Rusty Nailed (Cocktail #2)(39)
Author: Alice Clayton

“Istanbul, where you left my ass,” she finished.

“Viv Franklin,” Simon breathed, his eyes lighting up.

Uh-oh.

“Left your ass? Like hell! My job was over, you knew I was leaving. You were just too involved with that tour guide to notice.”

“You never could hold your liquor.”

“Hold this.”

“Ha! In your dreams, Parker.” She grinned and launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around him in the biggest bear hug I’d ever seen. He swung her around and actually patted her on the ass. I wasn’t wearing underwear, but I could still kick some butt. Although to be fair, she looked tough.

Setting her down but keeping his arm snugly around her waist, he turned back to me. “Caroline, this is Viv Franklin. Viv, this is my girlfriend—”

“Girlfriend? You?”

“—Caroline Reynolds,” he finished, releasing her to tug me over.

“No shit—Parker’s got a girlfriend. What a night,” she cackled, smacking him on the shoulder and reaching for my hand. I shook it, not sure what else to do.

“Nice to meet you,” I offered, but those two were off and running.

“What are you doing now? Working for your old man?” he asked.

“Nah, I went out on my own. Data mining.”

Oh, she was a miner?

“Wow, good for you. You still writing?”

Oh, she was a writer?

“Yeah, I just sold a new app to one of the big guys. Niiiiice paycheck, know what I’m saying?”

Oh, she wrote an app for, wait. What the hell did she do?

“I bet,” Simon said. “You know, I ran into one of your brothers when I was in Cairo last year. He was there working on some new system, seemed like a pretty big deal.”

“Oh, you know my family. They’re always on to the latest and greatest.”

“Yeah, your brother was not on to the latest and greatest when he snuck some  p**n  into my backpack when I wasn’t looking. You wouldn’t believe the trouble I got into when I—”

“What the hell is going on? What do you do? Where did you two go together? And who the hell was putting  p**n  in your backpack?” I yelled, for the third time tonight. I needed to get out more; my party manners were out of practice.

“Sorry, babe. Viv and I went to high school together—”

“Obviously,” I said, in a quieter tone. Viv just looked at Simon like he had just lassoed the moon and stuffed it in her bra. Which was already pretty full; for a tiny person, she had a great rack.

“—but I hadn’t seen her for years, until I literally ran into her in a bar in Instanbul.”

“And spent the next week trying to weasel into my tour group. I was on a grand tour, backpacking my way across Europe until I ran into this guy,” Viv chimed in, patting him firmly on that sweet ass. Okay, that was going to stop.

“Yes, and the night I allegedly ‘left her’ she was making out with her tour guide like the world was about to end.” He grinned, rumpling her hair like a kid sister.

Kid sister—I can handle that.

“And now you’re here—I can’t believe it! I bet you surprised the shit out of everyone here. No one thought you’d come back, after your parents died and all.”

I winced, waiting for Simon to tense up and shut down.

“I figured now was as good a time as any, right? It’s been good to be back, you know?” Then he went right on to ask her more about the app she just sold.

Unbelievable.

Ten minutes later, the three of us were at the bar. With shots. They continued to talk, fast and furious, and I began to piece it together. Viv and Simon were friends back in high school, her parents were friends with his parents, blah blah blah. Her father owned a computer software company, and all five, yes, count them, five of her older brothers had gone into the same field. Trying to break out of that mold, she’d gone a different route, studying a general liberal arts curriculum and spending semesters and summers abroad. But the numbers game eventually bit her as well, and she wound up in the family business.

“I hated math in high school. Hated it! But I’m good at it; that stuff just makes sense to me,” she explained to me between shots. “Eventually I went out on my own, small-time initially, but then I got lucky a few times with the right programs at just the right time, you know?”

I didn’t, but I nodded along.

When she and Simon were in Istanbul together, no hankypanky happened. She was real clear on that. They were always just friends, friends who were thrown back together in an unreal setting and bonded quickly.

“Simon’s just that guy, you know? The guy that I might only see once every five years, but if I needed something, he’d be there in a second,” she told me, and I bought her another shot. “He’s a great f**king guy.”

Simon stepped away to say good-bye to someone who was leaving.

“You two seem serious. You’re not gonna break his heart are you?” Viv asked.

“What?” I sputtered, taken off guard.

“Are you?” she asked, her green eyes narrowing on me.

“Is this where you tell me if I break his heart, you’ll break my face?”

“Shit, no— I’ll kill you.” She grinned. I really shouldn’t like this girl, but I did.

“Well, I have no intention of dying anytime soon. Good enough?”

“Good enough for me. Seriously, though, he was messed up for a long time. He tries to be all playboy suave, that whole girl-in-every-town bullshit—thank God that’s over. He seems happy with you, so I’m happy.”

“I’m . . . glad.”

“He and I come from a similar background, same upbringing. If his parents hadn’t been killed, he likely never would’ve left this life. Which is a great life, don’t get me wrong. But Simon always seemed like a guy who needed more. Shitty way for it to happen, but after his parents were gone he went out and explored a bit, did something else with his life,” she mused thoughtfully, swirling her drink in her glass.

“He’s an adventurer, no mistaking that,” I agreed. “You must be too.”

“Me? Maybe once, but now I’m pretty settled. I’ve got my business; it’s doing well—what do I need adventure for?”

I looked at this girl, who looked so different from everyone else in this place. She was almost vibrating with energy; she looked like she could handle anything. And her eyes sparkled at the idea of an adventure. Yet she worked with computers all day?