I snorted. “Frolicking, Dani?”
“We’re friends!” Nicole said.
“That’s not what I heard,” Danica said, “but you hung up on me before answering those questions last night, didn’t you, Nikki?” I looked at Nicole who turned to look at me and shrugged her shoulders.
“You too?” I laughed when she nodded in response. “It explains why she’s here.”
“You’re damn right it’s why I’m here! Now explain. I’m not buying this ‘friend’ business one bit. You two have been at each other’s throats for the last year and before then, you,” she looked at me, “tormented my friend in high school and you,” she looked from me to Nicole, “were smitten with him despite his jackass ways.”
“Smitten?” I turned and found a blushing Nicole. One glimpse in my brother-in-law’s direction and we both cracked up at her reaction.
“A simple school-girl crush is all it was, so check your ego at the door, jackass.”
“So we’re back to that again? I thought we were friends as of,” I looked down at my watch, “oh… about an hour ago. Your words pain me.” I clutched at my chest in a dramatic fashion.
“And what were you two before an hour ago?” Jake asked in obvious amusement.
“Uh…” I turned to look at Nicole whose blush had returned. Fuck!
“What was that?” Danica asked. “Nikki, you’ve got some serious explaining to do!”
“It was harmless,” she told my sister.
“Nothing is harmless!” Danica said. “If you two were serious about starting something, then I’d be fine with it, but I know you both. There’s no way you’d put aside your stubbornness, not to mention your hang-ups, long enough to make something happen.”
“I think it’s time for you to leave, Dani.” My sister was treading too close to divulging my interest in her best friend.
“Hold on a sec.” Nicole held up her hand and turned to look at me. “Why are you so uncomfortable all of a sudden when my dirty laundry was the one being aired out?” She took the few steps to stand in front of me, her gaze assessing. “Mike?” She put a hand palm down on my chest. My eyes were fused to hers and I heard Jake let out a laugh followed by an “ouch” which meant that my sister must have smacked him. Her eyes widened as she seemed to have concluded something. “You like me?” My eyes averted themselves from hers, but landed where it made it all look the more incriminating. Her lips. Those lips turned into a smile. “Yeah, didn’t think so.” She moved away from me and turned to my sister and her husband. “See? There’s nothing here!”
“Holy shit you’re blind, woman!” Jake said.
“I think they’re definitely interested in one another.” Danica was grinning from ear to ear. “They’re just too busy playing stupid to accept it.”
Jake nodded his agreement with his wife.
“Yeah, for a good fuck, maybe!” Nicole said.
“Hey!” I said, insulted.
“Nikki!” Danica looked shocked at her friend’s choice of words.
“What?” Nicole looked at me.
My brows furrowed. This woman was confusing. “What happened to…”
“The player stuff?” I nodded. “I admit, it did hold its appeal but…”
“But?” It was my turn to approach her. We stood toe-to-toe.
“But like I said earlier, I was wrong about you.” She looked away from me before meeting my gaze again.
“Thank you.” I smiled down at her and she smiled back. “It must have been hard for you to admit that to more than just me.” She shrugged her shoulders. “For a woman who doesn’t play around, I do have to say that you have it down to a science.”
When I started to move closer, she said, “Not alone.”
I halted. “Huh?”
“You’re not alone,” Danica interrupted, “and you two are so busted! Friends, my ass!”
Fuck! Thanks to those emerald eyes of Nicole’s, I’d forgotten we had an audience.
In the span of half an hour we had managed to impress my brother-in-law, piss off my sister, and learn a few things about one another. Upon Danica’s and Jake’s departure, Nicole and I were beside ourselves with mirth.
“I suppose we should get back to work,” she said, trying hard to regain her composure. She made a start for the door.
“Hey, Nic?”
She turned to face me. “Why do you call me that?”
I shrugged my shoulders in response. “I like it, or do you prefer Ice Queen?” I grinned.
“I have to admit, it was growing on me.” She laughed. “I like Nic too. No one else calls me that. What was it you were going to ask?”
“Do you really think I’d be a good fuck?” I bit my lip to stifle another bout of laughter.
She shook her head smiling. “You’re unbelievable!” she added as she dropped into her desk chair.
“So I’ve been told!”
Chapter 18
All hell broke loose in the office by early afternoon, the next day, and emergency team meetings took place to smooth things over for an irate client.
I ended up having to take over the project, which required Nicole and I to stay behind to work on a presentation the client had demanded for first thing tomorrow morning, or else they’d pull out of their contract.
It was near eight at night and my focus was far from sound, thanks to the brainstorming we’d done to resolve the issues at hand. We had about an hour left of work to fine-tune things.
Thank God Nicole majored in business. She’d picked up on discrepancies and oversights where I hadn’t – proof that two pairs of eyes were sometimes better than one – and had made recommendations that I knew the client would be pleased with. To be honest, I was impressed and even a little bit jealous that she’d come up with those resolutions.
I ran my hands through my hair and sighed.
“Why don’t we take a break?” Nicole suggested, looking up from the latest printout of the presentation, holding a red pen. “We can step out for dinner and then come back with a fresh mind.”
