Buch lesen: «Lead Me On»

1

THE VIDEO HAD been posted on YouTube that morning, and Margot Walker was determined to prove that it hadn’t bothered her one bit.

So as she sat in a booth in the Avila Grande Suites’ bar with her two best friends, she calmly sipped her Midori Sour, leaning back against the leather seat. Around them, conversation buzzed from a few other happy-hour hotel guests—none of whom were a part of the Phi Rho Mu fraternity and Tau Epsilon Gamma sorority ten-year reunion that was taking place in the hotel this weekend.

“Margot,” Leigh said, leaning her elbows on the table, her blond braid hanging over a shoulder. “Are you sure you’re up for this? Nobody would blame you if you decided to bug out and go home.”

Margot carefully set her drink down on the polished table. Dani, with her curly red hair, porcelain skin to die for and a peach-hued shirt, was nodding in agreement beside Leigh.

“Why put yourself through this?”

“Because I’m not going to let a ridiculous prank chase me away,” Margot said. “Yes, some bored moron posted that video late last night, hoping to get my goat. Yes, everyone is probably going to laugh at me because of what’s on it. But I don’t care. No one’s keeping me away from meeting up with my friends after all these years.”

“You’re talking like it’s just any old video.” Leigh picked up her beer bottle and reclined in her seat, a sexy, laid-back cowgirl in her tight pink-plaid Western shirt. “It was bad enough when it was circulated in college. Now, to have it show up again...?”

“It reflects worse on whoever did this than it does on me,” Margot said. And it almost sounded like she believed it.

After all, it was humiliating. A dimly lit fraternity room. A couch. Heavy breathing. Her giving in to the one guy she should’ve never said yes to.

The jerk Clint Barrows.

As Margot pushed a rush of heat back—she was angry, which was why she was blushing and flushing—Dani laughed in amazement.

“That video embarrassed the hell out of you the first time and you never forgave Clint Barrows for it. And don’t lie to us, Marg, because we know that’s the truth.”

“As I said, I got over it.” But, when a group of white-collar men wandered into the bar, she momentarily stiffened, waiting to see if she knew them. Waiting to see if they would laugh their asses off at her.

But...no. Just some random guys here on business or whatever.

She forced herself not to hang back in the booth. She was here to show whoever had put up that video that she was an adult, impervious to the slings and arrows of juvenile jokes.

And what a joke it had been. A prank. A camera hidden in a fraternity house during a party one night—the night she’d finally dropped all her hard-to-get flirting with Clint Barrows and given in to his cowboy Romeo charm, going to his room to “watch movies.” But movies were the last thing on their minds, and she’d told him that she would kill him if he let anyone know that they were doing anything more than hanging out and eating popcorn.

She hadn’t expected to be filmed while saying that and getting hot and heavy with the campus lothario.

Very hot and heavy, although not all-the-way hot and heavy, thank God.

To think, she’d actually liked Clint before she’d gone off with him, had been attracted to him even if he’d had a heck of a lot of women on that secondhand couch and had watched quite a few “movies.”

But there was just something about him that had drawn Margot in, even though she’d known he was bad news. Something in his eyes that sparkled dangerously, daring her, inviting her to come on a big adventure she’d never regret. And no guy had ever made her skin tingle with just a look, made her belly flip just at the sound of his voice....

She’d been taken in, though, made sport of. Hunted and caught in the lens of a camera. She’d known it when she’d seen the red eye of the device in the near-dark just as he’d been undoing the buttons on her shirt.

She’d smacked the ever-lovin’ charm out of him and left the room, too shocked to even think to destroy the tape. Too... Well, she would’ve said hurt if she’d cared enough.

And she didn’t. Really. Because, even when he’d sent an email to her the next morning, telling her that he hadn’t known about any camera, that it was his roommate who’d set it up, and that the tape had been demolished, she hadn’t answered. Her humiliation had only flared when she’d heard that the video was making the rounds around campus.

Sure, some good sources had backed up Clint’s story that he wasn’t the one who’d set up or circulated that tape, but when she really thought about it, that wasn’t the true reason she couldn’t stand him. She’d been caught with him, the conquest king, on film, telling him that their night should be kept a secret. What a laugh riot that must’ve been for the video’s audience before seeing the fireworks that had begun between them.

