Frisk Me(24)

Luc paused in his chewing, torn between admiration and annoyance. “You know, your tenacity is bordering on creepy.”

“Are you deflecting?”

He shrugged. “Of course not. There’s just not much to say. It was college. Dorms. Dorm food. Professors. Exams. Finals. Cute girls. I mean, I’d tell you that I was a decent student, but you’ve probably already tracked down and memorized my transcript.”

“Three point nine two; major in Econ. Not bad, Officer.”

He smiled in thanks at Helen as she cleared their plates. “But you want to know why I’d go if I didn’t have to.”

Her lips tilted. “Sort of.”

Luc leaned back in the booth. “Well, I’d like to tell you I was an incredibly driven eighteen-year-old, desperate to pursue my education, but the truth is it was all my mom.”

“She made you go?”

“Sort of. I mean, being the youngest, I sort of knew it was coming, and it never occurred to me to resist. But even as she was my dad’s biggest supporter as he climbed the ranks, Mom never wanted her children to think they had to follow in his footsteps. College was her way of giving us a chance to know something other than the cop life.”

“But you’re all cops.”

“The guys, yeah. My sister, no.” Luc pulled out his wallet as Helen dropped off the check, but Ava was too quick. “I’ve got it.”

He considered for a second and then put his wallet away. “Because you ruined my solitude on my only day off this week, sure.”

Luc was a little surprised at the flash of guilt on her face. Ava might be tenacious but she wasn’t without a conscience.

That little flash of humanity bothered him.

He couldn’t afford to like her. Not when there was so much to lose.

“One more question?” she said as he moved to the edge of his booth.

“No guarantee there’ll be an answer, but sure.”

“When you did those things…jumped into the river and gave the homeless guy a jacket. Did you know there was a camera on you?”

All friendly thoughts he’d had toward her dried up.

Instead of replying, he lifted his coffee mug, draining the last sip before standing.

He met her eyes with a silent f*ck off before he walked away.

There were some idiotic questions just not worth answering.





CHAPTER NINE



For the last time, the dress does not make your butt look big,” Ava said.

“I look bottom heavy. I know I do.”

Ava slowly rotated around her best friend, taking a sip of champagne as she did. “Okay, you’re right. The dress doesn’t work. You’re too tiny? the ballroom gown style overwhelms you.”

Beth scowled down at her from the podium in the center of the shop’s dressing room. “How dare you. I look like a princess.”

Ava chewed on the inside of her cheek. “You just said you looked bottom heavy. Now you’re a princess?”

Beth’s scowl grew. “Princesses can be bottom heavy.”

Ava wordlessly plucked Beth’s champagne flute off a side table and handed it to her. “So get the dress then.”

“But I don’t like this one.” Beth took a sip of her drink before handing it back and holding out a hand to be helped down from the podium.

“You’ve got to pick one soon, sweetie,” Ava said as Beth moved back toward her dressing room, barely fitting through the door in her huge dress. “You’re five one and negative twenty pounds, so whatever you pick is likely going to need to be tailored.”

The door opened, a pair of blue cat eyes and a cloud of orange curls glaring back at Ava. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

An arm shot out and Ava handed her the champagne glass before the door closed again.

“You pick the next dress,” Beth grumbled from inside the room. “That way when it makes me look like a church bell I can blame you.”

“Try this one,” Ava said, picking up a mermaid gown that she’d spotted earlier. She set it over the dressing room door and waited for the protest she knew was coming.

“It’s mermaid style.”

“Which will look fabulous on you.”

The door opened again, and her tiny friend stood unabashed in green bikini panties and the nude-colored strapless bra she’d dubbed her “Saturday uniform” for the past few weeks.

“I said no mermaid style. I’ll look like Ariel.”

“There are worse things than resembling an adorable Disney princess.”

Beth scowled and pointed at another puffy-skirted dress on a mannequin. “I’ll try on that one. I like the pearls on the hem.”

“Sure. After the mermaid one,” Ava pressed.

“But—”

Ava reached into the dressing room and snatched the yellow sundress that Beth had worn into the shop. “Fine then. You can walk out of here naked.”

With an exasperated sound her friend shut the door. “I knew I should have asked my cousin to be maid of honor.”

“Tonya’s a pushover and a total girly-girl. You want to not look like a cupcake on your wedding day, you’ve gotta stick with me.”

“How’s she doing?” asked the saleswoman who’d wisely given them some privacy after Beth had thrown a tantrum over her tenth dress. And that was eight dresses ago.