Three Girls And A Leading Man (10 page)

It was hard to concentrate when he
was kissing me like that. Not for the first time, I had the sensation of my
mind being wiped clean, all the worries and anxieties fading into the
background. “You’re a dangerous boy, Nate Hughes.”

“Me?” he asked, laughing against my
skin. “I’m one of the nice boys, Annie. I’d imagine we don’t look all that
familiar to you, but take my word for it.” Then he was kissing me again, and I
decided that talking was overrated.

Nate was right, of course. He was
one of the nice ones.

But that sure didn’t mean he wasn’t
dangerous.

***

When I woke up in the morning, I
had that horrible Monday morning feeling. Like I used to feel when my mom would
wake me up for school—particularly on those mornings after I had snuck
out with Jen and Ginny the night before.

“I can’t believe we have to go
home,” I moaned, burying my face in the pillow.

“It sucks,” Nate agreed, wrapping
his arm around me and snuggling into my side. “But it helps knowing you’ll be
there when I get back.”

“I…what?” I asked, caught off
guard.

“Your flight leaves first, right?”
he asked. “So by the time I get home, you’ll already be there. That makes it a
little easier to head back.”

I was stunned. We hadn’t talked at
all about what would happen when we left this city. Was he assuming we would
pick up where we left off? Sure, I had totally lost my head with him the last
few days. It seemed like all he had to do was kiss me and I would forget about
all of my objections.

But in the cold light of morning,
they were all coming back to me.

“Hey,” Nate said, pulling my face
away from the pillow. “Why aren’t you talking? What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” I said, trying to quell
the flash of fear I was feeling. “I just…I didn’t realize you would still want
to see me. At home, I mean.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to see you?”
he asked, bewildered.

“I don’t know. I guess I just
thought…”

“What, Annie?” he asked, an edge to
his voice.

“I just thought this was a bit of
fun, you know? A vacation fling.”

He was silent for a moment and I
couldn’t meet his eyes.

“It was fun,” he finally agreed,
his voice measured. “I think we’re good together. So why can’t that fun
continue in Detroit?”

I finally looked up at him. His
expression was a little worrying—almost like he was trying too hard to be
casual.

“Nate…I don’t really date. I’m just
not into it. There’s so much going on at home right now; work, and the
audition. I don’t…I don’t think I would want anything to get serious.”

Why was it so hard to tell him all
of this? I’d had this conversation with a ton of guys over the years.

“That’s fine, Annie,” he said,
staring at me with an intensity I couldn’t place. “There’s no pressure. We have
fun, right? Let’s just keep our options open.”

I stared hard into his eyes, trying
to decide if he was serious or not. Finally, his face broke out into a huge
grin. “Oh, relax, woman. I’m not going to start stalking you or something. I
just want to take you out once in a while.”

It did seem pretty silly, when he
put it like that. I grinned back and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I can
deal with that,” I said, leaning up to kiss him.

Chapter Thirteen

“Going home sucks,” Ginny said,
plopping her bag down on the floor of my living room. “Why the hell do we live
in this cold-ass state anyhow?”

“Oh, you would hate it if you
didn’t get to experience the seasons,” Jen said, walking past us to put her bag
in her room.

“I would not,” Ginny muttered.

“I do love fall,” I admitted,
sitting on the couch. “When the air gets all crisp and the leaves change color.
We can take Danny to the apple orchard. He would love that.”

“True,” Ginny said, sitting down
next to me. “But winter can suck it.”

“Speaking of Danny,” Jen said,
rejoining us in the living room. “When are they coming to get you?”

“Ready to be done with me?” Ginny
asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, right,” Jen said. “I just
have a present for the baby, I’m excited to see him.”

“Ooh, what’d you get him?” Ginny
asked, sitting up straighter. I could tell that the topic of her son had
already cheered her up.

“A shirt, a few toys; nothing too
major,” Jen said.

“Hmm, that sounds like what I got
him,” I said.

Ginny looked at me, a slightly
sheepish smile on her face. “Me, too. I think we went a little overboard.”

