Wallbanger(22)

“You were the girls singing along, I suppose, yes?” He nudged back, smiling.

“Smal world, isn’t it?” Mimi sighed, gazing up at Neil. He winked at her, and I saw quickly where this was going. She had her giant, Sophia had

her pretty boy, and I had my wine. Which was disappearing by the second.

“Excuse me,” I muttered and stood up to find a waiter.

I made my way through the dwindling crowd, nodding at a few faces I recognized. I accepted yet another glass of wine and strol ed back

outside. I’d started back toward the fire pit when I heard Mimi say, “And you should have heard Caroline when she told us about the night she

banged on his door.”

Sophia and Mimi leaned together and said breathlessly, “He…was…stil …hard!”

They al dissolved into laughter. I needed to remember to kil those girls tomorrow, with pain.

I groaned at my public humiliation and spun around to stomp off into the gardens when I saw Simon in the shadows. I tried to back away before

he saw me, but he waved.

“Come on, come on, I don’t bite,” he scoffed.

“Yeah, sure, I guess,” I answered, walking toward him.

We stood quietly in the night. I looked out over the bay, enjoying the silence. Then he final y spoke.

“So I was thinking, since we’re neighbors and al —” he started.

I turned to look at him. He was giving me a sexy little grin, and I knew that’s what he used to make the panties drop. Ha—little did he know I

wasn’t wearing any.

“You were thinking what? That I’d want to join you some night? See what al the fuss is about? Hop on the welcome wagon? Honey, I have no

interest in becoming one of your girls,” I answered, glaring at him.

He said nothing.

“Wel ?” I asked, tapping my foot angrily. The nerve of this guy…

“Actual y, I was going to say, since we’re neighbors and al , maybe we could cal a truce?” he said quietly, looking at me in a very irritated way.

“Oh,” I said. It was al I could say.

“Or maybe not,” he finished and started to walk away.

“Wait, wait, wait, Simon,” I groaned grabbing him by the wrist as he pushed past me.

He stood there, glaring.

“Yes. Fine. We can cal a truce. But there wil have to be some ground rules,” I replied, turning to face him. He crossed his arms over his chest.

“I should warn you now, I don’t enjoy women tel ing me what to do,” he answered darkly.

“Not from what I’ve heard,” I said under my breath, but he caught it anyway.

“That’s different,” he said, the cockiness beginning to reappear.

“Okay, here’s the thing. You enjoy yourself, do your thing, hang from the ceiling fans, I don’t care. But late at night? Can we keep it down to a

dul roar? Please? I gotta get some sleep.”

He considered for a moment. “Yes, I can see where that might be a problem. But you know, you don’t real y know anything about me, and you

certainly don’t know anything about me and my ‘harem,’ as you cal it. I don’t have to justify my life, or the women in it, to you. So no more nasty

judgments, agreed?”

I considered it. “Agreed. By the way, I appreciated the quiet this week. Something happen?”

“Happen? What do you mean?” he asked as we walked back to the group.

“I thought maybe you were injured in the line of duty, like your dick broke off or something,” I joked, proud to use my zinger again.

“Unbelievable. That’s al you think I am, isn’t it?” he retorted, his face angry again.

“A dick? Yes, in fact,” I snapped back.

“Now look—” he started, and Neil appeared out of nowhere.

“Nice to see you two have kissed and made up,” he chided, pretending to hold Simon back.

“Can it, anchorman,” Simon muttered as the rest of the newly paired-off reappeared.

“Cool it with the anchorman, huh?” Neil said, and Sophia whirled on him.

“Anchorman! Wait a minute, you’re the local sports guy on NBC, right? Am I right?” she asked.

I watched his eyes light up. Sophia may have been a classical music kind of girl, but she was also a huge 49ers fan. I was pretty sure the 49ers

were a footbal team.

“Yeah, that’s me. You watch a lot of sports?” he asked, leaning toward her, bringing Mimi along. The way she was clinging to his arm, it was

unavoidable. She stumbled a little, and Ryan swooped in to steady her. They smiled at each other as Sophia and Neil continued their footbal talk. I

coughed, reminding them that I was, in fact, stil here.

“Caroline, we’re taking off!” Sophia giggled, now leaning on Ryan’s arm. I glared at Simon one more time and stalked toward the girls.