Best Of Makeovers Bundle Part 39

"Just a client. No one we need to worry about," she said.

She slipped her arm through his and started walking.

"I'm thinking a gla.s.s of champagne in the bar, then the show, and supper afterward. Sound good?" she said breezily.

Her pulse was still pounding in her ears after the look Marc had given her as he asked her out for dinner. Although she'd gotten the definite sense that he'd wanted to ask for something else. Something a lot more private than a meal.

Just thinking about it made her breathing go crazy again. Anna closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her stomach-although the part of her that was begging for attention was a lot lower than that.

"That dress is fabulous, by the way," Danny said as they climbed the broad steps to the opera house.

She couldn't help smiling as her brother automatically slipped into the campy drawl he used with his close friends. In the business world, and when he was visiting their father, Danny came across as the straightest of straight men. He called it his great gift-the ability to glide, chameleonlike, through the heteros.e.xual world, with no one the wiser to his s.e.xual orientation. But in his private life, he allowed his true self to show.

"Do you have any idea how Liberace you sound when you say faaaabulous like that?" she asked.

"Yes. It's a very deliberate, much-rehea.r.s.ed affectation that I've spent hours perfecting," Danny quipped. "So, you want to tell me what this impulse trip to the opera is all about? Are we celebrating something?"

Anna shrugged. "Just having fun, that's all."

Danny did an exaggerated double take. "Ex-squeeze me? Anna Jackson having fun? Something is definitely up."

Even though it was true, it made her feel defensive. She stiffened.

"What's wrong with me having a little bit of fun? Is the world going to stop? You have fun all the time, and no one says anything," she said.

Danny blinked, and she knew she had overreacted. Or simply reacted, perhaps. Danny was so used to seeing the cool lawyer's exterior she'd shown the world for so long that any display of feeling was probably a shock. "Sorry. But is it such a big deal that I want to go to the opera? And that I want to wear a nice dress?"

He slid his arm around her shoulder and she felt him press a kiss onto the crown of her head.

"You can take up the bagpipes and run around with your underpants on your head for all I care. You know that."

As they moved toward the door to the exclusive Opera Bar, she could tell he wanted to ask more questions. But they didn't have that kind of relations.h.i.+p. She was the one Danny turned to when he was in a fix and needed advice, not the other way around.

That was the way it had always been. She'd long ago settled into the post of replacement mother-figure for her brother. But the whole situation with Marc had really thrown her tonight. That, and the fact that her to-do list was still woefully short on being complete.

Suddenly she stopped in her tracks. "Danny, if someone asked you to describe me, what would you say?" she asked him abruptly.

Danny looked a little taken aback, but he quickly regained his composure.

"I'd say that you're an attractive, incredibly driven, organized, successful, focused woman," he said, obviously believing that he was serving up what she wanted to hear.

Anna winced. She knew that what he was saying was true, no matter how much she wanted to rail against it. She had only changed the easy stuff on her list. It was time to get serious if she really wanted to turn her life around.

She stared at her brother. He was gorgeous-tall, handsome, funny and charming. He always seemed happy, and she gathered from hints that he dropped that he had an active, satisfying love life. In short, he seemed to have it all together.

"I think I need your help," she said decisively, grabbing his arm and dragging him inside the bar.

"Okay," Danny said, looking completely baffled.

"Sit there. I'll get the champagne," she said, indicating a secluded corner where two bar stools were arranged around a high c.o.c.ktail table.

Danny followed her instructions dutifully while she ordered two flutes of French champagne and quickly joined him.

Sliding onto the stool, Anna bit her lip a little nervously. It wasn't easy to overcome the habits of a lifetime and suddenly open up about her most personal thoughts.

"Anna-have you had some bad news?" her brother asked, his face carefully blank.

She grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. "No! No, of course not. All clear on my last scan," she a.s.sured him hastily. "Sorry, I was just trying to get my thoughts together. I guess I don't really know where to start."

Danny nodded. "Maybe I can help. Doe this have anything to do with the new hair and the new job and the new clothes?"

"Am I that transparent?"

"Well, I might be a raving queer, but I do notice when my sister has had a makeover," Danny said.

Anna took a big gulp of champagne, then nodded her head firmly. Okay, she was going to do this.

"When I was in hospital, after the operation, I made a list," she said boldly. "I was still waiting for the test results to come back, to find out if the breast cancer had spread into my lymph nodes, and I started thinking about the things I wanted to change in my life. It was a long list, Danny. Really long. Do you know why?"

