The Nicest Guy in America

by Angela Benson

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Thinking about you.”

  He couldn’t have said more perfect words. “Good night, Reggie,” she said.

  “Good night, Ms. Washington.”

  Kim hung up the phone and closed her eyes. Sleep and sweet dreams of a nice guy soon claimed her.

  ~ ~ ~

  Reggie hung up the phone after saying good night to Ms. Washington and lay on his bed, hands behind his head, thinking about her and the evening they’d shared. Holding her close had been nice, very nice, and kissing her had been even better. He could still feel the warm response in her lips and the softness of her arms around his neck. He closed his eyes and savored the memory. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes, got up from the bed and headed for the shower. That’s what savoring memories had done for him.

  Chapter 13

  Reggie lowered his head to kiss her as the phone rang. “Let it ring,” he said as he pressed his lips against hers.

  Kim relaxed against him and tried to enjoy the kiss, but the ringing phone seemed to get louder. “I’m busy,” she murmured but the insistent ringing would not stop.

  “Who is it?” she demanded and opened her eyes. She was in her bed—alone—and the phone was still ringing. Just a dream, she thought as she touched her fingers to her lips. Shaking her head to rid herself of sleep, she reached for the phone.

  “Hello,” she said, trying to keep the sleepiness out of her voice.

  “Kimmy,” Jim’s voice boomed. “I thought you would be expecting my call. What’s this? The third or fourth time I’ve called you this early?”

  Kim’s disappointment that the caller wasn’t Reggie didn’t surprise her. “What do you want this time, Jim?”

  “How’d your date go with Reggie last night? Did any reporters follow you two around?”

  Kim thought Jim was getting a bit carried away. “No, Jim, there were no reporters. They must have all believed that joint press release you and Reggie issued.”

  “I wouldn’t be too sure about that if I were you, Kimmy girl. You know how sneaky reporters can be. Remember that article about you?”

  Did he think she could forget it? That article had led to this dating between her and Reggie. “Well, let’s hope they weren’t so sneaky last night.”

  “Wrong, Kimmy girl,” Jim said. “We want them to be sneaky. The Nice Guy Contests being sponsored by the radio stations are keeping Urban Style in everybody’s mind, but it wouldn’t hurt for you and Reggie to generate a little publicity for that column you’ll be doing. Now when’s your next date?”

  Kim didn’t like discussing her time with Reggie as though it were a business arrangement. It had started that way, but she had the feeling it was turning into something more. “We haven’t planned our next date,” she said.

  “Why not? He did ask you, didn’t he?”

  “No, he hasn’t.” She felt contrary enough not to tell him that Reggie would be calling this morning.

  “You didn’t say anything to turn him off, did you, Kimmy?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean, Jim?”

  “Well,” Jim began. “You know how you can be sometimes.”

  “No, Jim, I don’t know how I can be sometimes. Why don’t you tell me?”

  “Forget it, Kimmy. There’s no need to go down that road.”

  “No, Jim,” she insisted. “You brought it up. Now finish it.”

  Jim sighed. “You’re a good kid and all, Kimmy, but sometimes you can be a little hard on the young men.”

  “What?” she sputtered. “Me, a little hard on men? You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “Don’t go getting angry with me now. You asked me and I’m telling you what I see. You’re hard on men, Kimmy. Maybe too hard.”

  Kim didn’t think so. She’d just kissed enough toads to begin to wonder if there were any princes left out there. “Because I don’t put up with any BS, you think I’m hard? If that means I’m hard, then I think I’ll stay that way.”

  “That’s not what I’m saying, Kimmy. You need to be hard with some of them. That Derrick, for instance. I don’t even know why you still talk to him. But Reggie Stevens is different. Kimmy, there’s something about him that’s different. Don’t prejudge him based on your other experiences. And that’s all I have to say on the subject. Now back to Reggie. He’s done well so far, but it’s not over yet. You two have got to keep it up.”