First off, Margot didn’t like being the butt of any joke. Second, she could imagine Clint basking in the glory of the video—proof that he had finally gotten her to bend her will to him. Third, she never wanted to be just a number for any guy.

She’d spent college playing hard-to-get for a lot of boys, and her reputation and pride had sure taken a hit after the scandal. And his reputation had only grown, his college nickname, “Stud,” reaching epic proportions in their social circles for the rest of their senior year.

Her dislike of him had grown with every knowing glance she’d received at every social event after that.

But then summer had come and life had really started. A decade had passed since, and the video had become just one of those ridiculous college mistakes that no one mentioned anymore. It’d been all but forgotten.

Until last night.

Just as she’d been checking her email this morning, all packed and ready to hit the road for this reunion between her sorority and its fraternity counterpart, she’d found messages from her sorority sisters about the video. No one knew who’d posted it, but Margot’s first thought went to Clint.

Had he lied about destroying the tape way back then because he thought he could get into her good graces...or her pants...so he could close the deal? And had he aired it now, just because he thought it’d be funny for the reunion?

She wished he’d walk into the bar so she could face him down and tell him to grow up. She was so far beyond him and that night.

As she rested her hand on her glass of Midori Sour, she smiled at her friends. “Why bring that crap up again when we have more important things to talk about? As in, auction baskets for this weekend?”

Leigh caught her cue and shot a glance to Dani. They’d all met in the lobby about fifteen minutes ago and had just sat and started chatting when the scandal had reared its ugly head again. Margot had already told them she was over it on the phone during her drive there, but leave it to Dani and Leigh to question her.

Anyway, when they’d first seen each other, hugging and laughing, she and Leigh had sprung their own surprise on Dani, telling her about the charity auction the two of them were throwing tomorrow night because they wanted her to have the big wedding she’d always yearned for. It’d be an All-American college-reunion good time that wasn’t going to be ruined just because some ass—had it been Clint?—had decided to pep up the event with a memory Margot would’ve rather forgotten.

Once again, she thought of the cowboy, with his denim-blue eyes, his lackadaisical way of watching her walk through one of the many parties their fraternity and sorority had thrown together. Then, just as quickly, she tamped down that spark in her belly.

Jerk.

“Guess what I’m going to call my auction basket,” she said, ignoring thoughts of him.

Dani was strangely quiet, just as she’d been when Leigh and Margot had launched the surprise on her, come to think of it.

But Leigh was already talking, leaving the video behind, although Margot suspected it’d come up again.

“Lord knows what you conjured up, Marg.”

Her smile grew. “‘Around the Girl in Eighty Ways.’”

She waited for them to give her that “come again?” look that she’d gotten so used to back in college when she’d whipped up similar harebrained ideas.

And, yep, there it was.

Come again?

Leigh took the bait first. “How does going around the girl in eighty ways fit in an auction basket?”

“I’m betting it’ll fit very nicely on auction night. Hopefully even more than once.” Margot shot Leigh a saucy grin, while Dani just lifted an eyebrow at Margot.

Then Dani said, “I’m not sure about all this....”

Leigh nudged Dani good-naturedly. “You’ve got to hear Margot out. She came down here, even in the midst of a pride-spankin’, just for you, Dan.”

“Thanks,” Margot said, narrowing her eyes at Leigh. She spoke to Dani. “This is just the first of many gifts for our bride-to-be.”

“But I don’t need—”

“It’s not a matter of need or not need,” Margot said, on a roll. See—it wasn’t so hard to forget about that video. Sort of. “You used to talk about the perfect wedding all the time. Everyone wants it to happen for you at the end of this year in the huge, grand way you used to describe to us.”

“You were our Wedding Girl,” Leigh added, giving Dani’s arm a friendly, light squeeze.

Dani said nothing, and Margot caught Leigh’s gaze. Sure, they’d talked about whether or not they were being too intrusive, assuming Dani would want their help, since her funds were too low to afford that dream wedding. But, my God, this was Dani. And this was their chance to help her achieve the fantasies she’d collected in her wedding scrapbook—pictures of frothy white dresses and creamy cakes, blooming flowers and a bride and groom who couldn’t take their eyes off each other.

If someone good like Dani didn’t deserve it all, then who did?

