My Nerdy Valentine

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  But living at ground level meant that an intruder would have an easier time of it. A person needed a key to get in the main door of the building, but windows, especially old single-paned ones like this, could be jimmied, broken, even scored with a glass cutter. Amanda had downplayed that by telling herself that she didn't want to live scared.

  Some people focused on all the bad news out there and were convinced that rapists and muggers lurked everywhere. Amanda had rejected that view of the world, which allowed her to move around the city without fear. Nothing had interfered with her belief system. Until now.

  Her apartment was its usual temperature of seventy-four degrees, but she couldn't make herself take off her coat. A quilted jacket was no protection against anything, but she felt better with it on. Walking over to her dinette set, she sat down at the table and took a deep breath.

  So the valentine guy knew her phone number. That didn't mean he knew where she lived. She'd opted out of having her address in the phone book to cut down on junk mail. Yet she knew that these days a determined person could get almost any information they wanted online. She was surprised Gloria hadn't asked her to snoop around the Internet to find Will's address and phone number.

  But there was a reason for that. If a person voluntarily gave the information, then using it didn't seem like harassment. Gloria might be obsessed with sex, but she understood that much about social interactions. The valentine guy did not, which meant he had at least a borderline personality disorder.

  Carefully she reviewed her options. As Mavis had pointed out, dogs weren't allowed in this apartment complex, and even if they were, a dog didn't usually become protective of a person or place overnight. It was also a little late for her to take up one of the martial arts.

  She could install an alarm system, but that would be permanent and cost money she didn't have. An alarm seemed like overkill, anyway. The guy could lose interest and she'd have a system that would be a pain in the butt to operate and cause Mavis and Chester all kinds of problems. Mavis had a key as backup, and she'd learned to jiggle the lock just fine. But she'd never figure out how to deactivate an alarm.

  There was a solution, of course. It would cost her nothing financially, but she wasn't sure if she could keep the psychological cost down, as well. There would have to be a ton of ground rules. Then there was the issue of Gloria. Amanda didn't have a plan for how to deal with Gloria, but Will had sounded as if he did.

  Before she even considered going to bed, she scoured the apartment for a weapon, should she need one. She was ludicrously low on weapon material. A pointy umbrella would be worth something, but she owned the compact kind that folded in on itself. She didn't cook, so she didn't own a rolling pin.

  She had one large carving knife, but she couldn't imagine stabbing someone with it. If she had to fight, she'd rather have a club than a knife. Finally she settled on the wand attachment to her vacuum cleaner, plus the collected works of Sigmund Freud. She laid them both on the floor by her bed.

  Leaving all the lights on, she lay down fully clothed and pulled the quilt over her. She couldn't begin to sleep as she strained to hear every little noise outside the window. Her muscles ached from keeping them contracted.

  She couldn't last through another night like this. Only one thing made sense under the circumstances. If Will could figure out a way to get around the problem of Gloria, she'd ask him to be her pretend boyfriend. It was risky, but she had no choice.

  Justin laid down his hand. "Gin."

  "That does it. You win." Will gathered up the cards and began to shuffle. He should be exhausted, but instead he felt wired. "Another round?"

  "Why not? But first I have to ask you something."

  "Shoot." Will kept shuffling as he glanced up at Justin.

  "Now that Amanda's out of the picture, are you going to consider Gloria?"

  "No." Will couldn't imagine substituting Gloria for Amanda. It would be like choosing moonshine over fine blended whiskey.

  "You're sure?"

  "Absolutely sure." He had an inkling what this was about and hoped he was wrong.

  "So if I try to get something going with her, you wouldn't care?"

  Will groaned. "Look, I know you're upset about Cindi, but Gloria Tredway is not the answer." Amanda might not think it was a bad idea, but she didn't love Justin like a brother. Will did.

  "I'm not looking to marry her, buddy. I just want to buy a little of what she's selling. Once I get my groove back, I'll call it off. From what you've said about her, she's interested in a temporary good time. So am I."