When Josh and Danny arrived a few
minutes later, it was clear that we had gone more than just a little overboard.
After accepting kisses and hugs from all three of us, Danny was promptly made
to open no fewer than ten presents. He was now the proud owner of four Vegas
t-shirts, an Eiffel Tower money bank, several pool floats in various shapes,
and a gladiator costume from Caesar’s Palace.

“Talk about spoiled,” Josh
muttered. “Is anyone at all excited to see
me
?”

Ginny ceased her incessant kissing
of Danny to smile at Josh. “Sorry, babe,” she said, getting up to hug him
hello. Jen took over snuggling the baby. I had to admit, Josh had a point.
Between the three women in his life, Danny was pretty spoiled. But how could
you blame us, when he was that cute and sweet?

“Oh.”

We all looked up to see Tina standing
in the doorway, looking at us with a bewildered expression.

“There are people here,” she said,
still looking confused.

“Hey, Tina,” Jen said. “How was
your weekend?”

“Weekend?” she asked, her fake airy
voice becoming more pronounced.

“Yeah, your weekend,” Jen said.
“Did you enjoy having the house to yourself while we were gone?”

“You were gone?” Tina asked.

I rolled my eyes. She was such a
faker.

“Yeah, we’ve been in Vegas,
remember? You said goodbye to us when we left on Thursday,” I said.

“Oh…oh, yes, I suppose I do
remember that. It must have slipped my mind. I’ve been doing so much
meditating, I’ve barely been on this plane at all…”

With a dreamy little shrug, she
turned and slipped back to her bedroom. Jen and Ginny were doing their
damnedest not to laugh. “She is ridiculous,” I muttered. “Seriously, who does
she think she’s kidding?”

“I’m surprised you don’t like her,”
Josh said, draping his arm lazily over Ginny’s shoulder. “I mean, aren’t you
supposed to be all into that open-minded hippie stuff? I’ve seen some of the
theater friends you hang out with, you know.”

“Tina is
not
a hippie,” I said firmly. “She doesn’t really believe in
meditation or crystals or any of it. I would respect her if I thought she was
for real, but she’s not anything but a fake. Her whole persona is just an
excuse to smoke pot and be lazy. She’s a poser.”

“The worst thing you can be in
Annie’s book,” Ginny told him, smiling at me in a fond sort of way.

“Enough about crazy Tina,” Josh
said, leaning in for another kiss. “I thought you were supposed to be telling
me how much you miss me?”

Ginny giggled and snuggled into
him.

My cell phone rang, distracting me
from the sight of Ginny and Josh reuniting. Something about the sight of them
set off a little pain in my stomach, though I had no idea why—usually
their overt displays of affection simply made me nauseous.

I looked down at the screen of my
phone and found myself smiling involuntarily.

I managed to slip out of the living
room without interrogation, and I answered the phone on my way to my bedroom.

“Hey,” I said softly.

“Hey,” Nate replied. I felt my
smile grow. “Will you call me a wuss if I told you that I miss you already?”

“Probably,” I said.

“Well, I guess I couldn’t expect
any less from you.” The amusement was clear in his voice and I could just tell
he was smiling on the other end of the phone. I felt my own smile grow wider. I
probably looked like an idiot.

“What can I say, Nate? I’m a tough
broad.”

He laughed. “I’m actually not so
sure about that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I think that’s just
reputation, a cover.”

“So what am I covering up?” I
asked, feeling my stomach squirm a little at the flirtatious tone in his voice.

“Your soft and gooey underside,” he
replied. I burst out laughing.

“Nice try,” I told him.

“I still think I’m right,” he
replied easily. “But I guess we can table the topic for now. So, are you home
yet?”

“Yeah, landed about an hour ago.
We’re currently showering Danny with way too many gifts. You’d think it was his
birthday or something.”

“See?” Nate replied. “Even the baby
has you wrapped around his finger. Soft and gooey, just like I said.”

“Whatever,” I said, rolling my
eyes. “So where are you?”

“Waiting at the airport,” he said.
“Bored out of my mind and wishing you were here.”

“What about all of your friends?” I
asked.

