LITMIR.BIZ

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to life? Jessica just shook her head. “Oh, please, no. Aunt Charisse had ten cats when she died. They could not get the smell out of the carpet. Ever. Finally replaced the carpet, the padding, even deodorized the slab, and still they had to take ten K off the price.”

      Mickey raised her sunglasses and studied the bride once more. They’d all gone to college with Annie Summers, and now, six years after graduation, Annie was the first to get married. Second if you counted Beth’s two-week marriage, but they usually didn’t count Kenny. “I think white just isn’t her color. She should have done something with a rose tone for her complexion, don’t you think?”

      “I heard they’re going to the Caribbean for the honeymoon.” Beth studied the hors d’oeuvre on the side table, finally settling for the curried shrimp.

      “That’s so cliché.”

      “I want to go to the Canadian Rockies on my honeymoon.” Beth sounded as though she was reciting a Christmas list. Jessica wanted to shake her sometimes, tell her the world wasn’t one big Disney movie, but she never did. Instead, they did their best to protect Beth from ever learning that Disney owned Miramax, too.

      “Why don’t you go by yourself?” Cassandra asked.

      Beth froze, her blue eyes wide. “I could, couldn’t I?”

      Mickey shrugged. “Sure.”

      “I don’t know. If I went now, where would I go on my honeymoon?” Beth sounded so certain. As if honeymoons were part of life’s guarantees. Jessica was much more realistic. There were no guarantees, unless you did it yourself.

      “What if you don’t ever get married again?” Always the troublemaker, Cassandra wouldn’t let it drop.

      “Cassandra, don’t scare the girl,” Jessica said, working to avoid a scene.

      “She doesn’t need a man,” Cassandra insisted.

      Jessica just rolled her eyes at that. “Big words from a woman who always has a date on Saturday night.”

      After one regal sniff, Cassandra went on. “No, I’m serious. I could remain single for the rest of my life and be happy.”

      Mickey raised a hand, sans ring. “I could, too.”

      Beth stood firm. “Not me. I want to get married.”

      Jessica raised her glass. “To the solo state of mind. Junk food and chick flicks forever. A bachelorette pact, single forever.”

      Mickey and Cassandra clinked glasses. “Hear, hear.”

      By the look on her face, Beth knew she was defeated. After a long moment of silence, she joined in. “Screw ’em all.”

      Cassandra laughed, that throaty laugh she had perfected over the years. “Honey, life isn’t long enough.”

      Sometimes marriage was overrated, but Jessica knew the truth. They had been single for so long that it was now easier to attack the institution of marriage than to face failure. Jessica hated failure.

      “Marriage is nothing more than a woman’s subjugation to a man’s need for dominance. Ha. They try and dominate me, I’ll pin the laser on them.” Mickey worked at a research lab and had never yet met a man, or anyone for that matter, with a higher IQ.

      Jessica speared another olive. “You know, there are some advantages to marriage. Actually, ever since the government tinkered with the tax structure, it doesn’t cost as much as it used to. For instance, I would probably jump into the next tax bracket, assuming he’s a white-collar professional; however, I’d get a credit of almost eight thousand. Not a great investment, but I suppose if he’s willing to cook every now and then, it could be worth it.” Jessica hated to cook.

      “Or you could take all that money you’d put in extra taxes and buy your Porsche.”

      That earned a smile. Only 2.1 more years and then the Porsche would be hers. Unless she got the promotion to vice president at Hard-Wire Networks, a computer networking equipment manufacturer. Not likely, but possible. The raise would put her in Porsche-attainment status within nine months.

      “Now you’ve done it,” Mickey said with a sigh. “She’s going to have an orgasm, right here.”

      Of course, if Adam Taylor had his evil way, she wouldn’t be polishing a Porsche, she’d be polishing her résumé. The impending buyout made her nervous, made her cranky and worst of all, made her sneeze. First her nose tickled, then twitched, and finally she began to wheeze.

      Mickey started to laugh.

      Jessica blew her nose and sniffed—for effect not necessity. “Orgasm? Not all of us have Cassandra’s talents.”

      Cassandra’s smile spoke volumes. “All you have to do is exercise.”

      Mickey waved a languid hand and assumed a Southern drawl. “I abhor exercise. I need my cabana-boy to do it for me.”

      “He could be my cabana-boy,” Cassandra said with a nod to the other side of the garden.

      Yes indeed, when it came down to men, they were all such frauds. Jessica, Mickey and Beth turned to look. Mickey and Beth got that gooey look. Jessica simply wanted to hit something.

      He was here. Adam Taylor.

      And didn’t that just put a cherry on top of the day? Tall, impossibly handsome in a dark suit, and worst of all—intelligent, witty, sharp. That brought her thoughts to a halt. Sharp like an executioner’s ax.

      She shouldn’t have been surprised; the groom worked at Adam’s firm, after all.

      Life really wasn’t fair. Work had been hell for her since he arrived, a consultant brought in by JCN, the international computer conglomerate, to prepare a report on Hard-Wire’s buyout potential. An “operational efficiency expert.”

      Yeah, you could call ’em all the pretty terms you wanted, but you still couldn’t disguise that chainsaw. She picked up an olive and popped it in her mouth.

      He turned and saw her, favoring her with a cool, appraising gray-green stare. Jessica was grateful for her sunglasses. She could look as if she was calm and in control. But then her nose began to twitch and she sneezed. Twice. She searched her pockets for a tissue, but came up empty. Great.

      When she looked up, Mickey was still eyeing Adam with appreciation. Jessica felt inclined to enlighten them all. “He’s okay, if you like the rich, strong, arrogant jerks.”

      “You know him?” Mickey asked smoothly.

      Jessica bit into her last olive. “Adam Taylor,” she mumbled between bites.

      They had all listened to Jessica’s horror stories of Mr. Adam “The Ax-Man” Taylor, but she’d never described him physically. It seemed a betrayal to her lifelong ambition of job security and Porsche ownership. Adam was the enemy.

      “He wants you,” Cassandra said, swirling her glass.

      “In your dreams,” Jessica answered, not wanting to discuss her own dreams about Adam. Mr. Taylor. The Ax-Man.

      “If you smile, I bet he’ll come over,” Beth said, trying to make the world a happier place. And failing.

      “Not if I leave first.”

      “Jessica, Jessica, I never thought I’d see you playing the coward. Tsk, tsk,” Cassandra teased.

      The coward remark was really a low blow, but not enough to divert Jessica from her plan. “I needed to leave early anyway.”

      Mickey raised a brow. “And that’s why we all came in one car?”

      She was outnumbered. Three to one. “You’re supposed to be my friends.”

      “Friends don’t let friends run away,” Cassandra said, pushing her in the direction of her worst nightmare. And her steamiest dream.

      “He

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