  "You only think that. I know you, Justin. You've never had a temporary good time in your life. It might start out as sex, but before long you'd be daydreaming about getting her to mend her ways and settle down."

  Justin polished off his beer. "Would not."

  "Would, too."

  "I'm telling you, I'm a changed man. That phone call from Cindi created a whole new me."

  Will remembered the feeling of belligerent rebellion. If someone like Gloria had been around six months ago, he might have been tempted, too. He was lucky there had been no Gloria type, because he was past that stage. "Your feelings are still raw from the shock, but that will pass if you give yourself some time. You don't have to climb that mountain tomorrow."

  "I was thinking about climbing Mount Gloria."

  "Listen, she'd be the one doing the climbing. I don't think you have any idea what—"

  "You're right, I don't, but I sure as hell want to find out."

  "Don't do something rash. This is a knee-jerk reaction. Eventually someone else will come along, someone you could have a future with."

  "You mean like a nice girl?"

  "Yeah, I do."

  "I'm finished with nice girls, Will. I've hung out with them my whole life, and what do I have to show for it?" He pointed the empty beer bottle at Will. "What do you have to show for it, speaking of success stories with nice girls?"

  Will gazed at him. "I can't argue that one."

  "So I'm saying, if you want a fling with Gloria, tell me now. Otherwise, I'm going to find out if that look she gave me the other day could lead to something."

  "I don't want a fling with Gloria." He didn't want a fling at all. He wanted something solid and lasting. Helen had not been right about him. He was sure of that now. Amanda wasn't in the market, so he'd have to keep looking.

  Amanda was in no danger of oversleeping. She'd been awake all night. She didn't have class that morning, and she was almost sorry about that. Someone in her class might be the valentine guy, and she wanted a chance to scrutinize everyone and look for a guilty face. She'd have to do that tomorrow.

  In the meantime, she'd study every man she came across in her daily life. Gloria only counseled couples, but that meant at least one man per visit. They were all suspects, except for Franklin, who was still recuperating at home after his unfortunate penis accident.

  Amanda hated to think one of her customers at Geekland was responsible when the atmosphere of the bar had always been fun and friendly. But one of the regulars might not be so fun, after all. She intended to watch them all more carefully from now on.

  Her first order of business once she got to the office was talking to Will. Even so, she put it off all morning, always finding an excuse for not calling him. Finally she faced the reason for the delay. She wasn't used to asking anyone for help.

  Late in the morning FedEx delivered Titillating Trivia, the book she'd ordered for Gloria to give Will. She signed for it, but now that it was here, she had to let Gloria know. Picking up the FedEx package, she walked into Gloria's office. "The sex trivia book arrived."

  "Perfect!" Gloria had given up her nerd disguise and was back to vintage Gloria. Her red hair billowed around her shoulders and her V-necked black sweater and black leather skirt revealed plenty of skin accented with gold jewelry at her neck and wrists. "I want you to take it to him."

  "Me?" She wanted to talk to him, but handing him a copy of T
itillating Trivia might set the wrong tone for their discussion.

  "Yes. My new technique is to withdraw and be mysteriously absent. He'll have long-range contact with me through you, and that will intrigue him and ultimately make him curious enough to come around."

  "O-kay." Amanda wondered how Gloria managed to live her life. She was so divorced from reality it was frightening.

  "I can see you're skeptical, but it'll work. Besides, the Silversmiths are due any minute, and they're in desperate need of guidance in oral sex. Edna keeps leaving teeth marks. So while I'm dealing with the Silversmiths, you can run that book down to William's office and let him know I sent it."

  "I'll definitely let him know you sent it."

  "As if he'd think it was you! But you might as well state the obvious and avoid any confusion. Oh, and before you go, I have to ask because you seem even more uptight today than usual. Did you use that red vibrator?"

  "Not yet."

  "Use it, Amanda! You look like a zombie. There's nothing like a few orgasms to put the spring back in your step and erase those dark smudges from under your eyes. You probably stayed up all night studying."

