by Cat Johnson
“We’ll see.” He smiled as her eyes started to flutter shut. He took a throw, draped it over her legs and then started to clean up.
After deciding that Alyssa was probably out for the night, he was just laying out a brand new toothbrush and fresh towel in the bathroom for her when he heard a faint song emitting from her big red bag.
Glancing over to make sure the sound hadn’t woken her, he grabbed the whole bag and took it quickly into his bedroom. After what seemed like a really long time, he finally located the phone in the damn thing. He saw that the caller ID display read “Jane” as he flipped open the phone and whispered, “Hello.”
“Who the fuck is this?” Jane demanded loudly into his ear.
“Um, hi, Jane. You don’t know me, but this is Brad Morgan. I work with Alyssa?” He was reconsidering the wisdom of answering Alyssa’s phone more with every passing moment.
“Yeah, I’ve heard of you. Brad the Geek. Where’s Lys and why are you answering her phone?”
Brad raised an eyebrow. Brad the Geek, huh? He tried not to be too insulted since he did work for a company with the unfortunate name of Computer Geeks-R-Us. What did he expect? Although things were not looking very promising if Alyssa thought he was both nice and a geek.
“Alyssa and I are at my place. We were here working on a project together and she fell asleep on the couch.”
“Good, keep her there with you no matter what. Her asshole ex-boyfriend Jake has been staking out her apartment all night. When she never came home after work, he actually came to my place. He nearly knocked down my door looking for her.”
Brad swore softly. “I’ll make sure she stays here and I’ll go with her if she wants to go back to her place in the morning to change before work.”
“Good. And don’t tell her I called or what I told you. It’ll just make her crazy.”
“Okay, no problem.” Brad didn’t like the thought of lying to Alyssa, even if it was for her own good and at her best friend’s request, but certain situations demanded it he supposed. Such as stalker, cheating ex-boyfriends.
“Thanks, Brad. You’re a nice guy for doing this.”
Great, Jane thought he was a nice guy too.
“No problem.” Brad hung up the phone reminding himself of that old saying about nice guys—they finished last.
~
At her desk the next morning, Alyssa put her hands-free phone headset on, then dialed Jane’s work number.
She’d actually gotten some decent sleep on Brad the Hot Geek’s couch. Luckily she’d picked up her dry cleaning on the way over to his place the night before so after pulling her hair into a ponytail and taking a quick shower at his place, she threw on her favorite suit. A quick application of the cover-up, mascara and lipstick she always carried in her purse and she actually looked presentable.
Brad was so sweet. He’d even provided a new toothbrush for her to use and apologized profusely that he only had powdered creamer and real sugar or “the blue stuff” for her coffee, not “the yellow stuff” that she usually used. That had totally blown her away. Brad actually knew how she took her coffee.
As she listened to Jane’s work phone ring through her headset, Alyssa unobtrusively sniffed herself. She had used Brad’s deodorant after her shower and she was surprised at how ridiculously happy the scent was making her.
Alyssa looked up guiltily when she realized Brad was standing at the entrance to her cube. When he saw she was on the phone he motioned toward the kitchen and mouthed, “Do you want coffee?”
Nodding, she realized she could get used to this. Alyssa watched Brad walk away, his new curly hair looking all sexy this morning.
“About time you called me.” Jane’s voice in her ear startled her.
“Hi, Jane. I’m sorry. I fell asleep and forgot to call you.”
“That’s okay. I’m glad you finally got some sleep.”
“You’re not going to believe this and I don’t have long before he comes back, but I think I might have a crush on Brad the Geek. In fact, he’s actually kind of hot. Do you think I’m crazy?”
“No, I think you’ve finally come to your senses. My grandmother always told me it was just as easy to fall in love with a rich guy as a poor guy. Not real politically correct of her, I know, but whatever. Anyway, I think it’s just as easy to fall in love with a nice guy as it is to fall for a jerk.”
Right on cue, nice guy Brad returned with her coffee. She smiled. “Thanks for the coffee, Brad.”
