“Jeez, thanks for the concern,” Flick sputtered when she could speak again. “For a moment there I thought that I was going down the tunnel.”
Pippa rolled her eyes. “Stop being melodramatic and stop evading the question. So, did you have sex last night? And with whom?”
Sex was such a prosaic word for what she and Kai had done, Flick thought. It was too rough, too unsexy, too pedestrian a word. But she couldn’t call it making love because there was absolutely no love involved.
But there was passion and lust and boatloads of attraction...
“Felicity!”
Pippa snapped her fingers in front of Flick’s face and she jumped an inch off the chair. “Yes? What?”
“You and sex. Who, where, and how?”
Flick stared at her cupcake, her expression troubled. She usually told Pippa everything but she’d told Kai that their tryst would stay between them, and she wanted to honor that agreement. “Uh, do you mind if I don’t tell you who? But yes, I hooked up with someone.”
Pippa didn’t press her for the identity of the man, which was very out of character, but Flick had too much on her mind to dwell on that.
“Someone local?”
“Sort of.” Flick broke off a piece of cupcake and popped it into her mouth. After she swallowed she spoke again. “It was purely a one-night stand, nothing serious. At all.”
“Like I haven’t heard that from you before,” Pippa said.
“It was!” Flick protested. She leaned forward and looked serious. “Look, I know that you think that I don’t understand the concept of one-night stands and, given my history, I don’t blame you. I admit that I may have manipulated men into relationships before but—”
Pippa pulled a face. “Manipulated? That’s a harsh word.”
“Okay, maneuvered men into having a relationship with me. Is that better?” Flick placed her cupcake on the corner of the desk. This was the first time in a long time that she was seeing herself clearly. She really didn't like the picture.
“But I’m not doing that anymore, Pips. Yesterday was pure attraction, lust, sex in its most basic form. And he’s leaving Mercy.” There were lots of visitors to Mercy—he could be any of the many tourists who were visiting the area. At least, that was what Flick was hoping Pippa would think.
Flick stood up and picked up her now mangled cupcake. She sent Pippa a reassuring smile. “You don’t have to worry about me, Pips. I’m not going to be stupid about men. Not again. I’m not going to confuse sex with love.”
Pippa lifted her eyebrows. “Glad to hear it. But do you know what is stupid?”
Flick frowned at her still tart tone. “What?”
“Leaving your car parked outside Kai Manning’s house, spending the afternoon there, and only switching on the bedroom light when it got dark. Miss Greenwood, who, as you know, lives opposite Kai and has never had sex—”
“As far as we know.” Flick interjected.
“—was terribly worried about you and Rufus being in that stranger’s house. She told Aunt Mable who told my Mom. She called me last night, from the hospital, and lectured me because your phone was off. All because you were having afternoon sex!” Pippa shook her head. “A banner stating you were having sex wouldn’t have got the point across clearer.”
Flick slapped her hand across her eyes.
“And for kicks and giggles, Miss Greenwood took her concerns about your safety to the world wide web and mentioned you spent the afternoon at his house on the forum.”
Well, shit, Flick thought. This news would spread like wildfire. So much for keeping their tryst a secret. Thank God Kai was leaving town later today. He already thought that Mercy was a gossipy, small-minded little town. He didn’t need to know that the town’s busybodies—which would be, by now, pretty much everyone—were speculating about them.
“There are some crude follow-up comments on the forum to Miss G’s comment,” Pippa shook her head as Flick hauled her phone out of her pocket to log onto the forum. “Don’t bother reading them, they aren’t worth the aggravation.”
Flick decided to take Pippa’s advice and shoved her phone away.
Pippa leaned back in her chair, her expression disgusted. “I’m already hating that forum. It’s so small town and it’s getting way too personal already. We’re going to have people slandering each other, getting really nasty.”
Flick bit her bottom lip. “Do you think so?”
“I know Mercy, and I know that everybody knows everybody’s business, and if they don’t, they feel free to guess about it. That’s one thing....” Pippa bit her lip. “But commenting on the fact that you spent the afternoon with Kai is a step too far. Soon someone is going to comment on an extra-marital affair, or on a bad business deal or an old feud, all behind a cloak of anonymity. It might be fun and funny now, but it’ll turn nasty—just watch.”