"Not exactly trouble," Kinsey hedged. "More like …
trouble light
."
"With Doug?"
Persistent wench. "Over Doug, anyway."
Lauren glanced at her watch. "I've got twenty minutes before Macy starts yelling that she needs me to upload her
gIRL
gUIDE
updates. So give it up."
"I'm not sure twenty minutes is enough time to explain it and have it make sense." Kinsey frowned, drilling Lauren with a pointed gaze. "Besides, you sleep with Doug's business partner. I tell you, and the details end up spilled all over your pillow."
"
Puh-leez
. I have much better things to talk about with Anton in bed. Now, speak. And no leaving out the juicy stuff."
"Like I said, it's not that big of a deal," Kinsey said, hoping to minimize what she feared was big-time damage. "Except in that really maddening way things you've said while under the influence come back to bite you in the butt."
"When were you and Doug ever that drunk together…?" Lauren's blue eyes widened dramatically. "Coconut
Caye
. I knew it. All that sun and surf and skin. The perfect setting for sin."
Kinsey scoffed. "As well you should know, since you were doing more than a little bit of sinning yourself."
"Me? Hardly. Well, other than thinking murderous thoughts about Poe … thoughts that are long since nothing more than a memory," Lauren hurried to add. "I was simply trying to save what I had with Anton, thank you very much. You were the one on the deck humping a pole."
Again with the reminders of her intoxicated behavior Kinsey didn't need. "If you want to talk about that particular party, let's not leave out what you were doing with the clothes you were taking off."
Lauren huffed. "Fine. Forget about the sin. Just tell me what you said to Doug."
"It's not that simple."
"Of course it's that simple." Lauren's brow went up. "I don't have to know all the details of what you were or were not wearing at the time."
Kinsey really was going to have to talk to Doug about returning her bikini bottoms. They happened to belong to her favorite-and-now-useless suit.
Okay. That thought had nothing to do with what Lauren had just said, but the other woman's comment had brought back last night's entire discussion with Doug. Not to mention reminding her of the circumstances under which she'd lost the lower half of her bikini.
Glancing from her fingernails to Lauren's face, Kinsey hesitated, wondering how much to say. Surely her girlfriend would understand. It really wasn't the end of the world to have completely exposed her heart. Or so she tried to convince herself, since she was afraid that was exactly what she'd done.
"Uh, Kinsey? I'm waiting here. What did you say to Doug last year at Coconut
Caye
?"
Kinsey took one last huge breath and plunged forward. "I told him he was the man I wanted to marry."
* * *
"As soon as Lauren gets back with copies of my memo, we'll get started,"
Sydney
said, glancing around the gIRL-gEAR conference table at Izzy and the six seated partners.
Kinsey's gaze moved from Izzy to
Sydney
and back. The two women looked like hell and, quite frankly, smelled as if that's where they'd been. They'd worked the site of the fire all day before arriving at the office, and appeared to have skipped over exhaustion and slid into the realm of the walking dead.
Kinsey wasn't sure she'd ever seen the totally put-together and elegant Sydney Ford look so frazzled and fried. And
Izzy,
usually dressed in vibrant colors and artistic prints that fit her larger-than-life personality, didn't look any better in baggy blue jeans and a Houston Rockets jersey.
If Kinsey had had her way, she'd be suffering and smelling much the same. Once Lauren had left her office this morning, Kinsey had called
Sydney
and volunteered to help. Business-minded
Syd
, however, preferred having the rest of the staff at the office to cover appointments. It was help, but not exactly the sort that Kinsey had had in mind.
Working behind the scenes was all well and good, but it was an assistance she found too passive when there was so much physical labor needing to be done. And now, seeing
both Izzy
and Sydney sweat-and-soot streaked and totally disheveled, Kinsey wished she'd ignored the request.
She should've gone to the cleanup site to do what she could, even if it was nothing more than delivering drinking water. Appointments could've easily been rescheduled. Seeing to the needs of friends who were as close as family should have taken precedence—a mantra the Gray family had lived by all of Kinsey's life.
She reached out and squeezed Izzy's hand. "Are you doing okay?"
Izzy offered a tired smile in return, her usually bright eyes bloodshot and grim. "I'm fine, and I know what you're thinking. Trust me, you were more help here. I promise you that. Between Gramma Fred's friends and Leonard's congregation?" The way Izzy rolled her eyes said it all.
Kinsey grinned. "A madhouse, huh?"
She nodded. "Most everyone ended up being in the way, but—" she gave a weak shrug "—it was all good. They hooked us up with fried chicken and chocolate cake to die for. Way more than a body could ever be expected to eat."
"I would've been another extra, I know," Kinsey said. "But I felt so useless all day. Like I needed to be out in the trenches with you guys. I talked to Mom earlier, and she's
still
worried about Leonard and Rose, not to mention Fred."
Exhaustion sent Izzy's nearly black eyes drifting shut; she opened them again. The corners crinkled slightly with her smile, which was as wide and sunny as always against her light cocoa skin. "Your daddy came by to check on Uncle Leonard right as
Sydney
and I
were
leaving. That meant a lot to him. To Mamma and Gramma, too. They really do love your folks."
At Lauren's approach with a sheaf of memos, Kinsey glanced up and took a copy before turning back to Izzy. "Daddy's such a softie. He thinks of Leonard as a brother, you know."
"I have never seen two men with nothing in common but the love of a good lawn and the good book grow as close as Leonard and your father." The weariness waned from Izzy's expression. "You Grays are good people. Gramma Fred says so. And it takes a lot to impress that wonderfully bossy old woman."
