Forever Kind of Guy (10 page)

“No I’m fine, but I do want to talk to you at dinner
. Britney is going to eat in her room so we can talk.” He ran his hand through his hair and closed his eyes.

“She can eat with us
, we can talk later.”

He studied her face
, and slowly nodded. “Okay, I better get back to the kitchen.” He leaned toward her and her heart sped up because she knew his sweet peppermint lips were so close to hers, but it didn’t happen. He kissed her forehead and turned around.

Gretchen sigh
ed and walked to Britney’s room. She knocked once and heard, “come in!” She walked in, closing the door behind her, she saw Britney sitting on the bed.

“I’
ll show you how to cover your bruise up, and before you know it you won’t have to do it anymore,” Gretchen said as she walked over to her and placed her hand on Britney’s shoulder.

Gretchen kneeled on the floor in front of Britney and opened her purse.
She pulled out the make-up she barely used anymore, and the younger girl pushed her hair behind her ears.

Britney
closed her eyes and sighed. “You would think with me having an older brother as a cop and another as a DA I wouldn’t put up with this crap.” She opened her light hazel eyes, and Gretchen saw her eyes tearing up. “Is it wrong for me to still love him?”

Gretch
en shook her head, and stood to wrap her arms around Britney. “No sweetie, but you know you deserve better, plus your brother will hurt him if he comes near you again.”

Britney laughed, and pulled away.
“Yeah my brother wanted to deal with him last night, but I reminded him that Derek was under age. You know Stefan doesn’t date a lot and his last girlfriend broke his heart. I still can’t believe he hasn’t asked for a different partner.”

Gretchen frown
ed at that.
Partner?
He was still partners with his ex-girlfriend?
She pushed the new information aside, and smiled at Britney. “Well let me show you how to cover this up, and you can keep what I use.” Britney smiled and hugged her. Gretchen rubbed the young girl’s back.

Ten minutes later Gre
tchen walked out of the bedroom. Britney had said she was tired and that she wouldn’t be out for dinner. Gretchen was pretty sure she was making it up so she could be alone with Stefan. She walked toward the kitchen and saw the man of her dreams setting the table with two wine glasses. He’d filled them with white wine, and she noticed that he’d had three black plates set up. He looked up at her and gave her a half grin that practically stopped her heart. He’d bewitched her and she didn’t want to break his spell, which made her terrified. It was way too soon to be having these strong feelings for someone, even if the man was perfect for her.

“Britney said she
was tired, so it’s just us.” She nibbled on her bottom lip, because she knew what needed to be discussed.

“Come sit,” he said, and she looked up at him. He pulled out her chair for her, and was still holding onto the back.

She took a deep breath and walked towards the man that made her heart race. “It smells amazing.” She could smell garlic, and it made her mouth water. When she sat down he gently pushed her chair in, and turned around. She looked over her shoulder to watch him as he grabbed a plate for her.

“I hope you like chicken alfredo.”

She did, it was her favorite. She smiled to herself. Throughout their meal they didn’t speak. She didn’t glance up at him either, not until she took her last bite.

“Gretchen we really need to talk.”

She
nodded and set her fork down, forcing her eyes to meet his.

“I know we just really started to get to know each other, but when I found out about your scumbag of an ex I wanted to beat him senseless
. You are amazing, and deserve someone that is worthy of you.”

By the look on his sculpted face she knew he didn’t think he was worthy of her. “I have a question for you.”

He narrowed his eyes, and gradually nodded. “You can ask me anything, and I will always be truthful with you.”

There was one thing that had been bothering her all night
, ever since his sister had told her he’d dated his partner. “How long did you date your partner?”

Stefan’s eyes widened a little, because she knew something about him.
“I take it you and my sister talked. Amy and I dated for four years. Then I broke up with her.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms against his muscled chest.

“When did you break up with her
?”

He stared at her and she thought he wasn’t going to answer her. “Two weeks before Christmas.” That was when they
’d started talking, that was why he was on the site looking for a ‘hook-up’. “And that is the reason why I don’t want to be in relationship.”

Her heart sank, but she covered herself with a smile. “I know I was the one that wanted nothing but sex, but I don’t think I can do that anymore. At least not how we are doing it, we need some
time apart.” She hated that idea, but knew it was for the best.

Stefan narrowed his eyes. “What is this really about? I know it’s not about my partner.”

She shook her head. “You’re right. It has nothing to do with your partner or that your life could be in your ex-girlfriend’s hands. It has to do with me. I’ve started to have more than fuck buddy feelings for you. I never thought about what would happen and I hoped I would have more time with you and make more memories with you.” She took a deep breath and got up to walk to him. She ran the tips of her fingers down his cheek. “One thing is for sure, I will never forget you, Stefan. You showed me that I was capable of being more than what I was.” She leaned down and brushed her lips against his, and he tried to deepen the kiss, but she didn’t let him. “No, I need to go. I will call you soon.”

It took everything inside her not
to throw herself into his arms. She knew he would catch her, but for once in her life she needed to be strong. So she walked out the front door of Stefan Romano’s apartment, her heart breaking with every step she took. She took out her cell phone and pressed her best friend’s number.

“I need you.” Gretchen heard her own voice break with her sorrow.

“What did Claus do to you?”

She was at her car
and pressed the button to unlock her door. “He didn’t do anything. I did.”

“Come over I will open a new wine for us.”

*
* *

Stefan stared at the now empty chair, and her words echoed inside his head.
“I’ve started to have more than fuck buddy feelings for you.”
He didn’t understand why woman always wanted more, but this was because of his own fears. He was scared to death of getting hurt again, but since he had been with Gretchen he hadn’t thought about the “what if,” he just wanted her.

