The Nicest Guy in America

by Angela Benson

  “Is that why you went to see Reggie? Because you were upset?”

  Kim nodded. “I wanted to find out if he had anything to do with it.”

  Leslie snorted. “If anybody had anything to do with it, I’d start looking in Jim’s direction. He’s the one who’s trying to milk the situation for every drop of publicity he can get.”

  “You’re right, I know,” Kim said. “But when I spoke with Jim he intimated that Reggie might have somehow been involved.”

  “So you went over and confronted Reggie?” Leslie asked.

  She nodded, feeling stupid now for her actions, which had seemed very reasonable at the time.

  “What did he say?” Tam asked.

  “He said he didn’t have anything to do with it.”

  “I wouldn’t think he’d do something like that,” Tam said. “He doesn’t seem the type.”

  Leslie chuckled. “You know something, ladies? This is the first time we’ve all had positive vibes with men at the same time. Let’s not screw things up by getting too serious too fast, or by being overly critical. Let’s have some fun for a change without thinking about ten years down the road.”

  Kim knew Leslie had spoken words of wisdom. But she wondered if the words had been spoken too late to do her any good. Things between her and Reggie were moving briskly and in a serious direction. She didn’t think she could change either at this point. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to.

  Chapter 14

  Reggie hung up the phone from talking to his mother, dropped down in his office chair and wiped his hands down his face. They’re family, he told himself. And they love you. His words didn’t help.

  After the picture of him kissing Kim appeared in yesterday’s paper, he’d expected another call from Oklahoma City. That it had been from his mother told him how serious his family was taking his new-found celebrity. His mother was already rating Kim’s daughter-in-law potential.

  Reggie checked the ebony and ivory clock on his desk. Any minute now, Kim and Marty would arrive to take pictures of him at his office. In his opinion, there was not much to photograph, but what Kim wanted she usually got. She was one persistent woman.

  His thoughts automatically went to the kind of lover she’d be. How would her persistence translate in the bedroom? He bet she’d get her way there as she did everywhere else.

  Reggie heard noises in the outer office and assumed they had arrived. He got up, his eagerness to see her no longer a surprise.

  “Ms. Washington,” he said when he pulled his office door open and leaned against the jamb. “Looking for me?”

  Kimberla turned her hundred-watt smile to him and he wondered how she’d managed to go so long without some guy snatching her up.

  “Who else is around?” she asked saucily.

  He pushed away from the doorjamb and took the few steps to her. Ignoring the warning in her eyes, he dipped his head and gave her a light peck on the lips. “I don’t want Carol here—” he nodded to the young, petite woman who was his secretary— “to get the impression that you don’t like me.”

  Kim gave Carol a tight smile. “Is he always this arrogant?”

  Carol shook her head and smiled. “Never. It must be the new company he’s keeping.”

  Reggie’s masculine laughter made her turn to him. She refused to respond to his smug grin and turned to Marty instead. “This is your show.”

  With that, Marty took over. After an hour, Marty had finished and was gone, leaving Reggie and Kim in Reggie’s office and Carol at her desk beyond his closed door.

  “Now this is better,” Reggie said, pulling her down on his lap. “I’ve wanted to do this since I saw you standing there talking to Carol.” He placed soft kisses against her neck, savoring the sweet, clean scent of her skin.

  Kim tried to move away from him but he pulled her close. “Shouldn’t we be discussing the article?”

  He stopped kissing her neck and looked down at her. “I don’t believe you.”

  “What?”

  “I’m kissing you and you’re thinking about some article. Maybe I’m losing my touch.”

  “So you have a touch, Mr. Stevens? And here I thought you were moving on pure emotion.”

  “Oh, no,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “Please don’t tell me we’re going through this again.”

  She punched him in his side. “I’m supposed to be getting to know the real Reggie Stevens, aren’t I?”

  “But sometimes actions can tell you a whole lot more than words,” he said with a wide grin.

  She bet he was right, but she wasn’t yet ready to find out. “Come on, Reggie. Talk to me.”

  “Okay,” he said. “What do you want to talk about?”

  “You,” she said. “I want to know more about Reggie Stevens.”

  He grinned. “Let’s see. He’s handsome, responsible, and good to women and old folks—especially old women folks.”

  She giggled and punched him in the side again. “I’m serious. Tell me something I don’t know.”

  “I don’t know what you don’t know. You ought to be telling me. Have I finally convinced you that I’m a true blue nice guy?”

  “Let’s just say your stock is rising,” she said, not wanting to give too much.

  “That’s not all that’s rising,” he murmured against her neck.

  “Reggie!” she exclaimed. “I don’t believe you said that.”

  “Said what?” he asked with an innocent expression on his face.

  She shook her head. “I’ve heard high school boys use more finesse than your That’s not all that’s rising line.”

  “High school boys? I think you’ve insulted me.”

  “Just calling ‘em like I see ‘em,” she said, enjoying his discomfort. She folded her arms across her stomach and waited for his explosion.

  “Now I know you’ve insulted me. Maybe what you need is a demonstration of my moves.”

