Earning Edie (Espinoza Boys #1)

by D. J. Jamison

  She looked around the apartment hopefully, and sat down on the empty sleeper sofa that was still pulled out and unmade.

  “In the shower? Gone to the gym to work out that awesome bod?” she guessed.

  I laughed, and slapped her arm. “He’s grabbing some coffee, actually.”

  Tequila’s interest had given me an idea, though. I whipped out my phone and texted Nick.

  I need a favor. 911.

  A return text pinged almost immediately. Sure. In elevator now.

  I looked up. Tequila watched me curiously.

  “Wait here, OK? I’ll be right back.”

  I dashed out into the hall to intercept Nick before he entered the apartment. I did not want Tequila to hear me plead with him.

  We met halfway down the hall, between the elevator and the door. He handed me a chai latte.

  “Couldn’t bear the caffeine cravings any longer?” he joked.

  I smiled as I grabbed the cup. I loved the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he grinned.

  “Actually, I need your help.”

  “Right, the favor,” he said, recalling the text. “What can I do for you?”

  I noticed his eyes skim over my outfit. That was as good an opening as any.

  “Well, as you can see, I have a job interview,” I said, indicating with the sweep of my hand the skirt and tights. “The thing is, I promised Tequila I’d go walking with her for exercise, and I totally forgot and double-booked myself.”

  “Uh-huh. And?”

  “And … I was wondering if you could go with her?”

  He raised the cup to take a sip, his blue eyes on mine as he considered.

  “Won’t that be weird for her?” he asked. “She doesn’t know me at all. I’m just some strange guy.”

  “Well, we won’t tell her how strange you are,” I joked, and nudged him in the ribs. “Please? Tequila knows all about you.”

  Nick stepped around me and started toward the apartment. I fell into step beside him.

  “She does, huh?” he mused.

  I didn’t want him to dwell on that fact too long. The fact that I’d obviously told Tequila all about him was … awkward.

  “This exercise thing is important. She doesn’t have the best self-image right now,” I said. “Some girls have been pretty mean. This was the only way I could cheer her up. I don’t want to disappoint her.”

  I was speaking really fast at this point, trying to get out my full pitch before Nick opened the door.

  He paused in front of the door and turned to face me.

  Our eyes met, and standing in front of the door with him, I had the strangest sensation of reaching the end of a date. I dismissed the fantasy immediately. Nick might pretend to date a girl like me. But that was a long way from real interest.

  “Okay,” he said, with a half smile. “You’ve convinced me. You can breathe now.”

  I laughed. “Thank you!”

  Stepping forward, I gave him a half hug, avoiding his coffee cup.

  “One more thing,” I said right before he opened the door. “Make it seem like it was your idea.”

  His mouth dropped open in surprise, and I stepped in before he could argue.

  NICK

  No one tripped me up like Edie Mason.

  The girl was persuasive enough she ought to be a lawyer, I thought. I pictured her in a tight bun and conservative skirt and blouse, briefcase in hand. Oh yeah. It was a good look for her. But then, what wasn’t?

  I tried to gather my wits after stepping inside and turned to look at Tequila. She was on the heavy side, but for 13, the girl had a dangerous amount of curve. She had a beautiful face and a huge smile that seemed to light up the room.

  “Hi,” I said. “Tequila, right?”

  “Unless you prefer whiskey,” she teased.

  I raised a brow and looked toward Edie for help. She shot a reprimanding look at Tequila.

  “Nick, don’t mind my friend. She’s a hopeless flirt.”

  Great. Not only did I have to go walking with a 13-year-old, but a 13-year-old flirt. People would no doubt get the wrong idea if they saw us together.

  “Tequila, I am so sorry, but I have a job interview today. This was the only slot they had, and the timing of our walk slipped my mind.”

  Tequila’s smile melted away, and I could see she was disappointed.

  “Oh,” she said. “Okay. We can just do it at a different time.”

  “I’m so sorry—”

  “Hey, how about if I go this time?” I asked. “If you don’t mind walking with some old guy,” I added for Tequila’s benefit.