“You’ve already talked about this auction to everyone?” Dani finally asked.

Across the table, Leigh looked a little sheepish as she put down her beer. “We might’ve secretly suggested it to the sisters on our email loop.”

Dani was flushing, and Margot wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed or angry with them. But Dani never got angry.

When she spoke, she made Margot rethink that.

“So everyone knows that poor me, the lowly caterer and not the Paula Deen she aimed to be back when she majored in home ec, can’t afford a decent wedding? And her fiancé is only a small-estate manager, not the business mogul he wanted to become, so that means they can’t possibly afford even fancy flower arrangements?” She laughed. “I suppose that’s not too embarrassing.”

Margot glanced at Leigh again. Whoops.

Leigh seemed just as helpless as Margot as she peeled away the label of her beer. “Can I just put things in perspective and volunteer that Margot’s video is going to take all the ‘embarrassing’ out of the reunion for you, Dan? That’s what everyone’ll be talking about.”

To Leigh’s credit, she was merely doing her best. Margot followed suit.

“Once again, Leigh, thanks so much.” She smiled at Dani. “No one thinks you’re destitute. It’s only that your wedding plans were legendary in the sorority. Hell, your nickname during pledging was ‘Hearts.’ We’d talk about getting together for the ceremony someday and how it’d be a time when we could all celebrate together.”

“It was going to be a milestone,” Leigh added.

Margot went on, and it was just like the old days, when she would get a lightbulb idea going and Leigh would join in, eventually followed by Dani.

“The wedding is as much for us as it is for you,” she said. “It means everything because you’re marrying the guy from our counterpart fraternity, and everyone knew you were going to get together with him even before the two of you knew it. It’s a big deal for all of us Rhos and Taus.”

Dani finally smiled, probably because of the memories.

Times like the spring-break trip to Cabo—a Bacchanalia that had sworn Margot, Leigh and Dani off booze for...well, weeks. It had been just one of many adventures they’d shared as sorority sisters and Margot would never forget them. The three of them had grown up together during some very pivotal years, then tossed their graduation caps in the air as one, letting them rain down with the joy of exploring all the roads ahead.

Back then, Margot had nursed so many ambitions—to travel the world, to write books—and she’d done all of it in the time from there to here.

But dreams could last only so long.

She ate the maraschino cherry in her Midori Sour, yet it didn’t taste as good as it used to—not after the bad news she’d gotten last month about how her latest “single girl on the go” travel book had done.

Or, more to the point, hadn’t done.

As usual, Margot tried not to show how upset she was. She’d been keeping the news to herself that her publishing company hadn’t wanted to go to contract after she closed out this most recent book. Surely something else was bound to come along.

Wouldn’t it?

Dani was talking. “But...I still don’t know about raising money for my wedding.”

Leigh said, “Don’t they have money dances at receptions? We’d just be doing the asking before the wedding.”

“Besides, it’s not any old auction,” Margot was quick to add, dangling the cherry stem between her fingers. “This is something everyone will love. A basket auction, just like they used to do in the old days at picnics. You know, when the girls packed a lunch in a basket and tied a telltale ribbon around the handle so the boy she was crushing on would know it was hers and take her out?”

“Days of innocence,” Leigh said in her ranch-girl drawl. Country-singer cool, she rested her free arm over the top of the booth. She seemed as down-to-earth as they came—if you didn’t know her very well. Leigh was the type to come off as earthy, even though she was a rising star at The Food Network with a new show that Margot could describe only as “sensuous farmhouse cooking”—like putting Faith Hill in Martha Stewart’s kitchen.

For a second, Margot could almost see her friends as they used to be: Leigh, forty pounds heavier, laughing at the nickname—“Cushions”—that everyone had given her, even while inside, Margot knew, Leigh hadn’t found it so hilarious. And Dani, a home ec major like Leigh, known as the romantic “Hearts,” who used to love matchmaking at the dinner parties she put together.

But Margot had them beat. She’d been an endangered species on their rural San Joaquin Valley campus—an English major among all the agricultural business majors and local cowboys and cowgirls. She’d never minded standing out, though. Leigh, who’d been her dorm roomie, and Dani, who’d lived down the hall, had talked Margot into joining Tau Epsilon Gamma, and she’d never regretted a day of it.

Even if her parents hadn’t been quite as excited.