  “What do you mean he’s done well so far?” Kim asked, suspicious again of Jim’s motives and his possible actions.

  “You’ll find out as soon as you see the Sunday paper,” he said. “Now I’ve got to go. You make sure you and Reggie go out tonight. And try to play it up for the papers, Kimmy. We need all the publicity we can get.”

  “Wait a minute, Jim,” Kim began, but Jim had already hung up. “Sometimes that man—” she started, then covered her mouth with her hand. “The papers. What was in the papers?”

  She jumped out of bed, quickly pulled off her pajamas and dragged a pair of jeans and a shirt from her closet. She had to see the newspaper. A sense of foreboding told her she wasn’t going to like what she read.

  What has Jim done? she asked herself as she made her way out of the suite and to the elevators. And what role had Reggie played in it?

  She stepped into the elevator and then pressed the button for the lobby as soon as the doors closed. As the elevator made the seemingly slow trip down, she tried to prepare herself for what she was going to see. What could be worse than that article? she asked, to reassure herself. If she could handle the article, she could handle anything.

  The elevator came to a short stop at the lobby level and she quickly exited, making a beeline for the gift shop. As luck would have it, the shop was closed. “Figures,” she muttered, then turned and headed for the front desk. If she was lucky, they’d have a copy of the paper on the counter.

  She saw a stack of papers as she approached and was grateful for her good luck. When she picked it up and flipped to the Lifestyle page, she quickly changed her mind.

  “I’m going to kill him,” she said. “I’m going to kill both of them.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Reggie’s first thought when he answered his front door and found Ms. Washington standing there was that his day was off to a great start. Unfortunately, that thought was quickly replaced with a feeling of dread when he saw the anger blazing in her big, brown eyes. “What did I do now?” he asked, deciding his best route was a solid offense.

  “You’ve got some nerve asking me that question,” Kim said, brushing past him and entering the house.

  He closed the door and followed her into his living room. “What’s the problem? Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”

  She slapped the newspaper that he suddenly realized she was holding against his belly. “Jim says to tell you that you did a good job.”

  Grasping the paper to keep it from falling to the floor, he asked, “What’s Jim got to do with this?”

  She dropped down on the couch and crossed her legs. Her top leg rocked back and forth rapidly. “Why don’t you check out your handiwork in the paper? I don’t believe you did this. You almost had me fooled last night.” She shook her head. “You’re a piece of work, Reggie Stevens.”

  Reggie unfolded the paper. After scanning the headline, he said, “I still don’t know what you’re so angry about.”

  She gave him a look that scorched. “Turn to the Lifestyle page.”

  He quickly did as she directed. “Ah, hell,” he said. Right there in the paper for all the world, or at least all the city, to see was a picture of them sharing their one and only kiss last night. He looked down at her. “You can’t really think I had anything to do with this, can you?”

  “Why shouldn’t I? You were the one who suggested we take a walk around the block.” Her leg still rocking back and forth, she began shaking her head to the same tempo. “I can’t believe I was so naive. It was all a setup.”

  He dro
pped to his knees on the floor next to the couch. “It wasn’t a setup. I have no idea how this picture came to be in the paper.”

  “Sure you don’t,” she said. “Just one of those things, right?”

  “Right.” He said the word, but even to him it sounded inadequate. “I swear, Kim. I didn’t have anything to do with this photograph.”

  “Then explain how it was taken,” she challenged.

  He caught her gaze with his own, needing her to see the truth in his eyes. “I don’t know how. I just know that I didn’t have anything to do with it.” He could tell she was struggling with herself. Should she believe him or shouldn’t she? “What would I have to gain by getting this photograph in the paper?”

  Kim didn’t know. She only knew that she’d been upset when she’d seen the photograph. To be more precise, she’d felt like an idiot. Here she’d been having dreams about that kiss and he’d been staging it for some cheap publicity shot.

  “Answer me,” he demanded. “What would I have to gain?”

