Feel The Fire (Unforgettable Series) Read Free Page B

moved to Los Angeles, she noticed this behavior was the norm. California women were obsessed with youth.
    Toni, once again, offered up a prayer of thanks for her good genes. Her skin was just as smooth and supple as any twenty-year-old’s. Her casual workouts and active sex drive kept her curves tight and cellulite nonexistent.
    “Okay, girl. Next party, be there.” Maria paused for a moment and then asked, “How was your trip back to Atlanta? Did you see him?”
    Toni sighed as she kicked off her shoes and finally dumped her bags onto the sofa. “I saw him. We screwed. I left.”
    “Toni!”
    “What? We were both mature adults about it. We were there, we were horny, so we did it. There’s nothing wrong with having sex with an ex, as long as both of you know that’s all it is.”
    “So does he know?” Maria asked.
    “Does he know what?”
    “That that’s all there is?”
    She thought he did; but after a few drinks, Brian made it clear he wasn’t over her. “It doesn’t matter,” she finally said, shrugging off the guilt. “It’s over now.”
    “Code for: you’re just not going to take his calls.”
    “Wow. Why are you taking this so personally? You’re acting like Brian is your brother or something.”
    “You stay the hell away from my brothers.”
    “What?”
    “C’mon. If you were a guy, you would be what we call a dog. You’re a wham-bam-thank-you-sir kind of girl.”
    “That’s not true. Brian and I had a little office fling a few years ago and it just didn’t work out. End of story.”
    Maria laughed. “You have to have more than sex to have a relationship, Toni.”
    “When you’re as busy as I am, it’s hard to find time to have more than just sex. I work ninety hours a week in a law office that expects a hundred and the only vacation I get is our annual December weekend trip.”
    For the past twenty years Toni and her college friends Brooklyn, Maria, Ashley, and Noel would travel to New York for holiday shopping and Broadway plays. Like her best friend Brooklyn, Toni didn’t think the girls got together enough, but as each of them had such busy lives, one weekend was better than nothing.
    Toni and Brooklyn had once lived just miles a part in Atlanta, but once Brooklyn remarried and moved to Texas, Toni decided it was time for a change as well and high-tailed it to L.A and now lived just miles from Maria.
    Ashley still worked at the American Embassy in England. Noel resided in New York but was no longer “the only white girl in rap,” as they once teased.
    The only evicted member from their group was Macy Patterson and that was only because she had broken a golden girlfriend rule: sleeping and then stealing Brooklyn’s first husband.
    Maria laughed and brought Toni’s thoughts back to the present. “Hold on. Let me get my violin out.”
    “Not funny.” Toni made her way to the kitchen and grabbed a soda. Maybe she shouldn’t have slept with Brian. He was always the overly emotional type. She was only in Atlanta to help her practice with one of her old cases, but one night one thing led to another.
    “Did you at least win the case?”
    “Of course.” Toni popped the cap off her soda and took a deep celebratory chug. “Toni Wright never loses a case.”
    “I got to hand it to you, Toni. You are good.”
    “In six months, I’ll be a full partner at Kaplan, Grey &Kaplan. Mark my words.”
    Maria sighed as if indifferent to the idea.
    “What?” Toni asked defensively.
    “What what?”
    “C’mon, what’s with the long sigh?”
    “Nothing,” Maria lied unconvincingly.
    “Spit it out.” Toni left the kitchen and made a beeline to her bedroom and then the bathroom. “If you have something to say just say it.” She plugged the tub and turned on the water.
    “Well, it’s just that everything is always business with you.”
    “A minute ago you said it was sex.”
    “All right. Business and sex. What about romance? When are you going to find a guy and just settle