Cinderella Liberty by Cat Johnson

brother couldn't see his touch.
    The intimate gesture made Trish more pissed she'd be saying goodbye to him sooner rather than later, thanks to Danny. "It's not like I'm holding you up. As soon as Dawn is ready, we can go."
    Danny glanced down at Trish's feet. "I thought you had to change your shoes. That's why we came up here in the first place."
    Crap. She'd forgotten about that ruse.
    "I do, but the door to the bedroom seemed to be closed for some reason so I couldn't get to my shoes, now could I?" After adding a good dose of attitude to her tone, she strutted around her brother and headed for the bedroom door.
    She smothered the guilt and wadded the panties tighter in her hand. She held them behind the skirt of her dress as she walked so he wouldn't see. Trish shouldn't be laying into her brother about being shut inside the bedroom with Dawn since she and Crash had been behaving just as badly together out here without even the privacy of a door.
    Right now, she didn't care if she was right or not. All she could think about was the goodbye ahead.
    Dawn was still in the bathroom, which was good. It gave Trish time to step behind the closet door and slip her underwear back on. Only then, after she was no longer commando, did she take the time to look for a different pair of shoes. They'd have to be flats since the other pair of heels she'd packed didn't match this dress. Not that it mattered. All she'd be doing was sitting in the car and driving. Delivering her brother and the man she'd been having sex with just minutes before right into the arms of some naked woman-for-hire.
    But before they disappeared into the ironically named gentlemen's club she'd have to say goodbye to both of them, and that would be the hardest part.
    The door to the bathroom opened and she turned to see Dawn, a little pink cheeked, in the doorway, although Trish couldn't say that she wasn't looking a little flushed herself after her own quickie with Crash.
    "You ready to go?" Trish asked.
    Dawn's brow wrinkled. "Go where?"
    "I have to drive them to the dock. Danny is itching to get back."
    "Why? I thought they had a few more hours."
    "They do." Not in the mood to enable Danny's half truths considering he was taking Crash away from her earlier than necessary, and to be with naked women no less, Trish decided to tell Dawn the real reason. "There's a strip club across the street from their ship he wants to go to."
    Dawn's frown deepened. "No wonder he was in such a rush."
    "Yup." Trish sat right on the carpet and pulled off her heels, tossing them one at a time into the closet. She slipped on her flats and stood. "Ready?"
    "Yeah. Let's go." Dawn's expression told Trish she was no happier about Danny's plan, and there was nothing either one of them could do about it.
    Her brother and the guy she was crushing on hard were both heading to the damn warzone in Afghanistan and the only thing Trish could do was drop them off for one last night out on the town, and then pray they'd both come home seven long months from now. That pretty much sucked.
    ~ * ~
    Trish pulled along the curb, out of the way of the traffic, and put the car in park.
    Crash noticed it was early enough that, unlike when she'd dropped them off this morning just minutes before they were due back onboard, there wasn't a line of cabs and troops streaming toward the boat.
    The one good thing about this drive was that Dawn had insisted Zippy sit in the backseat with her. That left Crash in the front next to Trish. It was a small thing, but he felt better being there. Like he wasn't loving her and then leaving her, even though that was exactly what he'd done thanks to Zippy's speedy performance tonight.
    He would have thought all that alcohol would have extended the man's stamina. Crash knew from experience that much tequila sure as shit would have meant a marathon session in the bedroom for him. But that wasn't in the cards for tonight.
    As Trish cut the engine, Crash opened the door and stepped