All She Wants Read online

Tessa gave a few finger waves as they, one by one, turned around and started across the room.

  She looked back to Monty. “Don’t you care that none of these women have any morals?” she asked as Monty looked away from their retreating asses.

  “Morals? Who needs morals when you look that fine?” She took her drink back from Tessa. “Now, you have my undivided attention. Happy now?”

  “Happy that I had to peel a huge portion of cheating women off of you? Not really.”

  “You ready to get this show on the road? Ready to go kick some ass?”

  Changing the subject was Monty’s cue that she was already over the motherly conversation. Sucked that Tessa always felt the need to be the mother figure. Why couldn’t Monty just be a normal sister? Hanging out or shopping or even taking vacations together instead of this constant need to score? The life she lived, accumulating fucks, was far from normal.

  JP, the bartender, set a beer down for Tessa with a wink. “Good luck with the contest, Tess. Go knock them all dead.”

  “Thank you. That’s definitely my plan.”

  JP inspected Monty’s drink then walked away.

  “I haven’t been nervous until now.” Tessa took a sip, giving Monty the change of subject she seemed eager for. Fact was, she didn’t want to talk about those women. She wanted to talk about her new adventure. She wanted Monty to calm her nerves in that natural way she had of easing Tessa’s stress. “Michelle got all serious on me before I left tonight. Told me to go win the damn thing.”

  “Finally, she offers something intelligent.” Monty set her drink down and slowly stirred the ice cubes. “Think she’s ever going to like me?”

  Tessa wanted to lie. She wanted to give Monty a shred of hope that one day her big sister would come to her senses and welcome Monty with open arms. Truth was, Tessa and Monty never lied to each other, no matter how ugly the truth was. That’s likely why they got along so well. There was never any bullshit between them.

  “Not a chance.”

  “Her loss. I’m kind of awesome.” Monty picked up her drink. “Okay, so tell me how this contest works. Again.”

  Tessa angled her head, unsure if Monty was playing or not. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Eight groups of five. I remember that part.” Monty wiggled her brow playfully. “Oh, and you’re the kickass leader of one of those groups.”

  “Yes. And? What else?”

  “You get a secret client every week and you have to be their personal ‘bend over and fuck me’ workhorse.”

  “Just know that in eight weeks, if I’m still standing, after knocking out six other teams, you will be booking a flight to Colorado if only to come hold my hand. I’ll be in meltdown mode at that point and running on pumped adrenaline.”

  “You think you’re the shit? Think you can knock out all those other amazing planners? Think you got what it takes, Tessa Dalton?” Monty growled out her last question.

  “Damn right!”

  “That’s my girl.” Monty shucked her chin. “Send them all home in tears.”

  “Did you just change the subject because you can’t remember the rest?” Tessa asked.

  “What? Would I do that?” Monty pushed the glass to her lips.

  “You can’t remember, can you?” Tessa picked up a peanut from the basket and threw it at her. “You’re an impossible jackass.”

  Monty dodged the flying food and laughed. “So violent! Fine. Fine. It goes something like this. You’ll have an assistant planner, a decorator, a photographer, and a caterer, all at your disposal, all of whom already have experience working in their respective fields, and together you guys will plan whatever your secret client wants, like good little private escorts.”

  Tessa threw another peanut at her and again, Monty dodged to the side before she continued her description, almost word for word the way Tessa had described the contest.

  “You won’t know who your clients are until each Monday morning, unless you win top points, which you will because my sister is badass, in which case, you’ll get their video, I think you said, on Sunday which gives you an extra day to plan, and then you’ll have the week to strategize and put those plans into motion. Clients arrive on Fridays. You guys will cater to their every whimper and cry and all the blah blah blah in between until they leave on Sunday but not before they score each of your crew members in several different categories, each category changing every week to keep it fair, which is how the points are accumulated and a winner revealed. And if you score enough points, or rather, if you’re not on the bottom, which you won’t be, because again, my sister is badass, all teams except the losers get a night out on the town to be party animals. And to conclude, one team goes home each week until the final round, which is where I’ll join you for all that handholding before your last hoorah, which will be an over-the-top extravaganza of a wedding, which you swear you hate, for whatever reason, even though you throw yourself headfirst into every detail of every wedding you’ve ever planned.” Monty arched an eyebrow. “Did I get it right?”