“Whoa. He brought you coffee to your desk?” Jane, never slow when it came to intrigue, picked right up on what was happening.
“Yup.”
“Honey, you better hold on to that geek with both hands because if you don’t, I’m taking him.”
Alyssa laughed. “Oh no, you’re not. I like your version of your grandmother’s theory on men. I think I’m going to test it out for myself.”
~
Brad sat at his desk trying to concentrate on the latest case his boss had assigned him, but he was finding it extremely difficult.
The morning had been so surreal. It began with him waking the sleeping and adorable, not to mention sexy, Alyssa. They shared coffee while watching one of the morning talk shows at the breakfast bar in his kitchen. She even showered at his place. That had nearly driven him mad, knowing Alyssa was wet and naked just behind his bathroom door. He drove in his own car and followed her in her car to work. They parked next to each other in the lot and walked into the lobby together. It was a little too real of a taste of what it would be like to be a couple and he liked it too much.
Now, at his desk while he tried desperately to concentrate, he glanced up and saw her sneaking a look at him. Wow. They hadn’t even slept together. Just imagine how hard it would be to get any work done if that actually happened. Yeah, in his dreams. Literally. All night long. He was exhausted.
His phone ringing brought him out of those memories before he embarrassed himself. Good thing his shirt was, as usual, un-tucked.
“Bradley Morgan.”
“Brad. Hi. It’s Maria. We docked this morning in Puerto Rico. My cell phone actually works again here. I don’t get why it won’t work in my apartment but it works in Puerto Rico, but anyway, I just spoke with my editor Amy. She absolutely loved the book. She’s emailing out a contract to me immediately.”
“That’s great, Maria. I’m so happy for you.” Brad smiled. This is why he liked this job, the personal interaction, knowing he was really helping people.
“Yeah, but there’s one small problem.”
Uh, oh. Here it comes. His sex scene sucked.
“Oh no. Maria, I’m so sorry. Did she hate what I wrote?” He saw Alyssa glance up from her screen and look concerned.
“Yeah, that’s the problem. What exactly did you write?” Maria asked.
Uh, oh. “I apologize. I could barely hear you yesterday. The connection sucked and then you were gone. I tried to call you back but you were out of service. It sounded like you said to rewrite the scene and email it to your editor because the internet was down on the ship. So that’s what I did. I meant to just fill in the words that were missing in your sex scene, but I ended up having to rewrite it. I’m so sorry, Maria—”
“Wait a minute, Brad. Calm down. I’m not angry. I had a feeling it was something like that. What I asked you to do was send it as is to my editor, explain the situation and ask her to give me time to rewrite it when I got back because the internet on ship was down,” Maria explained.
“Oh my God. I am so sorry. I feel horrible, but I’m glad I didn’t blow the deal for you.” Brad was feeling worse with every passing moment.
He heard Maria laugh. “No, Brad, you didn’t blow the deal. In fact, you clinched it. Amy loved the first love scene, the one you wrote. It’s the other ones that I wrote she didn’t like. She wants me to rewrite them. Brad, I have to ask you a huge favor. I’ll pay you, I’ll give you anything you want, but would you consider being my critique and writing partner? I
t would just mean that you help me edit the other sex scenes and make them as good as the one you wrote.”
“Maria, you don’t even know me.”
“I know enough, Brad. I know you drove over at 2:30 in the morning dead on your feet just to help me out. I know you’ve gone above and beyond your job for me. And I know you can write.”
He blushed at the compliments. “I’m not a writer.”
“Obviously you are. At least my editor thinks so. Besides that, Brad, you’re a man. She says she loved how the first love scene got into the male character’s head. That was my first clue something was up. I deliberately didn’t have the love scenes from the male’s point of view, but that’s exactly what she liked about it. And she said you did a great job with the female perspective too.”
He glanced at Alyssa, who’d moved over and was perching on the edge of his desk. “Well, I had a little help from a friend with the female perspective.” Alyssa smiled at him. “But won’t your editor mind that I’m helping you write this?”
