Taking the Plunge (17 page)

“I feel like I should do something since you helped me.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know—get you a card or something.”

He laughed. “There’s something you could for me—if you really want to.”

She turned her head, looking at him. “What?” She didn’t know what he would request, but she suspected she knew what it would be.

“Sleep with me tonight.”

“That’s what you want?” she asked with a smile.

“I like sleeping with you. I like seeing you wear my clothes. When you sleep, you look so peaceful, so gorgeous. Your lips slightly open. Your hair cascades around the pillow, the scent relaxing me. I enjoy having you next to me, knowing you’ll be there in the morning.”

He was so sweet to her. He was so perfect, so amazing, and she couldn’t believe he cared for her so much. It was unreal. “Your
fiancé was stupid for leaving you.”

He smiled at her. “No, she made the best decision for both of us. Now I’m where I belong.”

“Yes, I’ll sleep with you.”

“Okay. Do you want to sleep here or there?”

“Well, I have school in the morning.”

“So you’
re still going?”

“For now.”

“That’s fine. As long as you don’t mind me sleeping in my briefs.”

That made her eyes widen. He didn’t have any clothes here. She hadn’t thought about that.

“Let’s just stay at my place,” he offered, reading her mind.

“No, it’s okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

They went down the hall and settled into her
room. Boxes were still in the corner and her stuff was unorganized. She grabbed a long t-shirt and shorts before she walked into the bathroom and changed. When she came back, he was already under the covers. She slipped in beside him, immediately feeling his bare flesh against hers.

The sexual tension between them hung in the air. When her fingers trailed down his stomach, she wanted to kiss him everywhere, taste his skin. When she moved her legs, she felt his muscled thighs next to hers. They were thick and strong. She didn’t look under the blanket to see the bulge in his briefs but she wanted to. She was worried something would happen between them but she knew Thatcher would honor his promise to her.

He pulled her to him, his hand moving up her shirt and resting on her ribs. “Has he called?”

“My phone has been off since yesterday.”

“Your friends are probably worried about you.”

“I’ll talk to them tomorrow.”

“Are you never going to talk to our dad again?”

“I don’t see why I would. He obviously doesn’t care.”

“I don’t think that’s true.”

She shook her head. “You saw him, Thatcher.”

“I can’t imagine any father not loving their daughter. I think he just lost sight of what’s important. He’ll come around.”

“You don’t know him like I do.”

He didn’t respond to that.

“And I’m not letting him get away with it.”

“What do you mean?”

“You said the only th
ing that will get through to him is money.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’ll start speaking his language.”

“What are you planning?” he asked.

“I’m not sure yet.”

His hand stroked her hair gently. “I could look at you forever.”

Her eyes softened and she ran her fingers down his chest.

“Are you working tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

“You can take time off
if you need it.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Let me know if you change your mind,” he said.

“I’m okay.”

He grabbed her leg and placed it over his waist, running his fingers across the bare skin. “I love your legs.”

“You do?”

“They are sexy.”

She laughed. “Sexy and I don’t go hand in hand.”

“Perhaps all your mirrors are broken.”

“They aren’t.”

“You know what my favorite feature is?”

“Hmm?”

“Your eyes. But everything else comes in a close second.”

“You know what
my favorite feature is about you?”

“What?”

“Your lips.”

“You haven’t even tasted them yet.”

“I know I’ll like it.”

He rubbed his nose against hers then kissed her forehead. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

Neither one of them closed their eyes. They stared at each other, touching each other as the night passed. It was dark but she could see the outline of his jaw and the sparkle of his eyes. His lips looked tantalizing, thin and kissable. But she held back, knowing it wasn’t the right moment. She wasn’t sure when that would be, but she knew it wasn’t now.

19

She turned on her phone when she got to school the next morning. There were so many messages that her mailbox was full. Instead of dealing with it, she just erased everything. She knew they would all be from Derek.

Her classes were even more difficult to get through than they normally were. Now that she had a job she loved and was on a career path that she wanted more than anything, school was difficult, if not impossible to get through.

When lunchtime came, she wasn’t sure if she should go to the cafeteria. She knew she had to face her friends eventually, and she did tell Derek they would still be friends. After
what Derek did, she couldn’t look at him the same. Now she wished she hadn’t wasted months with him. When her gut told her to end the relationship, she should have just stuck with it. Her compassionate heart believed he was worth waiting for, but she had been badly mistaken.

She got her lunch then took her seat at the table.

Her friends all stared at her, speechless. Sydney was the first one to make a move. She stood up from her chair and hugged Nancy, holding her for a long moment. Nancy smiled and hugged her back. Henry moved in next and held her for a moment, letting her rest against his chest. Ren moved in next before they sat down again.

