“Oh, come on.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ve seen you two together. The chemistry, the tension is insane. Frankly, it’s driving us all a little crazy. I’m amazed you’ve gone this long without something happening.”
I didn’t say anything, but it didn’t matter because I’m sure it was written all over my face.
Mandy gaped at me. “You didn’t!”
“It was just a kiss.” I spun towards her. “Just a kiss,” of course, was the understatement of the century, but the last thing I needed was good-intentioned Mandy convincing me that sleeping with Nathan was a good idea. Because I knew that’s exactly what she was going to do. And exactly what I really, really wanted to do.
“How was it?” she asked, her eyes gleaming. “The first time Chris and I kissed, it was like…” She mimicked an explosion with her hands. “Pow!”
Yep. That was the best way to describe how it had felt when Nathan kissed me. I was pretty sure there were parts of my body still smoldering from the fire that had been started from his touch. It was a good thing I was determined not to sleep with him because I wasn’t sure my body would be able to handle it. I might just explode with pleasure.
Mandy laughed and I realized I had just been sitting there, most likely with a dazed expression on my face.
“That good, huh?” she asked and let out a whistle. “Sophie, what are you waiting for?”
“It’s not professional,” I told her, and her face fell. “You know it isn’t.”
“I know,” she said. “It’s just, well, I like you. And I like Nathan. And I like you two together.”
“We barely know each other,” I objected, though I was deeply touched by her dedication and affection towards me. It was mutual and I was very much hoping that she would come to Houston after graduation. I already knew I was going to miss her when I left.
“But you like each other,” she pointed out. “That much is obvious. The rest you figure out as you go. At least, that’s what my mom always said.”
“My mom always says get the man before your boobs go.”
Mandy laughed at that. “Not bad advice either.” She looked down at her own great boobs. “Thank you, guys,” she told them.
I glanced down at mine. “Good luck,” I said to them.
Mandy and I shared a laugh, and she looped her arm over my shoulders and pulled me into a half-hug.
“Just make sure you don’t lose a good thing before you get a chance to have it,” she intoned.
“That barely makes sense,” I told her, but I knew exactly what she was talking about and it made me nervous. Even if it were possible for Nathan and I to be together, what then? We were just too different. Guys like him didn’t fall for girls like me. Not really.
“You know what I mean,” she poked me.
“I do.” I was once again flooded with a sense of tenderness towards her.
“We’ll figure it out,” she whispered. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I already had.
Chapter Twenty
Tim was annoyed. He threw his leather jacket into the backseat of the car and yanked the door open. I slipped quietly into the passenger seat, hoping that he would ignore me on the short ride back to the hotel.
“Fucking college athletes,” Tim spat as they pulled out of the parking lot. “Wouldn’t give me a goddamn thing to work with. Doesn’t he know that any attention is good attention?”
I bit my lip. I knew that Nathan wasn’t going to tell him anything. Tim was a grade-A douchebag; he could only work his magic if the person he was interviewing was an equal or greater douchebag who also lived for attention. Nathan was a rarity—a nice guy who had no interest in the spotlight. Tim had no way to get in with him.
“I thought he was going to be gay or something like that.” Tim had shook out a cigarette and was ranting with it bouncing from his lips. I began counting the blocks between us and the hotel. The smell of his cigarettes and his general musky sweatiness was making me feel lightheaded. Not to mention his utter awfulness. “I mean, if you couldn’t fuck an interview out of him, he must have a thing for guys, right?”
I clenched my jaw. I was not going to respond. There had been too many instances at work where I’d seen someone try to call Tim on his disgusting comments and it had just ended with Tim mocking the other person until they walked away.
“I mean, Jesus, Saucy, you’d think a pair of good tits would get this guy in the mood for opening up.”
I was thinking of opening up Tim’s lip with my fist, but I turned my head towards the window.
“I gave him his chance.” Now the annoyance had faded from his voice and I could hear the anger. Shit. The last thing Nathan needed was an angry, vindictive guy like Tim out to get him. “So now we bring out the big guns. Hire a private detective. Ask his friends, his enemies. Get someone to say something about this guy—on the record—about what a tool he is. Get someone to dig up some dirt. We’ve got a lot to do, Saucy. Hope you brought enough pairs of panties.”
Thankfully we had pulled up to the hotel. I got out as soon as the car came to a stop, thankful for the broken seatbelt. I made a beeline for the lobby and for the elevator, hoping that the valet would slow Tim down enough for me to get out of there and up to my room. Unfortunately the little shit was fast when he wanted to be.
“Hey, wait up,” he puffed, running across the lobby. “We need to decide on a game plan.”
The elevator doors slid open.
“I have a headache,” I told him, not really a lie. The sight of him gave me a headache. “I need to go lie down.”
“On the rag?” Tim asked as he followed me into the elevator.
I prayed that we weren’t staying on the same floor.
“Yes,” I told him.
I relished the look on his face, which was, in a word, horrified. Not very comfortable with menstruation it looked like. Perfect. Now I had a way to keep him away from me.
“I’m just so grateful that you understand that I have to take the afternoon off,” I said, plastering a thankful smile across my face. “Besides, you don’t want me acting all crazy while you’re trying to interview people about Nathan, do you?”
He had slowly been backing away from me, his face growing paler and paler.
The doors dinged open at my floor. I noticed he didn’t move to exit. Either he wasn’t on this floor or I had terrified him so much that he wasn’t going to leave the elevator. I was satisfied with the work I had done either way.
“Thanks so much for understanding,” I told him, making sure to pat him on the shoulder.
I saw him look down at the place on his jacket where I had touched him, as if he was afraid I was bleeding from my hands and left some on the leather.
“Uh,” he managed.
“Byeeeeee!” I said brightly, stepping out of the elevator, waving cheerfully at him until it closed in his stunned face.
“Shithead,” I muttered to myself.
Ugh. Tim was going to be a nightmare. Not just for me, but for Nathan, especially if he managed to find any inkling of wrongdoing. Tim had ended careers. He did it with glee. Whatever got him attention and acclaim. He didn’t care about anyone but himself.
For a moment I thought about calling Nathan, trying to warn him, but I had tried to tell him last night what was coming and he had called me a liar. Told me I had been playing him. The thought that he believed that made my heart ache, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I wasn’t going to help Tim, of course, but there wasn’t much more that I could do. Especially if Nathan wasn’t speaking to me.
I really did have a headache now and a bath combined with a mini-bar sized bottle of tequila I couldn’t really afford sounded like the best way to deal with my presently terrible situation.