  She gave him a syrupy, sweet smile. “I’ve seen enough.” She patted his chest. “Maybe you should come up with another line before trying again.”

  He placed his hand atop hers and stopped her patting motion. “I’m not talking about a demonstration of my verbal moves,” he clarified, with a twinkle in his eyes that challenged her. “I’m talking more about my physical ones.”

  She tugged her hand away from his. “Now you’re really getting corny.”

  “I bet I can make you forget all about corny,” he said. “I bet I can make you forget everything. Except me. And you.”

  The challenge in his eyes burned.

  He held her closer. “And I didn’t think it was possible.”

  She blinked away the burning sensation. “What?”

  “I can’t believe you don’t have a sharp comeback ready for me. I think I’ve finally found a way to shut you up.”

  She cast him a short glance down her nose. “Some things are so outrageous they don’t rate a response.”

  Reggie studied her face and in his eyes she saw the look she’d seen the other night right before he’d kissed her. “But there’s only one way to be sure.”

  Kim knew he was going to kiss her, but she wasn’t ready for a repeat of the fireworks from the other night. Not yet, at least. She gave a nervous giggle then got up from his lap. “I don’t think so, Mr. Stevens. I’m here to write about your amorous pursuits, not to participate in them.”

  “Too late,” he said, reaching for her arm and tugging her back down. “You don’t issue a challenge like that, then walk away. You’ve insulted my masculinity. I can’t let that slide.”

  The warmth of his touch made her look up at him. The challenge in his eyes made her blink and she pulled her hand away. “You don’t have a choice this time,” she said, feeling weak. Maybe she had gone too far.

  He pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. “I always have a choice.”

  She tugged her hand away from his again. “And so do I.” She got up again. “And my choice is to go home. Now.” She
reached for her purse and headed for the door.

  “You know this matter isn’t settled, don’t you,” he said, as he opened the door and escorted her out of his office building and to her car.

  “In my mind, it is,” she said, but she was lying. She was very attracted to Reggie and the thought of taking it to the next level with him had certainly crossed her mind. But thinking about it and doing it were different things.

  When she pulled her keys out of her purse, Reggie took them from her and opened her door. After she was seated in the driver’s side, he said, “It’s not over, Kim.”

  “Think what you will, Reggie.” She switched on the ignition. “But all you’re going to get from me is an unbiased story in Urban Style.”

  He stepped back from her car. “I’ll see you tonight.”

  She smiled sweetly at him. “You sure will. Right now, you’re my job.”

  ~ ~ ~

  “What are you doing, Reggie?” Kim asked later that night when they were alone at his house. They’d had a quiet dinner in and she knew they should be talking instead of necking. Unfortunately, since their conversation earlier today she hadn’t been able to keep her thoughts off the idea of making love with him.

  “I’m helping you with your article,” he said, pressing soft kisses against her neck.

  It was impossible to ignore the warm feelings his kisses caused to spread across her body, but she knew she had to try. “Did you seduce all those women who nominated you for the contest?” she asked, seeking to distract both of them.

  He pulled back and a wide grin split his face. “Jealous?”

  “More like curious.”

  He tilted her chin up and kissed her softly on the lips. “Those women are in the past. You don’t have to worry about them.”

  She placed a hand on each of his cheeks and kissed him back. “I’m not worried. I’m trying to get some insight for my article. So, did you seduce all of them?”

  “I don’t want to do this, Kim.” He took her hand in his and kissed her palm.

  “Come on,” she said, loving the feel of his tongue against her skin, but still unsure how far she was ready to go. “This is business. I need the information for the article.”

  “Somehow I don’t believe you’re going to tell the readers of Urban Style whether or not I seduced my nominators.”

  “Of course not,” she said. “I need to know for background information. Your answer could give me a slant for the article. So did you?”

  “You’re persistent, aren’t you?”

  “I’m a reporter,” she said with a smile. “Now stop stalling and tell me.”

  He kissed her again. “No way,” he said. “Nice guys don’t kiss and tell.”

  “So that means you did?”

  “No. That means I’m not telling you.”

  “Come on, Reggie,” she pleaded. “I need to know.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  He pulled away from her and gave up his seduction attempt. “Give me one good reason why you need to know. And don’t give me that bull about your needing the information for the article.”

  “But I do need it for the article,” she explained. “I need to understand why those women dumped you. Look at you,” she said. “You’re handsome, you’re considerate, you’re stable financially and emotionally. I don’t understand why they let you go.”

  Reggie gave her the sweetest smile. “You know, Ms. Washington, those are the kindest words you’ve said about me. Thank you.”

  Though she’d spoken her feelings, Kim felt exposed by her openness. “I’m not trying to flatter you. I’m trying to understand. Why do you think they dumped you?”

  Reggie shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “That’s the question I was trying to answer when I wrote that first article. I think I’m a nice guy, but I’ve dated women who’ve dropped me to go back to some guy who treated them bad in the past or to go on to some slick-talking guy who probably had no real interest in them. You tell me. Why do women make those kinds of choices? They say they want a nice guy, but they’ll choose the player every time.”