  “Really?”

  I shrugged. “I’ve been meaning to get more exercise in. So yeah. Sure. If you’ll have me.”

  She grinned, taking the bait. “That would be great!”

  I sat my coffee cup on a table next to the sofa.

  “Okay. I’ll go change.” I turned to Edie. “Good luck with your interview.”

  She looked startled. “Oh shoot! I’m probably late!”

  Leaning up on her tiptoes, she kissed me on the cheek. It sent an unexpected jolt of pleasure through me.

  “Thanks, Nick!”

  Edie shot out the door, and an awkward silence descended.

  “Well, I’ll just …” I pointed toward the bedroom.

  Tequila nodded, and I made a quick escape to change.

  Tequila was quiet on the ride down in the elevator, and I was bracing myself for an extremely awkward encounter with the 13-year-old kind when she surprised me with a stream of chatter once we hit the street.

  “Edie totally conned you into doing this, didn’t she?” Tequila said.

  I looked at her, surprised, and opened my mouth to answer. Before I could think of a lie, she continued.

  “Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind. Walking with a cute guy just means people will look at you instead of me.” She swung a hip into me. “So, tell me, what’s up with you and Edie?”

  My mouth dropped open. I felt a little like I’d been hit by a steamroller.

  “Um … nothing,” I said. “Edie and I are roommates.”

  She brushed it off. “So she says. But I think there’s something there. You think she’s pretty, right?”

  “Uhh …”

  Why did I agree to this? It felt like a big trap. No matter what I said, it would be the wrong thing.

  “Oh, you don’t have to answer. I can tell you do. I think Edie is just so beautiful. So thin.”

  “Being thin isn’t everything,” I said, latching on to Edie’s remarks about Tequila’s poor image.

  She blew a loud raspberry. “Yeah, right. Don’t lie to me, pretty boy. Everyone likes skinny girls.”

  “People also like nice girls, happy girls, girls with a real personality,” I offered. “The real key to getting a boy’s interest is in connecting with him.”

  We crossed the street, our conversation halting while we cleared traffic. After we’d turned down the next block, Tequila looked over at me.

  “Is that how you choose your girlfriends?” she asked. “Tell me how you met the last one?”

  A horrible dread rose in me. Elana. I didn’t want to count her as my last girlfriend, she’d never technically had that title, but she’d been my love interest.

  I glanced at Tequila uneasily. “I’d rather not get into my personal life.”

  “Ha! I knew you were full of it.”

  Just like that, I started talking. I don’t know why, but I didn’t want to let down Edie by reinforcing Tequila’s views.

  “She was a friend of the family,” I said slowly.

  I took a deep breath before continuing. I could do this. Just breathe in, breathe out.

  “I spent a lot of time at her house because I was fixing up an old car there. It was a joint project between some of us. Anyway, she’d come out to the garage and talk to me while I worked, and bring me dessert.”

  “So it’s true when they say the way to a man’s heart is throug
h his stomach?”

  I grinned. “It doesn’t hurt.”

  “But if she wasn’t so pretty, you might have never noticed her.”

  “You don’t know she was pretty,” I objected.

  We’d covered four blocks, and I decided to cross the street and start us back toward the apartment building.

  “She was,” Tequila said dismissively.

  I checked for cars, and then stepped onto the crosswalk. Tequila kept pace with me easily.

  “Fine,” I allowed. “She was pretty. But even though she was pretty, that never would have been enough to pull me in.”

  Nothing should have been enough.

  “It was more that I could talk to her about anything.”

  Tequila looked skeptical, but she didn’t argue. Instead, she turned the tables on me.

  “And what about Edie? Can you talk to her about anything?”

  I smiled. “Too soon to tell. So, what boy is it who has you pondering all this?”

  “Who says there’s a boy?”

  I grinned. “There’s always a boy.”

  “Yeah, there is,” she said and laughed.

  Then she launched into a long description of Tyrone using adjectives I would have preferred to never hear. After that she began to hit with me with 20 questions about boys and what they like.

