Toxic (12 page)

Eyes bright, Emmy kept going. “Can you imagine how much fun he must be?” She wasn’t really asking. She acted like she already knew.

Having had enough, Lily huffed, “Emmy, do you have any idea who he is?”

Emmy looked bored. “I just told you.”

“No, I don’t mean what he does,” she said through gritted teeth.

I wanted to kick her. To tell her to shut up. But instead my eyes were scanning the room for him.

Emmy looked confused.

I felt uneasy.

“He’s the guy Phoebe spent the summer after college graduation with.”

Shocked, realization dawned on Emmy but that wasn’t all. She paled and some emotion seemed to plague her. What it was, I had no idea. All I knew was every ounce of color drained from her face and she meekly said, “Excuse me please. I have to go. I forgot that I told James I’d stop by to check on him.”

And just like that, she was gone.

“I told her.” Lily looked so proud.

I felt like there was more to her sudden departure. I even thought maybe she would seek out Jeremy to take him with her, but then I saw him working the room with a confidence that commanded attention. Every time I stole a glance his way, he caught me. After a while, I gave up wanting to talk to him—there were too many women surrounding him and he appeared happily entertained by their presence.

Not quite an hour had passed after Emmy’s sudden departure and I was feeling utterly exhausted. I turned to Lily. “I’m going to go home.”

She looked concerned. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I have a long week ahead of me and I have some sleep to catch up on.”

“Let me call my driver to take you home.”

“No, I’ll catch a cab.”

“Are you sure?” she asked again.

“Yes. Honestly, it will be faster.”

She hugged me. “Call me.”

“I will,” I told her, and then made my way to the coatroom.

The coat check took my ticket and I rested my palms on the counter while I waited.

“Are you leaving so soon?” His voice was smooth behind me.

My body was tingling at his nearness and I really couldn’t take any more of his flirting. I squeezed my fingers into fists and let my anger consume me.

“Here you are, ma’am.” The coat check interrupted my fury and I fumbled in my purse for some money.

“Here you go,” Jeremy said, handing her a twenty and taking my coat.

I slowly turned around to tell him I’d had enough but when I did, I looked straight into his eyes. They looked so blue that my knees weakened and I felt tongue-tied. My anger fled as quickly as it had built up. Shaking it off, I grabbed for my coat. I had to get out of here.

“Allow me,” he offered. He held my coat out and I twisted so he could help me into it.

He reached around to button my black lace trench and my body liquefied at his touch. He was hard and lean and arousal shot through me the moment his body connected with mine.

“Let me see you home?” he whispered in my ear.

My pulse was racing. “That’s not a good idea.”

“It’s a ride. What about that isn’t a good idea?”

I twisted back and stared at him. I wanted to say no. I knew I should say no . . . except I couldn’t. “Okay. But only because I want to talk to you.”

He smiled with such charisma that he almost won me over then and there. “This way.” His smile turned brighter.

I melted all over again.

The way he took my hand, his hand, and the way he led me—it felt too familiar. We arrived at the elevators and he pressed the button for the garage, not the street.

I looked at him questioningly, wondering why.

“I drove myself,” he said.

The look I’d given him had nothing to do with the elevator. I swear I could see a trace of red lipstick on his lips and I knew just whose lips had been there.

Molten lava flowed through my veins. I sucked in a breath and once we were in the elevator, I stared at the floor so I didn’t have to see it. I kept it up until I felt him blowing on my cheek and my eyes darted up in surprise.

“You had glitter on your face.” He shrugged.

“You’re covered in it,” I said with a smirk and took the opportunity to wipe my fingers across his lips. “There, I got that.”

He didn’t need to know
that
was lipstick and not glitter.

The dark fringe of lashes lowered as his lids fluttered. “Thank you,” he said in a rumbling tone.

“You’re welcome,” I said, satisfied it was gone.

He glanced down at his glitter-clad tux. “Looks like I can throw this away.”

Damn, he looked so good in that tux.

“Depends,” I said.

He raised a brow. “On what?”

“If you want to remember all of those beautiful women touching you.”

