Hope was surprised when I bent down and kissed her lips. She was ready when I did it again. I slipped my arm around her back, and she rose in my arms. Her lips were soft and her tongue welcomed me. Hope’s body pressed against mine, her touch, her taste—I couldn’t tell which of us was more excited.
DeeDee laughed and Dolly barked. The Uber driver flashed his lights, and I touched Hope’s hand as she pulled away.
* * *
The Dragon Room was dim and noisy—it was a bar, after all. I stopped inside to get my bearings then got the bartender’s attention and held up a pink hatbox. “Is there a place I can keep this for a while?”
“Find me when you need it,” he said and took the box. “I’ll remember you. Do you want me to keep that hat, too?”
I left my hat and found DeeDee at a table in the corner with three other women and an empty chair. I leaned over her shoulder and talked close to her ear. “Where’s Hope?”
She set her big frozen margarita on the table and motioned to the chair. “That’s Hope’s. Sit down a sec.” She waited until I’d settled into the chair. “You know what this is about, right? I don’t know what Hope told you.”
I hardly knew a thing. “She said to meet her here at eight. That’s all.”
A man walked behind DeeDee, touched her shoulder, and said something in her ear. She laughed and smiled at him before she explained. “This is how we decided to fix a dismal time of year. Tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day. I got this bunch together, and we all brought Valentine’s cards. Some time tonight, we’ll give our card to the guy we want to wake up with.”
DeeDee paused to adjust her neckline and made her cleavage even more obvious. She laughed at the way I watched. “Too bad you aren’t on my list. Hope showed me her card. It already has your name on it.”
She glanced to the corner of the room, and my eyes followed. “Steve’s here, too. He thinks it’s like an anniversary for them or something.”
Steve and Hope were facing off by the restrooms. Hope wasn’t happy. Her gestures were nearly violent, and her braid danced across the back of her jacket.
“Why? How’d he know to come here?”
“My fault,” DeeDee said. “Hope told Steve to get lost—that she was going out with me tonight. Then he called me. I told him where I was going, and even Steve could add those up. He was here when we got here.”
I started to get up, and DeeDee pulled me down. “Stop, Adam. Steve is Hope’s problem. You can’t make him yours.”
Hope turned her back on Steve, and he followed her to the table with a bouncer listening from close behind. Steve grabbed Hope’s elbow, and she spun around to face him again.
Steve put an ugly sneer on his face. “What do you think you’re going to do?” he asked. “You never were very smart. You never were very pretty, and now your age is showing. You won’t have a life without me.”
Hope’s friends at the table held their breath while Hope’s eyes flicked over Steve’s face. She answered him with contempt in her voice. “You’re sick, Steve. I need you like I need a hemorrhoid. You’d destroy me just so you could win.
“Cure yourself, Dr. Coyer, and leave me alone. I don’t want to ever see you again.”
Steve raised his hand and I jumped up at Hope’s back. She didn’t need my help. “If you touch me,” she said, “I’m going to have you up on charges so fast it’ll make your fucking head spin.”
The bouncer growled from behind Steve, “I’m going to ask you to leave, and I’m only going to ask once. Do you need to get your coat?”
Hope turned and saw me for the first time. She buried her face against my chest, and the women at the table clapped and hooted. Her shoulders relaxed, and she looked up with tears streaking her cheeks. “You’re crying,” I said. “Are you going to be OK?”
“I’m OK,” Hope said, and then she fixed that. She wiped a tear off her cheek with the back of her hand. “No, dammit! I’m great.”
DeeDee pulled us apart. “We need to go wash your face,” she said, and tugged on Hope’s arm.
Hope gave DeeDee a teary grin. “First, I’m going to start your Valentine’s game.” She squeezed close and stroked my side. Her voice was low and flirty. “Hey, Cowboy. How’d you like to buy this pony a drink? A stiff one.”
Hope wasn’t much of a drinker—I was sure of that—but I had the server set a chilled vodka at her seat. It was diluted with a lemon twist and disguised as a martini. Then I pretended to play DeeDee’s Valentine’s game. I introduced myself to Joyce, then made my way around the table to May while two more men joined the game.
A guy distracted DeeDee as soon as she brought Hope back. Hope settled in front of her drink and watched across the table while I bent down to talk in May’s ear. Hope sniffed at her drink, took a sip, and covered her mouth while she coughed.
The guy who’d been talking to Joyce stepped around the table to work on Hope, so I turned my attention to Idalia, who was trying to get a guy at the next table to look at her.
Idalia was getting peeved at me. Hope tugged on my arm and her lips brushed my ear. “Come with me, Cowboy. You’re screwing up Idalia’s game plan.”
Hope tugged me back to her chair, made me sit, and arranged herself on my lap. I inhaled her jasmine scent and watched her lips and the lines by her green eyes. “Did you get yourself a drink?” she asked. It took me a moment to realize I needed to answer.
“No, and I’m thirsty.” I took my attention off Hope long enough to wave down the server and order an ale. I waited until the server went to the bar then asked, “Do we need to talk about Steve?”
Hope snapped her head around to look at me. “Someday, but let’s talk about me instead.” That was easy to do, because for me, there was hardly anyone else in the room.
“You must have finished your report, and sketches, and all.”
She laid against my shoulder, and I caught her hand in mine. “Done for now,” she said, “and off to the engineer this afternoon.”
The server set my ale beside Hope’s vodka and Hope produced cash from her jacket pocket before I could get to my wallet. She paid the server, relaxed against me, and said, “Feedback from the Diné has been great, so there’ll be more work.”
I started gently working her hand—rubbing her fingers and her thumb, and working her palm. “Are you winning or losing?” she asked.
“Do you remember Belle?” I turned Hope’s hand in mine and caressed her wrist.
“How could I forget Belle?”
I picked up my beer and gestured with it before I took a drink. “We knew our bill was probably tanking, but the Land Commissioner didn’t know that.”
The beer was new to me. I liked it. “Belle supported the Commissioner’s election, and she convinced her to meet with us. That isn’t the kind of leverage I want to use very often. I’ll find out what it cost me the next time Belle needs something. Anyway, we agreed to withdraw our bill, and the Commissioner agreed to withdraw the new rules pending more hearings.”
“That’s it? You’re done?”
I shrugged and started working on Hope’s other hand. “That pressure’s off, but there’s still four crazy days left in the session. For me, for now and tomorrow, you’re all I want to think about.”
Hope’s lips brushed my jaw. Her breath warmed my neck. “You know you’re turning me on in front of my girlfriends, right?”