it. So much for a casual reentry.

“Yeah, fine. That’s what I get for trying to breathe and swallow at the same time.”

“Never ends well.” His dark eyes crinkled at the corners. “Maya thought you might need CPR.”

“Yeah,” Regan snorted. “I’m sure.”

“Here. Bought you a drink.” Sporting his cocky half grin, he pulled a frosty bottle of beer out of the fridge and popped the top. “Want a glass?”

“No, this is good, thanks.” She reached for the bottle, but he let his fingers linger under hers for a moment before letting her take it. A chill danced up her arm, but when she glanced around, looking for an open door or window, she couldn’t find either. As her gaze came back around, she only hesitated a second on his face before…
wait a minute
.

“You shaved.” Regan tipped her head a little to the right, frowning slightly. “I could’ve done that when you were in earlier, but I thought the stubble was part of the whole…‘look.’ ”

“I don’t have a look; I’m just lazy.” He rubbed his earlobe between his thumb and forefinger, blew a slow breath over the top of his bottle, and shook his head slowly. “And there’s no way in hell I’d let you shave me.”

“Why not? I’m really good—”

“Beer me, Carter.” Nick Scott paused at the kitchen entry, his hand open, ready to catch the bottle his cousin tossed him. His fingers closed around it with a casual ease as he tipped his chin toward Regan. “Hey Regan—you okay? Sounded like you were going to choke up a lung.”

“Great,” she laughed softly. “Hope I didn’t scare anyone.”

With a quick grin, he twisted the cap off the bottle, flicked it back at Carter, and disappeared into the crowded living room. When Regan turned around, Carter was watching her, his gaze warm, if a little uncertain.

“What?”

His right shoulder lifted slowly. “Just never seen eyes as pretty as yours. They’re—”

Regan’s snort stopped whatever else he was about to say.

“Oh, puh-lease.
My eyes?
” She took a sip of her beer and sighed as a growing wave of disappointment washed over her. What did he think, that she was one of those barely-of-age bimbos who fell for crap like that? “Save your cheesy little lines for someone else, Carter. They won’t work on me.”

Without a glance back, she took her bottle and started toward the living room. Most of the guests were regulars around Nick and Jayne’s place, but it didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out why Jayne had maneuvered Maya over by Bachelor Number One, or why the only empty seat in the room was next to Bachelor Number Two.

No thank you.

Regan stayed where she was, leaning against the door frame, listening to Nick and his friend, Brett, rib each other. It was impossible to concentrate on what they were saying, though, because all she could hear was Carter’s quiet footsteps coming up behind her.

“It wasn’t a line,” he murmured. “But I bet I’ve got one or two that’d work on you.” His voice was barely a breath against the curve of her ear, and though she couldn’t see him, she knew he was smirking at her. “Is it hot in here or is it just you?”

“Seriously?” She wouldn’t smile.
She wouldn’t
. Okay, maybe she would. “The ‘pretty eyes’ one was better than that.”

“Gimme a second, I’m just warming up. How about this one: if you were a transformer, you’d be a hot-obot and your name would be Optimus Fine.”

“Oh my—” Regan snorted, laughed right out loud, and eyed him over her shoulder. “You’re just embarrassing yourself.”

“Come on, that’s a good one!” His shoulder brushed against her back as he leaned closer, so close she could feel the heat from his skin against her neck as he twirled the ends of her hair around his finger. “What if I told you, straight up, that I just really want to kiss you right now?”

“Oh.”
Better
. The long rippling shiver caught her by surprise as it raced down the length of her spine, then back up again when he rubbed her hair between his fingers.

“That’s some kinda red.” His voice was so low she had to strain to hear him. “Looks good down.”

It took two tries to get her tongue to work. “Thank you, I know a good stylist.”

“Yeah?” A slow inhale behind her, then he chuckled quietly. “The last one I had told me I looked like shit.”

“I never said that!” Regan choked as she turned to look at him, but he kept his gaze fixed on her hair, or rather, the way he’d wound it around his finger.

“Regan!” Jayne’s voice took a second to settle in Regan’s ear, and when she finally looked over, Jayne was flagging her from the other side of the room, motioning toward the empty spot beside Number Two. The strain in her voice and the tightness of her jaw was weird enough, but her ice-blue glare shot straight past Regan to Carter, who appeared completely oblivious.

Regan had no interest in being set up with either of the bachelors, but she couldn’t just ignore Jayne. She needed an excuse, and by the looks of it, so did Maya.

With a bright smile, Regan neither nodded nor shook her head. Instead, she pointed toward the long oak table covered in food.

“I’m just going to grab something to eat. Maya, can I get you anything?”

“I’ll come with you.” Maya met her halfway across the room and together they moved around the table with the speed of cooled molasses, picking up a little of this, a little of that.

“So, you and Carter.” Maya kept her head down, pretending to focus on the fondue, but Regan saw her friend’s gaze wander Carter’s way. “How long’s that been going on?”

“There is no ‘me and Carter.’ ” Regan muttered, moving closer to Maya. “This is the first time I’ve seen him since Jayne’s wedding.”

“Well, call me crazy,” Maya whispered. “But it looks to me like he wants to see more of you. And I mean that literally and figuratively.”

Regan couldn’t stop the soft snort that escaped. “Even if I was looking to hook up with someone,
which I’m not,
I think we can all agree he’s probably not the best choice.”

“Why not?” Maya stood straight up and stared back at her. “He’s hot!”

“Shh! How about the fact he’s Jayne’s cousin and that’d be just…weird.”

“Cousin-in-law.”

“Same thing. And how about the fact I need to focus on finding a job and not on trying to keep some guy happy?”

Maya waved her hand dismissively. “Focus shmokus. I’m not talking about a commitment—God knows the word alone is enough to give you a coronary—all I’m talking about is a distraction. And Carter would be perfect.”