She paused to take another big swallow of champagne. Danny was watching her intently, a frown puckering his brow. She answered her own question.

"Because I never do what I want to do. I'm always worrying about the future, and what I should do next to achieve this or get that. I'm always doing the right thing-not the thing that I really want to do. Do you know what I mean?"

Danny slowly nodded. "I think so. It's something I used to think about, when we were younger. You always put me and Dad first, and I used to worry that you didn't leave anything for yourself. But then you made partner at the law firm, and everything seemed rosy."

"It was. Well, to a certain extent it was. But when I made that list and saw how long it was, I realized how much of my life I'd spent doing what I thought other people expected me to do. Being good. And solid. And responsible. It made me sick. It honestly did. I had to call the nurse for a basin."

Suddenly she suspected that Danny might think she was talking about him, about the way she'd had to step up after their mother had died when Anna was just thirteen.

"I'm not talking about you here, Danny, okay? Or any of that stuff. I did that because I wanted to, because I love you and Dad. Please believe me," she said earnestly.

"It's okay. No offense. You had to grow up too fast, Anna Banana. I've always thought so."

Anna shook her head. She couldn't regret stepping into her mother's shoes. Someone had had to take care of what was left of their family, and her father had been so grief-stricken....

Still, there was no contesting the fact that it had set the pattern for her adult life. She stared at the straw-colored bubbles beading her gla.s.s, trying to pull her thoughts together.

"I knew that if I died, that was it, you know? I'd had my chance-and I'd played it safe. So I made myself a promise that if I got the chance, I was going to work my way down the list and start changing my life around."

"Ah," Danny said as though he was suddenly starting to see where she was going with this. "The hair, the job, et cetera, et cetera."

Anna leaned forward, grabbing one of her brother's hands.

"I want to have more fun, Danny. I want to laugh more, and worry less, and live my life instead of just watching it slip away while I save for my retirement."

He gripped her hand tightly. "Love you, Anna Banana."

"Love you, too," she said.

They smiled at each other for a long, emotion-filled moment.

"So, which bit do you need my help for?" Danny asked, signaling for the waiter to bring them another round of champagne. "I am totally and completely at your service, your own personal fairy G.o.dmother."

Anna smiled nervously. If she was going to do this, now was the time.

"Well, I've been working my way through my list, crossing things off. But I think I've stalled," she admitted. "I think I need some expert guidance."

"Right," Danny said, still looking confused.

"How many people have you slept with?" she asked abruptly.

Danny flinched. "Whoa, that came out of left field," he said.

"Could you just humor me for a moment? I swear this has a point," Anna said.

"Hey, I don't mind sharing. Somewhere between 'lots' and 'heaps' would be a good estimate." He shrugged. "Too many to count."

Anna tried not to stare. Could she and her brother be more different?

"I've only slept with three men," she blurted, getting the foul deed over and done with. "And I've never had s.e.x outside of a bedroom."

It was Danny's turn to stare. "Anna, you're thirty-two years old. That's barely one man per decade of your life. And it's not like you've been married or anything. What have you been doing?" he asked.

She could feel embarra.s.sed heat climbing into her face. "Okay, I'm a freak. I was a late bloomer. I didn't lose my virginity until I was almost out of law school. And I always used to think that there was plenty of time to catch up. Work seemed more important. And saving for the future. And lots of other stupid, nonfun stuff. That's why I need your help now," she said.

"Is this about to get really weird?" Danny joked.

Anna nudged him with her elbow. "Not funny."

She was beginning to regret having said anything. How pathetic she must look, sitting here asking her gay younger brother for advice on how to get laid. There was something to be said for keeping your own counsel-no one ever had to know how stupid your thoughts and feelings were.

"I'm sorry. It was a bad joke. And I think it's great that you want to get some more action. I'm all for the pleasures of the flesh. Hedonism is my middle name," Danny said.

"It's not that I don't like s.e.x-I like it a lot!" Anna a.s.serted, worried her brother now thought she was some kind of prude. "Once I get in the bedroom, everything's fine. I mean, it all works, if you know what I mean."

"I'm pleased to hear it," Danny said drily.

Anna swallowed a healthy mouthful of champagne in a big, stinging gulp. A warm buzz spread through her body-alcohol, and the seductive desire to bare all to her brother. She leaned urgently across the table.

