Page 29 of Friends With Benefits

“Sure,” she said with relief. “You’re taller, you can probably reach.”

He did so easily and she directed him where to hang the other bunch.

“So um…how late did you stay last night?” he asked.

“Too late.” She grimaced. “Everyone wanted to party.”

“Yeah, I could see that.” He paused, tried again. “How many people are you expecting tonight?”

“We had replies from about a hundred.”

“Wow. Where are you going to put them all?”

“We can overflow into the studio if we need to. But a party is always better when it’s crowded.”

Kerri’s parents arrived a short time later and, as usual, greeted him warmly. Angela Harris looked gorgeous in a stunning midnight blue dress, although not as spectacular as her daughter.

As more guests arrived, Mitch trailed around, following Kerri as she worked the crowd. She moved easily from group to group, chatting and laughing. She charmed clients and potential clients, both hers and Sela’s. They returned her dazzling smiles, laughed at what she said to them, responded to her vibrant energy. Yet to him, she was acting all frigid, ignoring him and talking to everyone else.

This was no damn good. They were friends. Yeah, okay, he’d screwed up, but he’d tried to make amends by setting her up with another guy like she’d wanted, and he was trying hard to pretend it never happened. What the hell was wrong with her?

He went to stand beside Kerri as she waited at the bar for a drink. Mitch requested a beer. He took a deep breath and inhaled the scent of her, spicy and exotic. “So,” he said. “You get lucky with any of those guys that were all over you last night?”

Kerri looked at him. “Yeah,” she said. “I took them all home with me. We had sex, one after the other, so I could see which one was the best. Then I sent the rest home and we screwed all night.”

Normally he would have laughed at her outrageous story, but lately his sense of humor had done a disappearing act when it came to Kerri. He made a noise of disgust.

“What?” She eyed him over the glass of wine the bartender had handed her. “You asked a stupid question.”

He shook his head. “Actually, I was serious. You’re looking for a husband and those guys seemed interested in you.”

“You said they were ‘all over me’.”

“Whatever.” He waved a hand.

She sighed. “I wasn’t interested in any of those guys.”

“You seemed pretty interested last night. There was a lot of hair flipping and eyelash batting going on.”

“What!” She looked at him incredulously. He couldn’t help but smile. “There was not!”

“Oh, yes there was. You were the champion hair flipper last night.”

She scowled and lifted her wine glass to her mouth, taking a big gulp. Her hand rose and he thought she was actually going to flip her hair back, but then she dropped it to her side as she apparently became aware of what she was doing. His lips twitched. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“I know you’re mad, Kerr,” he said softly. “Why don’t you just tell me and get it over with. At least then I’ll know what I’ve done.”

She peered up at him and her crystal blue eyes were shadowed. “You know what you did,” she said obscurely. He sighed. Women.

“I apologized for that. I’m trying to pretend it never happened,” he said heavily.

“Not that! I mean last night.”

He stared blankly at her. “What?”

She paused, looking down at her wine. “You told everyone you’re finding guys for me to go out with.”

Oh, shit. That. Yeah, she’d looked kind of hurt. He’d just been trying to joke around and tease like they always did.

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