Page 16 of Going Deep (Odyssey #3)

With the wine swimming pleasantly in her head, Ginger smiled. “ Thanks .”

“What? What’d I miss?” Anna looked at Ginger . “ You can sing?”

“I like to sing.”

“Do you perform?” Lola asked.

“Oh, God no.” Ginger made a face at the thought. “ Anxiety , remember? My mother tried to get me on stage, but I hated it so much she gave up. I just sing for fun.”

“Sing for us now,” Anna urged.

“Oh, no,” Ginger said automatically.

“Why not?” Lola wanted to know. “ It’s not like we’re strangers, or even much of an audience. Hell , Anna’s so loaded she probably won’t even remember.”

Anna’s offended “ Hey !” nearly drowned out Ginger’s snort.

“Okay, okay.” She nodded at the phone. “ Can you find me some Adele ?”

“Sure.” Anna reached for the phone, missed, and tried again. “ What song?”

“Surprise me,” Ginger said and climbed to her feet.

She took a few deep breaths, filling her lungs and emptying them completely while Anna scrolled through her phone.

“Got it!” Anna slid out of the chair onto the floor, dragging Lola to sit down beside her. The third stooge, Henry flanked her other side. “ I feel like I should get a lighter,” she whispered.

Lola frowned. “ Why do you want a lighter?”

“So I can hold it up. You know, ‘cause it’s a concert.” Anna raised her arm in the air and mimed waving a lighter in the air.

“Okay, you’re cut off,” Lola told her.

Ginger was laughing when the opening strains of Rumor Has It filled the room. “ Oh , this is a good one. I can work with this.”

“Wait!” Anna bounced up to turn off the music, then ran out of the room again. To keep him from bounding after her, Lola hooked her hand in Henry’s collar.

Ginger looked at Lola . “ What’s she doing?”

“I have no idea.”

Anna ran back into the room and shoved something into Ginger’s hand. “ Here .”

Ginger looked down to see what she was holding. “ Why am I holding a hairbrush?”

Anna gestured. “ You gotta have something to sing into. You know, like a microphone.”

Ginger glanced at Lola . “ Did she put pot in the brownies?”

Lola just sighed as Anna turned the music back on then plopped down between Lola and Henry again. Henry welcomed her back with a slurping kiss.

“Okay,” Anna side, wiping her face off. “ Sing .”

Ginger grinned as the music once again filled the air. “ I really love you weirdos.”

“Sing!” Anna shouted.

Ginger was laughing so hard she completely missed the first verse, but she managed to get it together in time for the chorus. By the time the second verse came around, she was finding her rhythm. Closing her eyes, she opened up and let it roll.

Anna and Lola began to hoot and holler, making her laugh as she sang.

She began to really get into it, dancing along with the music, crooning into the hairbrush microphone.

Anna jumped to her feet to dance with her, singing along drunkenly.

Lola even got into it, and soon the three of them were singing at the tops of their lungs, Henry adding his mournful howls to the chorus.

None of them heard the front door open.

Grant pushed open the front door. “ I can’t believe you bluffed me with a pair of goddamn twos.”

“I can’t believe you’re such a lousy poker player,” Simon countered with a grin. “ Maybe you should get your wife to give you a few lessons.”

Michael snorted out a laugh at the look on Grant’s face. “ If you guys are going to punch each other, can I watch?”

“I’m not punching anyone,” Simon said. “ If I beat you up, Anna won’t invite me for dinner anymore.”

Grant snorted. “ Yeah . Remember that.”

Michael grinned at the music and laughter coming from the living room. “ Sounds like girl night was a success.”

Grant paused, then shook his head. “ That’s Anna’s drunk laugh.”

“Uh-oh,” Simon hooted with laughter. “ Better hope Lola cut her off before she got too far.”

“Dammit,” Grant muttered, stalking down the hall.

Simon grinned at Michael . “ This ought to be good.”

They followed Grant down the hall, stopping at the threshold to the living room. Michael took in the scene with a delighted grin.

The three women lay draped over each other on the floor, laughing and singing along with the song soaring out of the phone on the coffee table.

Ginger , for some reason, held a hairbrush, and was laughing so hard she could hardly breathe.

And dancing around them, occasionally stomping on limbs or faces to screams and more laughter, was Grant’s enormous dog.

“Looks like Anna’s not the only one who might be a little loaded,” Simon said.

“All right, I’m breaking this up,” Grant declared. “ I’ve got the redhead.”

“I’ll handle the little blonde,” Simon said and jerked his chin at Michael . “ You want to take the third?”

Michael ran his tongue around his teeth, eyeing Ginger’s inelegant sprawl on the floor. “ Might as well.”

They strode into the room, forming a loose circle around the women on the floor.

