Crap. Joa narrowed her eyes and pointed her index finger at her non-blood sister. “If I do this, and that’s still a very remote possibility, you are so going to owe me, Keels.”
Keely flashed her an impish grin. “Oh, I don’t know. I think you might end up owing me.”
And what, exactly, did she mean by that?
“Are you okay?”
Sadie put her hand on the door to the sushi bar and yanked it open. She and Beth had been trying to have dinner for weeks and they’d made plans earlier in the week to hit this sushi bar on Friday night. Sushi and sake, followed by, depending on how they felt, clubbing or bar hopping.
“I’m fine, why?” Sadie asked as they shed their coats.
“You’re looking tired,” Beth commented, draping her coat over her arm.
Sadie was feeling a little exhausted and, she decided, as she ran a finger between the band of her skirt and her shirt, a little bloated. She needed to drink more water and eat more vegetables and she would...
Tomorrow. After she’d gorged on sake and sushi.
“I’m fine. I’ve just been working hard,” Sadie told her as she followed Beth across the restaurant to the corner seats. It was a great restaurant and as soon as she had a margarita in her hand, she’d be happy.
Beth placed an order for two margaritas—sake would come later—with the waitress before turning to Sadie
“Do you know that only the heart of the agave plant is used to make tequila?”
Sadie smiled. “I did not know that.”
Beth pulled a face at Sadie’s amused smile. “You know I collect useless facts,” Beth said. “Do you know that earthworms have five hearts? I learned that today.”
“I did not know that,” Sadie repeated her previous sentence. She grinned, enjoying her friend’s casual conversation. “Anything else you think I should know?”
Beth leaned back so the waitress could put their margaritas on the counter and Sadie was impressed by their ability to deliver their drinks that fast.
“I also know that dibble means to drink like a duck, butterflies taste with their feet and that you slept with Carrick Murphy.”
How on earth did butterflies taste... What?
“Uh...” Sadie reached for her glass, shoved the straw into her mouth while she decided how to respond. Denying it would be a lie and she didn’t like lying, especially to her friends. But she had slept with Beth’s ex-brother-in-law.
And Beth was very obviously not happy with her.
“There’s no point in denying it, Sadie Slade,” Beth told her, blue eyes concerned. “Your eyes get all squinty when you lie and you always, always wiggle in your chair.”
Sadie frowned at her and shifted in her seat. “I do not!”
“You so do,” Beth said. “Are you really going to look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t?”
Sadie looked glum. “No. And yes, we did.”
Beth winced and her expression darkened. “When?”
Did it matter? “Nearly a month back. He came around to my apartment the day after I was taken to the hospital to check up on me.”
“Sounds like he checked you out really, really well,” Beth stated, sarcasm personified.
He did. Very well indeed. Numerous times, to be precise. But that wasn’t something she could share with Beth because her friend was pissed. It was time to do damage control. Sadie lifted her hand, wanting to avoid a lecture. “It was one night, Beth. And nothing to get excited about.”
Sadie really wished she could open up to Beth, tell her that she’d loved being with Carrick, that, for the first time in her life, she’d felt totally at ease in a man’s arms. That, despite all the things she’d heard about him, Carrick made her feel both powerful and protected, treasured and cherished.
But Carrick was Beth’s ex-brother-in-law and Tamlyn was sort of Sadie’s friend. While Sadie didn’t believe she’d done anything wrong by sleeping with him—they were both single, unattached adults—it still wasn’t something she could freely discuss.