Grinning, he looked down at the tux again and then over to me. “Nah, what’s the purpose if you don’t know them intimately.”

A weird rush of relief came over me.

We stared at each other, drawn together like two magnets that couldn’t defy the laws of science.

“I was offered the chance of a lifetime tonight,” I blurted out of pure nervousness.

He made an impressed face. “Oh yeah, do tell.”

Realizing what I’d said, I regretted it instantly. “No, I can’t. Forget I said anything.”

Curiosity filled his features.

Nervously, I tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear.

Jeremy had the same idea and our hands grazed each other’s at the same moment that our eyes locked, and oddly enough, in that moment, there was nothing between us but honesty. I could see him as clearly as I ever had. The high-strung young guy I had fallen in love with had grown into a magnificent man.

I instantly dropped my hand.

“You don’t have to be nervous,” he said, his words echoing my thoughts.

“I’m not,” I lied.

“Yes, you are. You’re twisting your ring. You always did that when you were nervous.”

I glanced down and sure enough, I was.

When the elevator door opened, Benji Peck stood there before us with a woman on one arm and a costume bag on the other.

As soon as we got out and the doors closed behind me, I burst out in laughter.

Jeremy eyed me. “What am I missing?”

“Him.” I jerked my head toward the elevator.

“Him, what?”

“He wanted me to blow him in exchange for a chance to try on one of tonight’s performance pieces. Honestly, I didn’t think anyone would take him up on that but I guess I was wrong.”

Jeremy glowered at me. “He what?”

I swooshed a hand at him, still giggling. “Come on, it’s funny.”

“What was his name?” Jeremy asked sternly.

I shrugged as if I didn’t remember.

He was taking this way too seriously.

Abruptly, he lurched forward and took my hand again. He led me through the garage in silence and stopped in front of a very pretty white Porsche.

“Nice car,” I commented.

“I want to know his name,” he said tersely.

I patted the hood of the pretty car. “Jeremy, it’s not important.”

His gaze drifted from my hand to my face and his demeanor softened. “I drove it for you.”

I gave him a questioning look.

“Sorry, I keep forgetting you can’t remember last night. When I took you to the garage that houses the Rose Bar’s fleet, you picked it out. You said you always wanted to drive a Porsche.”

My jaw almost hit the floor. “Really, I said that?”

He nodded as he opened my door.

“I don’t drive.”

Light flared in his eyes. “You know how to drive, you just don’t have your license.”

He remembered.

“True,” I laughed. “But it’s been a while.”

Once, long ago, I’d scheduled my driver’s license test, but I never took it. I shook off the memory and got in.

He looked at me and when I smiled at him, he closed my door. Once he was in and buckled up, the car purred to life. He gave me a grin and then accelerated so fast out of the underground garage, I had to hold on to the door. Rather than fear, adrenaline raced through my veins as he took the curves with such competency.

Jeremy pulled onto Broadway and instead of heading north, the shortest way to my apartment building, he went south.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” He grinned.

I started to protest but then he pulled over at the entrance to Central Park and got out of the car. He came around to my door, opened it, and said, “You’re up. I’m shotgun.”

I shook my head. “No way.”

“Last night you said you wanted to drive this car. You weren’t in any condition to drive then, but you are now.”

“Jeremy,” I protested. “I haven’t driven in years.”

He took my hand and tugged me out of the car.

His touch seared me.

“Then it’s time.”

We were standing so close and I looked up at him, my heart thumping with excitement. “Tell me what happened last night and this morning first.”

He groaned. “This is supposed to be fun, not serious.”

“Please, I have to know.”

He caged me, his hard body colliding with mine. “Drive us through the park and then I’ll tell you.”

The heat that surged when he looked into my eyes was something I remembered all too well. But once I realized he wasn’t making a move on me, that he was slipping into the passenger seat, I sat behind the wheel of the Porsche 911.

“Zero to sixty in two point six seconds. Give it a try.”

My hands shook as I gripped the leather. “I’m illegal. My permit isn’t valid anymore.”