“We’re so sorry,” Sydney said.

“It isn’t your fault,” Nancy said.

“You’ll be happy the next time you see Derek,” Coen said. “Henry and I paid him a little visit.”

“And kicked his ass,” Henry said.

Nancy shook her head. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“It was fucked up that he cheated on you,” Coen said. “But it was the lying part that pissed us off. That wasn’t okay.”

Henry nodded. “I don’t have any regrets.”

“I hope you didn’t hurt him too badly,” Nancy said.

“We just messed him up a little,” Coen said. “But you shouldn’t care anyway.”

“I still want to be friends,” Nancy said.

“You do?” Sydney asked.

“I’m not cold,” Nancy said. “If he and I don’t work it out, he’ll lose all of you.”

“He should have thought
of that beforehand,” Henry said.

“I appreciate everything,” Nancy said. “But I just want to move on from what happened. It was my fault. I should have broken up with him a long time ago. I never belonged with him.” Now she knew exactly where she belonged and who with.

Derek approached the table and stood near Nancy.

All of her friends turned and glared at him.

Derek looked at Nancy. “I just wanted to say hello. And see how you’re doing.”

“I’m fine,” she said as she looked at him. There was a dry
cut on his lip and his eyes were slightly swollen.

“Well, I’ll see you later,” he said as he turned away.

“Derek, please sit with us.”

“Are you sure?”

“I said we could still be friends.”

He sat down and looked at her. “I really am sorry about everything. And I do regret it. When I told you I loved you, I meant it.”

“It’s in the past now,” Nancy said. “Let’s just forget about it.”

He looked at everyone else at the table then looked down at his food.

She looked at her friends. “If I can let it go, you can too.”

Henry shook his head. “You’re lucky Nancy
is okay with this. She’s my best friend and I have her back to the end. You mess with her, you mess with me.”

“Yeah,” Derek
said with a nod. “I know I lost the greatest thing that ever happened to me.”

Nancy didn’t look at him, concentrating on her food. After they sat in silence for a long time, she addressed everyone. “I’m dropping out of school.”

“What?” Sydney said.

Henry dropped his fork. “Huh?”

Nancy smiled. “I love my job at the gallery and I think my artwork is going somewhere. Thatcher showed my paintings at the gallery and a woman offered 100K for it.”

“
A 100k
?” Coen asked. “That’s fucking insane. Forget getting a PhD.”

Sydney didn’t look reassured. “Don’t throw all your eggs in one basket.”

“I’m taking a leap of faith,” Nancy said. “I know where I belong. It isn’t here.”

Henry nodded. “Follow your heart, Nancy. I
t’ll tell you exactly where to go.”

“I know,” she said, thinking of Thatcher.

“Will we still be seeing you?” Derek asked.

“Of course,” she said. “We’ll still hang out all the time. I just moved into a new apartment. We should have game night. I can cook.”

“Cool,” Henry said. “How about tonight?”

“Sure,” Nancy said. “The place is a little mes
sy but it should be alright. We can do it when I get off work.”

“We’ll be there,” Sydney said.

Nancy left the cafeteria and finished her classes for the day. She didn’t have the heart to tell Dr. Drake she was leaving the university yet. She knew he would be supportive if she switched majors, but he wouldn’t be supportive if she abandoned her education altogether.

She changed at the apartment then went to work in the gallery. She arranged the desk and started working on the paperwork. He had a lot of
finances and overhead he had to take care of. When she saw his yearly income, she almost fainted. But when she saw all the money he gave away to charity, her heart melted. He kept a good size to himself, but gave at least half of it away. Seeing that just made her fall harder for him. He was nothing like her dad.  He was generous, caring, and compassionate.

“Hey,” he said when he walked into her office.

“Hi,” she said as she smiled at him.

“How was your day?”

“It was good.”

“See your friends?”

“Yeah,” she said. “They were relieved that I was okay.”

“Good.”

“Henry and Coen beat up on Derek.”

He smiled.
“Excellent.”

“I didn’t want them to do that.”

“Maybe he should keep his dick in his pants or in his hand, then.”

She never heard him talk like that. She averted her gaze and pretended it didn’t happen.

“Did you see him?”

“He had lunch with us.”

“How was that?”

“Fine.
I still want to be friends.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I don’t want to take all his friends away from him.”

He nodded. “That’s very noble of you.”

“Even though Derek was an ass and wasn’t the right guy for me, I still don’t think he’s a horrible person. I really do think he changed. But he’s hurt me so much that I can’t look at him the same. We were better off as friends.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

She waited for him to say something more, to address their relationship, but he never did.

