by Niecey Roy
“Dinner?”
“Yes, you know, where I pick you up and take you somewhere nice.” His hand brushed against my butt, and I shivered. “Not that I don’t enjoy eating takeout on your floor and the sleepover afterwards.”
“So…like a date?” I turned from the mannequin to look up at him.
“How about dinner between two people who are hungry.” His lips twitched with restrained laughter.
“Okay.” Dinner. In public. No big deal. Everyone needed to eat, right? “When?”
“Tomorrow night.”
I sucked in a breath at the stab of guilt. If I told Leo what we were up to, he’d insist on going—I knew him well enough to know he’d do just that. If Jeremy caught sight of Leo, he’d bolt and the whole plan would go up in flames. Seeing Jeremy again, talking to him after all this time, would be hard enough without a muscled-up bodyguard hovering over us—a muscled-up bodyguard I’d had sex with. A lot.
“I have dinner plans with Rox and Gen tomorrow night.” It wasn’t a complete lie. Roxanna and Gen would both be there, watching over me. “Rain check?”
“Rain check,” he agreed. He wrapped me into his arms and kissed my neck. “I’ll see you when I see you, I guess.”
“I won’t get out of here until after eight, but you could come over. If you want.” It sounded like a suggestion, but I waited breathlessly for his answer. The thought of not seeing him was disappointing.
He chuckled. “Is that an invitation?”
“Do you want to come over?”
“Do you want me to come over?” he countered.
“If you are fishing for an invitation, you can come over.”
“If you are asking me to come over, I will come over.” He grinned down at me, and I sucked in my smile.
“Jeez, fine. I want you to come over.” I pushed him away and turned my back to him.
“Now was that so difficult?” he asked and swatted my butt as I walked away.
“Like pulling teeth. Now go away.” Opening my calendar behind the counter, I pretended to read the empty pages. “I’m trying to work.”
When I looked up, he already had his hand on the door handle. “Since I won’t see you in time for dinner, I’ll make it up with dessert.”
Before my lips could remember how to work, he was gone.
“Holy wow,” I whispered.
“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Michelle said from beside me, and her sudden appearance made me jump. “Who is that, and why do I not know about him. And how the hell do you keep your panties on around that guy?”
“We’re just friends.” It sounded absurd.
“How can you be ‘just friends’ with someone who looks like that?” Michelle raised her brows.
“Okay, we’re not just friends. We’re just…I don’t know. Messing around. It’s not a good idea to think too much into it,” I said, voicing the fears that’d been dancing around inside my head for weeks now. “We have history. It’s complicated.”
“It’s complicated,” Michelle repeated, looking at me as if I were slow.
I nodded.
“Because of your past,” she said.
I nodded again.
She shook her head. “It doesn’t look like he’s hung up on your past, and you shouldn’t be either. Look at him.” She swept past me with a lavender bridesmaid’s dress draped over her arm. “You’re obviously over-thinking things, as you tend to do.”
“I do not,” I denied. But she was right. I’d been dissecting everything in my life lately, taking it apart piece by piece, then putting it back together. I was afraid of missing something, big things, like I had with Jeremy. I had to be on my toes these days.
“Yes, you do,” Michelle said. She slid a hanger through the dress straps. “You’re hot. He’s hot. Do something about it.” She winked a purple painted eyelid. “All this sexual tension is making it hard to breathe in here.” She fanned herself with one hand and hung the dress up with the other. “And I bet it’s no boring missionary with a guy like that.”
“Michelle!” I rolled my eyes, but the grin on my lips wasn’t going anywhere. “We don’t have time to discuss man…parts. We have the expo to plan.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She sounded disappointed.
Chapter Twenty
“Hooker in Stilettos, do you copy,” Roxanna’s voice said into my hands-free cell phone earpiece. Having them in my ear was better than me sitting alone inside the restaurant. There’d been no other option though. The two of them couldn’t come inside, not if we didn’t want Jeremy to spot them and bolt. We were on a three-way call, very espionage-esque.
I pretended to study the menu I held up in front of my face, and whispered, “Yes, I can hear you. Why am I Hooker in Stilettos?”
