by Ashlyn Chase
“Jeez, Ange. Get a grip. I’m fine.”
Angie took a step back. Her mouth hung open. “Excuse me, did you just say, ‘Get a grip?’ Because if you did—and I’m fairly sure you didn’t—our friendship is in trouble.”
Brandee reared back, surprised by this crazy lady who had taken over her friend’s body. “Okay…I guess I didn’t say that. What’s wrong? Why are you so jumpy?”
“Are you kidding me? You were MIA for hours. You didn’t answer your phone. Didn’t leave a note. What the hell?”
“Oh.” Brandee wondered how in the world time had gotten away from her like that. Was one night with Nick Wolfensen that mind-blowing that she didn’t remember most of it?
“‘Oh’? That’s all you have to say for yourself? Just ‘Oh’?”
Angie’s tone irritated her. She’d be worried about a missing roomie too, but did Angie have to sound like her mother? That’s why Brandee moved out on her own in the first place. Ever since her dad left, she’d had a smother.
“Look, Ange. I know this is going to sound strange, but I don’t remember being gone that long. All I remember is being with Nick and having the time of my life.”
Angie crossed her arms. “Nick. You went out with One-Night Nick, and you expect me to believe you had so much fun you didn’t realize a whole afternoon, evening, and half the night had gone by? You didn’t hear your phone ring or the beeps that signaled missed messages? What did you do?”
“Good question. What did we do?” Oh, my first date jitters…what did we do?
Angie’s eyes narrowed. “Did that bastard drug you?”
“Of course not!” Brandee was becoming more concerned by the minute, but she didn’t want to worry her poor roommate any more than she already was. “I don’t remember having anything to eat or drink. In fact, I’m starving.”
“Well, I’m relieved. I didn’t really think he drugged you. That doesn’t sound like the Nick we know. So why didn’t you answer your phone?”
Brandee glanced around the apartment and looked for her purse. “I must have left my phone here.”
Now that Angie was up, Brandee switched on the living room light and saw her purse where she usually left it. She wandered over to it and pulled out her cell phone. “Looks like it’s out of juice.”
Angie rolled her eyes. “Well, when you charge it, you can delete my half a dozen messages. Each one is more hysterical than the last.”
Why did I leave without my purse? How did I get in? Every answered question brought up another one. Maybe her camera would fill in some of the blanks. She remembered taking her camera with her. But why?
She opened the closet where she kept her photography equipment. Everything was there except her 35 mm Nikon.
“Where’s my camera? I remember taking it with me…” A partial memory returned. “Oh! I know what happened now.”
Angie had followed her into the living room and looked more concerned than ever. “What? I’m dying to hear this.”
“Nick was holding me. There was a tornado or a microburst. Anyway, my camera flew off my shoulder. If not for Nick, I’d have been sucked up into the wind too. He grabbed me and pulled me over next to a tree for shelter. I must have bumped my head.”
She glanced at her wrists. That must have been what happened to them. He’d grabbed onto her so tightly! Now they were sore. But she only remembered him grabbing one of her wrists. Why were they both sore?
Angie’s tented eyebrows said she was having a hard time with the explanation.
“You hit your head on a tree during a tornado on Boston Common? Did you see any Munchkins? Wicked witches?”
Brandee laughed. “Very funny. No trips to Oz for me. Nick will be coming over later. He can tell me what happened.”
“Nick’s coming here?”
“Yeah.” Brandee did remember one thing. That kiss. She touched her lips and smiled.
“Oh, no. You aren’t falling for Nick Wolfensen, are you?”
Brandee sighed. “You don’t understand. We kissed. It was the most incredible, mind-altering, toe-curling kiss of my entire life…and his. He told me his one-night rule didn’t apply to me. I think he was just as affected by the kiss as I was.”
“Oh. My. God. I don’t believe this.”
Brandee giggled. “Oh, my lucky day… That’s the one thing I do believe. Like you, I was completely skeptical, but he convinced me beyond the shadow of any doubt. He really cares about me, Ange.”
Angie snorted. “Yeah, right. I’ll believe it when I see it.”
At that moment, there was a knock at their door. “What the…who’s coming here at this time of night?”
Brandee strode to the door. “I told you, Nick said he’d be coming by later. He got called away and asked Anthony to see me safely home.”
That answered another question. How she’d managed to get in if she’d left her purse behind. Anthony owned the building, so of course he had a key.
She peered through the peephole and her heart leaped when she saw Nick. She quickly finger-combed her hair and opened the door.
Nick took one long stride into the apartment, grasped her in his arms, and kissed her thoroughly. His kiss had a frenzied quality to it—as if he hadn’t seen her for weeks, or like they’d just been through some kind of life-altering event. Hmmm… Was he that worried about her after the tornado incident?
Angie cleared her throat and the couple parted, but neither of them looked away. He gazed at her with so much longing. If Brandee didn’t know better, she’d say he wanted to make love to her right then and there.
“I don’t believe this,” Angie muttered.
Nick finally turned toward Angie but kept a possessive arm around Brandee’s waist.
