SASSY IN STILETTOS ARe version (8 page)

Micha reached for her torn thong, but he snatched
it out of her way.

“Oh, no you don’t.” He met her gaze again, all
teasing gone. “You’re sure this is the way you want this to go?”

She nodded her head once.

“C’mon, let me take you home, and we can talk.”

Talk? He wanted to talk.
Hell
.
He wanted to discuss what the hell had just happened.
Yeah.
Right
. “No.”

“Look, it doesn’t have to—”

So not going to happen. Not by a long shot.

The doors opened, and she deftly avoided his
grasp. Micha wrapped the feather boa around herself after she re-hooked her
strap then booked it out of there, dragging an invisible wall of distance
between them. Without a backward glance, she ran. With her heels on, she didn’t
make much headway, but the moment she slipped them off, she made a good clip. Other
party-goers roamed the lobby, trying to figure out their clues.

Micha ran blindly, shoes in hand. Away from Caleb,
away from the nightmares of her past. She would not look at him. Could not look
at him. Not with that box closing in on her. Distantly, she heard Jaya’s voice,
then Ricca’s.

There was the distinct chatter surrounding her,
but she couldn’t make anything out. Her heart hammered so hard she thought her
chest would explode. Her breathing came in sharp, ragged draws. Shit. She
needed to get out of sight for a minute. If she could calm down, she’d be fine.

Then she’d get in a cab and go home. Crawl under
the covers and forget. But she needed to calm the fuck down first.

She plowed into the first stairwell and collapsed
onto the third step. With her elbows on her knees, she covered her face and
tried to remember all the stupid breathing exercises that long-ago shrink had
taught her. Breathe in for three. Breathe out for three. From the diaphragm. Breathe
in for three, breathe out for three.

Slowly, her breathing became less ragged. But her
heart was still in full gallop mode.

When the heavy fire door burst open, she jumped
and glared at the intruders. Ricca and Jaya crowded the entrance, their
expressions masks of concern and fear. They took one look at her face and
immediately ran in, crowding her.

“What happened?” Jaya asked.

“Oh, sweetheart.” Ricca soothed, then added, “Does
this have anything to do with why you’ve been acting so crazy? And what
happened at our, uhm, workout?” Ricca narrowly avoided ruining Jaya’s surprise.

Jaya stared at Micha then at Ricca and back again.
“Wait, this has happened before?”

Micha gazed up at her friends through bleary eyes.
She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. They were caught behind
the lump in her throat.

Ricca rubbed Micha’s knee. “It’s all right. Whatever
it is, we’re here. There’s nothing that the three of us can’t handle. But we
need you to talk to us. What’s going on with you?”

Jaya sat down and threw her arm around Micha’s
shoulders. “Ree’s right. We can help. Is it a body removal? A full out
assassination? Do you want us to hire out? Tell us who you need killed, and we’ll
take care of it. I have a whole contingency plan.”

Despite everything, a smile tugged at Micha’s lips.
She laid her head on Jaya’s shoulder and finally found her voice. “Honestly, I
don’t know what’s wrong with me. I think I had a full-scale panic attack.” She
wiped at a tear with the back of her hand. “Actually, forget think. It was
definitely a panic attack.”

Ricca sat on the other side of her. “Okay. Is that
what happened the other day too?”

Micha nodded.

“What do you think brought it on?” Ricca asked.

“I-I don’t know. I’ve been cured of this shit for
over six years. I don’t know why it’s happening now.”

Jaya smoothed her hand down Micha’s curls. “Why
don’t you start with what happened the other day? Then we’ll go back to what
triggers them.”

Micha hated leaning on someone else. This feeling
of helplessness wasn’t one she ever wanted to become accustomed to. But this
was the only family she had, and clearly she needed the help. “The other day,
Ricca, Caleb, and I were working out. Caleb and I were uhm, fighting.”

“Nothing new there,” Ricca quipped.

Micha shrugged. “Yeah. Nothing out of the
ordinary.” How the hell did she tell Jaya without revealing her surprise?

