Breakfast in Stilettos Read Online Free Page B

filled up our available street parking during events, even though they had their own parking lot. He was undertaking his own David vs. Goliath attack on the behemoth. I had off-street parking and didn’t much mind. A church was a far better neighbor than, say, a high school. Or a crack house. I wasn’t too worried about the worshippers stealing my home entertainment system. Besides, the church had a well-kempt lawn and was otherwise a good neighbor. No late night parties.
    I waved to Bob before grabbing the mail. He grumbled something about calling down the seven plagues, but I was inside before he could continue.
    Sal was huddled over her laptop at the dining table. The temperature was tropical.
    “Did you win the lottery?” I stood doing my Vanna White impersonation at the thermostat.
    Sal looked up. “I was cold.”
    It was no wonder. She sat, as always, in a skintight tank top and barely-there yoga pants. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on her petite five-foot frame. “That’s what sweaters are for.” I turned it down to 68 degrees.
    Sally “Sal” Olsen and I had met at the University of Washington when she answered my ad for a roommate. I had just inherited the house from my grandmother. The extra rent money made it so I could make ends meet while in school. By the time I graduated, I’d gotten used to her. Besides, the house was big and the extra money relieve d a little pressure while I did my time working my way up the editorial ladder.
    “Doing research?”
    She looked up at me, pushing her trendy black-rimmed spectacles up her nose. “A presentation. I have to present a paper at the Foresight Institute conference Saturday night.”
    So much for asking her to come with me. “What’s the topic?”
    “Carbon Nanotube Biosensors and the ….”
    My mind tuned out whatever she said next. Sal was a professional student, working on her doctorate in Molecular Engineering. After three years of living with her, I knew only enough to understand the prefix “nano.” Something very, very small. Nanotubes, nanoclusters, nanomachines, nanorobots. Everything after that was unintelligible.
    When she was sober, she could talk on and on for hours in geek-speak about her research, which I’m sure meant something to someone. I’d just nod and smile and try to keep my eyes from glazing over. However, when plied with a few gin and tonics, she could be a good source of periodic Strange and Unusual topics, like the bit about transferring data across the skin. She’d give me the latest news and I would do my own research to translate it for the rest of us.
    I laid my backpack on the counter and sat down at the table with her, flipping through the day’s mail. “You going out tonight?”
    She nodded. “With Jess. The guy from Stanford. He’s doing the presentation with me. We’ll probably be working on it most of the night. What about you? Not seeing Frank are you?” She looked up at me, peering over the top of her spectacles.
    “Nope. I’m staying home to do research for an article Kenner wants.”
    She seemed as relieved as I was disappointed. “What about?”
    I turned to toss a stack of junk mail and catalogs into the recycling bin. “Ever hear of the Slutterati Salon ?”
    Sal thought for a moment and then shook her head. “Sounds like a new club. Maybe I should take Jess there when we’re done.”
    I had a sudden mental image of Sal and Jess tied up together with Mistress Maven cracking her whip. “I don’t get the sense that it is a first date sort of place.”
    Sal frowned. “No? What kind of place is it? Do they have a website?”
    She was typing before I could think of anything to distract her. A moment later her jaw dropped. “It looks like a sex club!” She leaned forward. “Kenner can’t be serious.” She looked scandalized but I could tell she wanted to go check it out for herself.
    Maybe it was better that she wasn’t going. I didn’t need the competition.
    I stood and opened the fridge,