Sororities are for girls who’ll never find a day of independence in their lives, her dad had said. Don’t you want to have a mind of your own?

Of course she did, but joining the Taus hadn’t quashed the free spirit her hippy-minded parents had raised her to be as they’d moved from town to town, “experiencing all life has to offer.” They’d take temporary jobs and then one day jerk her out of school before she could find a best friend. Sometimes she’d wondered if they cared about how she fit into their whole “see the world!” philosophy...or if she’d just been one more item on their bucket lists.

But she’d found a whole lot of friends all on her own, thank you very much.

And that’s what mattered.

Margot searched Dani’s gray-hued gaze. Was her friend about to come around to the idea of the auction? She and Leigh hadn’t meant to mortify her; when Dani had told them during their own private yearly get-together a few months ago that she and Riley couldn’t afford the wedding she’d been planning since she was a little girl, it’d looked as if her heart was about to break.

Or was Dani going to tell them to go to hell?

“Dani,” Margot said, reaching across the table to enclose her hand, which rested by her untouched wine spritzer. “We can call off the auction if you want. Really.”

Leigh looked as if she was holding her breath, clearly just as torn about this. Since she’d lost weight last year, she’d made a pact with Margot to be more adventurous than ever. Hence, this basket thing. Even though she’d always seemed confident, she hadn’t been anywhere near it. Now, though, Leigh was different, and she was going to take her new attitude into the bedroom for the very first time in her life with this auction. She’d vowed to do things like making love with the lights on and playing all the bedroom games she’d never allowed herself to play.

And Margot... Well, she was pretty much already one of those girls, never settling into a relationship, since there was so much to do out in the world, so much to see and experience. Putting together a sinful basket would be one more adventure for the adventuress—and it’d be a way to say “See? That damned YouTube video isn’t going to cow me” to whoever had posted it.

Clint?

Truthfully, there was a bonus in the basket auction. This weekend would also be a chance to reconnect with her old boyfriend, Brad, maybe relive some good old times....

Margot stopped herself. These days, she wasn’t as confident as everyone thought. She felt like a real failure at the moment, with her less-than-bestselling books.

Most Likely to Succeed?

Not so much anymore. But she was damned if she was going to let anyone see the self-doubt. Nope—she had taken the lead in putting together this auction, and she wanted it to go off without a hitch, video or no. She would do it for Dani’s sake and...

Well, to let everyone know that nothing was going to get her down.

“Dani?” Leigh asked. “Do you want us to cancel the auction?”

A second passed, and Margot maintained her poker face, even as her heart beat against her ribs.

But then Dani smiled. “I’d hate to ruin anyone’s fun....”

“I knew you’d be on board,” Leigh said, beaming.

Margot raised her drink, even though she thought she still detected some reluctance in Dani. “To a hell of an auction, then?”

“I’ll drink to that.” Leigh toasted, too. “Then again, I’ve got the feeling we’ll be drinking to a lot of thats this weekend.”

Dani brought her spritzer glass up as well, and they all clinked, then threw their drinks down the hatch.

When they finished, Margot noticed that the room was filling up. Businessmen cluttered the mahogany bar, loosening their ties and glancing around.

When the waitress stopped by to check on the three women, Leigh ordered another round of drinks. Then the server went to the next booth, the occupant obscured by the strip of stained glass edging the top of the seats.

Obviously, someone had slipped in, unnoticed, during their conversation, because the waitress took that order, too. Couldn’t be anyone they knew, Margot thought, or they would’ve said hi.

“So, Margot,” Leigh began, “how about that Around the Girl in Eighty Ways basket?”

“What, are you going to steal ideas from me?” Margot asked playfully.

“Like I’d need to.”

They’d always tried to top each other in grades and at social events, and they’d made each other challenge themselves, too, Margot thought. Too bad she didn’t have Leigh around more these days.

She brushed off the pessimism. There wasn’t room for it this weekend. “The title pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? I have little pieces of paper with different...scenarios...on them. Whoever bids the highest can enact one or more of them during our date.”

“Whoa,” Leigh said. “Brassy. I thought I’d make mine a little vaguer, you know? Just in case it goes to someone who doesn’t really appeal.”

