No Time Like Mardi Gras Read online

  He groaned and broke the kiss. “Careful,” he murmured against her lips, “or else we’re going to end up in that alley doing something that will get us arrested.”

  “I’m almost willing to risk it.”

  Pressing her against the wall, he let Jamie feel exactly what she was doing to him. “We can go home, you know...”

  “No. We’re going to go into this club, have a couple of drinks, possibly even a dance...”

  The thought of Jamie pressed against him in a slow sway made him light-headed as all the blood in his body rushed south. He dropped his forehead to hers and groaned.

  Jamie straightened his collar. “And then we’ll go back to your place and...” She trailed off as another couple passed by, then whispered her ideas into his ear. With a cheeky grin, she slipped out from under his arms and dragged him toward the club’s doors. “Come on. I could use a drink.”

  So could I.

  She was going to drive him crazy.

  And he was looking forward to it.

  * * *

  Jamie didn’t even try to hide her distaste as Colin handed her a slimy raw oyster that jiggled nastily in its shell. “I’m not eating that.”

  Even if she managed to swallow the gross-looking thing and it somehow stayed down, it seemed like an excellent way to get food poisoning. This restaurant—and she used the term loosely, at best—looked ready to be shut down by the health department at any moment. Colin might have wanted to show her the real New Orleans, but she’d had visions of interesting little cafés or jazz clubs like the one they went to the other night, not dive bars where the music was nearly deafening and the sanitation questionable.

  Colin arched an eyebrow at her. “You just talked me into spending more money on a suit than I spent on my first car. You can now eat a raw oyster.”

  “That suit is unbelievably sexy and looks like a million bucks on you. That oyster,” she pushed the offering away, “is gross and looks like you scraped it off the sidewalk out front. No, thank you.”

  “Sexy and a million bucks, huh?” he said with a grin as he tipped up the shell and let the oyster slide in his mouth.

  She repressed the shudder creeping up her spine. “One of the few things I know about in this world is fashion. That suit is worth every penny you paid for it. And you’re a grown man, for goodness’ sake. You should own a decent suit.”

  “I don’t like ties.”

  “I told you, then don’t wear one. Wear the gray shirt and leave the collar unbuttoned. You’ll be the sexiest geek ever at your launch party.”

  “Thanks, but I don’t think that crowd will really appreciate a sexy factor.”

  “Sounds like a crap party, then,” she teased.

  “That it will be,” he grumbled into his glass.

  “Hey, I was kidding.” The server brought her food and she was glad to find that the oysters hadn’t killed her appetite completely.

  “I’m not. It’s really just a media thing. Show off the game, answer questions, talk it all up for the bloggers and gaming websites. I’m dreading it.”

  “Well, with that attitude...”

  “You’ll come, right?”

  She laughed around her bite of hushpuppy. “Hmm, a half-assed invite to a crap party? I’ll pass.”

  “It won’t be too boring for you. I know for a fact the food will be good, and there will be a couple of celebs who did the voice work for the game there for you to meet.”

  Jamie realized Colin was serious with his invitation. She’d smiled her way through plenty of press events before, but she’d figured that part of her life was behind her now. Not that there’d be a lot of crossover between the gaming press and the sports press—or probably their audiences—but she still didn’t want to show up on a blog again so soon. However accidentally or tangentially. But how to turn him down? “I think I’d be more of a liability than anything else in that setting. I don’t know the first thing about games. Or dungeons or dragons or trolls, for that matter.”

  “You don’t need to. You could just smile and look pretty.”

  Ugh. She kept her eyes on her food, waiting for her eyelid to quit twitching. “Um...”

  But Colin seemed to be warming to the subject. “I could be king of the geeks, showing up in a swanky suit with a beautiful woman on my arm.” He winked at her. “I bet you’d make great arm candy.”

  Her stomach actually rolled over at the phrase. “Do you have any idea how insulting that term is?” she snapped.

  Colin pulled back at the heat in her voice. “Sorry.”

  Damn it. “Anyway, this is a big night for you. Isn’t there someone else you’d rather have there?”

  “It’s my party, Jamie. I control the guest list.”

  “I realize that.”

  He put a hand over hers. “And I’d really like for you to come.”

  Something shifted, making this invitation seem more important than she’d initially thought. Going to his launch party was a big step, far more so than going on dates or even sleeping with him. It moved things forward in a way that kind of scared her a bit. But she couldn’t turn him down flat, either. It would be insulting, possibly hurtful, and although she didn’t want to be his arm candy—ugh—or get anywhere near the press again, the need to make him happy seemed more important. Damn, she did not like being forced to make a decision like this on the spot. “I’ll have to see if I can get off work,” she hedged, stalling for time to really think about it.

  But Colin seemed to accept that as a yes, and kissed her before turning back to his oysters.

  * * *

  “Okay, this game was way overhyped,” Eric complained as they sat across from each other in the Rainstorm conference room, each of them at a laptop as they played through a couple of levels on a game just released by another company—strictly for research purposes, of course.

