The Queen B* Strikes Back (17 page)

Just like I got him.

I upped the intensity of the kiss until my lungs burned with air, all in the hopes he’d understand what I was too afraid to say out loud. He answered by matching it. My head swam, but I didn’t know if it was from the lack of air or from him. I didn’t care if I swooned in his arms. I knew he’d be there to catch me if I did.

We finally broke away, each of us gulping for air.

I reached up to run my fingers through his hair, wondering what someone like him saw in me.

“Lexi,” he said in a way that was both a plea and a moan.

I pulled him back toward me, eager to continue.

That is, until the lights started flipping on in my house.

I jumped, and a string of curses rushed out. I didn’t know if it was Taylor or my mom, but either way, if one of them had witnessed us together, I’d have a shitload of questions to answer the second I walked through the door. And the sad part was, I was hoping it was my mom instead of my sister.

“Go,” I whispered, pushing him away.

He looked up at my house and nodded. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Fine.” I backed away from his 4Runner as he started it and wrapped my arms around my midsection. Less than a minute apart from him, and I already missed him.

Yeah, I was bordering on mental.

I took a moment to gather my composure before walking into the house and adopted Brett’s expression from the game. If they asked a question, I could give a noncommittal response like, “
No, we’re not a couple. I’m keeping all my options open
.”

Oh, and enjoying every second of making out with the hottest guy in school.

But when I walked into the house, it was empty. The lights were on, but as far as I could tell, no one was home. I tromped through the downstairs, hoping to give my mom plenty of warning if she had
company
over, but it was clear. I went upstairs and listened outside of Taylor’s room, but heard nothing. When I peeked in, it was dark and silent.

Gooseflesh prickled my skin. Someone had to have turned on the lights.

Chapter Thirteen

“Oh my God, Lexi. I can’t believe you’re wearing
that!
” Taylor made another sweep of my appearance and wrinkled her nose.

“What?” I looked down at my outfit. It was clean. It didn’t have any rips or holes. And unlike the oversized button-down shirt that my sister was trying to pass off as a dress, it wasn’t overly revealing. Who cared if I was wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt that said “I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good”? It was just Sunday brunch with the guy Mom was sleeping with. I wasn’t out to impress him.

Taylor gave the look that asked if we were even related and strode down the hall. “Mom, you’d better come see what Alexis is wearing.”

A few seconds later, my mom emerged from her room in the process of securing some huge, dangling earrings. Her dress was neat and elegant while still fitted enough to highlight her assets. She gave me the once-over and winced. “Alexis, sweetie, we’re having brunch at Salish.”

“And is there a dress code or something?”

“Well, no, but it is a bit more formal. You know—something nicer than jeans.”

“It’s brunch, Mom, not an audience with the Queen of England. Besides, I think we’re over formalities since I’ve seen Pete at his most casual, don’t you think?”

Two spots of color appeared on my mom’s cheeks, and a puzzled look creased Taylor’s features.

Years on the beauty queen circuit came in handy. Mom cleared her throat and retained her composure. “Be that as it may, I would greatly appreciate it if you could wear a dress or something similar today.”

“I don’t own a dress.” Okay, so that wasn’t the entire truth. I did own a Marauder’s Map dress, but somehow, I didn’t think my Potterhead couture would pass muster.

“Maybe Taylor can lend you one of hers.”

My sister and I eyed each other, and for once, we were in perfect agreement. She had to be kidding, right?

“I don’t think Alexis could fit into any of my clothes,” Taylor sniped.

“That’s because I don’t have the figure of a prepubescent boy.”

Rage flashed in my sister’s eyes, but Mom managed to step between us before she launched into full-on feral-cat mode.

“Enough, you two. I’m nervous enough about this morning without you two pecking away at each other.” She turned to me. “Alexis, we’re about the same size. Let’s see what I have in my closet.”

Great. I was going to meet my mom’s boyfriend dressed like her. I wonder if the dress she’d pick out for me would be one he’d recognize from a prior date.

I followed her into the massive walk-in closet that was the size of a bedroom and waited while she slid hanger after hanger past her. Finally, she pulled out a dress with soft blues and purples. It was nice, but still casual enough for brunch. And thankfully, it still had tags on it.

“Try this on. And when we’re done, we need to do something with your hair and makeup.”

“Mom, really, this is too much. I mean, if he doesn’t like me for who I am, then screw him.”

She stiffened, and the flush returned to her cheeks. “You’re way too much like your father.”

“Don’t worry—you have your clone in Taylor.”

I took the dress back to my room and tried it on. A quick glance in the mirror surprised me. I actually looked good. Like feminine and pretty and soft. So out of character for me, and yet, I kind of liked it. I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing something like this to school, but if I went on, say, another “not-date” with Brett…

My mom knocked before opening the door and popping in to check on me. “Very nice. Now, to tame that frizz.”

She stood like a drill sergeant and waited for me to march by before following me to bathroom. I pulled out my anti-frizz serum and let her work it through my hair until my curls were tamed into glossy ringlets.

“Now, for makeup.”

I held up my hands and backed away. “I draw the line with makeup. I have on a dress. I did my hair. I’ll put on some lip balm, but that’s my limit.”

Mom sighed, but gave me a once-over. “I suppose you’re right.”

I had no idea why she was so obsessed with making this meeting as perfect as possible, but my gut told me I had to draw the line somewhere. Pete obviously liked her. If he didn’t like me and Taylor, then he could take a hike.

Taylor was texting like a mad woman when we emerged from the bathroom. She took one look at me and panic flickered across her face, followed by more texting. I had no idea what set her off, and in truth, I didn’t want to ask. She may have been suffering a fit of jealousy over my cleavage, for all I knew.