“Caleb was wrestling control of a partnering yoga
move from me, and I was annoyed, and the instructor came over and said that I’d
have to learn to trust him or it wouldn’t work. She walked away, and Caleb, he
uh, pulled me in, and that’s when I started to feel dizzy. Like the room was
spinning and the walls were closing in. I sort of freaked out and tried to take
control back but pulled my body too hard then I landed on my ass.”

A giggle burst from Jaya. “Sorry, My.” She blushed.
“Sorry. I would have paid money to see that fall.”

Ricca smiled. “It was pretty funny, Micha.”

Micha shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Yeah,
if it had been one of you two, I’d have howled with laughter.”

“So what happened tonight?” Jaya prompted.

“I, uh…Tonight Caleb and I were following a clue. My
feet were killing me, so when he suggested the elevator I said yeah. Then the
power went out and the damn elevator stopped. Same thing—dizzy, panicked.” She
didn’t want to get into the whole her begging for sex thing from Caleb. She
could relive that particular humiliation another day.

“Are you claustrophobic?” Jaya asked.

Micha opted for the truth. “A little. Sometimes I’m
all right. But I couldn’t handle it.” She shook her head. “Not tonight.”

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Ricca said. “We’re here. You
want us to take you home?”

Micha shook her head. “No, Jaya has to stay. It’s
her party. And one of us should at least be here to support. I’ll take a cab.”

Jaya scrutinized her face. “Micha, I’m worried
about you. You’re not yourself. I don’t want you going home on your own.”

Micha squared her shoulders. “I’m a big girl who
had a moment. I’m good now. I don’t need to be taken care of. I’m having a
rough week for some reason.”

“That’s understandable, but you know that’s why we’re
here, right?” said Jaya. “You remember when I lost my shit after Dad fired me,
and you guys wouldn’t let me wallow?”

Boy did Micha remember. Jaya had taken to
pocketbook suicide to fill the emptiness inside with three-thousand dollar
Christian Louboutin shoes. To help bail her out, Micha and Ricca had gone in on
the shoes with her. Sort of a shoe co-op.

“How could we forget? You were wearing these shoes
when you hooked up with Alec.”

Jaya nodded. “Well sort of. I needed some
confidence and to learn to have a little fun. That’s what the shoes gave me.”
She grinned. “And Alec.” She conceded.

Micha smiled at her friend. “But if you’re
suggesting I go buy three-thousand dollar shoes to make myself feel better, you’re
nuts.”

Ricca laughed. “No. Even Jaya isn’t that crazy. What
I think she means is you need something to help you get through something. The
shoes are only shoes, but they symbolize that we’re there for each other. Maybe
it’s your turn to have them.”

Micha shook her head. “C’mon, Ree. It’s not like
they’re magic or something.”

Ricca shrugged. “Well, when Jaya gave me the shoes
I needed a little boost too.”

Ricca had been pining after her best friend
Beckett for more than a decade. They’d finally given in to their feelings at
the annual Westhorpe Gala, where Alec had proposed to Jaya.  Or at least gave
into the temptation at the gala. The falling in love came later.

“I somehow don’t think a man will solve my
problems, Ree.”

“No. I mean, Charles and I had broken up, and the
job I was more than qualified to do had been given to someone else. I was
pretty low. Having them...” She shrugged. “I don’t know. Connected me to you
guys in a way. I could draw strength from them.”

Micha raised an eyebrow. “So you’re saying this is
the sisterhood of the traveling stilettos?”

Ree and Jaya laughed. Ricca slipped off the red
and gold embossed, four-inch beauties in question and held them out to Micha. “I
think it’s your turn. You look like you could use a reminder that we’re always
here.”

Micha eyed the shoes dubiously. Footwear was not
the solution to her problem, no matter how fabulous. But Ricca was right. She
wouldn’t be able to look at them without thinking about her friends and
everything they’d gone through together. The girls were right. There was strength
in that.

Tentatively, she slipped off her emerald green
heels and swapped them with Ricca. The simple act of sliding her feet into the
plush heels had her feeling steadier.

Jaya gave her a warm smile. “See? You’re looking
stronger already.”

***

Caleb gripped the railing of the balcony. Micha
hadn’t wanted him following her, so he’d headed to the terrace for some air. He’d
fucking blown it. His one shot with her, and he’d goddamn blown it. He should
have been more patient. Damn it. This was what happened when he rushed things.
Now she was running scared.