“Look, I know with my past it might be hard to believe, but I’m crazy about this girl.” He gave Brandee a side squeeze that made her giggle.
Angie tossed her hands in the air. “Now I’ve heard everything.”
“Not everything,” Brandee amended. “Nick, I don’t remember anything since hitting my head on that tree. I’m afraid to say you’ll have to fill me in on most of our date.”
He nodded. “Ah, yes. The tornado. You probably remember me telling you I’d buy you a new camera, right?”
“Oh, yeah. I do now. But you don’t have to do that. I should probably do everything with my digital camera now. Film is sort of old school.”
“But I thought you were a purist,” Angie interrupted. “You said you liked the control you had with the different lenses and film speeds. You enjoyed using different tricks in the darkroom too.”
Brandee shrugged. “Yeah, I guess there are a few things I can do manually that I can’t do on the computer, but not much.”
“I’ll get you a new old camera,” Nick said. “I insist.”
Angie yawned. “Look, you guys can work that out without me. I’m beat. I’ll see you in the morning, Bran. G’night, Nick.”
Angie waved and went back to bed.
That left Brandee with Nick, not quite knowing what to do. She was exhausted, but it was too soon to invite him to her bedroom. Thankfully, he spoke first.
“Well, I just wanted to check to be sure you got home okay, sweetheart. If you want, I’ll go and let you get your beauty sleep…not that you need it.” He grinned.
Every one of his killer grins and corny lines affected her the same way. They gave her hope and made her nervous at the same time. I hope he really has changed. If he left me now, I’d be so disappointed.
“Don’t go. We need to talk.”
***
Nick took a deep breath. “Okay.” He had come up with a scenario in case she wanted to know what happened. Of course she’d want to know what happened. Hopefully after the meager explanation he’d come up with, he could distract her—somehow.
She led him to
the couch and they sat side by side. “So, Nick. I’m really confused. How did we spend our evening and why can’t I remember?”
“We were walking through the Common, and I’d planned to take you to the Ritz for a drink before we decided where to go for dinner. That’s when the tornado touched down.” Thank goodness for weird weather right when I needed an excuse for weirder things.
“And you’re saying I forgot everything that happened after that?”
He shrugged. “I guess so. You were knocked out so I carried you to my apartment. When you came to, you seemed kind of out of it.”
“Is that when you asked Anthony to take me home?”
“I waited until you seemed physically stable, but I got called away. I thought you’d be more comfortable in your own bed.”
“So you didn’t take advantage of me?”
His eyebrows shot up. “Of course not. What kind of guy do you think I am?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, I’ve known you for about a year—ever since I started working at the bar. You seem like a good guy, but I don’t really know anything about you.”
This was the distraction he had been looking for. “Ask me anything. I’m an open book.”
“Okay. Why did you quit being a cop?”
As uncomfortable a subject as it was, he’d prefer talking about that to talking about what happened that night.
“I have an identical twin. He was in trouble with the law more than once and was eventually tried in a high-profile case. People saw his face on TV and plastered all over the newspapers last year. Plenty of people mistook me for my brother, and even my fellow cops thought I must have had something to do with it.”
“I don’t pay attention to the news, I’m afraid. It’s all bad anyway. So what was he accused of?”
“Remember the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum heist?”
“Oh, my Rembrandt. That’s terrible. I love art and art museums. It broke my heart to see the empty frames where priceless paintings used to be.”
“My brother was the last person who’d do something like that, but he was set up. The fact that the robbers wore Boston Police uniforms to get past the security guards convinced the rumor mill I had something to do with it. I wasn’t even a cop at the time.”
“Then how could they blame you?”
“The public didn’t know how long I had been a cop. And even if they did, people believe what they want to believe.”
“That sucks.” Her hand flew to cover her mouth. “I’m sorry. I mean, that’s really awful.”
He chuckled. “I like how you try to avoid offensive language, but why around me? I’ve certainly heard worse.”
She blushed. “When I was in art school, my mouth was pretty filthy. I realized how bad I sounded after hearing myself on a friend’s answering machine. ‘Trailer trash’ was the term that sprang to mind. I attracted the wrong kind of guys back then. Eventually, I figured out why.”
He put his arm around her shoulder. “I know my reputation isn’t stellar, but I promise I’ll be good to you.”
He leaned in for a kiss, and she met his lips eagerly. Her lips parted and their tongues sought each other out, swirling together as if this dance was second nature. Fire sprung up between them and he clutched her close.
Desire hit him in the gut…and lower. This wasn’t the normal horniness of a man attracted to a hot woman. An overwhelming desire to take her and mark her, then and there, pounded through his veins.
If he didn’t stop soon, he might not be able to. He broke the kiss and found himself panting hard. “Brandee, I’d better go.”
“Is everything all right?”
He took a moment to compose himself. “Everything is too right. If I don’t leave now, I’m afraid I’ll pressure you to go too far too fast.”
She nodded as if she understood. “Yeah. And then I’ll never get any sleep.”
***
“Kidnapped! What do you mean I was kidnapped?” Brandee couldn’t believe what her aunt was telling her. She pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it as if she could see if it was lying.