  “I think I’m going to throw up.” Tessa gave her a smirk, but the truth was she was so ready to get this journey started. Beyond ready to get on with the next phase of her life.

  And if all else failed and she didn’t win, she wasn’t out of the race. She was going after that new life, and even being beat out of a contest wouldn’t stop her. This was just the beginning of reaching that goal. And she was going to do it in that breathtaking state. A place she’d been longing to return to since her first trip there.

  A woman hesitantly walked toward the table and smiled down at Monty. “Hi. Do you remember me? I’m Abigail?” She pushed her straight hair behind an ear.

  “Of course I remember. How could I forget you, Abigail? How have you been?” Monty smoothly took a sip of her drink, her brow creasing. Clearly, she didn’t have a clue who this woman was.

  Had Monty fucked so many women that she couldn’t even remember their faces anymore?

  The woman reached out for the chair closest to Monty as if the question was an invitation to have a seat. A diamond eternity band glistened on her ring finger.

  The insinuation that she was free to have a seat, as well as that little band around her finger, pissed Tessa off quickly. What the hell was wrong with these damn women?

  “No, sweetheart. No one gave you permission to join us.” Tessa growled. She pointed toward the corner where the rest of the women had gathered. “You’ll have to go wait with the other misfits until I am done with my sister.” She leaned toward the woman. “But a word of advice. You should go right on back home to your wife. Tell her what a piece of shit you are for chasing after a piece of ass. And that you want a divorce. Be a fucking woman instead of a disgusting cheater.”

  The woman’s eyes widened and she stepped back from the chair as if burned, her gaze immediately swinging to Monty then back to Tessa. “Me and my wife are—”

  “Separated. Sure you are.” Tessa sternly pointed. “Please go away from me. And don’t come near this table again until I’m long gone.”

  Monty reached out for Abigail’s hand and gave a gentle squeeze. “Please forgive my sister. Her delivery is crash and burn style.” She pulled Abigail down and whispered in her ear.

  Tessa rolled her eyes and slammed back in the chair.

  Monty was incorrigible. She was downright disgusting.

  The smile on Abigail’s face was even more disturbing as she stood, gave Tessa a sorrowful expression, then scurried toward the bar, alone.

  “What is wrong with you? Did our dad not give you enough kisses when you were little?” Tessa dove into big sister mode, the same mode that Monty claimed was mothering and smothering. She wished there was something she could say, something she could do, to make Monty see that her life was twisted. That this wasn’t normal. That this was downright wrong on so many levels.

  “God, don’t start again, Tess. I’m single. I don’t have to answer to anyone. And it’s my life. Mine.�
�� Monty spat the final word, giving more impact to its meaning than she probably intended.

  Fact was, Monty was her best friend. Her little sister. Her blood. There wasn’t a single thing she could do to make Tessa ever disown her. To make Tessa hate her. But Tessa didn’t have to like it, or even like her, and she damn sure didn’t have to be quiet about it. Nor would she.

  Tessa rose from the table, too angry to hang out any more, not to mention the next interruption she got from some bitch wearing a wedding band begging for another bitch to jump in her pants, was going to send her into full postal mode and it wasn’t going to be pretty when she was done with the whole lot of them.

  “I’m out, Monty.” Tessa shoved the stool into place.

  “No, Tess. Please don’t go.” Monty grabbed her arm and batted those puppy dog eyes. “I wanted to hear more about this contest.”

  Tessa pried her fingers loose, then kissed the back of Monty’s hand. “I love you, dear sister, but I’m not in the mood for your rotten antics tonight. I have to get packed up, grab some sleep, then head to the airport first thing in the morning.”

