“Another nice guy trait. We’re straight and aboveboard.”
“That could be a problem, you know. Sometimes a little seduction is better than straight and aboveboard. Maybe that’s the reason the other women dumped you. Maybe a little subtlety would go a long way.”
He stared at her for what seemed to be a long time. “You seem a bit pre-occupied with what I did and didn’t do with other women. Is my lovemaking on your mind that much, Ms. Washington?”
“No,” she lied, “I’m trying to be helpful. Maybe you should consider revamping your moves.”
Reggie got up and began removing the dishes from the table.
“I didn’t mean to insult you,” she said again. “I was only making an observation.”
“I guess you’d like it a lot better if I threw you over my shoulder, carried you into the bedroom and had my way with you. Is that what women want?”
The idea of him becoming so overcome with passion and need for her that he tossed her over his shoulder held interesting possibilities. “Now you’re being defensive.”
“Hell, yes, I’m defensive. You’d be defensive too, if you were in my shoes.”
She got up and followed him into the kitchen. “I’m sorry.”
He rinsed the dishes and quickly placed them in the dishwasher. When he was finished, he slammed the door shut and pushed the button to start.
Then he turned to her, picked her up, and threw her over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” she yelled.
“I want to make love with you so I’m taking you to bed.”
“But I don’t want to make love with you.”
“Yes, you do,” he said, moving quickly down the hall. “You just don’t want to admit it.”
He entered the bedroom, threw her on the bed and proceeded to undress. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it? A big, strong man to take charge?”
“No, Reggie,” she said, getting up from the bed. “This is not what I want.”
His shirt off, he turned to her. “What did you mean then? You don’t want honesty, you want subtlety. What the hell does that mean?”
“This is not what I want,” she said again.
Reggie sat down in the armchair next to the bed and pulled off his shoes and socks. Then he stood and unhooked his belt. When he was about to unzip his pants, she said, “Stop, Reggie. This is not funny.”
“I’m not being funny. I’m giving you what you want. If I don’t, you may dump me too. Isn’t that what you said?”
She went to him, hugged him around his neck and rested her head on his bare chest. The thump, thump of his heart sounded loudly in her ears. “Don’t be this way, Reggie. This is not you. I said I was sorry.”
He pulled back from her and looked down in her face. “What do you want from me, Kim? One minute you’re calling me the plague of the male sex and the next you’re telling me I’m straight out of The Nice Guy handbook. In actuality, I’m neither. I’m just a man who tries to treat people as he wants to be treated. Why is that so hard for you to understand?”
She moved back into his arms. “I don’t know. Sometimes I think you’re too good to be true. I keep looking for a hole in the armor, but I can’t seem to find one.”
“I’m not perfect, Kim, and I don’t claim to be. But I’m not a dog trying to get every woman I meet into bed either. That’s not, and never has been, my style. I’d hoped you would know that by now.”
“I do know it, Reggie,” she said. “I do.”
He moved her away from him again, reached for his shirt and pulled it on. Then he stepped into his shoes. “Come on, I’m taking you home.”
Kim looked into his eyes to see if he was angry with her. She saw anger and she saw disappointment. Both hurt. “I said I was sorry,” she repeated.
“Don’t worry about it, Kim,” he said. “You’re just doing your job. I don’t fault you for that. I’ll take you home.”
Kim couldn’t think of any other words to say. She felt she’d somehow ruined whatever was between them and that made her sad.
Chapter 15
Kim lay in bed unable to asleep. Thoughts of her evening with Reggie kept running through her mind. She feared she’d gone too far tonight, though she really hadn’t meant to. All she’d wanted was to slow things down a bit. She and Reggie were reaching a turning point in their relationship and she wasn’t sure she was ready for the change.
She glanced at the clock. Five-thirty. And she hadn’t gotten any sleep all night. Neither had she gotten any calls. Not the goodnight call from Reggie that she’d become so used to and not the wake-up call from Jim that had become just as expected.
Rolling over onto her side to face the clock, she hugged her pillow. Would Reggie call? she wondered. Or had he written her off as one of the double-minded women he’d written about in his article? She wasn’t, but she knew her actions spoke differently.
She heard the faint sound of a door opening and closing and wondered which one of her suitemates was coming in. In need of someone to talk to, she got up from the bed, grabbed her robe and went to greet the latecomer.
“Leslie,” she said as she saw her friend rush toward her bedroom, shoulders shaking. “What’s wrong?”
Leslie leaned her forehead on her bedroom door, not turning around. “It’s Nate. Why’d he have to mess everything up?”
Kim rushed to her friend, put her hands on her shoulders and turned her around. The tears in Leslie’s eyes surprised her. Crying over a man was definitely a new one for Leslie. “What happened?” Kim asked. “What did Nate do?”
