Burn (Breathless #3)(86)

Josie frowned. “So he doesn’t have an apartment here?”

Brittany shook her head. “No. He’s been in Vegas getting the new club ready to open. Now that it is, he’s planning to spend a lot of his time out there, or at least for the first few months. He travels a lot, going between his clubs, so he doesn’t maintain a permanent residence anywhere.”

“How long will he be here then?” Bethany asked, her lips turning down into a frown that mirrored Josie’s own.

Brittany shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to take it one day at a time and see what happens. Who knows? Maybe I’m just an itch he wants to scratch while he’s in town. I know better than to read more into the situation. Good way to get my hopes crushed.”

“He could scratch his itch with me,” Mia muttered.

Bethany died laughing. “I’m so telling Gabe you said that.”

Mia glared at her. “No you won’t. Girlfriends’ code. What’s discussed with girlfriends stays with girlfriends.”

“True,” Bethany agreed. “But it’s fun to tease you.”

“Besides, I’ve got more than I can handle with Gabe. I can look. Nothing’s wrong with my eyes—or my hormones for that matter. But I have no desire to touch another man,” she said cheekily.

“Is it possible to fall in love at first sight?” Brittany asked wistfully. “I’m thirty years old and I’ve never been in love. I certainly wasn’t in love with my husband. I’m worried that Kai just overwhelmed me and that I latched on to him because he was so attracted to me. I just wonder if I would have responded to any guy the way I responded to Kai.”

Josie reached over to squeeze Brittany’s hand. “Absolutely it is possible. It happens more than you’d think. And you need to stop beating yourself up over your first marriage. Shit happens. But you got out. Now it’s time to move on and give yourself a chance at happiness.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Bethany said. “And Jace swears that he fell for me the first time he laid eyes on me. And from what you say, it certainly seems that Kai fell pretty hard himself.”

Mia slung an arm around Brittany’s shoulders. “Go for it, girlfriend. Have a great time. If it works out, great. But if it doesn’t? You’ll have us to fall back on. Not to mention Ash and the guys will beat the crap out of Kai if he f**ks you over.”

Bethany grinned her agreement. Even Brittany’s eyes sparkled with amusement. Josie didn’t say anything since she well knew that Ash would do just that. Mia’s words were just that. Words. But Ash wouldn’t hesitate to go after someone for hurting someone he cared about. He’d already proven that much.

“You’re right,” Brittany said. “I should just go with it. Have a good time. I’m reading too much into it. He probably just wants some action while he’s here. And since he’s the bomb in bed that’s not a hardship. I just hope I don’t get all whiny when he leaves.”

“Maybe he won’t,” Josie said with a shrug. “He looked pretty into you last night and from what you’ve said about him, this doesn’t look like just a pu**y call for him.”

“* call!” Mia cracked up. “I’m so going to steal that from you. That’s hilarious!”

“I think you’re right,” Bethany agreed. “I mean that’s all I thought I was to Jace that first night. I never dreamed he’d turn the city over looking for me! And let’s just say once he found me that was it. Not that we didn’t have issues. But he was in it for the long haul.”

“So what about you and Ash?” Brittany asked, turning the attention to Josie. “I’ve never seen my brother this intense over a woman. Not that we spent a lot of time together, mind you, but I would have known if he’d been with the same woman for a long time.”

“Long time!” Josie exclaimed with a laugh. “We’ve only been together like two weeks.”

“He’s a goner,” Mia said solemnly. “Trust me, I know. He and Jace always f**ked the same women, and it wasn’t always pretty. I met their last piece of ass.” She winced and cleared her throat. “Not you, Bethany. Before you. Ah shit, but there goes my foot into my mouth again.”

Bethany’s cheeks turned pink, but Josie laughed. “Don’t Bethany. It’s okay. Really. I love that we can talk about it and not let it be all awkward between us. Really it’s better that way.”

Brittany looked thoroughly confused but they didn’t fill her in.

“Anyway, as I was saying,” Mia said. “Before I inserted the foot. Was that I met up with Jace and Ash’s last chick. They took me out to eat and I swear she followed us there. No way she just happened to be in the same place we were. Totally wasn’t her style if you know what I mean. We were in a pub munching down on nachos and other yummy lowbrow stuff. And she marches up like a woman scorned and made a scene. Insulted me in the process because she assumed I was her replacement.”

She shuddered delicately as she said the last.

“Didn’t go over too well, huh,” Bethany said with a grin.

Mia winced. “No. Uh, let’s just say she didn’t take the ‘it’s the end’ message very well. And my point in bringing this up was that Jace and Ash were banging the same chicks for a long time. And then suddenly Jace met Bethany and that was over. And then Ash met you and it’s obvious that his banging random chicks is over too. I’ve been around him a lot of years, and he never hung on to the same woman for as long as he’s been with you, Josie.”