  “I thought I was taking you to the airport.”

  Tessa glanced toward the corner. The women were glancing in their direction while they attempted to appear like they weren’t.

  Monty would be fucking one of them, possibly more than one, before long. Tessa was only standing in her way. God forbid she take just one night off. Michelle was right. Maybe Monty was a hopeless cause.

  “I changed my mind.”

  “You don’t trust me, do you?” Monty grinned, but Tessa could see the plea in her eyes. She didn’t like it when Tessa was upset with her. Although she did very little to reverse the situation until she was done doing whatever Monty wanted to do.

  “I trust you with my life.” Tessa kissed the top of her head. “But I don’t trust you to get me to that airport on time.” She added a chuckle but didn’t mean it. It wouldn’t be the first time Monty had bailed on a plan. This time, that plan mattered more than anything. This time, the plan couldn’t include her sister’s crap or tardiness. “So, go put one of those idiots out of their wet misery. I’m going home to finish packing.”

  Tessa had been packed for weeks now. Monty knew that. But she didn’t argue as Tessa walked away. Even she knew when Tessa had reached her limit. That limit was now. She also knew that tomorrow Tessa would be over it and Monty would likely be the first number she dialed when she got to the airport, before she boarded, after she boarded, and once again as soon as she touched down in that beautiful state of Colorado.

  She loved her sister. So much it hurt sometimes. It wasn’t wrong for her to want all the great things in life for Monty. But she couldn’t force those things on her. Monty thought she had all of those great things. Hell, maybe she did. Maybe it was Tessa who had it all wrong.

  Regardless, Tessa made a solemn vow that she wouldn’t let anything stand in her way.

  That included Monty. Not even Monty would stall her from grasping that new life.

  * * *

  Marci Jones sipped a glass of red wine while her best friend, Wendy, drilled her about life. Not just any life. Marci’s life.

  “I know you’re sick of this same conversation, but you have to agree with me somewhere deep down in that shriveled up prune-looking heart of yours.” Wendy rattled the ice in her glass. “It’s time to get back out there, Marci. Time to get back in the saddle.”

  Wendy was right about one thing. She was sick of this same conversation. Always the same damn conversation.

  “Who gets to say when it’s time? You?” Marci took another sip and looked around the room so Wendy wouldn’t see how angry this subject was making her.

  The restaurant was crowded for this early afternoon. The vacationers were beginning. Soon, this beautiful old town at the base of the mountain would be crawling with shoppers and skiers and the normal adrenaline junkies.

  She loved this state, this city, and for sure, she loved the resort that Wendy and her twin brother, Landon, took over after their parents’ retirement.

  Marci had grown up on this mountain. This resort was her first job. Her summers and winters had been spent learning to ski, learning how to earn a dollar by cleaning rooms and vacuuming hallowed halls, and especially shoveling snow off of every inch of concrete surrounding the resort.

  She’d experienced her first kiss with Shelley on this very ski slope. Her first sexual encounter only a few weeks later in one of the empty rooms in one of the wings farthest away from the lobby. The rooms that were always booked last. The rooms that overlooked the face of the mountain instead of the mountain slopes that always glistened with lights at night. Every great memory had stemmed from this mountain. From these surroundings. Some from the very resort where she now worked. Again.

  How she’d ever left this place, she’d never know. She’d never wanted to leave. Never planned on leaving. Yet someone had managed to change her mind. Ashley.

  “Don’t get testy. You know I love you. Your best interest is always my only concern.”

  Marci did know that. Had always known that. From middle school where they’d met, to now, after a busted marriage, Wendy was still watching out for her. If not for Wendy, she’d still be back in Arizona, licking her wounds, unable to look any of her old friends in the eye, terrified of running into that cheating ex.

  Embarrassed. That’s what she’d been. Ashley had committed the ultimate cruel act of betrayal. She’d fucked another woman. A woman who was at least ten years younger than Ashley. In their home. In their bed.