“Oh, I’m going to make sure it goes to someone who appeals to me. But not to worry—the scenarios I’ve chosen can be interpreted in various ways. They can be as naughty as I want...or as nice.”

“You devil,” Leigh said.

“Or angel.” Margot winked and took another drink.

“Just exactly what kind of scenarios are they?” Dani asked.

Behind them, in the other booth, someone cleared his throat.

Margot barely heard, because she was concentrating on Dani. She loved to see that her friend was warming to this basket idea. “Scenarios. You know me. My books were all about seeking fun for the well-traveled girl, so I’ve got several adventures already researched and tested.”

She hesitated. Her books were all about seeking fun? Had she really just used the past tense?

Leigh’s olive-colored eyes lit up. “I can see where this is going.”

“Can you?”

“Please, Marg,” Dani said. “Even a few months ago, you were talking about seeing Brad here at the reunion. I think we can figure out that you’re going to make sure he’s the one who bids the highest, so you can rekindle that flame you had in junior summer break.”

“Did you tell him about your basket yet?” Leigh asked.

Margot thought that she could finally taste a hint of the thick, decadent juice that had come with the maraschino cherry. “I had no idea that Brad was going to be here,” she said, all sweetness and cluelessness.

“Right,” Dani said.

“As if you didn’t know he got divorced recently,” Leigh added.

He was the only guy Margot had connected with in a half-serious way. Okay, the relationship had lasted only about three months, during a summer when he’d taken off from Cal-U and interned on a local dairy near Chico, where she’d been staying with a cousin during break. But he’d lit her teenage fire on more than one occasion.

What she’d give for a little of that fire now.

She glanced around to see if any of her classmates had noticed she was here yet.

Dani cleared her throat. “Riley told me he heard Brad’s going to break away from work this weekend. He’ll be here, all right.”

Leigh waggled her eyebrows. “You plan to have a special mark on your basket so he can bid on it?”

“A burst of gold and silver stars.” Margot smiled at the waitress as she brought the new round of drinks.

Leigh murmured, “A burst of stars, just like he’ll see after Margot—”

She cut Leigh off. “When did Riley say Brad was coming, Dan?”

“I think he’s here already, playing golf with Riley and some of the guys before things really get started.”

Everyone would be here by tomorrow for the homecoming football game, then a casual meal and the auction, followed on Sunday by a more formal dinner before they all headed off in their different directions again.

Leigh leaned back in the booth, surveying Margot. “Honestly, I never really saw Brad’s appeal. He always reminded me of the type of guy who checks himself out in windows when he walks by them. He was kind of self-involved, if you ask me.”

“He was not.” He was smart and ambitious, going places. Margot had related to that. Plus, he’d been in the area, and they’d gotten to know each other without all their Greek brothers and sisters around.

Dani was leaning her elbows on the table, looking at Leigh. “I never thought Brad was that hot, either.”

Hot?

The word conjured up a maddening image of Clint Barrows. That damn video had shoved him into her mind and was making him stay there beyond a decent hello. God, she hoped he wouldn’t be at the reunion.

Margot took another drink, as if she could wash him away.

Dani started to slide out of the booth. “Don’t hate me, but I’m really bushed, you all. I catered a big fortieth birthday party last night. Can we meet up later?”

When Margot started to protest, Leigh stood to leave, too. “Don’t hate me, but I’ve got a script to look over and approve tonight so we can hit the ground running at the studio on Monday.”

“Lightweights,” Margot muttered. She wasn’t nearly ready to hole up in her room yet, even if her classmates would soon be here to tease her about the video.

Bring them on.

Leigh seemed impressed. “You’re actually staying here?”

“To face the lions when they arrive? You’d better believe it. I want to get this over with. Besides, if Brad’s already in town, he might drop in for a post-golf drink.”

“Okay, Braveheart.” Leigh smiled. “How about dinner with us later?”

“No doubt.”

Dani just grinned again, swinging her small, patchwork purse over her shoulder. They both waved as they walked away, and it wasn’t four seconds later that Margot started rethinking this Braveheart stuff.

Did she really want to suffer through the ribbing all alone?

But it wasn’t in her nature to wimp out, so she took another drink.

A deep voice behind her made her almost spray the Midori out of her mouth.

“I’ve always wondered what’d be in your basket.”

She knew that voice, even years later.

Clint Freakin’ Barrows.