All About Evie by Beth Ciotta

Author:Beth Ciotta
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2007-06-11T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“DO YOU THINK THE Parkers think I’m a pervert?”

“I think they think you’re accident prone.”

“What do you think?”

“I think you’re accident prone.”

Hard to take issue considering my calamities over the last few days. I laid my beaded purse on the nightstand and watched as my partner took off his glasses and set them on the vanity. Next he chucked his dinner jacket and dress shirt, then unstrapped the fake gut.

Thank goodness the charade, at least for tonight, was over. The Iversons had invited themselves to join us for dinner. Making conversation with Dirk and Nan was impossible as they didn’t allow a person to get in a word edgewise. Enduring their company had been exhausting and irritating. Even so, not half as irritating as my obsession with the offensive Parkers. They’d consumed my thoughts all through dinner. Tex’s ogling. Carol’s risqué talk. The groping incident, followed by a lesbian innuendo, and then the two of them traipsing off to indulge in underwater sports. Pah-leeze.

“Well, I think they’re perverts,” I blurted. “Or something.”

Arch chuckled as he pulled his T-shirt over his head. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Rather than admiring his upper body when he sat on a chair and unlaced his shoes, I turned away and took my time shedding Sugar’s plentiful rhinestone jewelry.

“What struck you as twisted, Sunshine?”

“For one, she licked schnapps off his chest.”

“I’ve seen racier behavior.”

“Me, too.” When Michael and I had vacationed in New Orleans. The things women and men did for beads. “That’s not the point. It’s the way she took her time, like she was putting on a show.”

I heard a shoe drop.

“For you,” I added as his second shoe thudded to the floor.

No comment. But he must have noticed. Ms. Tall, Dark and Beautiful had been less than discreet in her appraisal of Charles. Gold digger immediately sprang to mind, followed by the recurring notion that she was a seducing evil agent. Neither one of us had given up that we’d met earlier in the gift shop. I’m not sure why, although I’d again sensed a competitive edge.

“I think she was putting on a show for everyone,” Arch finally said. “She likes attention.”

“Ya think?” Carol Parker wasn’t loud like her husband, but she certainly made her presence known. “That scrap of material masquerading as a bathing suit screamed, Hey everyone, check out my hot bod!”

Arch mimicked a cat yowl.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m envious. Whatever. I understand the ‘if you’ve got it, flaunt it’ mentality. She probably worked very hard for that lithe body and her breasts were magnificent. Trust me, I know.”

He laughed.

“They’re real, if you’re wondering.”

“I’m not wondering.”

I glanced over my shoulder. He sat at the desk attacking the keys of his laptop computer. Again I marveled that he could type and talk at the same time. And, I confess, I itched to know what he typed. Did he journal his thoughts and feelings like me? Naw. Guys with beefy muscles and tribal tattoos probably aren’t in touch with their inner selves. More likely he was

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