“Maybe you’re right.” I got up and stretched. “Where to?”
“How about the bistro across the street?”
“Perfect!” I grabbed my jacket, my stomach rumbling with hunger.
“Sounds like great timing.” She giggled, then proceeded toward the office door. “Come on, Mr. Withers.”
I groaned. “I hate it when people call me that, it makes me feel old.”
“You are old,” she said as she pushed the down button.
“I’m a year older than you.”
“Nearly two,” she stated. “I was bumped up a grade after first.”
“Full of surprises aren’t you?” I nudged her with my elbow as the elevator arrived.
“Not my fault you never took the time to get to know me while we were growing up.”
“I guess we’re both at fault there, aren’t we? You’re pretty good at hiding things.”
She shrugged. “I suppose.”
I was following a fast-walking Nicole into the bistro when she slammed on the breaks and I wound up plowing into her back. In an effort to prevent her small frame from toppling over, I wrapped my arm around her waist, bringing her flush with my chest.
“What the hell, Nic!”
“Dean,” she whispered which made me look up.
“Fancy seeing you here.” The man smirked as he approached us.
“How’s Lisa?” Nicole’s tone was hostile.
“She’s out of town. You up for me dropping by later?”
What the hell was this guy on about? My blood simmered and my mouth ran away from me. “Seriously!” I kept my arm around Nicole.
“Come on! You don’t expect me to believe that you two are really together?” he said. “I’ve seen you around, she’s too frigid for a guy like you.”
Nicole flinched and it reminded me of the time I’d called her just that in Austin. Boy did I know different now.
“Excuse me?” I gave him
an incredulous look.
“Come on, Mike.” Nicole tried to pull me away by the hand. “Let’s just go somewhere else.”
“No!” My eyes never left the man. “This guy owes you an apology.”
She put a hand on my arm. “It’s fine.”
“Trust me, it’s not.” I held her eyes momentarily and then narrowed my gaze on Dean. “He’s out of line.”
“Out of line? Let me guess… she hasn’t-?”
“Dean, that’s enough!” Nicole told him.
“Is it really?” He looked at her. “So you trade me in for him or is he like the others, temporary replacements until you realize you can’t get better and come begging for me all over again? What’s this guy got that makes it so different this time?”
“Well,” she toiled with finding some semblance of her legs, and must have, because she kept going, “for starters, he’s single, he respects me, appreciates me, praises what I do, and he’s sexy as hell.” She took it one step further and turned to face me. When I saw a lascivious smile grace her face, I knew she was up to no good. “And he’s got one hell of a package that dwarfs yours in comparison. I guess it just took the right man to make me forget you.” Her hands rubbed up my chest and both my arms wrapped themselves around her and pulled her in. It may have been an act, but I couldn’t help but to react to her words. She had to have been either one hell of an actress who’d missed her calling, or she was genuine about most of what she’d just said.
“Does he know how much you like to get around?” Her eyes flashed with panic and my arms dropped to my sides with his revelation. “Hear this-”
“You know what… I’ve heard just about enough.” Stepping back from Nicole and closer to Dean, I pulled my arm back and let one fly into the idiot’s jaw. I gave Nicole a fleeting look. “I’m out of here.”
“Mike?”
I turned my back to both of them. “Go home, Nicole. I’m going back to the office.”
“Mike!”
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Just… go home.”
I left before any of them could say or do anything to stop me. The fucker had one hard jaw. Shaking my fist, I was convinced it would be bruised and sore come morning.
The bistro’s door chimed as I pushed it open. I registered the sound of a slap and a rather heated dialect from Nicole, followed by heels clicking behind me.
Chapter 19
I made it back to the office by myself. As to where Nicole had headed after she left the bistro, I had no clue. One thing was for sure, she never chased me.
Part of me was glad that she’d done what I’d asked of her, and the other felt upset that she hadn’t followed me to discuss what had happened.
My mind was reeling with Dean’s insinuations.
Was Nicole promiscuous in nature? I highly doubted it.
Had she been with as many guys as Dean had alluded to? Her reaction to the man’s words told me that she wasn’t as innocent as I’d presumed her to be.
But that doesn’t make her a slut.
The more I deliberated things, the less I believed Dean’s claims.
Nicole and I weren’t all that different really. If anyone understood how weak a person could make another, I could. Part of my leaving Austin was so I could make sure I wouldn’t fall prey to Tracey’s clutches.
Like me, maybe she sought out men to quench certain urges, not always sexual, without forming attachments.
As I sat at my desk, I saved the final version of Nicole’s and my presentation and sat back, my mind still muddled with so many questions.
With a hand scrubbing down my face, I wondered why Nicole hadn’t tried to defend herself against Dean’s words. I felt like a heel for coming to her rescue, yet not being man enough to stick around to hear her side of things.
Then there was the fact that she hadn’t even tried to disprove anything.
Maybe she was embarrassed?
Was her attraction genuine? Maybe she was out for a good time, and because Dean had called her out on it, she’d given up because she knew I didn’t like games? I doubted the latter, but then again, I’d been wrong where women were concerned before.
One thing was certain. We needed to talk it out.