  I did my best to give her tips, but anything too mature elicited an eye roll. I channeled my immature self, the one that drew dorky cartoons during staff meetings and wrote snarky columns when my co-workers annoyed me, and was rewarded with Tequila’s approval.

  She chattered happily the rest of the way back to the apartment parking lot and on the ride home.

  Along the way, she let something slip that caught my attention.

  “So, are you the one who kissed Edie, or was that the blond guy?”

  “Blond guy?” I glanced at her, and she smirked. “What blond guy?”

  Tequila beamed, and I realized I’d played right into her hands. There probably was no blond guy. She’d obviously decided to play matchmaker on Edie’s behalf.

  “He was cute. I don’t remember his name, but he had blonde hair and blue eyes and he was pretty sweet on Edie. They picked me up last weekend when I got stranded without a ride.”

  Hmm. That seemed too specific to be a lie. “Well, Edie hasn’t mentioned anybody,” I said.

  “Sooo … you’re the one who kissed her, right?”

  I pulled into her driveway, behind the faded blue Chevy with rust marring the wheel wells. “We’re here.”

  She grinned. “Fine, be that way. I know you like her.”

  I smiled in return. “See you around, T.”

  “That’s what Edie calls me.” Before I could apologize, she waved a hand. “I like it, it’s cool. Better than calling me Vodka, like Lily always does.”

  I watched her trot up the driveway and slip in the front door, smiling.

  Tequila was a sweet kid, and way too interested in Edie’s love life. But then, maybe she was living vicariously through Edie. If it took her mind off her own problems, that wasn’t such a bad thing.

  I turned around and headed home for a quiet day in.

  ***

  A knock on the door surprised me about mid-afternoon. I’d finished my walk and given Tequila a ride home hours ago.

  I’d taken the day off from work — we were all being asked to take 5 unpaid days over the course of 5 weeks — and I was already bored. So, I’d opened a beer and broken out my Xbox.

  At the moment, I was barely holding my own in the game, so I was fairly distracted when I heard the knock.

  “Door’s open,” I yelled, wondering why in the hell Edie would think she needed to knock. It’s not like I locked the door.

  Belatedly I realized it could be Elana, but my stomach barely had time to clench at the thought before a deep voice spoke. A voice most definitely not belonging to a girl.

  “Hey, Nick.”

  I jerked my gaze up to see Jaime Harris standing in my doorway.

  “Jaime?”

  He smiled, looking a little nervous. “You remember me.”

  “Sure, yeah. What are you doing here?”

  His brow creased, and he dropped the smile. “Um, is Edie here? We were supposed to meet up.”

  I suddenly realized Jaime could be the guy Tequila had described. He matched the description.

  A ball of anxiety I hadn’t even noticed in my chest eased a fraction. Jaime was one of those impossibly nice guys, so even if he was interested in Edie – and I had my suspicions he wouldn’t be – he’d be a gentleman about it. He’d been friends with Carlos forever, and most everyone thought of him as a good influence on my cousin. Not that I knew him well, but I’d heard stories from my aunt and those passed on by Mama as she clucked over Carlos’ behavior.

  The sound of my avatar dying a hideous death echoed from the TV screen.

  “Shit,” I muttered, and threw down the game controller, sparing the screen a quick glance. I’d been butchered.

  “She’s not here,” I told Jaime, and grabbed my beer to take a swallow.

  Jaime hovered by the door nervously.

  “You wanna come in?”

  He smiled in relief. “Yeah, thanks. You know when she’ll be back?”

  “Nope,” I said as Jaime sat down on the other end of the couch. “I didn’t know you guys were friends?”

  I’d gotten the impression Edie didn’t mix much with Carlos’ crowd.

  “Yeah, we met up recently,” he said, and I looked over to see him watching me as I guzzled down the rest of my beer. Shit, I was rude.

  “You want a beer?” I asked. When he looked uncertain, I joked, “You look like a man watching someone drink water in the desert.”

  He chuckled weakly. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

  I got up and headed for the kitchen for a couple of more beer bottles.