He shrugged. “So, I’ll spend a night with you in jail if we get caught. The trick is not to get caught. Unless . . .” He let the word trail off and just smirked.

The adrenaline and excitement mixed as they flowed through my veins. But it wasn’t from the prospect of driving Jeremy’s car. It was because he was sitting next to me. I put the car in drive and thought I had pressed down on the accelerator only lightly, but the car jerked forward—fast. Faster than I meant and I slammed on the brake.

I looked over at him. “Sorry.”

“Keep going.” He was calm and patient. But then again, he always was.

I tried again, and again I accelerated too fast and slammed on the brake.

“You’re using two feet, aren’t you?”

I looked down at my jewel-encrusted Manolos. “Yes, but my heels keep sticking to the mat, so I have to.”

“Take them off.”

The tone of his command was sensual and gave me goose bumps. I couldn’t help that I wanted to do what he told me to.

“There you go,” he encouraged as I drove through Central Park.

I was shaking and nervous and stopped as soon as I reached the exit.

“Why’d you stop?”

“I’m not driving on the streets of Manhattan.”

He laughed. “Not yet anyway. Next time we’ll take the Alfa Romeo on the Turnpike.”

A memory flashed through my mind of the night before. A garage next to the club filled with a fleet of white cars and Jeremy telling me to pick the one I wanted to ride in. “This one,” I’d said and pointed to the Alfa Romeo. “No. That one,” I countered, pointing to the Porsche.

My door opened and the memory was gone.

He reached for my hand. “You did great.”

“I don’t know about that, but it was fun,” I conceded.

The traffic was light around us. Grabbing my shoes, he walked me around to the passenger side but didn’t open the door. Instead he bent down. “Lift your foot.”

His touch as he slid on first one shoe and then the other intoxicated me. He watched me intently to gauge my reaction.

I shivered at the intensity I saw in his eyes.

The night was dark and a little chilly through the lace of my coat, but I could see him and felt warm from the heat of his stare.

I must have shivered though because when he stood, he took his glitter-covered jacket off and wrapped it around me. Then he leaned against the car and crossed his arms. “So, about last night.” He grinned.

I swallowed, unsure of what he was going to say.
Did I want to know?

His head dropped but his eyes lifted.

He looked adorable.

“It’s a real bummer you don’t remember because . . .” He let the words hang in the air.

Fed up, I told him how I felt. “Jeremy, can you stop playing this game you’re playing. I know we didn’t sleep together.”

He shook his head and reached back, flattening his palms to the hood of the car. “I never said we did.” He became more serious. “But, by the end of the night, we did agree to leave the past in the past.”

My doubt must have registered on my face. I wasn’t certain what he had said was even a possibility.

Jeremy arched his back in a stretchlike motion and I couldn’t deny the wanton feeling that stripped me of any common sense. “You lied to me about who you were and when I found out, I left without a second thought.”

My heart started to slam into my rib cage but somehow I managed to contain my emotion from spilling out.
So that was why.
I had already suspected as much but he made it sound so heartless.

“Hey,” he said, drawing my gaze back to his. “I think we can say, it’s a draw as to whose wrongdoing outdid whose.”

To my own surprise, I nodded in agreement.

He wasn’t finished. “I was an immature ass. I was a different person then. And so were you. You were an Upper East Sider who lied about who she was and I had a chip on my shoulder. We were doomed no matter what.”

My heart fell but he was right. It would have never worked. I took a hesitant step and leaned against the car, next to him. “If we agreed to let the past stay where it was, then why were you an asshole this morning?”

He cringed. “Last night, after I brought you home, you wanted to see where I lived, so I brought you to my place. On the way, you started to fall asleep, but before you did you promised that in the morning things wouldn’t be weird between us.”

It was my turn to cringe because things certainly were weird.

Remorse flickered in his eyes. “When I woke up and you pretended to be asleep, it ticked me off. It was like you were playing games and it triggered something I thought I had come to grips with. And then I thought you were lying about not remembering anything and that really pissed me off. So yeah, I was an ass. But even so, you shouldn’t have left like that.”