  “Look, Reggie,” she said, realizing he was turning the situation against her. “I’m the one asking the questions.”

  “And I’m answering them. I did not, repeat, did not, have anything to do with this photograph showing up in the paper. If you were rational about this, you’d see that you get more out of this kind of publicity than I do. Maybe I should be offended.”

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” she said. “You’re not going to turn this one on me. You’re the one who set up this whole dating fiasco with Jim. What else did you two cook up? Did you tell him where we were going to be and when so that he could have the reporter there? Did he specifically tell you he wanted a kissing shot?”

  Reggie stood up and stared down at her. “Have you lost your mind? Do you really think that kiss was staged?”

  She hadn’t at the time and even now she hoped it hadn’t been. That kiss had touched her in ways she hadn’t been touched in a long time. It hurt to think it had meant nothing to him. “Sometimes a woman can’t tell what’s real with a man and what isn’t. There are too many games, Reggie. Too many moves. How do I know that kiss wasn’t a move on your part?” She saw what she thought looked like hurt in his eyes, but she didn’t stop. “Maybe,” she added, “you wanted to put me in my place?”

  He folded his arms across his chest, which she could see through the opening in his robe. She wondered that, even in the midst of their argument, she could still admire how gorgeous he was.

  “And maybe you’re regretting what happened last night and now you’re trying to find some way to discount it?” he suggested. “Is that it, Ms. Washington? Do you want me to be a bad guy so much that you’re willing to believe something as ridiculous as my staging our kiss for some photographer?”

  “I know what lengths you go to when you want something, Reggie. What did you hope to gain this time?”

  He dropped his arms and again stooped down next to the couch. “Look, I don’t know what kind of men you’ve interacted with in the past, but I’m not them. I don’t play games, Kim. Last night wasn’t a game for me and I’d hoped it wasn’t one for you either.”

  Kim didn’t like the turn the conversation had taken. She’d come there to tell Reggie off, not to hear his words of endearment. “But Jim said—” she began, but he cut her off.

  “Forget what Jim said. I want to know what you feel.” He raised his hand and placed it across her heart. “I want to know what you feel right here. What does your heart say?”

  Her heart said she was in deep trouble. Her heart so wanted to believe he wouldn’t play with her emotions. But her heart hadn’t always been reliable, had it? “All I want to do is figure out who took the photograph. We spent the entire evening together. How did they just happen to get that shot? It’s too much of a coincidence, Reggie. If I had gone straight into the hotel instead of taking you up on your offer of a walk, none of this would have happened. Don’t you think that’s a little too much to be a coincidence?”

  Reggie shook his head as if defeated. “I don’t know whether it was a coincidence or not. Maybe reporters were following us. Maybe Jim sent a photographer to follow us. I don’t know. But in the end, what does it matter? That somebody took a picture of us doesn’t make what we shared any less real or any less important.”

  How could she explain to him that it did lessen it for her? She wanted what was happening between them to remain between them so it could flourish. “Obviously, we feel differently about this. I don’t like having my personal life smeared across the newspaper.”

  “I don’t like it either, Kim, but I guess that’s the way it’s going to be. In a way, our relationship started because of the paper. Don’t you think it’s sort of impractical to think the paper won’t keep track of it?”

  The rationality in his words made her feel small. But she couldn’t bear to think that Reggie was using her when her feelings for him were very real—more real than she wanted them to be. “Okay,” she said, “maybe I overreacted.”

  “Maybe?”

  She got up from her seat on the couch and retrieved her newspaper from Reggie. “Okay, I admit it. I overreacted.”

  Reggie smiled and pulled her into his arms “How big of you to admit it, Ms. Washington. You are indeed a woman among women.”

  Reluctantly, she pulled out of his arms. While she wanted to be close to him, she also needed some time to figure out how she felt about what was happening between them.

  He looked at her as if he was going to question her action, but when he opened his mouth he asked, “So what do you want to do tonight?”

