Page 16 of Dirty Laundry (Down and Dirty)

Grimacing, Carine peeled the camisole over her head.

“I’d appreciate less petulance,” Heidi said.

“I didn’t think I was being petulant.”

“Then perhaps stop mimicking being exactly that, then.”

Carine did her best to keep her expression neutral as she tossed Heidi the shirt.

Heidi kept her condo chilly, and goosebumps began invading Carine’s flesh. She was too afraid to rub her arms for fear of Heidi having something to say about the unauthorized movement.

She watched Heidi carefully fold that shirt, too, and stack it atop the other.

“A little better balanced now.”

“Do you want to move into the bedroom?”

“For what?”

Oh no.

Carine resisted the compulsion to let her foot tap nervously. The “for what” was perfectly evident to her and probably Heidi. But Heidi was programmed to play games. Carine was the naif who’d forgotten to ask upfront what the rules were.

She took a deep breath and found Heidi’s unamused stare fixed on her shivering arms. “Maybe we should establish what we expect of each other. I was expecting movie and cocktail and see-what-happens, but I forgot you’re Heidi Dowd.”

Heidi Dowd was never going to sit still long enough to watch a movie of any sort. Carine really hadn’t been thinking.

“I was wondering when you’d remember I’m Heidi Dowd.” Heidi lifted her drink to her lips yet again and settled back against her seat. “Yes, let’s do establish expectations. Let’s establish what you’re going to get from me first. You suggested that you wanted someone to see you. Well, here I am. I see you on my sofa, still far too overdressed for a restful Saturday. I see you went to the trouble of highlighter and contour and lashes and all, and I appreciate that, Carine. You wanted to look nice. I see you. Now I want you to go wash it all off.”

“What?”

Heidi tutted and gave her head the most infinitesimal of shakes. “Petulance.”

“Heidi, I was only—”

At the mere twitch of Heidi’s eyebrow, Carine sprang to her feet and started toward the bedrooms.

“Go into my room,” Heidi said. “Far right door. Makeup remover’s in the first drawer of the vanity.”

Carine tamped down all of her curiosity about how Heidi lived and the composition of her inner sanctum. She kept her focus on the task of unmasking.

She’d been the one to ask about expectations, and Heidi, being the pro that she was, turned the tables in short order and informed Carine that she wasn’t yet in the place to negotiate them.

Beneath her foundation, Carine’s skin was blotchy, and there were gray semicircles under her eyes. The unforgiving North Carolina sun had deepened the saturation of her freckles and carved in new wrinkles in the past year, but at the moment, that was the face she had. She’d have to work with it, even if she thought her eyes looked dull with the liner and mascara scrubbed away and the lashes peeled off. She wasn’t going to risk “petulance.” She wasn’t going to risk being sent home before she…felt better.

While piling all the used makeup wipes into the waste bin, she forced herself to take several deep breaths. There was no commission on the line. She wasn’t there to sell houses or to renegotiate her employment contract. She didn’t need to be the best possible Carine. All she needed to do was show up and avoid offending Heidi.

She turned off the light and padded slowly back to the living room, uncertain what she’d find.

Heidi had relaxed with her feet on the coffee table and long legs crossed at the ankles. “That’s a bit closer to where I want you. Now. Let’s try again about the expectations. Assuming I can remember where we left off.”

Carine sat in the same place as before.

Heidi shook her head.

Carine stood. “No?”

“I want you to sit here.” Heidi tilted her head microscopically toward her left side.

---