Start Me Up. Victoria Dahl

didn’t. “Lori’s gonna get her groove on!” she squealed instead, just before she started singing “Super Freak” in a loud, off-key alto.

      “All right. Okay. I want to ask you something serious. Ready?”

      Molly pulled her mouth into a severe line and narrowed her eyes, though her nostrils still flared with amusement. “I’m ready.”

      Tiny raindrops pattered against the windshield as they neared the summit, and Lori chose to watch those instead of her friend’s face. “Um…Those stories you write? Are they always…? Um…”

      “Excellent? Why, yes, they are.”

      “Shut up.” Lori drew a breath. Molly liked to crack jokes, but she was a good person and a great friend, and the only one Lori could even dream of talking to about these things. She set her shoulders and plowed ahead. “I’m asking if they’re always stories about things you like?”

      Molly turned her narrowed eyes toward Lori. “Are you asking if I like S and M?”

      “No! I mean…No, I don’t care about whether or not Ben ties you up and makes you call him Daddy.”

      “Nice,” Molly snorted.

      “I’m just wondering if you can write about things you’re not into. If you find some things exciting, even if you’d never actually do them.”

      “Absolutely,” Molly answered quickly, making Lori wonder if she and her writer friends had these types of conversations all the time. Some of the tension left her shoulders.

      “I’ve got a friend,” Molly went on, “Delilah Hughes. She writes stories about pretty heavy submission and bondage. Stuff I’m totally not into. But her books are beautifully done, charged with emotion and conflict. Very sexy. I love them. And Ben always appreciates it when I read them, if you know what I mean.”

      Lori rolled her eyes. “I think I might.”

      “But sometimes it’s not really a matter of what you’re into. It depends on who you’re with. There are—” Molly wiggled her eyebrows meaningfully “— things I’d do with Ben that I’d never do with anyone else.”

      “Deer,” Lori called out, thankful for the opportunity to change the subject. She had the answer she wanted.

      The car slowed to a crawl as Molly drove by the doe staring from the shoulder of the road. They both watched until it finally burst into flight and disappeared into the trees. Silence reigned while Molly concentrated on the road, but if the doe was part of a herd, the rest had stayed well hidden. Two minutes later, the mist cleared, and sunlight exploded around them.

      “Hey, we’re out of the clouds!” Molly cheered, and she was right. They’d been thrust into a beautiful, sunny evening, and the air inside the truck warmed by fifteen degrees in the bright rays.

      When Lori rolled down her window, the green scent of wet grass poured over her. She breathed deep.

      “So what is it?” Molly asked, lowering her voice to a stage whisper. “Spanking?”

      A gnat flew down Lori’s throat. Or else she was choking on mortification and horror. Coughing, she glared and shook her head.

      “Oh, come on. Everyone likes to read about spanking. Or a three-way. Is it two men? Is that what you’re thinking about? I’ve never done that. You should do it.”

      “No! No, no, no! I don’t think I want to try any of those things, I’m just…missing something.”

      “Okay.” Molly relented, and reached out to pat her hand. “I get it. You’re restless and horny. Maybe you should go stay in Aspen for a whole weekend. Get a love nest at The Lodge. Pick up a cute guy. I’d come for moral support, but I think the Chief might object.”

      “Definitely.”

      “But you’ll think about it?”

      Lori felt a little shiver of nervousness. “I don’t know. Let’s get through tonight, see how it feels.”

      “Deal.” Her friend glanced away from the road to grin at her like a proud mama. “My little girl is all grown-up.”

      “You’re embarrassing me, Mother.”

      Molly let out one of her loud, boundless laughs, the kind that pulled everyone in whether they felt like laughing or not. Lori was no exception.

      So she laughed into the wind, a weight rolling from her shoulders to bounce away into the forest. But without the weight, she felt a little hollow once she’d stopped laughing. Lori cleared her throat. “So Ben thinks someone might have killed my dad.”

      The car jerked, hitting the soft shoulder for a brief moment that raised up clanging pebbles. “What?” Molly gasped.

      “He stopped by the other day while you were at the store to tell me he was reopening the case.”

      “What do you mean? He thinks someone came into your house and killed your dad?”

      “No, he thinks someone purposefully bashed his skull in ten years ago. He didn’t tell you?”

      “Oh, Jesus,” Molly breathed. The truck slowed considerably. “No, he didn’t tell me. You know what a stickler he is about confidentiality. But…why would he think your dad was killed?”

      “There’s some evidence, but nothing concrete. I honestly don’t want to talk about it tonight, but I wanted to tell you. Just in case I have three martinis and start blubbering.”

      “Oh, but, Lori, you’re—”

      “No, seriously. No talking about it. I need a night out in the worst way. So let’s have fun. Show me a good time.”

      “You’re sure?”

      “I’m sure.”

      Molly watched her for a long moment, then turned determined eyes back to the road. “All right then. I have my mission.”

      T HE MAÎTRE D ’ SMILED over his shoulder for the second time since he’d started leading them toward a table. Lori felt Molly’s elbow dig into her side and nudged her back, but she couldn’t help a little thrill of excitement. The man was flirting with her. Lori Love. And she was flirting back.

      She smoothed a hand nervously over the flared skirt of the midnight-blue sundress. Without Molly’s encouragement, she’d never have even tried on the strapless silk dress, much less paired it with a pair of deep red shoes. But now she felt daring and feminine and sexy. And giddy as hell.

      “Ladies,” the host said with a charming purr, sweeping his hand toward a table that overlooked the street outside.

      “Thank you,” Lori said, trying not to giggle like a teenager when he winked at her.

      “Paul will be your server tonight, but I’m Marcus. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you.”

      “We will, thanks.”

      By the time she’d settled into the chair he held out, arranging her skirts carefully so they wouldn’t get wrinkled, Lori could feel that Molly was about to burst. She looked up to find her grinning over her clasped hands.

      “You look so pretty. And you’re glowing, Lori!”

      “Maybe I put on too much blush.”

      “Maybe you’re in heat!” Her eyes dropped lower. “My God I’m a genius. That dress is perfect for your body.”

      “Thank you for helping me. I even look like I have boobs.”

      “How crazy is that?”

      Lori kicked her with one brand-new shoe.

      “All right, I’ll be serious. You look gorgeous, so keep an eye out. There isn’t a man here who’d be able to resist you.”

      “