“Do you think we should stop drinking if we’re
going to the Guru’s transcendental mediation tonight?” Nely
asked, lolling her head over to Aggie.
“Absolutely not,” Aggie answered, reaching
for her drink.
“Do you really think you can talk to the dead like
it says you can?” Nely asked. “I don’t
know what I’d say.”
Aggie hoped so, having thrown herself deeper into debt
to spend the weekend up here. Maybe Mama would have some
wisdom about how Aggie could get untangled from all the
loose ends in her life, or at the very least what she
should do about the email from Kevin waiting in her Sidekick’s
in box.
They lounged in a private, poolside cabana attended to
by an All-American cabana boy named Luke who had natural
honey-colored highlights in his hair and a generous smile.
They had been massaged by hot rocks, wrapped in unpronounceable
herbs, exfoliated and moisturized until their skin shone
like satin and their bones melted to warm jelly. This
was better than pot.
Ventana del Cielo stood on top of the highest mountaintop
skirted with avocado groves, just west of Julian. The
original Moorish palace with sugar-white walls had been
built by some eccentric steel baron in the 1920’s.
A year ago it had been renovated into a New Age resort
by Guru Sauro who wrote the New York Times bestseller, Seekers
of the Dead. The resort was a Mecca for overworked
A-types and movie stars on orders to detox, or else they
couldn’t be insured for their next production.
Aggie thought that if there was a place where she could
stop running around in circles and get some answers, this
would be it. She had gone to sleep every night this past
year, hoping it would be the night when Mama would visit
her in her dreams. It seemed like everyone who lost a
parent had at least one dream of them … everyone
except her.
But then Kevin’s stupid email ruined everything.
“Earth to Aggie?” Nely called her back.
“What?”
Nely stared at her for an impossibly slow moment while
Aggie tried to force her uncooperative lips into a smile.
Good God, why was she tying herself up into knots over Kevin?
They hadn’t slept together, so no damage was done,
and yet while she knew sleeping with him would’ve
been a disaster, she regretted that they hadn’t.
And then Aggie remembered Nely had said something. “What
did you ask me?” she asked.
“Nothing.” Nely flicked three pages of her
magazine.
An exasperated sigh escaped and then Aggie explained, “I
got a message from Kevin.”
Nely’s head popped up. “What did he say?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t open it.”
Nely opened her mouth and then shut it. “I can
just imagine what he would have to say,” she groused. “Nothing
you could believe anyway.”
Hearing the crisp disapproval in Nely’s voice,
Aggie almost spoke up in his defense. He was her friend,
after all and in a lot of ways, he was the male version
of her: driven, honest and always needing the best and
beautiful of everything, including lovers.
Mesmerized by the negative edge pool that seemed to float
over the narrow valley, Aggie reminded herself that she
had better untangle her feelings and remember who she
was dealing with. But she couldn’t stop the riptide
of memories that pulled her back to the day she met him.
“If there’s a God in heaven, he’s buying
those for his girlfriend and not for himself,” Dana
had said when Aggie walked back into her new boutique
after her lunch with a rep from Nanette Lapore.
“Who are you talking about?”
Her then assistant manager licked her lips as she pointed
across the store. “Him.”
Him, or rather, he made Aggie’s heart stop.
Six feet of broad shouldered, taut-tushed and barbarously
sexy male stood over the table of lingerie, picking up
a pair of Dita Glamour French Heel stockings. He peered
through the package without any embarrassment.
Dana made a grab for Aggie’s arm. “I spotted
him first, he’s mine.”
Aggie flicked her eyes down to Dana’s tummy. “Dude,
go put your feet up or I’m calling your husband
and your mother.”
“But-”
Aggie barely registered Dana’s protest much less
felt her feet touching the floor as she made her way to
him.
End of Excerpt. Like it? Order
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