“Not at all. People use critique and writing partners all the time. Besides, after you rework the scenes, you’ll be sending it back to me this time, not my editor, so there’s really nothing for you to worry about. I’ll change anything I don’t like before sending it on to her. Brad, I’m really at a loss here. I’m not sure I can write the male point of view alone. I never got around to telling you this before but the cruise I’m on, it’s a cruise for alternative lifestyles…” Maria began. “Do you know what that means?”
“Um, no, not really.”
“I’m a lesbian, Brad.”
“Oh. Uh, okay.” He wasn’t sure what the appropriate response was when someone came right out and said that. Especially someone he barely knew.
“So now you know why I need help from the male point of view. Brad, please. I’m begging you. Can you rework the scenes for me?”
He let out a big breath and glanced at Alyssa. It would give him an excuse to enlist her help. They could work together after work or maybe over the weekend. It would keep her away from her own apartment for a while and away from that idiot Jake. Yeah, like that was the only reason he wanted her in his apartment.
“All right, Maria. I’ll take care of it.”
“Oh, Brad. I love you. If I were straight, you’d be in big trouble.”
Brad laughed. “Okay. You enjoy the rest of your cruise. I’ll take care of the book.”
He hung up, leaned back in his chair and watched with amusement as Alyssa practically wiggling out of her skin with anticipation. “Well? What did she say?”
“The editor loved our scene.” He couldn’t help laughing as she leaned down and flung her arms around his neck while jumping up and down.
It took him a second to process that Alyssa his dream girl had her arms wrapped around his neck. He got a hold on his libido and reminded himself Alyssa was in love with the idea of writing this book, not in love with him.
Oh, yeah, the book. He’d forgotten about that for a second. “She needs us to rewrite the other love scenes. So will you help me?”
“Of course I’ll help you. We should get started tonight right after work.”
His plan exactly. A sudden thought struck him. Here was his opportunity. “You know. I was thinking, I don’t like the idea of you driving home so late at night alone. Maybe you should just stay at my place again tonight. You seemed to sleep well on the futon.”
She smiled and leaned down to kiss his cheek. “You’re very sweet to worry about me. I’ll run home during lunch and pack a bag.”
He couldn’t think. He couldn’t even breathe. Alyssa had kissed him. So it was only on the cheek, it was still a kiss, and now she was going home to pack a bag to spend the night at his place. Even the fact she’d called him sweet didn’t bother him right now. He glanced at the clock. This day couldn’t go fast enough for his liking.
Chapter 6
Brad sat next to Alyssa on the carpet as they leaned back against his futon and devoured an order of Chinese take-out while watching TV. They’d worked on the book for an hour and then decided to take a meal break. It wasn’t that tough to edit Maria’s scenes at all. All they really did was add in the male point of view. The difficult part had been trying not to get a hard-on as Alyssa and he sat side by side at the laptop discussing such intimate things, fictional or not.
He was about to go in for his second eggroll when Alyssa’s cell phone rang in her purse. After jumping to answer it, she looked down at the Caller ID and got a look of sheer panic on her face. She put the phone down on the table and watched it ring.
Finally, the annoying sound stopped and the phone was quiet. Brad didn’t need to ask who it was. He assumed it was Jake just by the expression on her face. Almost immediately, the phone began to ring again. Alyssa, visibly tense now, jumped.
Brad glanced at the phone, then back at Alyssa. “Maybe you should get that. He’s just going to keep bothering you”
Her dread was apparent as she nodded and picked up her cell. “Hello, Jake.”
Brad knew he should give her privacy, but he’d be damned if he would leave her alone, even on the phone, with that asshole. She needed a friend near.
“How dare you call me a whore after what you did to me. It’s no longer any of your business where I spend my nights or who I leave the office with, you son of a bitch.” Her face turned red at whatever Jake the Jerk was saying. “Perhaps the only reason I was so cold in bed, as you put it, was because you suck as a lover.”
With that she flipped the phone shut, ending the call with trembling hands. She glanced at Brad. “I’m sorry you had to hear that.”
