Her Billionaires(68)

“You conducting a symphony?”

“Fork you.”

“Paradise by the Dashboard Light” wafted through the restaurant, a group of college kids snarking on the old tune and torturing poor Madge with half-drunk requests. She’d probably served their parents. Maybe even their grandparents. Laura rolled her eyes and dug in, her turn at coconut shrimp heaven.

“Ahhhh,” she moaned. Josie’s impatience made more sense now. Each bite was like something out of a food porn movie, like Coconutty Clit Lovers with Clam Sauce or—no, scratch that. She had just grossed herself out. Did she make that joke aloud? If not, why was Josie staring at her like that?

“Coconutty what?” Josie gagged, her face in a confused snarl. Laura could feel her cheeks turn a hot red as she felt the room spin a bit, overwhelmed by what she now realized was nearly twenty-four hours of being awake, the most intense sexual experience of her life just a few hours behind her, and Madge’s lined face twisted into a pantomime of smoking, her fingers against those leathered lips and sucking away at an imaginary cigarette.

Her thousand-mile stare bore through Laura, who pulled her eyes away to look down and see the last coconut shrimp on the plate. Grabbing it, she shoved the entire thing greedily into her mouth, only to hear Josie’s confusion shift to a self-righteous howl.

“Hhhheeeeyyyy! No fair! What the hell is wrong with you?” Josie’s sulking face was an after-thought for Laura, who right now felt like an animal in the woods, all instinct and no thought.

“Nothing,” Laura muttered. What the hell was wrong with her? “It’s just—this is soooooo good.” She ate the tail and all, the breading and the crunchy outer shell making her gag.

“Coconutty...Laura, you need some sleep.”

Madge turned and nearly ran into the kitchen, then emerged with a still-sizzling plate of friend green tomatoes and more cruets filled with sauce from heaven.

Palm outstretched, Laura flicked her wrist toward Josie, the gesture meant to allow her friend first dibs on the tomatoes. Appeased, Josie dug in, playing hot potato with the breaded delight. “Hot! Hot! Hot!”

Chipotle maple sausage appeared out of nowhere, followed by an enormous piece of green cake smothered in hot fudge and peanut butter sauce, sprinkled with pistachios and surrounded by two huge scoops of vanilla ice cream coated with a crunchy brown sugar sauce.

“It’s as big as your head, Laura,” Josie gaped.

“It’s bigger. It’s the size of my ass.”

Madge pointedly peered behind Laura, pulled back, and pursed her lips, contemplating. “Nah. Not quite, honey.” Laura gave her a grateful smile. Madge was Laura’s new best friend. “You girls need anything else?”#p#分页标题#e#

“No—thanks!” Josie had a sausage on one fork, was spearing part of a potato pancake, and had a spoon attacking the ice cream. Laura dipped a piece of pancake in the aioli and stabbed her fork into the luscious pistachio cake, made green by the nuts.

“Who needs sex when you have Jeddy’s?” she muttered, filling her mouth with the cake.

“Hello! Me?” Josie waved her hands like an air traffic controller on an airport runway. “Right here. I’d give all this up for what you just had tonight. Wouldn’t you?”

Laura stared plaintively at the spread before her. “Uh...”

Josie stabbed the dark chocolate and mint rose off the top of the cake and ate it. “You don’t have to choose. Lucky you.”

Lucky. Lucky? Here she sat, drowning her sorrows in fudge-covered cake the color of infected snot while her body still hummed from being double stuffed (note to self: get Oreos on the way home) and as the sun began to make its first entrance on this glorious day, Laura had to go to work in a few hours. Then there was that pesky issue of needing to deal with the fallout from storming out of Mike’s cabin, leaving the two people in the world she most wanted to forget wondering what the hell was wrong with her.

“Madge!” Laura shouted. A quick glance down showed her cleavage covered with green crumbs and an embarrassing number of hot fudge drips. It was a meal unto itself. For Dylan...or Mike...

Stop that!

Madge didn’t even blink, just tilted her head up, painted-on eyebrows lifting up. If she’d been bald she could have given Tim Curry a run for the role of Pennywise. “Whatcha want?”

“Got any caramel sauce?” That shit cures everything, like Windex or Robitussin.

“Nope. How about peanut toffee swirl?”

“You’re a good woman, Madge. My new BFF.”

“Hey!” Josie mumbled, her face stuffed with ice cream. “Wha’ ’bout me?”