Skinnydipping by Bethenny Frankel Read Free Book Online Page B

swallowing. “No, Faith, really he’s not. He acts differently when you’re around. I think you’re projecting your own feelings onto me. I don’t feel like that about him,” she sobbed. “And he talks about you all the time. He thinks you’re wonderful—he thinks you’re a much better person than I am.”
    Brooke stopped crying and got very quiet. I put my arm around her. “It’s OK,” I said. “It’s OK. You’ll figure it out. Don’t listen to me, what do I know? I’m just an angry, deprived daughter with a long list of grievances. I’m hardly unbiased. Let’s change the subject.”
    I turned to the group of women on the floor with us, looking for a way to redirect the conversation. Every single one of them was beyond stunning. “So, what do you all do? Are you with some Gorgeous Women of the World Club?” I asked.
    Sandra laughed. “In a way,” she said. “We run a … well, sort of a talent agency.”
    My ears perked up. “Talent agency? For what kind of talent?”
    A creamy-skinned Japanese woman answered: “We hire beautiful girls to attend events.”
    I looked around at them all, with their expensive clothes and alien glamour. “Events … involving your vagina?” I asked, suspiciously. Everyone laughed.
    “It’s a social group,” Sandra said. “A very exclusive social group.”
    “You should come out with us sometime. We have a very good time,” said the French woman. Everyone laughed again.
    Sandra handed me a personal business card. “Call me if you’d like to go out some night.” I couldn’t really figure out what the game was, but whatever it was, it sounded fun.
    “Sure,” I said, taking the card.
    The party was getting more crowded. So what? I didn’t have anywhere to be. I looked at my watch: four a.m. We heard shouting out on the back patio, so Brooke and I went to see what was going on. Two men were shoving each other and bellowing. A girl in the swimming pool looked up at them. She was topless, and probably bottomless, I couldn’t quite tell. In what was probably a burst of drug-fueled energy, the smaller man shoved the larger one backward into the pool. The girl shrieked and jumped to the side. Yep, bottomless.
    Suddenly, people all around us started peeling off clothing and jumping into the pool. I looked at Brooke. “Don’t you dare,” shesaid. Of course, that’s all I needed to hear. I pulled my dress up over my head, tossed it to her, and jumped into the pool in my granny panties.
    The shock of the water felt enlivening, but didn’t sober me up at all. My head spun a bit as I dove under the water and came up right in front of Brett. He really did look like Rob Lowe.
    “Hey, beautiful,” he said. “Where’s your movie star man?”
    “Upstairs in the bedroom, being married,” I said.
    “Ah. Well, I’m not married at all,” he said.
    “Not even a little?”
    “Not in the slightest.” Underwater, his hand slid down over my hip and under the panties. Had he noticed how lame they were?
    “You’ve got a lot of balls. Is that an actor thing?” I asked.
    “I have a feeling yours are bigger than mine.”
    “Oh, they are,” I said. “I can guarantee it.”
    “Let me feel,” he said, groping at my underwear.
    I pushed his hand away. “Creep.”
    “Sure I am, in the best way,” he said, moving closer. I felt dizzy. He was really hot. When he leaned in to kiss me, I thought, This is nice. Then I remembered who and what he was—Brooke’s sloppy seconds. I pulled away and looked up. Brooke was still standing at the edge of the pool, staring at us. Her face was red. She turned and ran into the house.
    “Shit, I’ve got to go,” I said.
    “Wait,” Brett said, grabbing my arm. “Just wait. She’ll be OK. She was never going to let me get anywhere anyway.”
    “And you think I will?”
    “I just got more from you than I ever got from her,” he said.
    “That’s because she lives with my father, you jerk,” I said.
    “Your