He regretted not following her, but that would have
been suicide. She was way too raw, and if he attempted to reason with her, she’d
flay him alive. He had enough self-preservation to curb that from happening.

He took another minute before heading back into
the ballroom. How things had gone from so good to so royally fucked up, he wasn’t
quite sure.

As soon as he walked in, Jaya was on him like
white on rice. “What the fuck happened?”

He peered over her shoulder, looking for Alec to
give him a hand, but his best friend was talking to Adele with his back to him.
Shit. He tried to side step Jaya. “I didn’t do anything, Jai.” He doubted Micha
would appreciate his telling her friend that they’d nearly fucked and she’d
run. “Have you seen Micha? Did she come down and grab her stuff already?”

“Yeah she grabbed her stuff. You were supposed to
have fun, not piss her off, Caleb.” She followed him at a fast clip, the
click-click-click
of her heels echoing ever so slightly.

“Trust me, I wasn’t trying to piss her off. It just
sort of happened.”

He scanned their table. Micha’s coat was gone and
so was her date’s jacket.
Damn
. She really
had
left.
Fuck
. He squeezed his
eyes shut. “Jaya, can we do this later, maybe? I’m going to get out of here. But
I want to talk to Alec first.”

She scrutinized him with wide, brown eyes. “What’s
the matter?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“You look a little...raw.”

Yeah, well, he felt raw. Relief flooded him as he
saw Alec coming their way with a big grin for his wife.

“Caleb, I don’t think you understand the rules of
the game, man. You’re supposed to stay with your partner and try to win. It’s a
very simple concept.”

“Sorry to ruin the fun, guys, but will you survive
without your best man for the rest of the night?”

Alec’s gaze skipped from his to Jaya to the empty
table where Micha’s things should have been. “Everything cool, man?”

“Yep, something came up that’s all.”

Alec pulled Jaya in close and nuzzled her neck. “Yeah,
it’s cool. Jaya will take good care of me.”

Caleb winced. “Oh, come on, man, you gotta do that
in front of me? You guys are worse than a couple of teenagers.”

He made a round of quick goodbyes and left as
quickly as he could. He’d known Micha would go. She wasn’t going to sit at the
table and sulk. Micha Bennett was a handful, and he knew how to work her. Only
problem was, she was stubborn as hell and would come kicking and screaming the
whole way. She wanted to pretend tonight never happened? He’d simply have to
find a way to remind her every time she saw him.

As he let himself into his apartment, he couldn’t
help the automatic peek into hers. Since moving into her building, across from
her, a couple of years ago, it had become part of his ritual. Walk in the door,
see if Micha was home.

If she was serious about not dating him, he could
respect her wishes and leave her alone and literally die of blue balls, or he
could do what he did best, be persistently annoying. She had to talk to him
eventually, and when she did, they’d get on even ground. Problem was, he didn’t
want to be on even ground with her. He wanted her. But that would come later.
For now they had out figure out how to be friends.

Micha stared at Caleb’s apartment. She could make
out the outline of his body as he prowled around on the phone. For several
moments, she stood mesmerized. There was such an easy sex appeal to him. It
irritated her.

Ryan hadn’t been too pleased about leaving early. He
loved the idea of rubbing elbows with billionaires, but he’d brought her home
without complaint, bless him.

Caleb glanced toward her place, and she sighed. Now
that he’d touched her, it was the only thing she’d be able to think about every
time she saw him. The sound of his big hands tearing the delicate lace of her
thong was one she’d never forget. The way he’d looked deep into her soul after
that first kiss. The follow up kiss had been deliberate and sensual and so
intimate. She’d wanted to run then, but God she’d wanted to stay.

She swiped a tear away with the back of her hand.
Suck it up Micha, there’s no crying in relationships.
And
if there was, she wasn’t the one crying.
Except with Jax
.
She immediately shoved the painful memory aside. She could do this. She and
Caleb could go back to the way things had been. How hard could that be? All she
had to do was forget the hottest night of her life.

Deftly avoiding her kitchen table and the letter
from the adoption agency, Micha snatched up her car keys. She’d made the
mistake of re-reading the letter after she’d come home last night.