Murder at Sunrise Lake - Christine Feehan Page 0,34

to get him to want to stay.

“Dive in, Stella. I can’t eat all this by myself or I’ll have to go to one of those obnoxious girlie classes Harlow puts on.”

Stella dipped a zucchini stick in marinara sauce. It was good. Not like Shabina good, but good. Alek had his own recipes from his mother’s side of the family and they were valuable to the Grill. It wasn’t just a greasy spoon.

“Harlow’s yoga classes? Wait until I tell her you describe them as girlie. That’s rich. Have you ever tried one? Take a private lesson if you’re too intimidated to take a class. Seriously, not easy, and that’s beginner. People always think yoga is going to be so easy. Your body has to use all the muscles, stretching them …”

“Harlow gives private classes?” Carl interrupted.

Stella took a sip of her Moscow Mule. She knew better, but it was going down smooth and this was too good to be true. Carl Montgomery was into Harlow. Who knew? He was always so buttoned down. He rarely came to the Grill, and if he did, he didn’t hang out with their crowd. Not really. He was one of the ones on the fringe. She knew him, but not well.

“Yes, Harlow gives private lessons.” She glanced toward the dance floor when movement caught her eye. Carl slid off the barstool.

Sean was pushing his way through the few people dancing between him and Stella’s small inner circle of friends. He strode right up to Shabina, who was dancing, and he positioned himself behind her, his body almost on top of hers. She tried to elbow him off of her, but he yanked her into him, his hips thrusting hard.

Stella found herself trying to run toward the dance floor, but there were too many people between her and the place marked off for the dancing. She squeezed through two men and went around a woman who had paused right in front of her. By the time she got to the edge of the floor, whatever had taken place was over.

Bale, Ed and Jason had Sean by the arms and were escorting him out. Bruce, Sam, Denver and Alek’s bouncer, Jeff, watched them go. Zahra and Raine escorted Shabina back to Stella. She flung her arm around her friend.

“That man needs someone to teach him a lesson or two in manners,” she said. “Are you all right?”

“Yes. It’s not like it’s the first time some man wanted to freak dance with one of us. It happens all the time.” Shabina smiled at Carl. “I didn’t know you were here tonight.”

He waved toward the platter of food. “Have at it, ladies. What are you drinking?” Once again, he got the bartender’s attention.

Within minutes Carl had them all laughing. Stella appreciated that he didn’t refer to the incident at all but rather got everyone back on track having fun. Denver and Bruce joined them. Sam went to his usual place in the corner, keeping an eye on them. Before, she had wanted him to be with them, thinking it strange and creepy that he didn’t sit with them, but now, she liked the idea that he watched over them— that he was sober and she didn’t have to worry about anything but having a good time with her friends because he was there.

CHAPTER FIVE

Stella woke with her head pounding. It was still dark, thank heavens. Bailey shoved his wet nose against her face and she absently patted him. Had she remembered to take him out last night before she went to bed? She was a responsible dog owner. Of course she’d taken him out, but clearly he needed to go out again. She sat up, groaning as she did so, pressing her hand to her head. She so deserved everything she was going to get this morning.

Looking around, she realized she was in her own bed. On the nightstand was a bottle of water and two white tablets. Sam. He’d poured the four women into her rig and driven them back to the resort instead of the campsite. On the way back, they sang at the top of their lungs and laughed hysterically, mostly because once Bruce, Denver and Carl had retreated, leaving the four women, Stella had confessed scandalous thoughts she had had about Sam and all the things she wanted him to do to her.

She groaned again and covered her face. Hopefully she’d been whispering when she told her friends over and over how hot she thought