“They’re all hung over,” he
replied. “Everyone is sitting around with sunglasses on, trying not to move so
they don’t throw up.”

“Sounds like a successful bachelor
party,” I said.

“I guess so. But anyhow, I wondered
what you were up to tonight.”

“Tonight?” I asked. I had been
planning on lazing around the house, spending time with the girls and Danny.

“Yeah. I was thinking maybe we
could get dinner when I get back.”

When I didn’t answer, he sighed.
“Just casual, Annie,” he said. “No big deal, I promise. We’ll get dinner and
I’ll take you right home.”

“Well, I do have to work tomorrow,”
I said, seizing on the excuse.

“Me too.”

“But a person does have to eat…”

“Also true,” Nate said, and I could
once again hear the amusement in his voice. He knew I was caving.

“Fine,” I said. “When does your
flight land?”

“I can be in Ferndale by seven,” he
replied.

“Then I guess I’ll see you at
seven.”

Nate was laughing outright now.
“What?” I asked, feeling annoyed.

“Soft and gooey,” he repeated.

“Goodbye, Nate,” I muttered.

“Bye, Annie.”

I could still hear the sounds of
his quiet laughter as I ended the call.

***

I saw Nate three times over the
next three days. I knew I was being stupid, allowing myself to move so fast
with him, but I couldn’t help it. If I was honest with myself, I really liked
spending time with him. And it was, admittedly, very flattering to see how much
he clearly liked spending time with me. He took me out to dinner the Sunday
night we got back, again the following day, and met me for lunch on Tuesday.

That was another thing about Nate:
he insisted on paying for everything. It made me feel uncomfortable. I had
never been the type of girl to blindly let the guy take care of everything, and
I told him so.

“What are you talking about?” he asked,
sounding hurt. “I’m just trying to be a gentleman.”

“But that implies that you think I
need you to, like, provide for me or something.”

Nate rolled his eyes. “Oh, please.
I can tell that you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. But I’m the
one who asked you out. And I was raised to believe that when you ask someone
out, you pay. You can pay when you ask me out.”

“Who said I’m ever going to ask you
out?” I asked.

“No one said you had to,” he
replied, smirking. “But if you don’t, I’ll just keep asking you. Which means
that I’ll keep paying for your dinner. If you don’t like it, I guess you’ll
have to do something about it.”

I glared at him. “This all sounds
like a ploy to make sure I’ll keep seeing you.”

He merely shrugged, the smirk still
evident in his face.

At the end of our lunch date, he
asked if I would see him for dinner. I was grateful for the excuse to
decline—I knew I needed to slow this down, and fast. Luckily, I was
babysitting for Danny that night so Ginny and Josh could have an evening to
themselves.

“Okay,” Nate said, nonplussed.
“Tomorrow then?”

I looked at him with a raised
eyebrow. “How about I take you out?” I asked.

Nate grinned broadly. “See?” he
said. “My plan is totally working.”

Chapter Fourteen

‘The first time your
potential mate invites you to his home is a big deal. You can tell a lot about
a man by the house he keeps. Does he care for his space? Is he good at making
home repairs? Does it look like his home is dying for a woman’s touch? Finding
the answers to these questions can be very helpful in your quest to make your
man fall for you.’—
The Single
Girl’s Guide to Finding True Love

I took Nate to a low-key wine bar
in Ferndale. The prices were reasonable but the food was really good. It had
been a standby for me and the girls in our leaner financial times. Come to
think of it, I was still experiencing those lean times. It seemed like everyone
else was starting to settle down, make some real money. Why was I still broke?

I lamented this fact to Nate over
dinner. “Being poor sucks,” I said.

“Yeah, but if you’re happy, does it
really matter?” he asked. “Take me, for example. When I first moved out here
and started working at Ford, I was making a ton of money.”

I scowled at him. “You’re making me
feel so much better.”

“Sorry.” He grinned. “I just meant
that I was making good money, but I was pretty damn miserable. I missed my
family and my friends from home. It wasn’t until I started hanging out with
some guys from work and meeting new people that I could really enjoy myself.
The money didn’t really come into play.”