Amy
had fucked him up for other woman, but he had truly been happy with Gretchen; she wasn’t just someone he fucked.

“You are a dumb ass. You need to go after her,” h
is sister said, and he looked over his shoulder at her. He could barely see her black eye.

“No I need to let her go now before I hurt her more.”
But that didn’t explain the dull ache he felt in his chest.

“I never knew you were
such a dumb ass. She’s crazy about you. And from the look on your face, you are too.”

Truth was they needed some time away from each other, she was right.
“Things are complicated, and I’m not ready for something permanent.”

His little sister glared at him, and put her hands on her hips.
“Stefan she isn’t Amy! I know she hurt you, but sometimes you need to let love in to heal.”

He arched an eyebrow at her.
When the hell did his baby sister grow up?

“I’m going to bed, but I think you should chase her down and kiss her before it’s too late.” She walked away
, heading to his spare room, and he was left at the kitchen table wondering what the hell he was going to do.

As he cleaned up his kitchen his mind was on the blonde bombshell that had wiggled her way into his life. A
fter their one night together at Christmas, he’d thought he would never see her again. That he could forget her as if it meant nothing to him. But that never happened. He’d had to force himself away from her that night as she slept. Now he could smell her as if she was standing next to him. His sister was right about one thing, he
was
crazy for her and that was why he would stay away.

Chapter Ten

One week later…

Gretchen felt like crap, she hadn’t been able to sleep much because when she did finally fall asleep, she would see him. She hated her bed because it still smelled like him. Laura had been ordering take-out for her to make sure she was eating. Every time her phone would ring she hoped it was Stefan calling, but he never did. She did get a call from Britney. She’d told her that her brother was a dumb ass. Gretchen told her that he wasn’t, that she was the one to walk out.

A loud knock caused her to jump and look at her front door. She frow
ned as she got off of her couch. She grabbed the remote and paused the movie she was watching for the millionth time. More knocking on her front door as she walked to it, she looked through her peep hole on her door and saw Laura.

“I know you are looking at me, and I will use my key if you don’t open this door.”

After she’d left Stefan’s apartment, she’d gone back to Laura’s and cried until her tears wouldn’t come anymore. She’d told her best friend that she was an idiot for falling for a man that told her he wasn’t a forever kind of guy. Now she had been avoiding Laura because she wanted to talk about Stefan, and Gretchen didn’t want to.

She unlocked the
deadbolt, and the lock on the handle to open the door. She didn’t wait to shut it or to see Laura, Gretchen turned around and walked back to her comfy couch.

“The Notebook? Really you are watching that movie again? I think I need to break it
so you can never watch it again,” Laura commented as she walked to the DVD player.

“What are you doing
here?” Gretchen asked to try and distract her friend.

“I’m taking you out to a
karaoke bar, so you need to get dressed.” Laura walked over to where she was sitting on the couch and waved her hand in front of her nose. “And take a quick shower.”

Gretchen frowned at her oldest friend. “What if I don’t want to go to a karaoke bar?”

Laura grinned maliciously at her. “Go take a shower and I will pick out your clothes.”

She knew that her friend was up to something, but she also
knew Laura too well to argue on this. So Gretchen took a shower, wrapped herself in her fuzzy robe and strolled out of the warm steamy bathroom. She found Laura in her bedroom going through her clothes. Gretchen winced when she noticed the bright red dress she’d bought just because she had a weakness for red clingy dresses. The front of the dress was cut low and showed a lot of her cleavage, and it hugged her body like it was made for her.

“Why haven’t I seen this dr
ess?” Laura said turning around, arching her eyebrows as she narrowed her gaze dangerously at Gretchen.

Gretchen
rolled her eyes. “Because I never had anywhere to go before and I think it’s a little much for where we are going.”

“I don’t, put it on
and let’s go!”

Gretchen didn’t argue and f
orty-five minutes later they were pulling into a bar called,
Burst
. The bar looked like it was busy, and there was a large light flashing on the building that said, ALL NIGHT HAPPY HOUR in bright red.
Well, that explains why it’s packed
, Gretchen thought.

“Look it
’s happy hour! Goodie for us.” Laura grinned and grabbed her hand to lead them to the bar. Gretchen knew her friend was up to something and it wasn’t good. She had a gleam in her eye, and that normally meant bad things were going to happen and most likely to her.

Once in the bar they found an unoccupied table, and
sat down. Gretchen looked around and scowled. There were a lot of police officers frequenting the bar, and she turned her glare to her supposedly best friend. “You brought me to a cop bar? Why in the world would you do that?”

Laura arched an eyebrow, but didn’t really look annoyed. “Because I am tired of seeing you depressed. I don’t know if he will be here, if not maybe flirting a little will help heal you a little.”

She looked away toward a group of officers, there were a few men, and women sitting together. Mostly everyone was wearing shirts with POLICE across the chest. Secretly she wanted to see him one more time and had picked up her phone to call him many times over the past week, but decided against it each time. They were just in two different places, but she missed him like rain on a hot summer day and really hoped he might show up.

“I know you are hurt, I get that
, but I did warn you. I love you, Gretch, and I want you to be happy for once in your life. You are a free woman. You don’t have Rob the Cock standing in your way. You need to enjoy yourself and hell if you fuck a few different men it won’t be the end of the world. Claus was just a stepping stone, and there are a million like him out there.” A male waiter came over to take their drink order, and Laura ordered them Long Island Ice Teas.