Brad’s eyes opened wide at what he had just witnessed. That was a lot of information he was privy to. Perhaps she shouldn’t have answered the phone. “Don’t apologize. He’s the idiot.”
“Can you believe he was watching my apartment last night and waiting outside work this afternoon? He saw us leave together and freaked out. I broke up with him. I even had the locks changed. It’s over. I couldn’t make it any clearer to him if I tried. You’re a guy. Why is he still acting like this?”
Brad shrugged. “I guess he’s obsessed over losing you. He’s probably hoping you’ll forgive him and take him back. I can’t tell you what he’s thinking. All I know is any guy who would blow a relationship with you is crazy.”
He looked over and saw tears streaming down her face. “Alyssa? What’s wrong?” Shit. What had he said to make her cry?
She shook her head. “Nothing. Really. I’m being stupid. It’s just that the shithead said the only reason he was even tempted by that stripper was because I’m so cold in bed.” She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes.
Wow, how the hell was he going to handle this? He didn’t have much experience with weeping women, but Alyssa was the last person he would ever think of as being cold in bed. She set his blood boiling just listening to her talk on the phone. “Lys, listen. He’s a jerk and trying to hurt you. Look, I’ve read your sex scenes. I seriously doubt you’re cold in bed.”
She gave him a teary smile. “You really are a nice guy. A guy like you would never cheat on your girlfriend.”
There was that word again. Nice. He let out a heavy sigh and reached to touch her shoulder. “Thanks.”
But he had more important things to think about now than that Alyssa thought he was nice. Her tears just about broke his heart and he reached out to brush one off her cheek.
Her gaze met his. He swallowed hard and watched with shock as she leaned closer and closer until her face was just inches from his. “Lys. I don’t—”
“Shhh.” Alyssa closed the remaining distance and their lips touched.
It was like he left his body and this incredible moment was happening to someone else. It definitely couldn’t be happening to him. Maybe he’d fallen asleep and was dreaming.
No, there was the slight salty taste of her tears. This was no dream. It was incredible and very real. As real as the guilt he fe
lt. What kind of man took advantage of a woman on the rebound, even if the woman was his dream girl?
Apparently Brad was that kind of man. He held her head in both of his hands and tilted his own to take the kiss deeper. She let out a soft moan as his tongue met hers and nearly undid him right there with that one sound. And that was before she crawled into his lap and straddled him.
Oh, boy. Somewhere through the haze of excitement, he realized Alyssa was sitting in his lap and he was wearing nothing but his old sweatpants that were already too tight on him without the benefit of the enormous erection he was now sporting.
He finally regained enough control to pull his head away and look at her. Her eyes were almost dry now and all heavy and sexy looking. He nearly just said fuck it and went back to kissing her. No, he couldn’t do that. But he wished he could with every part of his being, especially one particular part. The part she was currently pressed tightly against, then she started to circle her hips just a bit.
Damn.
Brad had to take a breath to steady himself before he dared speak. “Lys. You’re not thinking clearly right now. I don’t want you to regret this and hate me for it.”
“How could I hate you? You’re so nice and sweet…”
His hopes fell. She didn’t want him. She wanted anyone who was the opposite of Jake. Brad set a hand on each of her hips and lifted her off him enough he could think again. “Lys. You really don’t want this. Women are friends with guys that are nice and sweet, but they date guys that treat them like shit.”
“Guys like Jake,” Alyssa said aloud what he was thinking.
“Yeah. Unfortunate but true.” Lord, she’d felt good sitting in his lap. What was he doing making conversation instead of kissing her? He truly was a nice guy. He was pretty much insuring his “friends” status by holding her off like this. He might as well throw in the towel right now and see if she wanted to go purse shopping or something.
“Nice guy or not, I like you.” She leaned in again. “As a friend and more.”
He leaned his head back until it hit the couch cushion. “Alyssa. I want you to know one thing. I can handle being just your friend, if that’s what you want. I can definitely handle being your boyfriend. But what I can’t handle is being your revenge sex rebound guy who you end up avoiding when it’s all over.”