"I want the kind of s.e.x you see in the movies. I want someone to want me so badly he almost tears my clothes off. I'm sick of being colorless and boring and good," she said in a rush. "I want to feel alive, to really know that I'm still here."

To her surprise, she felt a tear roll down her cheek. Danny wiped it off with his thumb, then he reached for her hand and squeezed it again.

"It's okay, you are still here, and you will be for a long time to come," he said rea.s.suringly.

She shook her head. "There are no guarantees, Danny." She sniffed inelegantly.

Danny pa.s.sed her a freshly laundered handkerchief and began drumming his hands on the tabletop, deep in thought.

"Okay, okay. s.e.x. s.e.x.x.xxx," he mused, as though he was trying to come up with an idea for one of his advertising campaigns. "What we need to do is hook you up with a hot guy. Let me think. There's Ned in accounting. He's cute and single and straight, from what I hear. I could have him over for dinner at my place, set you guys up."

Anna felt a dart of apprehension at the thought of a dinner date and all that it might lead to. "I'm not interested in getting into a relations.h.i.+p with anyone, Danny," she said hastily.

"But I thought that's what you were just saying?" he asked, clearly baffled. "Did we or did we not just have an entire conversation about you improving your love life?"

"Yes. But I don't want to be tied down. I've just quit the law firm, I've got this new life. I don't want to feel trapped right now," she said, feeling pressured just at the thought of it. She wanted to be free. That was why she'd started up the limo service. She loved driving, and it meant she was outside all day. She was her own boss, and she was beholden to no one for anything. After carrying so much responsibility for so long, she didn't want anyone relying on her, expecting anything of her. The very thought of it made her feel claustrophobic.

"Okay," Danny said slowly. "Then I guess we need to get you a lover. Some red-hot stud who just wants you for your body. A couple of months of dirty-dog s.h.a.gging and you'll be all caught up."

Anna sighed heavily. "See, this is the problem. I have no idea how to pick up a man, let alone a hot stud. My G.o.d, I wouldn't know where to begin," she said glumly. "You know that guy you saw me with before? This thing happened in the car between us earlier today, this eye thing. And there was a moment when I knew it was all on. And I let it go. I simply couldn't go there."

Maybe I am a prude, Anna thought wistfully. Maybe I should just resign myself to reading about other people's pa.s.sion in the pages of romance novels.

"Do you think I've had too many years of coloring in between the lines?" she asked. "Maybe I'm too rigid and stuck in my ways to change. I don't think I've ever done anything in my life that I didn't consider from every angle."

"Anna, you've survived a major life crisis. Just because you didn't throw yourself at the first decent-looking guy who came along doesn't mean you're frigid," Danny rea.s.sured her.

"Marc Lewis is not 'decent looking,'" Anna said. "He's...molten. Pure s.e.x. And I spent the whole time he was in the car coming up with excuses for why I couldn't possibly hook up with him, if by some miracle he actually propositioned me. And then, when he did...I chickened out."

Anna stared miserably at her empty champagne gla.s.s. Danny looked thoughtful for a moment.

"That's very interesting," he said.

"This is my tragic love life we're talking about here, not some special on the National Geographic channel," she moaned.

Danny just smiled smugly at her. "I want you to turn around in your seat and pretend you're looking at that lamp over your left shoulder," he said.

Perplexed, Anna stared at her brother but he just indicated that she should do as he'd instructed. Swiveling in her seat, she looked for the lamp shade Danny had mentioned. A dart of excitement raced through her belly when she saw Marc sitting beneath it, talking to a group of business-suited men at his table. She s.n.a.t.c.hed her gaze away and twisted back to face her brother before Marc could notice her looking.

"Oh, boy," she said breathlessly. "How long has he been here for?"

"A while. Boring holes in your back with those big bad eyes of his," Danny admitted.

"Really? He's been looking at me?" she squeaked.

"Only a lot. So here's what we're going to do-a little seduction 101. I want you to go to the bathroom, and on the way back you're going to try and catch his eye. As soon as you've got his attention, give him a little smile, then come straight over and join me. I'll tell you what he does."

Anna flinched and shook her head. "I can't do that."

"Why not?" Danny asked.

"Because. Then he'd know how I felt."

Danny stared at her. "I think I'm beginning to see the problem," he said.

"And he's a client," Anna said defensively. "And he's an arrogant pig, too. I could never have s.e.x with a man I didn't like."

"Arrogant pigs are great in bed. Trust me."