“Yeah, really,” Gen whispered in my ear. “And why do I have to be Whipped Hooker? Is it because I have a boyfriend?”
I wasn’t sure why Gen thought she needed to whisper since I was the only other person who could hear them. Their call wasn’t on speaker. They were parked in Roxanna’s SUV at the curb on the side of the restaurant. It was as close as they could get after we ruled out them coming inside at all.
“No, not just because you have a boyfriend. It’s because ever since Matt came along—whom I approve of, by the way—you’ve been baking pies and shit. Quit complaining and get serious,” Roxanna stressed.
“When is Richard getting here?” I whispered behind the menu as a change of subject. I really wasn’t sure why he needed to be here in the first place, but both Gen and Roxanna insisted he needed to be. For back up. Jeremy wasn’t a threat, so I wasn’t sure what kind of back up they thought I’d need.
“He had a video game tournament. He’ll be here soon,” Gen whispered in my ear.
“Stupid video games,” Roxanna grumbled. “He was supposed to be here ten minutes ago.”
I hoped for his sake he showed up soon. Roxanna would rip him a new one if he ruined Operation Weak Link—another of Roxanna’s titles.
“Why can’t I be Mockingbird, or maybe Bluejay? Like on that spy series you’re always watching.” I peeked over the menu. Still no Jeremy. I had shown up early, hoping a drink would make it easier to stomach a conversation with him. My first glass of wine had gone down smoothly, and since Jeremy would be paying the tab, I’d splurged on an expensive red. I hoped the waitress would hurry back with a second glass.
“We can’t change your names. They’re already on the mission board,” Roxanna said. “You people are impossible to please.”
“Maybe I want to be Sexy Hooker,” Gen said.
“You can’t be Sexy Hooker. You’re Whipped Hooker,” Roxanna said. “Isn’t this the restaurant where he proposed to you?”
“Yes.” I was embarrassed to admit it.
“Talk about creepy,” Roxanna breathed.
“It was really stupid to agree to meet him here,” I admitted.
“He probably even reserved the same table,” Gen said.
“He did.” Which was a huge stressor. What the hell had he been thinking? The table was in the corner, two steps up from the main dining floor. I had a clear, unobstructed view of everyone in the room from here. Which meant everyone in the room would also have a clear view of the two of us dining together. I couldn’t shake the worry that Deborah might storm through the door and catch Jeremy and me dining together.
“What a douche,” Roxanna said.
I smiled. “You sound like Leo.”
“Oh, why don’t we talk about Leo?” Roxanna said, but before I could reply, she said, “What the hell. You’re late. Get in here.”
“Ouch,” Richard said, his voice muffled because he wasn’t on the call. There was a crackle and then silence.
Oh God, I’m alone. With my thoughts. And Jeremy, if he ever shows up.
My hands shook as I cowered behind the menu. The seconds ticked by at a turtle’s speed while I stewed. When they didn’t call back, I picked up my phone and dialed Gen’s number. She didn’
t answer.
I dialed Roxanna and while the phone rang, Jeremy stepped from around the corner. He looked straight at the table, and a smile broke over his lips. I returned the smile, but my lips were stiff.
“Hey, sorry. I’m here,” Roxanna said into my earpiece. Her voice made me jerk in surprise as if I’d been zapped by an electrical cow prod.
I put the menu up, severing my view of Jeremy “Jeez, where did you go? You can’t just hang up like that! He just walked in. He smiled at me. I think I’m going to have an anxiety attack!” My whisper sounded more like a hiss.
“Keep your panties on.”
The menu shook in my hands, so I put it down. Jeremy weaved through the tables toward me.
“Easy for you to say,” I whispered, keeping my lips as still as possible so it wouldn’t appear like I sat up here talking to myself.
“You’re fine, just relax. And stop talking or he’s going to know someone’s listening,” Roxanna said.
“Mm-hm,” I answered, my lips pinched together.
