“I’m sorry, Lila. I never meant for it to happen; it just did. Trust me, I’m as disappointed in me as you are,” I told her, hanging my head.
“I’m not disappointed. I’m just shocked and weirded out, but I’m sure I’ll get over it,” she said, rubbing my back. “Thane knows better than to date one of my friends, so I’ll talk to him about it again.”
“We’re not dating,” I corrected, feeling even more irritated.
“That’s even worse,” Lila said. She stood up. “I’m going to go home now. I’m really tired.”
I walked Lila to the door, but she seemed a little cold with me.Great, now Lila’s upset with me.I had to stay far away from Thane Erickson. I feared my friendship with his sister might depend upon it, but that didn’t stop me from having wild, sexual dreams of him for the seventh night in a row!
THANE & DARCY
Thane
“Hello, Lila?” I yelled through the empty house. I knew she was there because her car was out front. I figured they were all out in the backyard, so I made my way out there. The only person I found was Darcy. She was lying on one of the loungers, sunglasses and sunhat on, and her incredibly hot body was glistening in the sun from the suntan lotion I could smell across the lawn.
How bad would it be if I scooped her up and threw her in the pool again?It was so incredibly tempting, but luckily Remi came outside before I put my plan into action.
“Where’s Lila?” I asked Remi.
Darcy heard my voice and sat up quickly. “What are you doing here?” she asked me, accompanying her words with ice daggers.
“Was I talking to you?” I asked. I looked back at Remi and waited for her answer.
Remi looked from Darcy to me, shook her head, and said, “Last time I saw her, she was headed to work out.”
I looked at Darcy and grinned (because I didn’t know what else to do—she made me nervous).
Shellene came out and walked over to them, all sweaty and with a towel. “Hey, Thane, how are you?”
Darcy shot me a death stare and went into the house. My eyes followed her, and I contemplated going with my eyes so that I could talk with her, but I answered Shellene instead. “I’m doing great, as always. I have a favor to ask of you.”
“Sure thing, hot stuff.” She flashed all her white teeth and tilted her head.
I loved Shellene. She truly was the best human being I had ever met. An angel on earth.
“I’ve got a bunch of emergency meetings today that I hadn’t planned for this week when I was making out the schedule for Tami, the girl who looks after my dogs when I’m at work. I called her, and she’s not available today. Would you mind letting the dogs out a couple of times and feeding them their dinner? I hate to ask you, but I’d be ever so grateful.” It was easy to be nice to Shellene. Groveling would be my next tactic.
“Sure thing, Thane. I’d be happy to. Just leave all the instructions on your counter. Everything the same as usual?” she asked. She’d done this for me a few times. She even had a key now.
“Yes. Thank you so much. You’ve really got me out of a bind,” I said.
“No problem. I love Little Rascal; she’s so well-behaved. How’s Chance fitting in?”
“Great. He’s such a softy. I shudder to think what would’ve happened to him if I hadn’t found him and brought him home with me,” I told her. A tear threatened to jump ship, but I changed the subject before it had a chance to.
“Aww. You’re such a sweetie, Thane.”
“Thanks again. I owe you one,” I said as I crossed the lawn and went back into the house.
As I was walking into the kitchen, my phone rang. It was Julian. Not wanting to make the mistake of someone eavesdropping on my conversation again, I went into the office and shut the door, putting him on speaker phone.
“Did you get the permits and paperwork to start throwing the tenants out of the apartment buildings?’ Julian asked.
“I sure did. I’ve got a list of all the tenants, and I’m going to get a friend of mine at the police station to run a check on all of them to see if they have any kind of criminal history. That way, I’ve got something to hold over them if they refuse to leave,” I explained.
“That’s awesome. They don’t stand a chance. I hope you’re right that they’ll all find someplace to go, though. I’m still a little unsure I like that part of it,” Julian said.
“Don’t worry, everyone will be just fine, trust me,” I told him.