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“What a small world. Elise?”
“Yep.” Jamie nodded. “We grew up together and maintained our friendship into adulthood. We run in the same social circles now, but back then, her mom and my mom would watch movies while we pretended to fight off pirates in my bedroom.”
“I hate it when pirates invade bedrooms.” Leighton’s brown eyes went wide. “I trust you won.”
“Always. Our umbrellas were sharp.”
Leighton sipped her pink bubbly with measured elegance, and Jamie tried to mask her captivation. “You’re a city kid? No accent.”
“Watch out. It slips in every once in a while. Just hang out with me some more.” She’d said it with too much bravado, like she was a woman with moves. She wasn’t. They would likely never hang out, but she could dream.
“Now I’m going to have to pay attention.” Interestingly, that sentence hinted at continued interaction, and Jamie wouldn’t mind that at all. “But back to Bambi’s mother. Did you mean the cartoon deer, or is there a literal child you had me attached to?”
Jamie pinched the bridge of her nose, searching for a plausible explanation that wouldn’t fully embarrass her in the middle of a really nice exchange. “Here’s the thing. My regulars and I sometimes have nicknames for customers based on initial impressions or the nature of their order. Sometimes we learn their real names and the fake ones fade away, sometimes they override their real names for all time. Just depends.”
Leighton’s eyes went wide and her perfect lips pulled in amusement. “Aha. You named me Bambi’s Mother?”
“Yeah. You’re with me now. And because I know your actual name, we can lose that one.”
“Unless it supersedes.”
“It won’t. Trust me.”
“But Bambi’s Mother? Why in the world?”
There was no way around this. Jamie decided to dive in headfirst. “You have these really pretty, luminous eyes. And long lashes to go with them.” Jamie gestured to her own. “Wasn’t a long leap.”
Leighton nodded, turned, and faced the window as she tilted her flute into a sip. “Were you checking me out the other day?”
“What? Ha! Why would you say that? Ha again!” Jamie realized her voice was much too loud. “Funny, but…I mean…” Her words trailed off because, damn it all, the Wicked Witch of the East was headed their way with a curious look on her face. “I’m warning you now. The woman who will be here in four seconds is my awful ex-girlfriend, and she’s probably going to make passive-aggressive comments in order to disparage me and elevate herself. It’s a dance we do.”
“Oh, she sounds lovely.” Leighton straightened and turned.
Jamie leaned in and kept her voice low. “She’s not. I promise. Here we go. Incoming.”
“Jamie, is this your date?” Laurel said with an overabundance of enthusiasm.
“Laurel’s intentions were not good,” the voice-over said.
Oh, you don’t have to tell me.
Jamie opened her mouth only to have Leighton beat her to the punch. “Yes. Her date. That’s me. Leighton Morrow. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Laurel’s plastered-on smile lost wattage. Leighton had just greeted her with the serenity of someone dripping with both confidence and grace they didn’t need. She spoke like royalty. Maybe a kind heiress. “Laurel Kippling. Jamie and I go way back.”
“How interesting. You’re lucky.” Laurel blinked, and Leighton smiled, completely unfazed by any of this. Wow. She then threaded her fingers through Jamie’s possessively, and the world went still. Jamie’s body came instantly alive, electricity pinging off the scale. “We were just taking in the view. Very romantic up here.” She turned to Jamie, kissed her hand. Heat scorched its way up her arm. “We need to come stay for the weekend. I’m told they have a gorgeous penthouse with apark view and a strawberry shortcake not to be missed and”—she lifted her shoulder—“I love robes and room service.”
“They’re wonderful,” Laurel said. She prided herself on being the prettiest girl in any room. Always had. She didn’t love competition, and Leighton’s presence had surely thrown her off her game. “My girlfriend is around here somewhere. I’ll have to introduce you. She’s a model working on a tire commercial this week.”
“Tires. Wow,” Leighton said in an overly enthusiastic voice. “Well. I suppose we all need them.”
Laurel looked from Jamie to Leighton, her eyes like darts. “Maybe we can all get together sometime.”
“We’d love it. Right, baby?” Leighton asked Jamie, who wasn’t at all sure what planet she was on right now but hoped she could live here forever. Leighton was her pretend date, calling her baby and kissing her hand, and Laurel was here to hate every minute of it? Should she buy a lottery ticket next? What had she done for the universe to bless her with this gift of a moment? She planned to relish every second of this exchange, like juice from a ripe nectarine.
“That would be fantastic, but I know your schedule at the office is jam-packed this month,” Jamie said and realized she had no idea what Leighton did for a living. She did know, based on Leighton’s standard wardrobe and hours spent on a laptop, that it seemed corporate in nature. Maybe an attorney. Or an accountant. Both just upped her sex appeal by a thousand.
“It is crunch time.” She turned to Laurel. “Jamie’s always so sweet to me after a long day.” Laurel blinked several times, swimming in misery and indignation. Jamie was surprised she hadn’t started hopping with anger by now.