Jeremy looked much better than he did the last time I saw him, standing at the altar, pale-faced and guilty. There was color to his complexion and not a hair out of place. Jeremy had always been perfectly put together. It was a Buchanan thing. He looked good. From where I sat, it was easy to see why I’d fallen for him. He had a nice smile and an air of confidence about him. The only time his confidence ever wavered was in the presence of his parents. We’d dated for six months before I met his parents and witnessed the effect they had on him.
“Just remember, we’re attacking the weak link. He’ll be putty in your hands,” Roxanna said.
She was right. I could do this. I had no reason to be nervous. If anyone should be nervous, Jeremy should. Except, he didn’t look nervous at all. He looked happy, like I was an old friend. I didn’t feel so nervous now, I felt a little angry. Okay, a lot angry.
“You’re going to be fine, Lex. Take deep breaths,” Gen said, her voice muffled. She must have been talking near Roxanna’s ear. “Relax your shoulders. Remember, this is for your boutique.”
Her words soothed me. Getting worked up and strangling him over the table would do no good. Taking a deep breath, I sat up straighter in my chair and set the menu back down. One thing was certain, I wouldn’t prolong this meeting any more than I had to. Straight to the point and out the door.
“Jeremy,” I greeted when he planted his feet in front of the table.
He looked ridiculous wearing the tie I gave him for his birthday last year. The table he proposed to me at, the tie—I was confused. Was this his way of apologizing for the crappy thing he’d done?
“Lexie, it’s so good to see you.” He came around the table, pulling me up from the chair to hug me. I hadn’t expected him to hug me; my mouth sputtered, and I worried he would notice my cell phone earpiece under my curls.
“You have no idea how happy I am that you called me.”
“Oh.” My breath was strangled by his tight embrace. I pressed my forearms against his chest, my cheeks stiff with the effort to keep my tongue in check. How dare he think his hug would be welcome!
“God, I missed you.” He didn’t let go. He took a big whiff of my hair, and I gritted my teeth. “And you smell great.”
“Jeremy, I can’t breathe.”
“I’m going to strangle him,” Roxanna said into my ear. I’d almost forgotten she was there, listening. “Tell him he smells like a weasel.”
“What’s he doing?” Gen asked, her voice just a whisper beside Roxanna’s voice.
“Oh, sorry.” He let me go. He gave me a sheepish smile and held my chair out for me.
I sat down. “It’s fine,” I lied.
I wasn’t here to talk about feelings, and I sure as hell didn’t want to hear him tell me how much he missed me. What was wrong with him? I didn’t want to hug—I wanted to clobber him over the head with the blue ceramic vase at the center of the table.
After an awkward moment of him hovering beside my chair, he rounded the table to sit across from me. I couldn’t get my lips to work to match his smile. I was a horrible actress. I wanted to be entirely indifferent, but I couldn’t. My temper flared with each awkward second ticking by with him smiling as if this meeting was no big deal.
“This is great. Dinner, I mean.” Jeremy beamed across the table.
“Yes, great.” You are here to be nice, not to bite his head off. I really wanted to bite his head off.
On the drive over, Gen listed all the reasons why Jeremy deserved to be slapped in the face. I’d been the voice of reason, trying to calm her down and remember the lessons we’d learned growing up—forgiveness was a virtue. Being face to face with him, it was difficult to apply the life lesson. I clenched my hands together under the table. I couldn’t lose perspective, no matter how angry I was with him for his past discretions. Rolling my shoulders back, I stretched to release the tension in my back.
I tried another smile. “Thank you for meeting me.”
“You sound very professional. Good job,” Roxanna whispered, and my lips twitched.
“I wasn’t sure I’d ever hear from you again.” He fingered the edge of the menu. “You wouldn’t return my calls.”
I sighed. “There’s no point in talking about all of that.”
“I agree.”
His answer surprised me. Okay, then. Maybe we could have an adult conversation, sans the awkward. Well, sans the awkward from this moment on. “I know you’re wondering why I called you—”
“Yes!” He leaned forward in his seat, his eyes round. “I miss you too, Lexie.”
My mouth dropped open. “Jeremy, that’s—”
“He’s freakin’ kidding, right?” Roxanna gasped in my ear.
