Oaklyn grumbled and made her way back behind the curtain.
“I like that one, Carina,” I said, watching her twist and turn. The black lace clung to her curvaceous body. “The long sleeves give it a demure look, but the off the shoulder is sexy.”
“Also, it clings to my ass like glue.” She bobbed her brows before turning to Audrey munching on Puffs in her stroller. “Yes, it does, baby girl. Not that you will have anything that clings to you. Nope. Not with your daddy.”
Audrey smiled a four-tooth smile and reach for Carina. “Ma-ma.”
Carina pressed a kiss to her fat cheek and went to get undressed.
“Next one,” Alex demanded. “This gray is washing me out.”
I shed the dress and put on my favorite, an emerald green gown. The sweetheart neckline pushed my breasts up but covered enough to remain decent. The top fitted me until it hit my waist, where the heavy satin flared out.
“You’ve been busy lately, Hanna,” Carina called from outside.
“Yeah. Work,” I answered lamely, opening the curtain. She held Audrey in her arms, giving me a deadpanned stare, unimpressed with my answer. “I’m taking a new self-defense class, too.”
Alex came out just in time to say, “With Daniel.”
Carina’s brows rose high.
“Daniel, Daniel? My Uncle Daniel?” Olivia asked, joining the group.
“Yeah. It’s nothing.”
“He’s her date to the charity gala,” Alex added, and I glared at her making a bigger deal about it than it was.
“Wow,” Oaklyn added. “Daniel doesn’t do dates.”
“We’re friends. It’s not a date. It’s nothing.”
Alex crossed her arms, and I did my best attempt at telepathy to not say anything else. She did one back and said tough shit.
“Why don’t you tell them what else he’s helping you with,” she suggested, smirking.
Olivia waved her hand like she was swatting a bug. “We already know about Voyeur. Duh. Old news.”
“Oh, it’s way more than that.”
I almost stomped my foot. Almost. “It’s not. It’s nothing.” Alex’s stare called bullshit. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Spill,” Carina demanded, looking way too good for a woman currently bouncing a baby chewing on her hair.
“It’s nothing,” I tried again. “He’s just a friend helping a friend.”
“With sex,” Alex added.
“I’m out,” Olivia said, throwing her hands up and turning back to her room. “He’s like my dad, and that’s nasty. Ugh. Now I know how he feels about Kent and me.”
Alex turned to Oaklyn, who looked stunning in a silver dress. “You know Daniel. Has he ever helped anyone?”
“I mean, yeah. He’s not a monster. He helps people, but they’re more like acquaintances. He doesn’t have many close friends.”
“What do you mean, ‘sex’?” Carina asked. “Are you sleeping with him?”
“Ew,” came from behind the curtain.
“No,” I said over Olivia’s gagging sounds.
“Not yet,” Alex muttered.
I grabbed the closest thing I could find, one of Audrey’s stuffed animals, and chucked it at Alex. She easily deflected the rabbit. “What? I said I wouldn’t tell Erik. It’s good to talk this stuff out with friends.”
“Yeah, and now Carina will tell Ian.”
“Not my monkeys, not my circus. My lips are sealed.”
The attendant snuck up on us all standing in a circle in a standoff. “More champagne, ladies?”
“Hell yes,” Carina said, pushing past me and grabbing the bottle the woman offered. Olivia and Oaklyn came out to perch on the couch, back in their jeans, at the sound of more alcohol.
Once the attendant walked away and more champagne was poured, I tried to calm the hoard. “Seriously, it’s nothing. The first time I went to a back room, I kind of panicked and bolted. I ran into Daniel and he took me to his office to calm down. We talked and he offered to help. I’m just comfortable around him, and I don’t have any men in my life I’m comfortable enough with to…to…try things.”
“Things?” Carina asked dryly.
Ignoring her, I continued. “We get along. We’re friends and we both understand what we want in our futures. Which isn’t a relationship.”
“Then why learn how to flirt and be okay with sex if you don’t want it,” Carina asked.
“I do want it. And I want to be able to have it. I want to be okay with my body. I just don’t want to commit to anyone.”
“Why?”
Carina’s pushing and narrowed eyes pricked at my irritation and had me standing taller, crossing my arms, and cocking my hip like an attitude would block her intrusive questions.
“Do you ask Daniel why he wants to be alone, or just me—a young woman who society thinks should be planning a husband and kids by now?”
Carina’s brows tried to merge with her hairline, and I knew I was in for it. She didn’t deserve for me to snap at her, but I’d felt cornered.
“First of all, calm down. I’m the queen of women empowerment. Two, yes I ask him, and he’s just as big of a pain in the ass about answering as you are.” She rolled her eyes. “He says he likes being alone. I think he’s full of shit.”
“Yeah,” Oaklyn chimed in. “I think he holds back. He’s not like Kent, who was the wilder one of them. Daniel’s a homebody.”
“So, why?” Carina asked, turning back to me.
The fight leaked out of me with a heavy sigh, my shoulders slouching in defeat. “I don’t want to find a future without Sofia. It’s not right that I get to go on and find my happily ever after, and she doesn’t. And I just don’t want to fall in love to lose someone.” Tears burned up my throat, and I dropped my gaze to the ground. “I can’t feel that loss again.”
My confession brought silence to the circle for the first time all night, and I could feel their stares—their judgment.
“Well, shit,” Carina finally said, shocking me. “Now I feel like an asshole.”
“Asth-ol,” Audrey imitated.
It was enough to break the tension, and we all laughed at the bad word and Carina’s resulting shock.
“No, baby. Don’t say that.”
“Asth-ol.”
“Ian’s not going to let me live this down.”
Conversation broke off into small groups,
