Page 22 of About Last Night

“Toni Danzig has finally found a woman she wants to sleep with more than once?”

“Hey, I don’t only have one-night stands.”

Max gives me The Look.

“OK, yes, I’ve had a lot of one-night stands. But this didn’t feel like one. It was vulnerable. We both were.”

“No wham bam thank you ma’am?”

I lean against the bathroom doorjamb as Max brushes her teeth. “Hardly. She’s a natural top, that’s for sure.”

Max nods and says, “Nice” around the toothbrush and foam in her mouth.

“I’m not giving you more details than that.”

Max spits and rinses. “No need. I have an imagination.”

“I’m going to ignore that comment.”

Max shrugs and washes her face.

“What happened after we left Dewey’s?”

“Shae left before I could stop her. She didn’t come back.”

“What do you know about her? Shae?”

“She’s some big-shot executive. Sales, I think. The two of them were a bit of a power couple. I’ve seen them in the Sunday paper a few times, social section for all those business leader bullshit events.”

“Oh.”

Of course Audrey is out of my league. Even in jeans and a tank she had the put-together aura of a rich, successful woman. Hair that is cut and dyed every six weeks and weekly trips to the dry bar, well-made and expensive clothes, a smooth complexion that is no doubt pampered by an aesthetician on a regular basis, a body that stays fit with a gym membership and a personal trainer. She is so polar opposite of my dirtbag ways we might as well be from different planets. Hey, it’s not the first time a rich woman has slummed it with me for a night or two. But the connection with Audrey was…well, it was different. For me, at least.

Max finishes rinsing her face and pats it dry. She hangs the towel and faces me. “Stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“Thinking that she’s too good for you.”

“She’s way out of my league.”

“Every woman you sleep with is out of your league,” Max says, deadpan.

“If you weren’t my best friend I’d be offended.”

Max shrugs one shoulder. We’ve known each other all our lives, grew up together. I asked her to be my best friend when I was old enough to put the sentence together. I think we were two. She said yes and here we are, twenty-seven years later. Gentle insults are the norm, with an occasional knock-down drag-out thrown in to clear out our frustrations. Our fights usually end in laughter and we’re over it. I get along with Max better than my sister.

“She won’t be out of your league come Monday,” Max says with a wry smile.

“I am not going to turn into a corporate automaton like my sister.”

“She’s one of the most respected businesswomen in Colorado. You could do a lot worse.”

“You only say that because you’ve been in love with her since you were twelve.”

“Thirteen, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s amazing and you could learn a lot from her.”

I wave my hand. “Yeah, yeah.” I don’t want to think about Monday, my first day in the family business.

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