“What’s he doing?” Gen asked. I tuned them out to concentrate on Jeremy, who had lost his freaking mind.
“There’s so much I want to say to you,” he said. “I just don’t know where to start.”
My teeth gnashed together. Do not make this personal, my mind rationalized. Do not get emotional, my mind told my irrational heart.
“Jeremy, there is no start. Your mom made me sign a contract, like some kind of…of…client. And you signed it. Are you kidding me? You didn’t even warn me. You let her ambush me at our wedding. Do you have any idea what you put me through? What she keeps putting me through? I loved you and you sold me out.”
Shit. So much for not getting emotional. His eyes widened like saucers, staring back at me like I’d just flushed his favorite beta fish down the toilet.
“Oh shit, she’s losing it,” Roxanna said.
“Tell her we’re sending backup,” Gen said, and I gripped the table. If Jeremy caught sight of my twin, he would tuck tail and run.
“No!” I said, and Jeremy flinched.
I couldn’t say anything more, because then Jeremy would know someone was listening. But, that would be a pretty far out assumption for him to make—bringing a secret crew along to eavesdrop on a dinner with an ex-fiancé wasn’t exactly normal activity. Who did something like that? No one, that’s who.
“Lexie, I…” As Jeremy’s words drifted off, his shoulders deflated.
The misery eclipsing his face confused me. He looked so wounded. As if I was the one to break his heart. Maybe he’d been hurting too—something I hadn’t considered. He’d been the one to sign the contract first, not me. I just couldn’t afford to sympathize. I could barely afford to buy a loaf of bread, thanks to his family, and his inability to step up like any man in his situation would have—should have.
I expelled a heavy sigh and picked up the glass of water beside my empty wine glass. After a sip, I said, “I didn’t come here to fight, Jeremy.” I set the glass down on the linen tablecloth and tried to insert reason into this awkward conversation. “Let’s not talk about hurt feelings or what happened. We need to talk about your mom.”
“My mom?” He winced.
The waitress arrived with a complimentary basket of breadsticks and
another glass of wine. I wasn’t exactly pleased with the results of the first glass, so after Jeremy ordered his scotch on the rocks, I ordered the same.
“You don’t drink scotch.” Jeremy blinked in surprise. At this rate we wouldn’t even make it through dinner, which was fine with me. Meeting him here had been a bad idea—it was too intimate, and he’d clearly assumed this meeting was something more, something it could never be. It was best to get to the point, and get out.
“No, I don’t.” I took a breadstick from the basket. “Scotch sounded good.”
“I didn’t know about the contract until after the rehearsal dinner,” Jeremy blurted, and I put the breadstick down on my plate. I wasn’t hungry, anyway; it’d just been something to occupy my hands.
“You didn’t?”
“No.” He ran his hands through his hair, leaving it rumpled, and cursed under his breath. “I swear to you, Lexie. When my mom gets like…” He shook his head. “There’s no talking her out of anything. She wouldn’t listen to me, told me if I didn’t sign it, if I didn’t agree to the annulment, she’d leave me—us—penniless.”
“Money isn’t everything.” But my words were pointless. Jeremy was a trust fund baby; money was all he’d ever known, all he would ever know. Both sides of his family came from old money, and he would never survive without the luxuries he’d grown accustomed to. If he had to budget every penny, balance his checkbook obsessively, give up his country club membership and expensive cigars, he’d have a stroke.
“I know that.” He sniffed, and I almost rolled my eyes.
“No, you don’t.” I shook my head. “You’ll never have to know that, Jeremy.”
“Lexie.” His gaze pleaded with me to understand, but all I could think about was how dull his blue eyes were compared to the depth of Leo’s green eyes. Jeremy lacked fire, when everything about Leo burned bright and hot. And Jeremy signed me away. It was hard to look him in the eyes after everything.
“Back up should be inside now,” Roxanna said, and I looked over Jeremy’s shoulder, expecting Gen to come barreling through the door to give Jeremy a piece of her mind. Instead, Richard strutted around the corner.