The Safe Bet (Hidden Truths #1)(9)
But Michael Maddox wasn’t exactly the typical rich playboy. He wasn’t entitled. He was generous, but not for the sake of exposure. He was from humble origins, he’d served their country, he was a do-gooder and a genius beyond compare . . . but still totally off limits. Even if he wasn’t an infamous player, he was still her client. She needed to get the damn man out of her head.
She never dated clients, regardless of their numerous attempts. And now she just wasn’t dating anyone period. Her lack of a sex life had to explain why she was lusting after Michael and visualizing him in a tux—she was trying to tell herself that, at least.
She wondered how she’d survive another week without her body blushing every time he was around.
Julia snapped her fingers in front of Kate. “You okay? Hey, did I make you think about some guy?” She smirked.
Kate contemplated an appropriate response but didn’t have to come up with one. Instead, her phone rang. She reached into her purse and fished it out. She looked down at the screen and sighed. She still hadn’t spoken with her dad. A twinge of guilt poked at her stomach as she slid the phone back in her bag.
“Not going to answer?”
“Just my dad. I’ll call him later.” Kate fidgeted with her notepad and pen and attempted to refocus, but she found herself unable to slide the mask back on.
It was getting harder to silence the pain that was seeping into her body.
Today wasn’t just any normal day, after all.
*
“You’re here.”
Kate looked up at the cab driver and then out the window to the graveyard. “Could you wait here? I won’t be long.” She lifted the long-stemmed, red roses from her lap and opened the door.
“Sure,” he replied, turning up the volume so that Sinatra’s croon belted in her ears.
Kate exited the cab and began to wander through the maze of gravestones. “Where are you?”
Her breath caught in her throat when she finally found it.
Surprise flickered across her face at the sight of fresh white tulips nuzzled against the headstone.
Who visited you? Her eyebrows pinched together as she leaned down and rested the roses alongside the tulips.
“Hi, Mom.” She traced her fingers over the name Elizabeth and kissed her fingers before bringing them back to touch the cool, arched rock.
She studied the second date on the headstone. September 9th.
Today. The day her mom had given birth to her.
“I love you, Mom,” she whispered.
*
“You look fantastic.” Kate slid into a circular booth in the VIP area of the club. It was a different nightclub than the one Kate had visited a few nights earlier.
Julia smoothed a hand over her short, black sequined dress, and smiled. “It’s my go-to. I love your dress, though. Super-hot. Glad my brother’s not here to see you in that. He has a weakness for gorgeous women, as you have probably heard.”
Kate almost choked on her Cosmo. “So, um, did Michael find a woman to auction off at the fundraiser?” Hm. That kind of sounds weird to say.
Julia reached for her drink. “Yeah. Thank God we found someone on such short notice. You ever heard of Jamie Landon?”
“She’s a model, right?” Kate wondered if she was one of the women on Michael’s laundry list of sultry New York models.
Julia nodded. “I hate her. Horrible bitch. Probably dated Michael, too.” She shrugged. “Should get a good price, though, which is all that matters.”
“I’m surprised he goes by Michael, even by you,” Kate found herself saying.
“He was always Mike when he was in the military, and I think it’s too hard for him to go by that name now. He’s different since he came home. A lot of people come back different.” Julia stared into her drink and paused. “I—I lost someone close to me, because of that. He didn’t die in the military—he died because he couldn’t handle being out of the military. He wound up drinking and died in a car wreck. I was only in college when it happened. Michael was still in the Marines. I think his death was what inspired Michael’s project. He wanted to set up a program that would help veterans find balance in the world as civilians.”
Kate leaned forward, listening to Julia with her complete attention, allowing the music to fade into white noise. “I’m so sorry.” She wasn’t sure what else to say. She had never been good at dealing with tragedy. Look at her own life.
“I’m sorry to be laying this on you.” Julia pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut. Then, with a shake of her head, she flashed her blue eyes open, and her normal calm exterior was back. “Come on. We should be celebrating.” She lifted her drink into the air. “Cheers to you defeating my brother.”
“Um. Okay. You sure you’re all right?”
“Of course.” She clinked her glass against Kate’s and tossed back the last of her drink. “Let’s get shots.”
Kate watched as Julia rose with perfect balance in her black strappy Manolos and headed toward the bar. Somehow, Kate couldn’t imagine the refined and sophisticated Julia doing shots. But after the emotional day Kate had suffered . . . why the hell not?
When Kate approached the bar, she found Julia engaged in conversation with a guy whose appearance was a little too pretty for her taste. His gel-spiked, coppery blonde hair and his waxed eyebrows screamed metrosexual. He was in khaki pants and a crisp, button-up top—Armani or something ostentatious enough to match his gold Rolex. Kate, of course, preferred a more rugged man. A man more like—don’t think his name.