  "Sort of." She'd stayed up all night paralyzed with fear.

  "That's pathetic. Use that vibrator and you'll sleep like a baby afterward." At the sound of the outer office door opening, she glanced over Amanda's shoulder. "The Silversmiths are here," she said in a low voice. "Be sure to tell me how William reacts to the book. Now, take off."

  Amanda smiled at the Silversmiths as Gloria ushered them into her office. Was Jacob Silversmith a suspect? He didn't look suspicious, but maybe there was a reason Edna was leaving tooth marks. Maybe Jacob wasn't a nice man. He looked sweet, with his ruddy complexion, thinning hair, and the beginnings of a paunch, but maybe he was her stalker.

  She hated the idea of looking at every male client as if he might be the one harassing her. It threatened to suck any remaining joy out of her life. But unless the boyfriend ruse worked or she figured out who was doing this, she'd have to stay alert.

  On her way down the hall to the offices of Cooper and Scott, she made a detour into the women's bathroom. Gloria's comments about the dark smudges under her eyes had made her wonder if she was in any shape to ask Will to be her pretend boyfriend. A couple of days ago she wouldn't have worried about it, and it was a sign of her new interest in him that she cared now.

  The bathroom mirror didn't give her a lot of comfort. There were dark smudges under her eyes, and she hadn't brought any concealer to work. She never brought makeup, other than lipstick. That was pretty much gone, too.

  Detouring back to the office, she opened her desk drawer to take out her purse. As she reached for it, she paused. Was there another valentine underneath? Her heart rate picked up. Slowly she removed her purse from the drawer. It was empty.

  With a sigh, she took her lipstick and a small mirror out of an inside compartment. Lipstick helped, but she still looked as if she hadn't slept. Not much to do about it, now. Fluffing her hair with her fingers, she put her lipstick and mirror away and replaced her purse in the drawer.

  In the hall she glanced both ways. Whoever was planting the valentines used the time she was out of the office to do it. If there was somewhere she could hide and watch the outer office door... but there was no place, and besides, she couldn't stake out Gloria's office. Her job was to be in there working, not hanging around outside trying to catch the valentine guy.

  FedEx box in hand, she walked down to the door marked cooper and scott, investment brokers. A brunette receptionist, who looked much more pulled together than Amanda felt, greeted her with a smile and a cheery welcome.

  "I'm here to see Will Sloan," Amanda said.

  "William? Let me see if he's in. Who shall I say is here?"

  Amanda gave her name and waited while the receptionist did her thing. So Will was still called William at Cooper and Scott. Amanda liked the idea that she, Justin, and the customers at Geekland knew him as Will. She felt as if she had access to another side of him. It wasn't quite the Clark Kent/Superman transformation, but it leaned in that direction.

  He came to the front of the office looking more William than Will. In his gray suit and conservative blue tie, dark hair neatly combed, he gave no indication that he'd been at the bar last night slamming down Raging Bulls and kicking trivia butt. Then again, that image might not work so well with potential investors.

  The surroundings ratcheted up the nerd factor, too. It was Dilbert personified, a gray-partitioned cube farm with computer keys clicking and phones buzzing. The fluorescent lights overhead made everyone look a little gray. Amanda had never thought about the lighting in Gloria's office, but now she appreciated the discreet wall sconces and table lamps.

  "Hi, Amanda." Will looked pleasant, but his gaze created a distance between them.

  This would be tougher than she'd thought. He'd obviously decided to write her off after last night's conversation at the bus stop, and he might not be willing to reverse that decision. If he took the package without inviting her back to his office, she wouldn't have the chance to ask him about the boyfriend thing.

  No, not boyfriend. That term belonged in high school. The word that applied in this situation was lover. As she stood there looking at him, she had a decidedly sexual reaction to the idea of Will as a faux lover.

  She easily could be tempted to get rid of the faux part, despite, or maybe because of, his buttoned-down exterior. She wanted to muss him up and bring out the person who'd had such a high old time last night. Whoops. She was in major attraction mode.