  “So how long have you and Edie been friends?” I called as I leaned into the refrigerator. “I didn’t think she liked Carlos.”

  “Oh yeah?” Jaime said. “I didn’t know they’d ever crossed paths much.”

  I straightened, and turned. Jaime’s eyes darted nervously to the other side of the room, and he cleared his throat.

  “Hey, uh, maybe I should just go. It’s weird she isn’t here. But you don’t have to entertain me or anything.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “No, uh … I don’t want to bother you, Nick. Seriously. I’ll call her later.”

  Dude was being weird. I rolled my eyes.

  “Jaime, I was bored off my ass playing video games. It’s no biggie. Play with me, okay? Edie always kicks my ass at this game, and I want to practice so I can get her back.”

  Jaime laughed as I handed him a beer. “No way, Edie plays?”

  “Yeah, and she’s not above cheating,” I said, plopping down on the couch.

  “Cheating?”

  “Yeah, you know, distracting me.”

  “Distracting you?” he echoed. What was with this kid?

  “You know,” I said vaguely, as I started up another game, and handed Jaime a game controller. He just looked confused again. “Using her feminine wiles …”

  I cracked a grin at the memory of the night she’d tricked me into losing by using her avatar’s feminine attributes to distract me.

  Instead of laughing, Jaime glared at me.

  I stopped short at the look on his face, suddenly more certain the two were dating. The look on Jaime’s face put a little of the anxiety back in my chest. Why hadn’t Edie said anything about this? I thought we were friends, but I guess the kiss might have made it a bit awkward to tell me. Had she already received kiss No. 2, effectively erasing my own?

  I didn’t like that thought.

  “Uh, anyway, let’s just play the game,” I muttered, and we both turned to the game with a focus that was a little too intense for comfort. I got the sense Jaime wanted to kick my ass, and so did I.

  Edie and I had never
done anything more than flirt harmlessly (other than the one kiss), and I’d made it seem like something more. Why? Was it an honest mistake, or had I been jealous at some level, even before I was sure Jaime was more than a friend?

  I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye.

  It was just fucking hard to picture those two together. Jaime was a good-looking guy, I guess, but he was all fair skin and light hair. He looked nothing like me, and that bugged the shit out of me. The way Edie kissed me back the one time I’d gone there … she’d been into me. She couldn’t fake that shit. But how could she be into me and into him? We were like opposites in every way.

  I wasn’t sure what it meant — that she wasn’t into me like I’d thought, or that she wasn’t really into him.

  Or maybe you’re a shallow bastard, and Edie’s deeper than that.

  But I knew what I wanted the answer to be.

  With a certainty I hadn’t felt before, I realized I wanted Edie Mason as more than a friend. And given my job and Tanya’s ire over my column and all my problems with Elana, that wasn’t a good thing.

  EDIE

  The woman who led me to the manager’s office put my average curves to shame. She was busty enough I had trouble not staring, so I could imagine the looks she must get from male customers.

  If all the waitresses who worked here looked like this woman — I couldn’t bring myself to think of anyone so va-va-voom as a girl, even if she wasn’t much older than me — I could see why Nick doubted I’d fit in with the scenery.

  Her name was Marissa, and her smile was friendly, but her long acrylic nails made me shudder. It was a little too Cruella De Ville for my taste. Everything about this woman, except her smile, seemed fake, like a Barbie doll come to life.

  “Mr. Rollins can be a bit intimidating, but he’s really just a teddy bear, real soft on the inside,” Marissa told me with a smile.

  I figured all guys turned into teddy bears for her. Not so much for me. But I nodded with a small smile.

  “Don’t let him get to you. We need another waitress big time, we are so swamped, so I’m crossing my fingers for you!”

  She rapped on the door, and then opened it without waiting for a response.

  “Your new waitress is here,” she said teasingly, and winked at the man behind the desk.

  He was late middle-aged, probably somewhere in his fifties, and sweating the way men with too much weight seem to do no matter how much air-conditioning is in place. And there was enough to freeze their famous chicken wings in here. Goosebumps immediately popped up all along my arms and legs.