The dog, the best behaved of the bunch, responded to Grant’s order to sit immediately, tongue lolling politely as he watched the roundup.

Michael stood over Ginger , his feet just a few inches away from her head, and waited for her to notice he was there.

She was still giggling when she opened her eyes, saw him standing over her, and let out an ear-splitting scream.

“It’s only me,” he began, then realized she was laughing hysterically again.

“Oh, my God ,” she gasped between howls of laughter, clutching her middle. She tried to glare at him accusingly, but the tears of mirth streaming out of her eyes lessened the impact somewhat. “ You scared me half to death .”

He grinned and reached down to lift her to her feet. “ Sorry , darling.”

She shoved her hair out of her eyes and beamed at him. “ What’re you doing here?”

“I came with Simon and Grant .” He nodded to where his two friends were helping their women off the floor. “ Simon and Lola are going back to his place tonight, so I thought I’d see if you’d like a ride.”

“Oh. That’s nice of you.”

“I thought so,” he drawled, amused. Her blue eyes were sparkling, her cheeks flushed with laughter, and her smile could’ve lit Wrigley Field at midnight.

“Are you ready to go? Or do you ladies have a naked pillow fight scheduled?”

“We did the naked pillow fight first. You missed it.”

“Damn,” he said mildly, and she snickered.

“I guess I’m ready to go.” She glanced around at her friends. Lola was laughing as Simon carried her out of the room, and Anna was trying to pull Grant down on top of her on the floor while her busy fingers fumbled with the buttons on his shirt.

“Um. Maybe we should give them some privacy.”

Michael looked over and snorted out a laugh. “ Maybe we should. We’ll let ourselves out,” he called to Grant . “ No , don’t get up.”

He ignored his friend’s muttered curses and Anna’s accompanying giggles and wrapped a hand around Ginger’s arm. “ You drunk, darling?”

She shook her head as they made their way to the door. “ Nah . I had a couple of glasses of wine, so I wouldn’t want to drive. But I’m good.”

He eyed the way she was walking. Steady , no weaving. He looked at her eyes, noted they were clear, and sent her a slow smile. “ Good to know,” he said and opened the front door.

Ginger pushed open the door to her apartment and smiled at Michael . “ Thanks for the ride.”

He smiled back, that slow curve of his lips that always made her breath come a little faster. “ You’re welcome. Are you going to ask me in?”

“Oh.” She blinked, then stepped back. “ Sure . Come on in.”

He stepped past her, his arm brushing against her breasts. He didn’t seem to hear her sharp inhale. “ Thank you.”

She closed the door behind her and tried to get a handle on her rioting hormones. Maybe she’d had too much to drink after all, because she felt a little dizzy. “ Would you like something to drink? I don’t have any coffee, but I can do tea. Or I have some pop.”

He turned to watch her walk into the kitchen. “ No , thanks. I wanted to talk to you about this weekend.”

Make that a lot dizzy. “ Okay .”

“I have to fly to New York in the morning to handle some business, and I’m not sure when I’ll be back. So I won’t be at Odyssey this weekend.”

“Oh.” The sense of disappointment was almost crushing. “ I hope everything’s okay.”

“Everything’s fine,” he assured her. “ Except for having to cancel our date.”

“It’s all right,” she said, forcing a smile. “ Life happens.”

“Life does,” he agreed. “ And since it has, and we won’t get to do the scene I had planned at the club tomorrow, we can do it now.”

“Sure, that’s—” She blinked. “ What did you say?”

He stepped toward her, his eyes on her face. “ I said, I want to play. Do you want to play, Ginger ?”

Um. Duh . She swallowed, unable to tear her gaze away from his face as her heart began to pound. “ Yes .”

One dark eyebrow arched. “ Yes , what?”

She got that sinking feeling in her belly, the one that made her feel as though the world were falling away and he was the only thing that was strong and real and solid. “ Yes , Sir .”

He smiled, brilliantly. “ Good girl. Use the bathroom if you need to, then go into the bedroom and strip.”

“Yes, Sir .”

She did as she was told with a speed that would’ve been embarrassing if she’d stopped to think about it, then stood by the bed and shivered.

He hadn’t told her what to do after getting naked.

Hadn’t told her to kneel, or sit, or simply stand and wait.

She struggled for a moment, trying to think what he’d want her to do, and her anxiety began to build.

She took a deep breath, then another, calming herself, and reminded herself that if he wanted her in a specific position, he would have told her.

She didn’t have to guess, didn’t have to try to anticipate.

She couldn’t do it wrong, because he wouldn’t let her.

Relieved, she crawled into the center of the bed and sat cross-legged facing the door. Hands resting gently on her knees, she closed her eyes and focused on breathing.