  Worse than all of the above, Marci had come home early to surprise her wife with a date night, bundle of peach roses in her grasp, perfect evening plans, and she caught them in the act.

  The image of their naked bodies would forever burn in her mind. Her Ashley. Her wife. Betraying everything their commitment stood for. Or at least everything Marci’s commitment had stood for.

  Even now, almost a year later, the images awakened that angry monster. The monster that had wanted to deck the bitch who had barely grown pubic hair, then shake the hell out of Ashley. She’d wanted to. She’d felt the need, the urge, to do just that. Yet, she’d done none of those things. Instead, she’d stood frozen while Ashley covered her naked flesh, her hand over her mouth, tears welling in those beautiful hazel eyes.

  Her young fuck hadn’t moved. No attempt to cover herself at all. No attempt to run. No attempt at anything. Calmly, she’d waited in silence, keeping a wary eye on Marci as if she expected the action, expected Marci to charge at her.

  As much as the inner demon had wanted to do just that, to rush at her, to swing until she couldn’t swing anymore, the calm voice inside her head, the one that had never led her to trouble, had won that mental battle.

  She’d closed the bedroom door, dropped the flowers on the carpet, and walked out the front door to the sound of Ashley’s voice screaming out her name.

  There was no looking back. She couldn’t. Her pride wouldn’t let her.

  So she did the only thing left to do. She called the one person who knew the call would come sooner or later. Who had warned her. Repeatedly. She called Wendy. The silence on the other end of the line only proved that Wendy had said the words in her head instead of out loud.

  I told you so.

  She spent a week at a hotel, quit her job, changed her phone number, and arranged for a close friend, one who wasn’t a huge fan of Ashley, to meet her at the house to pick up her personal belongings while Ashley was at work.

  Another week went by while she packed her belongings and had them shipped ahead of her to the resort in Colorado, while Ashley moved out, to where, she didn’t know, and didn’t care. And finally, she was on a flight back home. To the home she should have never left. A home that Wendy begged her not to leave. But Marci had been in love with the hottie who’d spent her vacation at the resort. The hottie who had talked Marci into leaving her perfect world behind. Leaving all of her hopes and drea
ms and goals on that snow covered mountain.

  What an idiot she’d been.

  “Are you listening to me?” Wendy rapped her knuckles on the table.

  Marci took another sip and inhaled. “Can’t we talk about something other than Ashley? Why do you always have to bring her up? Aren’t you sick of this broken subject?”

  “Because you’re avoiding it, that’s why. You’ve become a hermit. You’re mean and spitey, and fucking these tourists every weekend isn’t helping you get over the fact that your wife screwed you over and broke your heart.”

  Shattered was more like it. Yes. Shattered. That’s how she felt. Pieces. She was in pieces. That pissed her off just as much. That she’d allowed Ashley to break her. That she’d allowed anyone to break her.

  She was strong. Independent. She loved people. And she used to trust openly until someone gave her a reason otherwise. But not anymore. Now, she trusted no one, immediately. She wasn’t very proud of this new personality, but for now, it was the only defense mechanism she knew. The only one that felt right.

  And Wendy had a point. Marci had become spiteful. She trusted no one. Fucking the women she would never see again was exactly how she wanted to live the rest of her life.

  Yet there was always something nudging at her brain. Something pecking at her memory. Wasn’t that how she’d met Ashley? Hadn’t Ashley been one of those vacationers? One of those tourists? Hadn’t she been one of those weekenders that Marci would never see again?

  Sure. But things were different now. She didn’t have a heart for anyone else to break. Ashley had taken care of that. She’d made sure that no one else would ever get close. And Marci hated her for that too.

  “Stop, Wendy. Just stop.”

  Wendy leaned back in her chair and sighed. “I’m so sorry.”

  Marci looked up at the seriousness in her voice. “Sorry for what, exactly? There are so many reasons.” She added a smile to lessen the sarcasm.

  “For not fighting harder to make you stay. For not finding a way to reveal her true colors before she got her claws in you.”