Page 17 of Space Crush
Ian’s loud guffaw draws the attention of nearby patrons.
Avoiding their curious eyes, I raise my empty glass. “Touché.”
“What were you thinking?” Still amused, but also more interested than I expected, Ian leans forward, elbows on the table.
“Nothing much.” Bodie grabs his phone from his pocket and starts tapping. “Just a little well-meaning subterfuge.”
SEVEN
THEORETICAL MECHANICAL ADVANTAGE
Kaley
“Bodie is in so much trouble.”Rose cackles, holding up the many-strapped bodysuit.
“Trouble?” I work my way down the rack of pretty pink silk balconette bras that caught my eyes when we entered Ooo La La, the specialty lingerie shop I frequent.
My job may call for practicality on the outside—hence my usual uniform of polos and khakis—but that doesn’t mean I can’t girl-it-up underneath.
Although, after how things went down with Evan, I’m having trouble mustering up the usual enthusiasm I have over matching bra and panty sets.
“I can’tbelievehe wouldn’t tell me the reason behind the dating app on Evan’s phone.”
Rose does not look like a woman who’s denied much. And I might be sympathetic to her frustration with her husband if I wasn’t too busy indulging in an unsafe quantity of self-pity.
Unsafe for my bank account.
Finding my size, I drop the bra on top of the other selections I’ve made inside the clear tote the store offers its customers as they shop. I squat down to grab the matching, high-cut cheeky panties from the rack below.
“Don’t worry.” She winks. “I’ll get it out of him.”
“No need to go to trouble on my account.” Matching panties procured, I stand. “I’m pretty sure that if Evan couldn’t explain it on one of the many voicemails he left me, then it just can’t be explained.” At least, that’s what I keep telling myself. Because after three days of recorded pleas for me to allow him to explain, I’m almost curious enough to call him back.
However, seeing as curiosity killed the cat, I’m of the opinion that curiosity won’t be good for my heart either.
To the left, the black lace bra and thong set I bought a week ago, the same one that Evan stared at in awe in his office, mocks me. I shift right toward the hot pink push-up bras.
“Well, I’m pissed.” Rose clucks. “Bodie is in for it if he thinks there’s a chance in hell he can keep a secret from me for long.” As if divulging a secret, she leans over the rack between us. “I don’t know if you know this, but even without kinky lingerie, I’m a lot to handle.”
I do my best not to react.
BecausedespiteRose thinking her over-the-topness is undisclosed information, everyone who has ever met, or even seen Rose, can’t help but be very much aware of it.
I mean, just three days after meeting me, she called, asked where I buy my underwear, then invited me to help her pick out thongs.
Then Rose—astronaut wife and oil billionaire—showed up this afternoon wearing a pilgrim costume leotard, having just come from her pole dancing class, where she and her classmates had been rehearsing for their autumn holiday recital.
Pole dance classmates who are mostly women between the ages of sixty to eighty—including her mother-in-law.
So yes. I fully believe that Rose West is “a lot” to handle. However, when it comes to her husband, I can’t help give Bodie the benefit of the doubt seeing as he and Rose have been together long enough to have a one-year-old. “I don’t know.” Finding the push-up bra cups too padded for my liking, I move down the row. “Bodie seems pretty resilient.”
Rose snorts, dropping the bodysuit in her hand into her own clear shopping bag. “Yeah, he is.” She pauses, her features softening in a way that makes me both wistful and jealous. “He’s a good man, too.”
I can’t argue that as, just five minutes ago, I witnessed him dropping Rose off—in all her pilgrim spandex glory—then waiting until she entered the store before driving off in a metallic pink minivan with spinning rims to take their daughter, Citali—sitting in a bedazzled, cow print car seat—out for frozen yogurt.
Resilient, reliable, unflappable. That’s how I’d describe Vance “Bodie” Bodaway.
Too bad not all men are like him.
