Yet I can’t help but laugh when I see the latest target is one of the heads of the community council. Well, if they’re going to use their swinger powers for good…

“The Alisons couldn’t make it,” I say. “They had something else planned.”

“Pity. I haven’t seen Kathryn in a while.”

For some reason, that makes me flinch.

“You two used to date, right?”

I turn around, facing my mother for the first time in five minutes. I half expect to see her smiling at me in that teasing way. Instead she’s looking as if she’s actually searching her brain for the right answer. Seriously?

“No. We have never dated.” My mallet is digging into the earth, creating a fun divot for someone to fix later. “You must be thinking of another blonde.”

“No… no, I clearly remember it being Kathryn Alison at that gala all those years ago.”

Play it cool, man. What the fuck does your mother know about the gala? “Remember it being her for what, exactly?” Don’t act like you know what she’s talking about. Play it cool.

Now she’s smiling at me, and I know I’m in trouble. “The one who was making eyes with you all day. Don’t play innocent, Ian. A mother knows when her son is… doing that.”

What is she implying? She usually doesn’t bring up any relationships I don’t make her privy to or don’t show up in the papers. And why now? Why would she bring this up now? “Perhaps so. That was a long time ago. I don’t really remember.”

“Oh, son, I would think you remember that.”

“You’d be mistaken.”

Before I know it, my turn has come again. My mother eyes me while I line up a shot. “You’ve always been a terrible liar to me.”

Her words make me miss my shot, and everyone around us chuckles.

“What am I lying about?” I mouth at her. She signals to the balls on the ground. Now I’m forced to take my shot again, and I miss the hoop by about five miles. More chuckling. I feel like a jackass. When a server comes by with tiny flutes of champagne, I take one and down it in five seconds, giving me enough time to return it to the tray before the server goes on her merry way.

Mother waits until I’m properly humiliated and back at her side before replying. “Forgive me. Your taste for blondes has led to me making embarrassing assumptions.”

She’s not embarrassed.

“Your father was the same way. Had a thing for brown hair.” My mother tucks her hand beneath her brown locks and tosses them behind her shoulder. “He wouldn’t shut up about two things when we dated – my hair and my tits.”

“Is this going somewhere?”

She shrugs. This is not what I really mean, but sometimes I hate my mother, in that slighted teenage boy sort of way. It bothers me that she knows so much about me and my life, even though I’ve stopped telling her a lot about it. She’s damned nosy. You’d never guess she cares about the answers you give her, but she does. She’s that good at masking all emotions.

Drives me nuts.

The game ends before I have the chance to take my next shitty shot. Thank God. I’m done being too distracted to play a game. Time to get away from my mother and drink something harder than champagne. Thankfully, my father always has a wet bar on hand at these functions.

Since it’s so crowded around the bar, I don’t see who’s sitting at the far end, alone, because nobody ever wants to deal with her scary ass.

“Oh, good, about time I found someone in charge around here.” Eva Warren smacks her hand on my arm, and I nearly jump out of my skin and drop my glass. “Who do I talk to about a severe lack of vodka at the bar? I need it to get through crap like this.”

Eva Warren is almost worse than my mother. I say almost, because unlike my mother, Eva can’t hide the fact that she’s messing with someone.

“I’m afraid I don’t know anything about that.”

Even though she’s wearing thick sunglasses, the twitch in her lips says that she’s borderline amused. “Kathryn told me that you know so much, though.”

Damnit, is today the day of harassing Ian about Kathryn? Are all these women in on some big secret together? Or maybe I’m going insane. “All right. I’ll indulge you. What do you want?”

“Touché!” Her long limbs slip off a stool, and now she’s standing next to me, nearly towering over me because the Warrens are ridiculously tall. They say her brother Henry has to sit in the lowest chair in the room to keep from intimidating his business partners during meetings. Meanwhile, men like Ken Andrews are probably stuffing lifts into their shoes to look taller. It takes all kinds in this rich world of ours.

Eva senses that I’m uncomfortable and slouches. How kind of the woman who is overdressed in a stylish white suit. Overdressed, and yet not even I can care because she owns it so well. Sometimes I think it wouldn’t be so bad being reborn a lesbian. I get to not give a shit about a single thing and still fuck women. Best of both worlds?

“I was merely wondering where that pretty blonde from last week was.” She shrugs, as if I shouldn’t be suspicious. “The two of you seemed to be having a lot of fun at the club. Not often a guy gets a polish that good.”

I’m lucky she’s keeping her voice down. “You liked what you saw, huh? Something you want to confess?” I can play her inappropriate game. In fact, I have to. Right now I have no idea if Kathryn has told her about what’s going on. I don’t know if she’s talked to her best friend about us having sex, or if she’s mentioned what else happened at the club. I’m not going to give that information away, but I also don’t want to act ignorant. Not in front of Eva.

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

“Why do you care? I’m not seeing her right now.”

The way she looks at me is beyond unnerving, although I do my best to not let it show. Especially when we’re shortly joined by two people I could really live without right now.

“Eva!” Lana Andrews takes the woman’s hands and kisses the air around her cheeks. “So good to see you after so long. I didn’t know you were friendly with our man Ian here.”

She almost chokes, and I covertly roll my eyes. “He’s working with my friend Kathryn, you know.”

“Ah, yes, Kathryn.” Lana sounds so judgmental that I almost burst out laughing. “She’s, ah… interesting.”

For once, Eva and I are sharing a mutual look of defense mode. Except I have no idea why I feel this passionately about Kathryn’s honor.

Let’s set something straight. I have no problem with the Andrews. They’re a quirky couple who are a bit too big for their britches, but they’re smart, shrewd, and not afraid to go after what they want – even if that includes another person. Except right now they’re being a pain in my ass. Between this charade with The Grand and now snide comments about Kathryn, I’m feeling my blood boil.

God, why?

You know, I thought I got my burning need to fuck her out of my system Friday night. I was surprised that she went for it so easily, but hey, I wasn’t going to say no. Having her so willing to take me inside her so quickly was a boon to my ego and to the moment. Especially since she’s a Domme, and I thought she would resist, let alone a position like that. But I think we had a mutual understanding regarding our desire to finally accomplish what we set out to do twelve years ago.

I thought it would be all I needed to reset my brain and stop thinking about her so much. I had my fill, right? Yet I’m standing here like an idiot, wishing that I didn’t care so much that someone like Lana Andrews is even so much as implying that Kathryn doesn’t have her shit together. And it’s not like I feel guilty by association. I was flawless every time I presented. Shit, Eva has way more reasons to be angry. Kathryn’s her best friend.