Amie shook her head. He was ‘the man’.
But it’s not like you’ve never slept with anyone like him before.
Visions of her slowly removing that suit from his body clouded her brain. Her body tingled just like it had when she’d accused him of having a stick up his ass. But that had been another type of tingle. An angry tingle. Or had it been?
“We heard you managed to alienate an entire group of people, including an old friend.” Carrie’s voice drifted from behind.
When Amie turned, she was face to face with her, and Martina, both smiling from ear to ear.
“It’s a gift.” Amie sloughed off her actions, pretending it was no big deal, but even she knew she might have taken it one step too far. Okay, maybe two. “I didn’t alienate anyone. It’s not my fault people are sensitive.”
“I take it you aren’t a fan of Milton.” Martina giggled. “I don’t know how you couldn’t like him. He’s charming, educated and not to mention, looks pretty damn good in a suit.”
“You’re not supposed to be looking.” Amie pointed to Martina’s very large belly.
“I’m not looking, I’m admiring. Besides, this b
aby is pressing down on things and I’m finding it very hard to control a certain type of urge.”
“Does the conversation always have to drift to sex with my brother?” Carrie asked, her face looking like she’d just sucked on a lemon.
“Sorry, Care. Moving on.” Martina crossed her arms over her chest. “Milton? You liking?”
Amie huffed. “He’s a typical uptight businessman. And that name. Milton? It’s just as uptight as his personality.”
“It’s a family name.” Carrie shrugged. “His grandmother’s maiden name or something like that.”
“Whatever. He still kills trees and makes people homeless for a living.”
Both Carrie and Martina looked at Amie. Their smiles faded. Had they figured out what might have put the bee in her bonnet?
“Just because Milton is in real estate development doesn’t mean he’s involved in that kind of thing,” Carrie said.
“You had a bad experience a long time ago, but Milton shouldn’t pay for it. He’s a nice guy, and he didn’t ask his father to create this business. It was handed to him. You can’t expect him to walk away from…” Martina quickly stopped talking.
Ding! Ding! Ding! It seemed Amie’s friends had finally put together the pieces of the angry puzzle of her past. How it had taken years for her father to come to terms with her not taking over the family business. Right, because construction was exactly the life she wanted for herself.
“You’re right.” Amie almost giggled at the two faces that stared back at her. They looked…flabbergasted. That was the perfect word to describe them. It wasn’t often Amie admitted defeat. “I might have gotten a little carried away. It’s just that…” Amie hugged herself and leaned against the table. “I just heard a very sad story before I came here and I was already riled up.”
“I think maybe you should apologize to Milton,” Martina said. “He is our guest. And from what I can gather, he might be around for a few weeks and most likely coming back for the wedding.”
“I don’t know about apologizing but I can be civil.”
“That’s all we can ask of you, Amie.” Carrie wrapped her arm around her friend and pulled her in tight.
“Care, can I stay here tonight?” Amie asked. She picked at the pasta salad in front of her.
Aleks, Carrie, Amie and the Taylors had been planning non-stop for the last two months to get this party and the wedding in place. Add in yoga sessions, Reiki sessions and her research into Blue Energy Matrix, and Amie was about ready to drop.
“Um–”
Martina quickly cut Carrie off. “You can sleep with me.” Martina grabbed Amie for a hug. “Rob and I are staying the night, but he can sleep on the couch.” The weird stares and eye rolls going on between Carrie and Martina weren’t subtle. They were up to something.
“I guess so. You two are acting weird, but I’m going to chalk it up to being tired as hell.”
“He’s done it before,” Martina said. “I’ll just help clean–”
“No!” Amie yelped as she struggled out of the strangle hold of her friends. “Get your butt to bed. We’ll clean up, and I’ll be down quickly so Rob doesn’t steal my spot.” Amie picked up some empty platters and headed to the dishwasher.