The Salish Lodge was one of those overpriced places on the Eastside where you mainly pay for the view of Snoqualmie Falls. Yes, the food was good, but the fact that Pete wanted to meet us there for brunch rather than one of the local cafés signaled that he was trying too hard.

Strike one.

And I couldn’t forget that Mom waited this long to introduce him to us, which raised my suspicions about this guy even more.

Strike two.

If he hit strike three during the meal, I’d have no problem calling him out.

Pete was waiting for us when we arrived. Now that I had a chance to see him fully clothed in daylight, I could see why my mom might be attracted to him. He appeared to be in his late forties. It was hard to tell because hardly any wrinkles lined his face, a contrast to the silver in his hair. Maybe my mom was a cougar and dating a younger man who was going prematurely gray. Who knew? But he was wearing a suit and jumped to his feet with a huge grin when he spotted Mom.

“Susan, so glad you could make it,” he said as though they hadn’t seen each other in weeks. He placed a chaste kiss on her cheek that contrasted with the heat in his eyes.

Yes, they’d definitely been sleeping together for a while.

He turned to my sister and me. “And these must be your girls,” he continued in a tone that implied he’d never seen us before.

Mom played along with him. “This is Taylor, and this is Alexis.”

“So nice to finally meet you.”

The fake niceties grated on my nerves, and I decided it was time to expose Pete to the Queen B*. “We’ve met before. Friday night, actually. Remember?”

Mom’s jaw dropped, and Pete looked away, clearing his throat.

An elbow jabbed me in the ribs. “Stop it,” Taylor muttered under her breath. “You’re embarrassing Mom.”

Luckily, the hostess interrupted the awkward introductions to take us to our table.

Once we placed our orders, Pete tried his hand at small talk. Of course, he zoomed in on my fast-texting sister rather than me. “So, Taylor, Susan tells me you’re on the cheerleading team at Eastline.”

She looked up from her phone and fluttered her eyes in surprise. “Um, yeah.”

Mom gave her the “Put the phone away” glare, which my sister did with a drawn-out sigh.

“I heard Eastline has a really good football team this year,” Pete continued, loosening his tie.

“Yeah, they do,” she replied, “but you should probably ask Alexis about that.”

If I’d been sitting close enough to Taylor, I would’ve kicked her shins for bringing me into this. Something in her comment, though, didn’t sit well with me. She was Summer’s little minion, after all, and I wondered if she’d been the one who turned on all the lights last night. If she was, how much had she’d seen? And more important, how much had she tattled to Summer?

Mom looked at me in surprise. “Since when are you a football fan?”

“I’ve been giving Richard rides to the last few games,” I replied, forcing my voice to sound casual and disinterested.

Taylor’s eyes narrowed. She knew I was lying, and once we got home, I’d grill her about last night.

Pete looked grateful that I wasn’t busting his balls over Friday night. “I read in the paper that your quarterback broke some kind of record.”

“Yeah, Brett did.”

“Brett?” Pete asked. “You sound like you know him.”

A nervous twitch enveloped my toes. Across the table, Taylor hung on my every word. If she’d witnessed us kissing last night, would she out me over the brunch table?

“Yeah, we recently worked together on a school project.”

A smirk appeared on my sister’s face, and she reached for her phone.

My mom snatched it away before Taylor could get her hands on it. “No texting at the table. You’ll get this back at the end of the meal.”

Taylor pouted for a few seconds, but when she realized it wasn’t working, she turned back to me.

The look on her face made my stomach twist into knots. She knew, and she was going to torture me about it as long as she could.

Time to switch the subject.

“How long have you two been seeing each other?” I blurted out.

They exchanged glances as though each wanted the other to answer that question. My mom nodded and turned to me. “As you know, Pete’s been teaching me how to use a laser for cosmetic procedures in my office since the beginning of the year.”

“So I can assume you’ve been dating that long.” Not to be outdone, I added, “Is there a reason why you’ve kept everything hush-hush? You’re not married to someone else, are you? Waiting for the divorce to be finalized or something?”

“Alexis!” Mom punctuated my name by slamming her mimosa glass on the table and rattling the silverware. “That’s enough.”

She looked to Pete and placed a hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry about her. She runs this exposé blog and suffers from a case of rude bluntness.”

Score one point for me for embarrassing my mom. Not that I haven’t before, but now I could see why she’d rarely introduced me to any of her prior boyfriends.

Pete, though, didn’t seem offended at all. Much to his credit, he actually smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Susan. I kind of expected these kind of questions from her, especially after everything you’ve told me about her.”

Oh, great. My mom had already warned him about what a bitch I could be.

“Alexis, I understand your concerns, especially after the other night, but I wanted to assure you that none of that is the case.” He covered Mom’s hand with his own, and when he looked at her, his entire face lit up. “What started off as a collegial friendship turned into something more, and your mother has been worried sick about how to bring this up to you and your sister.”

She wasn’t the only one who was worried sick. The lovey-dovey expressions on their faces made my stomach lurch. This went beyond dating. They were as serious as a heart attack, and I waited for the other shoe to drop.

“We’re not rushing into anything,” he continued.

Except, of course, having sex on the couch.

“But as a man who’d just about given up on finding the right woman, I consider myself very lucky that your mother came into my life.”

Hand me a bucket. I thought I was going to puke.

“Aw, Pete, you’re such a sweetheart.” Mom leaned over the table to kiss him.

Taylor backed away as though she might catch old-people-in-love cooties from them, but I couldn’t move.