  That meant that asking him to help her was a really bad idea. Okay, she'd go into debt and get that alarm system. Setting up a pretend relationship was too risky for her, and unfair to him. She'd been right to reject the idea last night.

  "Gloria asked me to give you this." She held out the FedEx box.

  He glanced at the package and then looked into her eyes. The distance he'd created before had somehow evaporated. "Come on back."

  His eyes really were gorgeous. She'd never made love to a man with green eyes. She wouldn't be making love to this man, either, no matter how much electricity was shooting back and forth between them.

  She needed to blow this cube farm before something happened that she'd regret. "I need to go." She extended the box in his direction, wiggling it slightly to indicate he should take it off her hands.

  "Let me talk to you for a minute." As if assuming her consent, he started down the hallway created by the partitions.

  She'd been outmaneuvered. She could set the box on the receptionist's desk and leave, but that would be awkward and impolite. She followed him into his cubicle.

  Once there, he turned to her and lowered his voice. "Okay, what's going on?"

  Her heart was beating a mile a minute. "I brought you something from Gloria."

  "I don't mean that. I mean the way you were looking at me just now."

  She had no choice but to lie. "I don't know what you mean."

  "The hell you don't." He took off his glasses and kissed her.

  FIFTEEN

  Kissing Amanda today was the best decision Will had made in ages. He should have done this last night, too, when they'd been standing all alone at the bus stop. But he'd been worried about ruining his plan, so he'd let her call the shots.

  At the moment, she wasn't calling any shots. She was going along with this kiss in a most gratifying way. The package she'd been holding dropped to the commercial-grade carpet with a muffled thud as she wrapped both arms around his waist.

  She felt so good, so perfect in his arms that he almost forgot she'd never been there before. They'd spent too much time talking. Kissing was more straightforward, and he sent his message with all the clarity he could muster. She seemed to read that message perfectly.

  When she opened her mouth a little bit, his brain cells began to disintegrate in the heat. If he didn't call a halt now, he'd have his tongue in her mouth and his fingers at the but
tons of her blouse. The kiss was a great idea on a personal level, but not so smart on a professional one. He was still a very junior member of this firm.

  But he didn't want to stop. This mouth-to-mouth communication with Amanda seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Ending the kiss when she was so eager seemed totally unnatural. He did it anyway.

  The moment he lifted his head, the spell was broken. With a gasp, she backed away as if he had cooties. She was trembling, though, and he took some comfort in that. So was he.

  Her eyes were wide with shock. "What was that all about?"

  He put his glasses back on. He could think better wearing his glasses. "I should ask you the same thing. Last night you told me to get lost, and this morning you were looking at me with bedroom eyes."

  She had the good grace to blush. "I... have to admit that I... find you attractive."

  "That's nice."

  "No, it's inconvenient."

  "Not for me. I'm enjoying it." He crossed his arms over his chest so he wouldn't reach for her again. The next kiss would undoubtedly pick up where the first one left off, and that could mean violating Cooper and Scott's company standards of office behavior.

  She took a deep breath. "I can't allow myself to do that. I've explained my reasons."

  "Something tells me you're nothing like your mother."

  "I'm more like her than I thought. Two semesters ago I fell for a guy and in no time my grades were in the dumper. It was hell salvaging that semester, but I poured on the extra credit and saved myself."

  His telephone rang. "Excuse me a minute. Don't go anywhere." He picked up the phone, and just his luck, it was Gloria.

  "I'm taking a break while my clients complete a little oral exam in my office," she said. "I noticed Amanda's not back yet. How did you like the book?"

  "It looks very interesting." He glanced at Amanda and mouthed Gloria's name.

  She rolled her eyes, reached for the FedEx carton, and pulled the book out. Turning it face out, she held it so he could see the cover. Titillating Trivia was written in gold script against a whorehouse-red background. Cartoon characters in various bawdy positions and states of undress surrounded the title.