Page 76 of Decidedly Off Limits
And that the woman in the back seat isn’t the one you really wanted to make love to.
That’s right. Kelsey and I were driving to Napa Valley, where we would be spending the weekend convincing Erin and Holly that the two other people in my BMW were our new significant others.
Yes, maybe it would’ve been easier to just come clean and risk the wrath of Erin. But the thought of what she would do to my balls for screwing around with her best friend was what held me back.
“Just so we have this straight,” Jillian asked from the passenger seat, “what’s the policy on PDA?”
I peered in the rear mirror at Matt. Did he look familiar? Hopefully Erin and Holly didn’t think so. He had recently been onCriminal Mindsas some Ted Bundy type. Nice, huh?
“Hand holding and hugging is fine,” I said. “No kissing.”
Did I mention Matt was extremely good-looking?
While I was confident I was the one Kelsey really wanted, the caveman part beat his fists against his chest and grunted, “Mine.” Any man who claimed he didn’t do that when it came to his woman was lying—or just wasn’t that in to her.
We all did it.
End of story.
“Got it,” Matt said from the backseat, where he and Kelsey had been working on their “story.” Jillian and I had been doing the same. How the hell I would remember all of this was beyond me.
Ask me anything about the companies in my portfolio and I could tell you every last detail. Ask me how Jillian and I first met and I was still a little fuzzy.
Fortunately, Kelsey and Matt had only been on a few “dates” (same with Jillian and me), so we didn’t need to know each other all that well.
Just well enough to be spending the weekend in Napa Valley with them.
“You owe us big time for this, Trent,” Matt said, laughter in his voice. The guy was enjoying this way too much for his own good.
“Says the guy who had me cover his ass big time in college,” I reminded him. Not that he had needed to be reminded of that when I’d asked him if he and Jillian could help us out.
“What happened?” Kelsey asked.
“Genius boy decided in college that it would be a great idea to date the daughter of one of our professors.” I pointed to Jillian so Kelsey would know who I was talking about. “Never recommended at the best of times…”
“And especially not recommended when your professor already dislikes you,” Matt added.
“My father didn’t dislike you,” Jillian said, looking back at Matt in the backseat. She laughed at his expression, the expression that said, “Yeah, right he didn’t.” “Okay, the two of you didn’t exactly share the same opinions most of the time…”
“Which wouldn’t have been a problem except her father always thought he was right and no one was allowed to think otherwise,” Matt said.
“All right, I’ll give you that.”
“So long story short,” I said, “I covered for Matt’s ass so many times, just so he could continue sneaking around with Jillian until the semester was over. Which got me into hot water a few times, especially when our professor thoughtIwas the one dating his daughter.”
“Hey,” Matt said, “it all worked out in the end.”
“But considering what Trent did for us,” Jillian added, “there was no way we could say no when he asked us to help you guys out.”
“Does your father know you married Matt?” Kelsey asked.
“Yes. He eventually got over it once he found out we were together, but this was long after Matt had finished with the class. And it didn’t exactly happen overnight.”
The sun was low in the sky by the time we pulled up to the ivy-covered mini mansion. Because Kelsey had a photography class today, the four of us had left after that. Erin, Darren, and Holly had arrived earlier this afternoon.
“Nice place,” Jillian said, her voice filled with awe. Not much different to Kelsey’s expression.
“I wouldn’t get too attached,” Matt said. “Not unlessCriminal Mindsoffers me a hundred-thousand-dollars-per-episode contract as an agent for the next five years.”