  “And buggy.” Colin swore and hit the keyboard a little harder than normal. “Damn, this thing lags like hell. And the interface sucks.”

  “Agreed. Hey, dude, you’re shooting at me.”

  “Not intentionally.”

  Eric sighed. “This is so sad. I’m stuck in a room with you at nine o’clock on a Friday night shooting at aliens. I’ve got to get myself a woman.”

  He looked at Eric over the top of his screen. “Got to get yourself a woman? You sound like you’re fourteen years old.”

  “Emotionally, I probably am,” Eric deadpanned.

  Colin nodded as the game stuttered again. “At least you know the root of the problem. That’s the first step.”

  “So I know why I’m here. Why aren’t you with Jamie?”

  “She had to work. I think she’s coming over later.”

  “Things are getting serious between you, then.”

  “What?” They’d been together only a couple of weeks. It couldn’t be remotely classified as serious.

  “I mean, you’re certainly spending a lot of time with her.”

  “Jealous?” Colin shook his head and sighed, closing out the game. “I give up on this. It sucks.”

  “I admit I’m a little jealous. I mean, you have to be the only man in the history of the world who picks up a girl in the French Quarter on Mardi Gras for a drunken hookup and it doesn’t turn out to be a cautionary tale.”

  It wasn’t exactly a fairy tale, either. Sometimes he felt as though they were in a holding pattern. “I’m just lucky, I guess.”

  “Damn lucky. I know if I tried that, I’d end up with a bunny-boiling psycho. Or a cult member who needed a sacrifice.”

  He was pretty sure Jamie didn’t fall into either of those categories. But... “Don’t be so dramatic.”

  “Just because the girl you found is gorgeous and normal and sane, that’s no reason for me to think that I could re
peat that miracle.” He heard Eric’s laptop shutting down as he closed the top. “Unless there’s a flaw in the peach you’re not telling me about.”

  “Nope, sorry.”

  Eric sighed. “I knew that would be too much to hope for.”

  “Whoa, some kind of friend you are.”

  “Well, she did jerk you around some at the beginning. I can take a bit of satisfaction from that. What brought about the big change in attitude?”

  That was actually a very good question. He hadn’t wanted to question his good luck, though, choosing to avoid thinking about it too much instead. But that was getting harder to do. “I guess my charm was just too irresistible for her to overcome.”

  “You wish. Although if you do ever figure it out, we could make a fortune selling that secret to men everywhere. We’d be able to retire.”

  Colin’s phone pinged, and a message from Jamie appeared on his screen: About to leave work. Headed to your place. “And that’s my cue to leave, because I have a life.”

  “Must be nice,” Eric grumbled before brightening up. “Hey, ask Jamie if she has a friend, will you? Someone normal who might be interested in a smart, successful entrepreneur who owns his own business—”

  “Co-owns,” he corrected.

  “Fine, co-owns,” Eric amended. “But ask her, okay?”

  “I’ll ask, but it would probably be one of the women she works with. Jamie hasn’t had a chance to make a lot of friends yet.”

  “No wonder she’s latched onto you, then. The poor girl is lonely.”

  Colin put his hand to his heart in mock distress. “Wow, the support in this room is just amazing. I feel all tingly from it.”

  “Smart-ass. I don’t know how you got a woman.”

  “I may be a smart-ass, but my ringtone isn’t ‘The Imperial March,’ either. Women—normal women—are often put off by that.”

  “But I’ve got money. That makes up for a lot, as you well know. Make sure Jamie mentions that to her friends.”

  “We’ll see.”

  He knew Eric was just being his usual self, but it still left a bad taste in his mouth for some reason. Why had Jamie suddenly changed her mind about things between them? If she’d only been lonely—or in need of a human sacrifice—she wouldn’t have held back from him for so long. And what did Eric mean by that statement about money making up for a lot? He wasn’t rich—yet—but he was pretty comfortable, especially for his age group. If Jamie was looking for a rich guy to take care of her, she probably would have aimed a bit higher than him.

  But now that he thought about it, Jamie was still holding back. She still had those walls up, and while he might not have told her everything about his childhood, the last eight years of her life were an information black hole.

  It was a little strange, but prying into her psyche might make her want to return the favor, and he didn’t want to go there. Not yet, at least.

  He pushed the thought aside as he parked in front of his house and saw Jamie in the circle of his porch light, frowning at her phone. The frown upended itself as soon as she saw him, and she lifted her free hand to show him the bottle of champagne.

  “What are we celebrating?”

  “I got the job!”

  Then she launched herself into his arms for a kiss, and he forgot what he was so worried about anyway.

  EIGHT

  Colin popped the cork on the champagne, and she held out the glasses for him to fill. “I had a message on my phone this afternoon from Kate Roth. I start Monday. It even has benefits, which is awesome.”

  “Congratulations.”

  She clinked her glass against his and took a sip, reveling in the taste and the feel of the bubbles on her tongue. It had been so long since she’d had decent champagne, and while it may have been pricey, she’d decided at the store that it was worth the splurge. “Thank you. I’m so excited I’m about to burst.”