  Kim didn’t have an answer to his question, but his words helped her understand him better. His article had really been written in an attempt to gain a better understanding of women. “Maybe you haven’t met the right woman yet.”

  “Then again, maybe I have.”

  From the way he looked at her when he spoke the words, she wondered if he was talking about her. “Christina?”

  “You’re full of questions, aren’t you?”

  “I’m a reporter.”

  “Are you sure it’s the reporter asking the questions? Maybe it’s the woman.”

  Maybe he was right. Then again, maybe he wasn’t. “You loved her, didn’t you?”

  He brushed her hair back from her face with his hand. “I thought I loved her at the time, but now I’m not so sure.”

  Kim leaned into his hand, bringing her face closer to his. “Why aren’t you sure? You asked her to marry you so you must have loved her.”

  “You would think so, wouldn’t you?” he asked, his finger now stroking down her cheek.

  “Yes.”

  Reggie dropped his hand from her face. “Are you sure you want to know?”

  She nodded.

  “Okay then. When I asked her to marry me, I thought I was in love with her, but now I’m not so sure. I cared about her a great deal.”

  “Oh,” she said, feeling as if a big weight had been placed in the pit of her stomach. She heard the deep affection he still felt for Christina and she was jealous. The emotion wasn’t rational given the circumstances, but she coveted the space, however small, that Christina still held in his heart. “Does it hurt to think about her?”

  He shook his head. “Not anymore. She’s happy. That’s what’s important.”

  Reggie might not be sure whether he’d loved Christina, but Kim knew he must have loved her a great deal if her happiness meant so much to him. She almost wished she hadn’t asked about her.

  ~ ~ ~

  When Kim and Reggie got together again at his house the following night, she teased, “I think you’re taking me for granted. You don’t even take me out anymore.”

  “We can go out if that’s what you want. After our picture showed up in the paper, I thought you’d prefer we have some privacy.”

  She did prefer the time alone, but she was sure Jim wouldn’t. He wanted them out, preferably with a reporter or a photographer at their side. “And here I thought you were trying to seduce me.”

  “Nice guys don’t do seduction,” he said, guiding her to the dining room table. “It’s against our code of ethics.”

  “Says who?”

  “It’s right there in The Nice Guy Handbook. Page 102. I’ll show it to you if you don’t believe me.”

  She looked at the table he’d laid out before her. “Is cooking for your dates in that book, too?”

  He shook his head. “That comes from my mother’s book. She taught me and my brothers how to cook. She said a man shouldn’t expect a woman to do all the cooking. She also said a man wouldn’t always have a woman to cook for him. I guess she wanted us prepared for anything.”

  “Smart woman,” she said. “Maybe she did write the Nice Guy Handbook and you just don’t know it?”

  Reggie chuckled. “If she did, she co-wrote it with my father. They do everything together.”

  “Even cook?”

  He chuckled again. “Everything but that. Dad can cook, but he doesn’t. And I think Mother is secretly glad. She likes cooking.”

  Kim wondered what life was like in the Stevens household. She bet there was lots of laughter and lots of love.

  “What does your family think about the contest, your article, all of this?”

  “They’re curious about it all. My mother’s especially interested in the woman I was kissing in the paper. You’ve got them curious.”

  “You told them that we were wor
king together, didn’t you?”

  “After seeing that picture, I don’t think they would have believed me. I told them that you were a special friend.”

  A special friend. What exactly did that mean? “And what did they say to that?”

  “Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

  From the look on his face, Kim decided to do as he asked and trust him. “Did they meet any of the women who nominated you?”

  He shook his head.

  “Why not? I thought nice guys always went to mother for approval.”

  “Nice guys aren’t Mama’s boys, Ms. Washington,” he said a bit harshly. “Don’t mistake courtesy and kindness for weakness. They’re not the same.”

  She hadn’t meant to insult him, but she had. “I know they aren’t and I didn’t mean to imply you were a mama’s boy.”

  “Then what were you implying?”

  “I just figured if you cared deeply for some woman, you’d want her to meet your family.”

  “I guess that tells you how special they were to me.”

  “So you never took any of them home to meet the family?”

  He shook his head.

  “Not even Christina?”

  “Not even her.”

  His answer pleased her. “So have you thought any more about why those women dumped you?”

  “No, I haven’t. I’ve been too busy thinking about you.”

  “Me?”

  “Don’t look so surprised, Kim. You have to know that I like you and am very much attracted to you.”

  She realized it, but it felt good hearing him say the words. “Yes, I knew.”

  “So, how do you feel?”

  “I like you, too.”

  “But you’re not attracted to me?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Then you are attracted to me.”

  “I didn’t say that either.”

  “I think you are,” he said. “I can see it in your eyes sometimes when I look at you. I can feel it in your kiss on those rare occasions when you kiss me.”

  She didn’t say anything. What was there to say? He was right.

  “I want to make love with you, Ms. Kimberla Washington.”

  His words made her suck in her breath. “You don’t mince words, do you, Reggie?”