“Katie said you were with her. And that you were tied up.”
Oh, my rubber ducky. “Why would she say that?”
“I-I don’t know why she’d make that up. I just called to thank you. She said you kept her calm and helped her escape. Well, you and Mr. Wolfensen.”
“Nick was there?”
“Yes, we hired him. But why were you with him? That’s what I can’t understand.”
Brandee was speechless. She had been out with Nick on a date last night. A terrific date from what she could recall—but that’s about all she remembered. Since when did kidnapping count as a great date?
“Aunt Dee, I’ll have to call you back.”
“Of course, dear. But, before you go, is there anything we can do?” The worry in her aunt’s voice came through.
“No, I’ll be okay. I just need to talk to someone.” Someone who apparently lied to me about what happened last night.
“Yes, I should say so.”
Brandee realized how that sounded. Great, now she thinks I’m nuts.
“Love you, bye.” She shouldn’t have hurried her aunt off the phone like that, but she really didn’t want to hear any more about her “lost night” until she spoke to Nick. He’d better not try to lie to me, either.
On the off chance he was downstairs in the bar already, she decided to go in a bit early. She could always say she was making up for being late more often than not. Claudia, the daytime manager might faint, but Wendy would appreciate a hand if it was busy. It was a beautiful September day, and tourists would be getting thirsty.
Thank goodness Angie had the day off and was gone before Brandee woke up. She didn’t need to answer any more of her roommate’s questions until she got more answers herself.
Chapter 7
Nick waited, shifting from foot to foot outside the bar. He didn’t need an audience when he saw Brandee. He knew there was a good chance she’d want to fill in more of the blanks from their so-called date.
The morning news had paused between their stories of assaults and accidents to report a short-lived tornado hitting the Boston Common. Because there had been no damage, the event was ignored by the newspapers. He had hoped for an article he could show Brandee, but alas, it wouldn’t be that easy.
Regardless, the idea that she had hit her head and had temporary amnesia served his purpose well. He’d said he took her to his place to let her lie down and rest. She wouldn’t remember where he lived or what the place looked like. He could joke with her and say thank goodness she didn’t remember it, because his apartment was a mess.
Suddenly the woman in question appeared before him.
“Just the man I wanted to see.” Her expression was unreadable.
“Good. I wanted to see you too, sweetheart. How are you feeling today?”
“Just fine except for my wrists, which is strange. They’re a little bruised, but you’d think my head would hurt if I bumped it.”
“Uh, yeah. You got lucky, I guess.” He patted her on the head. “You must have a hard noggin’.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “What really happened, Nick?”
Uh-oh. “What do you mean? Oh, I guess you want to know what happened after that.”
“Sure. Go ahead. Give me the details, and don’t you dare lie. I’ll know if you do.”
Sweat broke out on Nick’s brow. She was probably bluffing. She couldn’t know if he was lying or not. “We were strolling across the Common, discussing, you know, life and stuff. We never made it for drinks or dinner. The tornado struck and you must have bumped your head. You seemed disoriented. That in itself was frightening. I took you to my place to recover from your scare.”
Yeah, that sounds reasonable. Maybe she’ll
think she blocked it out of her memory due to the traumatic nature of the incident, and that would explain why her head doesn’t hurt.
“Oh, so you live in a basement? And instead of letting me lie down, you tied me to a pole?”
“Uh…” Shit. Who told her? The one loose end he hadn’t tied up completely was Katie. He’d hinted that she might want to spare her parents the details, but the girl must have told them what happened anyway. Of course she’d cave when her parents asked her to tell them everything. Why would she listen to some guy she didn’t know over her parents?
Anthony didn’t erase Katie’s memory, only Brandee’s. Why, oh why didn’t I think that through? Perhaps Anthony could have mesmerized both girls at once. Nick had just assumed his vampire friend couldn’t.
He had to change the subject. He grabbed Brandee and kissed her for all he was worth. At first she stiffened, but shortly after that she relaxed and molded her body to his.
Suddenly she pulled away and shoved his chest. “Don’t try to distract me.”
“I’m not. I just missed you, baby. That’s all.”
“Look, I’m not satisfied with your answers and don’t call me ‘baby.’ I’m an adult.”
“But I did miss you. That’s the God’s honest truth.”
“Maybe so, but I was talking about last night. Something happened that I can’t remember. I don’t know why I can’t remember it, but if I find out you drugged me—”
“Jesus!” He couldn’t have her thinking that. He had to make her believe something else. Anything else. “No, Brandee. No way would I do that to you. I’d never do that to any woman. How can you even think that?”
She opened her mouth to speak but he laid a finger against her lips. “I’ll tell you exactly what happened. I just didn’t want to frighten you—again. You were so scared…It was a blessing when you blocked it out.”
She crossed her arms. “So, you’re saying I was so afraid I blacked out?”
“No. Not exactly. Sometimes traumatic situations are so overwhelming, the mind just does the victim a favor and temporary amnesia is the result.”
He could almost see the wheels turning in her mind. At least she was considering the idea.