“My friends are coming over to play board games tonight.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“Yeah.”

He sat in a chair facing her desk and looked at her.

She felt his heated gaze. “Would you like to come?”

“I would love to.”

She smiled.
“They are coming after work.”

“Would you like me to bring anything?”

“No, I went grocery shopping before work.”

He rose from the chair and stood with his hands in his pockets. “I’ll see
you later, then.”

She stared at the form of his body under his clothes and wished she could see him shirtless again. “Okay.”

“And is Laura going to be there?” he asked with a grimace.

She laughed. “No.”

“Phew. It’s hard to keep her away.”

“I’m sorry about that. She can be very forward.”

“I picked up on that,” he said. “Will Derek be there?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded but didn’t say anything.

“Is that okay?”

“It’s up to you.” He turned and left her office.

She worked for a few hours until
her shift was over. Even when she wasn’t working directly with art, she still loved what she did. Thatcher was a wonderful person and an amazing boss. She couldn’t believe she landed a job like that.

When she walked up
stairs, she stopped before she reached his living room, not wanting to intrude on his privacy. “Thatcher?”

He came to the top of the stairs.
“Yeah?”

“I j
ust wanted to let you know I’m leaving.”

“You can come in,” he said with laugh.

She blushed. “I didn’t want to trespass on your privacy.”

He shook his head. “You are always welcome here. Please just come in whenever you want. I have nothing to hide.”

“What if you were walking around naked?”

He shrugged. “Then you would get a special treat.”

She smiled. “Aren’t you conceited?”

He grabbed her waist and pulled her to his chest. “Do you not want to see me naked?”

“I didn’t say that…”

“So you want to see me naked?”

“I didn’t say that either.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You sound confused.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned against his chest, enjoying the moment of closeness with him. She had been looking forward to it all day. “Are you ready to come over?”

“Yeah.
I’m excited to get to know your friends better.”

“They already like you.”

“They do?”

“Well, they didn’t say anything bad about you.”

“That’s not the same thing,” he said with a laugh. He took her hand and walked her outside. After they arrived at her car, he helped her get inside then walked to his truck in the driveway.

After they arrived at the house, he helped her
prepare the tacos, placing them on a platter on the kitchen table.

“I’m so glad you know how to cook,” she said. “I just burn things.”

“You can learn. I’ll teach you.”

“Okay.”

There was a knock on the door so Thatcher answered it. “Hello. Please come in.”

Sydney and Coen stepped inside. Sydney looked at Thatcher. “Oh. I didn’t know you were coming.”

“Nancy invited me,” he said with a nod. “It’s nice to see both of you.” He shook Coen’s hand then smiled at Sydney. Coen pulled Sydney closer to his body. Nancy shook her head and rolled her eyes.

Sydney walked to Nancy and hugged her. “I like your place.”

“Thanks. I put everything together pretty quickly.”

“When did you move?”

“Yesterday,” Nancy answered.

“Wow. You did this by yourself?”

“No. Thatcher helped me.”

“You have a really cool boss.”

Nancy smiled. “I know.”

Sydney looked
over her shoulder and saw Thatcher and Coen talking. “Coen is weird around him.”

“Why?”

Sydney shrugged. “He says he’s a pretty boy.”

Nancy laughed. “I’m going to tell Thatcher that.”

“He’s just threatened by him. I’m not sure why.”

“Because he’s gorgeous.”

“But I married Coen because I think he’s gorgeous.”

“There’s no comparison.”

Sydney raised an eyebrow. “You have a thing for your boss?”

“What? No, I’m just stating the obvious. He’s a very good looking guy.”

“Did you invite Laura?” Sydney asked.

“No.”

“Good,” Sydney said. “Because she would have taken him in a bedroom and jumped his bones.”

“Thatcher isn’t like that.”

“Like what?”

“He doesn’t sleep around,
” Nancy said.

“And why would you know that?”

“He told me.”

Sydney raised an eyebrow. “And why would your boss tell you something so personal?”

She shrugged. “We just talk a lot.”

Sydney crossed h
er arms over her chest. “So you do have a thing for him?” she asked, eyeing Nancy closely.

Nancy avoided her gaze. “We’re just friends.”

“I can totally tell you’re lying.”

“I’m not.”
Her cheeks turned redder than a tomato.

“Are we really going to do this?
” Sydney asked. “I’m your best friend. I know when you get that stupid grin on your face that means you like someone.”

“Okay,” Nancy said in a whisper.
“Yes, I have feelings for him.”

“Did you…?”

“No, nothing happened between us. You know I’m not like that.”

Sydney breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay. I’m glad.”

“I’m not Derek.”