  “I feel like I should take you out somewhere to celebrate.”

  “That’s so sweet. But,” she stepped back to model her outfit, “I’m covered in restaurant yuck. I came straight here instead of going home to shower and change first.”

  “You’re welcome to take a shower here. However,” Colin stepped closer toward her, “I can’t guarantee you’ll get to take it alone.”

  She gave him a half smile. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  She sidled up to him, closing the gap between them, only to have her phone start quacking. She could hear it vibrating against the counter as well. Ugh. I should have put that on silent. “Ignore that.”

  Colin’s eyes widened in amusement. “Is your phone quacking?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?” he prodded when she didn’t elaborate.

  “So I’ll know without looking that I don’t want to answer it. Wait—”

  But Colin had already reached for the phone, helpfully trying to hand it to her, only to be confused by her words. When he looked down at the screen, she cringed inwardly.

  An eyebrow went up. “Um, Rotten Bastard is calling.”

  Suddenly, changing Joey’s name in her phone seemed juvenile instead of the empowering swipe of petty revenge she’d felt at the time. “Yeah. Hence the quacking and the ignoring.”

  “Your ex, I assume.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “I’m now a little worried what comes up when I call you.”

  “Just your name. I promise.” Thankfully, the quacking stopped as it went to voice mail.

  Colin put the phone down on the counter. “Does he call you a lot?”

  Was Colin jealous? Because that sounded a little jealous. “Occasionally. But not a lot. Mainly when he’s drunk.”

  “Why don’t you just block him, then?”

  “I’ve thought about it, but there are some...loose ends that still need tying up at some point, and there’s always the chance that he’s calling about that. If it’s important, I’ll find out from the voice mail message.”

  “You made it sound like you made a clean break when you came here, though.”

  Crap. As if she could explain the four-carat emerald-cut diamond in her safe deposit box that wasn’t hers to sell or to wear. Or the few pieces of paper she’d signed her name to that the lawyers were still trying to sort out. And until the investigations were complete, she wouldn’t be completely rid of him anyway. “We were together a long time. Not everything was able to be a clean or easy break.”

  Her phone pinged again to tell her she had a voice mail message.

  “Do you need to see what he wants?”

  “No. It’s Friday night. It can’t be anything I really want—or need—to hear right now.” She made a deliberate show of silencing the ringer and shoving the phone into her purse. She was not going to let Joey rain on her parade tonight.

  “You never talk about him.”

  She tried to keep it light. “I thought that was a good thing. All the dating magazines and websites say not to bore people with rants about your ex.”

  “There’s rants and then there’s basic info. If you were with someone for that long, it’s normal for things to come up occasionally. In fact, it’s a little weird when it doesn’t. We all have exes, you know. They’re just a part of your life story.”

  He was like a dog with a bone. What was with him tonight? “But I’m trying to close that chapter.”

  “You don’t have to hide it from me.”

  “I’m not hiding anything. I don’t like bad memories and would rather not wallow in the past.” She took a long drink, but the champagne tasted sour now, and she put the glass down, disgusted she’d let this affect her so much and ruin the celebratory mood. Then the words came tumbling out before she could stop them. “Joey’s an ass. A lying, cheating ass, and I didn’t know i
t. Even when I had suspicions, I ignored them like a naive idiot. So I’m actually embarrassed I somehow overlooked that very important information during the years I wasted with him. And that’s exactly why I don’t talk about it.”

  Colin seemed taken aback at her outburst, so she paused to pull herself together. Sour or not, she took another drink just to cool the spurt of anger. “It takes time to fully untangle yourself from some things, even though you might wish it was quicker.”

  “Do you need a lawyer, Jamie? I can—”

  “I don’t need anything, Colin, except a different topic of conversation.”

  The silence hung there between them.

  Colin finally cleared his throat. “My mom has...problems. Growing up, things could be really good or really bad, and I never really knew what to expect or when things might change and go spiraling into hell. So when you talk about wanting to get your life under control or trying to forget parts of your past, I can relate to that.”

  Jamie didn’t know what to say. This wasn’t exactly what she’d expected from a new topic of conversation.

  But Colin didn’t seem to need her to respond. “She’s a little better now, and the medication helps, but it was a long process getting there. I don’t like to think about it, much less talk about it, but I can’t deny it happened either.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” And it explained some stuff. “Can I ask why you’re telling me this? And why now?”

  “So that you know it’s okay to tell me stuff. We all come with baggage and backstory. There’s no need to be ashamed.”

  “I appreciate that.” She tried to think of something else appropriate to say, because she realized this was a big step for Colin since he’d never mentioned it before. And neither had anyone else who knew him. But her situation was different. She just wasn’t sure how to make that distinction without belittling his words. “But your mom’s problems weren’t really your fault. You have nothing to be ashamed of. The shame comes in when the tragedy of your backstory is that it is your fault.”