“Some of us have work in the morning,” Kris said, before the conversation came to an abrupt halt as they all caught sight of her. As a rule Rori wasn’t particularly self conscious about her body, but the expressions she was looking at inspired a streak of modesty in her.
“My apologies,” she said. “I was just going up to get some clothes on.”
“Not on my account,” Luke said stepping forward. “You look good to me.”
Kris gave his arm a little slap. “You’re not the only man in the room, Luke. Clothes would be a good thing.”
Rori tried to avoid looking at Mike, but as she fled up the stairs she glanced at him to see his reaction only to find he had turned his eyes away. He wasn’t even looking, which annoyed her somehow.
It took her less than a minute to throw on some pants and a bra before she raced back down the stairs and found the threesome right where she’d left them.
“Luke, we need to plan trips like that in advance,” Kris was saying. “Wherever we go today, it can’t be overnight or Mike and I can’t go.”
“Pardon,” Rori said interrupting. “But I’m afraid I may have accidentally complicated things.”
All three turned and looked at her and Luke offered her one of his smiles. “Got in trouble already?”
“Perhaps,” Rori said, looking at Mike. “This is doubly awkward because I’m not even sure you’re single. Are you?”
Mike blushed lightly. “At the moment—”
“Yes,” Kris answered for him. “Why?”
“Oh, well. That’s good at least. How do you feel about being set up? Just one date. Sort of a favor?”
That earned her three confused looks.
“You know people here?” Kris asked just as Luke broke out a smile.
“Is this about your Facebook post at the party?” he asked. “Who won the auction?”
“Auction?” Kris echoed while Mike chose to stay silent.
“Not an auction, per se,” Rori said quickly. “A random post—a joke, really. I took a picture of Mike and said I had a hottie to spare. I didn’t expect a spoiled American to get on a plane.”
For a moment Mike’s face was blank. Then he pursed his lips in a sly smile. She would draw it later. “What does she look like?”
“Attractive,” Rori said pulling out her phone. “And what God didn’t give her, modern science has.” She picked a picture and handed him her phone. Then she watched Mike took the phone and studied it, his pupils dilating as he focused in. She fought the urge to snatch the phone away.
“Holy hot!” Luke said peeking over his shoulder. “He’s in.”
“She’s here?” Mike said, still looking at the picture.
“Yes,” Rori said taking the phone this time. He’d looked long enough. “What do you say, Mike? She’s in town just for you. Want to skip some editing today and go on a date?”
He didn’t ask how she knew his schedule for the day. From what Rori could tell he didn’t have enough blood in his brain to think that hard. “Sure. If it helps.”
Even Kris saw through that one and snorted with laughter. “Yeah, anything for charity, right bro?”
“I like to be a team player.”
That earned a laugh from everyone but Rori.
“Excellent,” Rori said. “I’ll find out where she is and let her know we’ll pick her up. Let me go get ready.”
Chapter 21
Several thousand feet separated the bottoms of their feet from the earth beneath. Mike conceded it was a breathtaking view, but it was not without its distractions. There was the pilot, for one. Droning through his usual tour and putting minimal effort into making his words sound spontaneous. Then there was Luke, who had become obsessed with seeing how far he could lean over the basket before either the pilot or Rori pulled him back and scolded him. But most of all, there was Sydney, whose apparent reaction to being scared was to press her breasts into something. At the moment, that was Mike.
Not that he was complaining. They were a stellar pair of breasts, and if Rori hadn’t told him they were fake, he wouldn’t have guessed. Sydney’s dad was clearly a good plastic surgeon, although Mike was still trying to wrap his head around the kind of man would put breast implants in his own daughter. Part of Mike didn’t want to judge and the other part wanted to punch a man like that in the teeth.
As it was, imagining the surgery was enough to keep things quiet for Mike in the southern regions. Even