I reached for my phone and dialed. Nicole’s voice-mail kicked on and I ended the call without leaving a message.
Finding my resolve, I gathered my briefcase and headed down to the parking garage, peeling out onto the road.
Fifteen minutes later, I was parked in front of Nicole’s house. Her car was there, but the lights were off. My stomach sank and then I caught the flickering of what seemed like candlelight from the picture window.
Hope restored, I stepped out of my car, locked up and walked to her front door. That’s when I heard the sultry sound of a voice I hadn’t heard in years. The words, the guitar, the song…
It’s her?
I knocked, but the answer never came, only the continuous playing. I tried the doorknob and it turned, granting me access to her home. I let myself in and followed the melody.
She was in the front room which looked like some kind of library-den turned into a very comfortable music-slash-sitting room of sorts with a desk, laptop and some other equipment I couldn’t discern.
Nicole’s back was to me as she sat on a piano bench, facing her wall of floor to ceiling library shelves, her singing flawless in accompaniment to her strumming tune. She transported me to the past…
“Tracey, I was thinking about our wedding song.”
“I thought we’d decided on Tony Bennett’s The Way You Look Tonight?”
“I know, but I stumbled onto this today.” I waved the CD. “I forgot that I had it.”
“What song? Who sings it?”
“You wouldn’t know her. I don’t even know who it is, but the song is perfect.” I walked to the stereo and popped the disk in. Maybe she’d think it was foolish, but I pressed the play button anyway. “Listen.”
“Where’d you get this?” she asked after I’d powered down the stereo.
“Back in high school. Ben and I used to play pranks on my sister. I found it under her bed and thought she’d taken off with one of my mixes like always, so I took it back.”
The CD, as it turned out, wasn’t mine, but something about that voice, the emotion and the combination of honesty and hope in the words had me keeping it for myself. Days, weeks, months went by, and the disk was left unclaimed, and I continued to enjoy it.
“I didn’t peg you as someone to barge into people’s houses without permission,” Nicole said.
I hadn’t heard her stop playing, caught up in my daydream. “How’d you know I was in here?” Her back was still turned to me.
“I heard the knock. What do you want?”
“The way you play…” It’s better than your CD. “That was beautiful, Nic.”
She bowed her head and sighed. “What do you want, Michael?”
“I wanted to apologize for earlier.”
“Don’t you mean you wanted to hear an apology from me?” She sounded hurt and bitter.
“No. Like I said, I came to apologize.”
I heard her knuckles rap on the laminated wood of her guitar and then watched as she got up and set the instrument down beside five others that were lined up against the wall on their stands.
“Whatever it is, your apology is accepted.” She moved to lean against the wall and stared out the window. “You can go now.”
“Can we talk?”
“I think enough was said tonight.”
“I rather hear your side than that jackass’.”
Her short laugh held no humor, but at least she looked at me when she spoke next. “What’s it matter?”
My eyes refused to let hers go. “It matters.”
“You want to hear the whole sordid story?” I didn’t answer. “You want to know about the part that Dean and I used to be engaged? How about the part that he was fucking his PA, Lisa, behind my back? How about the other women I suspected hi
m of being with, but chose to forgive? Oh… but I never forgot, Mike. Do you want to hear about me turning into one of those women after we broke it off and he was seeing Lisa?”
She turned her entire body to face me and assessed my reaction, but I gave her nothing. “Do you really want to hear about how weak I was? That no matter how many men I ended up with, that I always went crawling back to him?” She wiped at the tears, furiously. “I bet you’re pretty proud of yourself aren’t you? Finding out that Little Nikki was no better than you with getting around. It doesn’t matter that I didn’t like it, but for however long the connection lasted, the dark thoughts of the past would disappear and I was convinced that I had moved on to something better.”
“Nic-”
She held up her hand to stop me. “I’m a hypocrite, a slut, a weakling…” she listed.
Her self-deprecation was too much for me.
I walked up to her and stopped to stand about a foot away. “I don’t think that,” I pulled her into my chest, “but what I do think is that you need a hug.”
She released a sobbing laugh into my chest and with the way my shirt was getting soaked, I gathered that she had more tears than laughs needing to be let out. This woman was hurt beyond measure, just like me, but she had never been able to get away. No wonder she’d despised me before knowing my story.
“I stopped… a month ago, I stopped. I came close to breaking down a few weeks back. And then I found out he was engaged to her. I can’t do it anymore. I turned into someone I hate and I can’t do that to Lisa, despite all that she’s done to me.”
“Is that when…” I began, but she knew where I was going with my words.
I felt her head bob in a nod. “When I ran into you at Dani’s, yeah.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Please don’t say that. You make me feel like I’m being pitied. I don’t deserve anything from anyone, least of all you.”
“You deserve better than what you got with Dean, Nic, that’s for sure,” I whispered into her hair.
“But I was unfair.”
“You had your reasons.” I buffed my cheek on her tresses. “Now, answer me this… since when do you play guitar?” That gained me a laugh, then, she looked up and gave me a crooked smile that had me smiling right back. “I figured a subject change was in order.”
Play Me to Infinity (The Broken Men Chronicles Book 3) Page 7