Kinsey wrapped an arm around Izzy's shoulders and hugged hard. "She'd smack you around for saying that, you know."
"Tell me about it," Izzy said, and blew out a big puff of air.
Standing at the head of the table, Sydney cleared her throat and waited for the chatter to quiet. Kinsey squeezed Izzy's shoulder once more,
then
fixed her full attention on
Sydney
.
"By now, all of you have heard about last night's fire at the Habitat for Humanity home Izzy's congregation is building for one of its own. And I know you're aware of what a big part Izzy's family has played in my life. In Kinsey's, too.
"Homeowner's insurance will, of course, eventually take care of replacement costs, but may of the original donors to the project don't have the means to replace the supplies. That leaves an immediate deficit I'd like to help fill."
Sydney
shifted from one foot to the other,
then
leaned a hip on the table's edge. "I've put together a very brief outline of a fund-raising idea that I'd like to run by all of you before I pass out."
At the obvious weariness in
Syd's
voice, Kinsey glanced from the memo's introduction to her boss lady's ashen complexion. This was not good, not good at all. "It's okay if you sit,
Syd
. I swear we'll pay attention."
Sydney
smiled, shook her head. "If I sit, I'll need a hunky fireman to hoist me back out of my chair."
"I'm pretty sure that can be arranged," Lauren offered. "Ray called while you were in the rest room. He'll be here any minute."
A look of relief brought color back to
Sydney
's face and she sighed, sinking down into her chair at the table's head. "Thank goodness. A hunky fireman to clean me
up,
and his amazing brother to feed me. What more could a girl want?"
"This girl would like it if you shared," Poe said, arms crossed defensively over her electric-blue blazer.
Sitting at Poe's side, Lauren scoffed. "Sounds to me like work and school are getting to you."
Poe gave Lauren a piercing look. "If anything is getting to me, it is simply my lack of time for recreational dating."
"As opposed to serious relationship-type dating?"
Lauren asked, brows arched knowingly.
This time Poe simply returned her attention to the head of the table. "I do not have time for a relationship. And
Sydney
does not have time for this conversation."
"Unfortunately, that's true,"
Sydney
said, getting back to business. "Now, as I was saying, insurance will cover the loss and the rebuilding, but insurance takes time. And with Kinsey and I both considering Izzy's family as part of our own, I need the company to do something. You have a rough sketch of my initial idea on the memo Lauren handed out."
"Anything,
Syd
. Count me in," Kinsey said.
Sydney
gave a weak laugh accompanied by a rather sinister grin. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, because you and Izzy and Poe are all a big part of the plan."
Uh-oh.
Gung ho until seconds ago, Kinsey glanced from that grin to the memo, trying to turn down the blaring alarm bells in her head as she scanned the text. "A
bachelorette
auction?"
She wondered what Doug would think. She wondered how much Doug would pay. She wondered …
wait a minute
. "Wait a minute. How fair is this? You plan to auction off only me and Izzy and Poe? What happened to
all girls for one and one girl for all?
"Besides," she continued, ranting as her objections grew, "how much money are you anticipating the three of us will bring in?" She skewed her mouth to one side. "Not that I'm admitting to being cheap or worthless or anything, but I would think more
bachelorettes
would equal more cash."
"Well…"
Sydney
seemed to hedge. "You and Poe
are
the only two partners still single. And since Izzy is directly concerned, she wanted to be included."
"Then it's a done deal?" Kinsey really needed more time; she'd stopped thinking of herself as single last night. "I have no say in this?"
"Of course you do. You can say yes," Lauren offered with a friendly little snort.
But
Sydney
was shaking her head and smothering a weary yawn. "You have a say, definitely. It's just with the timing being what it is, I wanted to make the pitch so I could get home and shower before I pass out."
Officially single or not, Kinsey knew she wouldn't say no, not when this was as important as it was to
Sydney
.
gIRL-gEAR
was a partnership that went far deeper than any official corporate arrangement.
Her musketeer comment hadn't been spoken off the top of her head. That had been the group's catch phrase since their senior year at
At least Kinsey wouldn't be alone on the auction block. But she wouldn't be there without making damn certain the agreement was clearly for no more than one date. As a
semisingle
white female, she could give up one night of dinner and dancing for the cause.
In fact, the entire experience might prove to be quite interesting. She doubted she'd bring in more than five dollars, but that wasn't the point. The point was to gauge Doug's reaction to the idea of another man wanting her enough to pay through the nose.
Okay. Five dollars wasn't exactly nose-paying funds. And then there was the fact that she had no guarantee she'd be bought. But stilt, if her date wasn't a man she was going to marry, but only a very legitimate part of her wicked Doug-winning games … well, why not?
All was fair in love and making Doug jealous, right? She studied the printed pitch one more time, not finding much at all in the way of details. "How exactly is this going to work?"
"That's what we're all going to think about this week,"
Sydney
said. "We'll meet back here next Monday afternoon and see what we've come up with as far as ideas go. For now, I'm going home. I have a fire-fighter there wearing my name."
"No. You have a firefighter here wearing your name."
At the sound of Ray Coffey's deep voice, Kinsey—along with everyone else at the table—glanced toward the conference room doorway.
Ray stood in the entrance wearing crisp blue jeans, black roper boots and a navy polo-style pullover emblazoned with the insignia of Texas Task Force One—the urban search-and-rescue team with which he worked.