  ~ ~ ~

  When Kim made it back to the hotel, Leslie and Tam were having a room service breakfast. “Where’ve you been?” Leslie asked as soon as she walked into the suite.

  “I should be asking you that question,” Kim responded, taking a piece of buttered toast from Leslie’s plate. “Where have you been and what time did you get in?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “That means she was out all night,” Tam explained. “I guess old Nate isn’t as quiet as we thought.”

  “Guess not,” Kim teased. “So you and Nate got along well, huh, Leslie?”

  Leslie sipped from her cup of coffee. “He’s all right,” she said. “A lot different from the other men I’ve dated though.”

  “Different how?” Tam asked.

  “You know,” Leslie said with a shrug. “I usually date flashy, flirty, out there guys like Luther. I never could imagine myself with someone like Nate.”

  “But—” Kim encouraged.

  Leslie shrugged. “But nothing. He’s a sweet guy and he makes me feel good.”

  “Wait a minute.” Tam lifted her palms upward. “We don’t want details.”

  “Girl, it’s not like that,” Leslie said. “Sure, I spent the night at his house, but nothing happened.”

  “Right, Leslie,” Kim said, knowing her friend’s track record. “You expect us to believe that you spent the night with him and nothing happened?”

  “I don’t care what you believe,” Leslie said, a bit defensively. “I know what happened and we didn’t make love.”

  “Then what were you doing all night?” Tam asked. “Crocheting?”

  “We talked,” she said simply. “We just talked.”

  “You talked and he listened, you mean?” Tam said.

  Leslie shook her head. “That’s not what I mean at all. We talked. He talked and I listened and I talked and he listened. You guys don’t have to believe me.”

  “I believe you, Leslie,” Kim said and she did. “I’m glad your evening went so well.”

  “Me, too,” Tam added. “I didn’t mean to be so negative.”

  “That’s all right,” Leslie said. “I don’t know if I would believe me either. But like I said, Nate’s different from any man I’ve ever dated. I can’t remember the last time I had a guy actually listen to what I had to say and enjoy hearing it. Most of the time, they’re just wai
ting for their turn so they can brag about something they’ve done or something they’ve bought. Nate’s a refreshing change.”

  “Sounds like he’s a keeper,” Tam said.

  Leslie sipped from her coffee again. “I don’t want to start making predictions. I like him and right now that’s enough. Enough about me. I don’t think I was the only one who had fun last night. Come on, tell me.”

  Kim was relieved when Tam spoke first, telling Leslie how things had progressed between her and Luther. “And he’s picking me up this morning,” Tam said. “We’re going to spend the day together. And then tonight we’ll watch the stars.”

  “Oooh, sounds romantic,” Leslie said. “Be careful, girl,” she warned in a playful manner. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  Kim knew it was her turn when both her friends looked at her. “There’s not much to tell,” she said.

  “Well,” Leslie said, “first, you can tell us where you went so early this morning.”

  “I bet she went to meet Reggie,” Tam teased. “They had a good time last night. A very good time.”

  “Did you meet him, Kim?” Leslie asked.

  “Not exactly,” she said, not wanting to give her friends the details. “I sorta took a drive over to his house.”

  “Couldn’t bear to be away from him, huh?” Leslie teased.

  “Not exactly.” Kim pulled the paper out and placed it on the table. “Take a look at the Lifestyle page.”

  Tam stopped eating and reached for the paper. Her bubble of laughter told Kim she’d found the picture. “Nice shot,” she said, passing the paper to Leslie. “But when did you become an exhibitionist?”

  “Whoa, girl,” Leslie said. “That must have been some kiss. I can feel the heat through the paper.”

  Kim knew she could do nothing but allow her friends’ teasing to run its course. “I’m glad you two think it’s funny.”

  “You’re not upset, are you?” Tam asked. “It’s not like this is the first time you and Reggie have been in the paper.”

  “I was a bit upset when I first saw the picture,” she admitted. “But I guess I’m okay with it now.”