Bad Influence. Kristin Hardy

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       Bad Influence

       Kristin Hardy

      To Teresa, for the Les Paul

       And to Stephen—the fundamental things apply.

      Contents

       Acknowledgments

       Cast of Characters for Sex & the Supper Club

       Chapter 1

       Chapter 2

       Chapter 3

       Chapter 4

       Chapter 5

       Chapter 6

       Chapter 7

       Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10

       Chapter 11

       Chapter 12

       Chapter 13

       Chapter 14

       Chapter 15

       Chapter 16

       Chapter 17

       Coming Next Month

      Acknowledgments

      To Beatriz Ramirez of the Planning Division, City of Santa Barbara, for answering my bazillion questions, and to Lieutenant Paul McCaffrey of the Santa Barbara Police Department for helping with the details.

       CAST OF CHARACTERS FOR

       SEX & THE SUPPER CLUB

      Book 1—TURN ME ON

       Sabrina Pantolini m. Stef Costas

      Book 2—CUTTING LOOSE

       Trish Dawson and Ty Ramsay

      Book 3—NOTHING BUT THE BEST

       Cilla Danforth m. Rand Mitchell

      Book 4—BAD INFLUENCE

       Paige Favreau and Zach Reed

      Book 5—HOT MOVES

       Thea Masterson and Brady McMillan

      Book 6—BAD BEHAVIOR

       Delaney Phillips and ?

       Coming April 2007

       1

      “W HAT ’ S SO WRONG WITH missionary?” Paige Favreau looked around the restaurant table and shook her head, the smooth strands of her blond bob settling perfectly. “If you’ve got to spend ten minutes staring at a book and half an hour getting into position, it’s too complicated. The Kama Sutra ’s for people who like gimmicks.”

      Sabrina Costas’s dark eyes glimmered with fun. “Yeah, but there’s something to be said for variety with the simple stuff. Like doggy-style, say.”

      “Arf,” put in Delaney Phillips, putting up her hands like paws and panting happily.

      “No way.” Trish Dawson tucked a strand of red-brown hair behind her ear. “You do it doggy-style and you’ve got your butt sticking up in the air right in front of the guy. Not flattering.”

      “Are you kidding? It’s all just cushion for pushin’,” disagreed Cilla Danforth, resplendent in the latest Prada. “Besides, Ty worships your butt every bit as much as the rest of you, at least judging by the way he was staring at it at Sabrina’s party last week.”

      Thea Masterson glanced at her watch and grinned. “All right, I proclaim this meeting of Sex & the Supper Club officially in session.”

      “How long’d we take?” asked Trish.

      “Five minutes. Slow for us, don’t you think?”

      “That’s only because we spent the first four minutes ordering drinks,” Trish said.

      There were some conversations, Paige thought, that you could only have with girlfriends you’d known forever. The group of them had met in college while working behind the scenes on a play. Days spent slaving over sets and costumes and scripts turned into late-night pizza sessions and bonds that had survived the years.

      Paige laughed. “You know, it’s been—what?—eight years since we graduated? One of these days we could start talking about other things besides sex.”

      “Name one that’s even remotely as interesting.” Delaney looked up as the waiter appeared with a tray of drinks.

      “Oh, the state of the world? Religion? The economy? The environment?” Paige picked up her pinot grigio. “Some people would say sex should take a back seat to them, at least occasionally.”

      “Sounds like you’ve been talking with Jim the Diplomat again,” Delaney said.

      Paige looked at her as if she had a screw loose. “Trust me, I don’t chitchat about sex with my father.”

      “He probably disapproves of all of us anyway,” Sabrina said.

      “Pretty much since the sophomore-year play that had the lead actor standing buck naked in front of God and everyone, yeah,” Paige agreed cheerfully. “He wasn’t hot on the full-frontal-nudity thing.”

      “It wasn’t full-frontal nudity,” Cilla protested. “I designed those costumes out of flesh-colored mesh.”

      “I’m not sure a flesh-colored athletic sock counts as a costume,” Paige said. “Especially when it slips off during the first act.”

      “That part specifically was not in the script, I’ll just point out.” Trish took a drink of her Cosmopolitan. “I had no part in that.”

      “Was it my fault that Perry refused to even consider using double-sided sticky tape?” Cilla’s voice was aggrieved.

      Sabrina hooted. “You’re surprised about that? You know how guys are. Anyway, aren’t you supposed to have a special costume for the understudy if you find out he’s a different size than the lead?”

      Cilla glowered at her. “That was a conversation I had no interest in having, thank you very much. Perry should have warned me that we might have a problem.”

      “When you’re an understudy trying to, er, measure up to the leading man, it’s sometimes hard to admit.” Paige stuck her tongue in her cheek.

      “So it caused a little bit of a stir,” Delaney said. “The first rule of marketing—there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”

      “There is when your father’s the United States Ambassador to Romania,” Paige reminded her. “Of course, I told him that you guys were the perverts. All I did was dress the set.”

      “You still almost had to quit the play over it,” Thea said.

      “Things were sensitive then,” Paige defended. “The Iron Curtain was coming down, I was his kid. It could have reflected badly on everyone.”

      Delaney tipped her head consideringly. “What about now?”

      “What do you mean?”

      “When do you get to stop living to ensure Jim the Diplomat’s job security and start enjoying life?”

      Paige frowned. “I enjoy life.”

      Delaney snorted. “You just told us you preferred missionary. Look at all of the two-month wonders you date. What about the Ken doll you brought to Cilla’s wedding?”

      “His name is Ross and he’s a very bright man.”

      “He’s a wonk,” Delaney snorted. “Talking with him was as exciting as watching paint dry.

      “Maybe he’s got other