Leslie brushed wildly at the tears streaming down her face. “Men can be such jerks,” she said. “Why do they have to be jerks, Kim?”
“You’ll have to tell me what you’re talking about,” Kim said, leading her friend back to the sitting room area. “Here, sit down. Do you want some coffee?”
Leslie shook her head and Kim sat down on the couch next to her. “So tell me what happened.”
“There’s nothing to tell,” Leslie said. “Nate’s a jerk. I should have known better than to go out with him. And making love with him was definitely a foolish move. How could I have been so stupid?”
Had Nate slept with Leslie, Kim wondered, then decided he didn’t want to see her again? Probably. Sometimes men could be so callous. “It’s his loss, girl,” Kim said. “I’m sorry I even got you two together. But he seemed like such a nice guy.”
“Yeah,” Leslie said with a sniffle. “He’s a nice guy, all right. Too nice. I can’t believe him.”
“Tell me exactly what happened, Leslie. It’ll make you feel better to get it all off your chest.”
Leslie stood up and paced in front of Kim, rubbing her hands together as if she didn’t know what else to do with them. “It had been a wonderful evening. We went back to The Club. We talked, we danced, we ate, we laughed. And all the while I was thinking what a special guy he was.”
Leslie’s voice broke then and tears filled her eyes. “Why did he have to be a jerk, Kim? Why?”
Kim got up to embrace her friend, but Leslie shook her head. “I’ve got to finish this, now or I won’t finish it.”
Kim nodded, sat back down and waited for her friend to speak. She was already planning the harsh words she was going to give Reggie. He should have told her what kind of man Nate was. He was as much responsible for Leslie’s pain as Nate was.
“Then,” Leslie continued, “we went back to his place. Again, it started out so beautiful, so sweet. First we were sitting on the couch talking, sharing our lives, cuddling. And the next thing you know we were in his big old king-sized bed.”
The rat, Kim thought. She bet Nate pulled that shy routine on lots of women. Another get over persona from another get over brother.
Leslie closed her eyes and smiled through her tears. “It was beautiful, Kim. It was like I was there, but then I wasn’t. I can’t explain it.” She opened her eyes and looked at Kim. “Have you ever felt like that?”
Sadly, Kim shook her head. She’d been through her share of men in her thirty-two years, but she’d never come close to feeling what Leslie described. Until Reggie, a soft voice in her head said. Kim’s envy of what her friend had experienced was only surpassed by her anger with Nate. How dare he play with Leslie’s emotions the way he had?
“Then,” Leslie continued, her eyes dry and her mouth angry. “He blows it. He blows it, Kim. He should have kept his mouth shut. He should have kept his damn mouth shut.”
“What did he say?” Kim asked, feeling righteous anger toward the man who’d betrayed her friend.
Leslie’s eyes filled with tears again and she covered her face with her hands. She mumbled something, but Kim couldn’t understand her. “What did he say, Leslie? I didn’t understand you.”
Leslie wiped her hands down her face and then dropped them to her side. “He said he loved me. Can you believe it? He said he loved me. How could he be such a jerk, Kim?”
Kim’s mouth dropped open.
“You look exactly the way I felt. I mean, can you believe it?”
“Wait a minute, Leslie,” Kim said, totally bewildered now. Men were always telling Leslie they loved her. She’d come to expect it by now. “You’re telling me that you’re all upset because Nate told you he loved you?”
Leslie dropped down on the couch next to her. “How can he love me? He doesn’t even know me. And here I was thinking he was different, that he wanted to get to know me.” She stabbed a finger to her chest. “The me in here.” She shook her head. “I must have been crazy to think that.”
Kim’s envy immediately left as she turned and embraced Leslie.
“I know I can act all cold sometimes, Kim,” she said. “But I’m no different than you or Tam. I want somebody to love me the same way you two do.”
“I know, Leslie,” Kim murmured, and she did know. But sometimes she forgot. It was easy to forget with Leslie. The girl had everything—looks, brains, body, and personality. But men tended to stop at the looks and body and not dig deep enough to appreciate the brains and personality.
“Did you know that Nate was the first guy in a long time who really talked to me?”
Kim shook her head.
“Well, he was. And he didn’t just brag about himself. He told me about his firm, his latest projects and he asked my opinion. That was the biggest turn-on of all. He didn’t see me as another pretty face and it felt wonderful. Then he had to go and ruin it.” She stopped her sniffles and looked at Kim. “Maybe it’s my fault,” she said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have slept with him so soon. It was only our fourth date.”
“It was kinda fast,” Kim said. “But no faster than usual for you.”
“Which has always been faster than either you or Tam. What’s wrong with me, Kim?”
“There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re a strong woman. You know what you want and you go after it. You’re that way in every aspect of your life. I can’t imagine your sex life being any different. You’re safe, you’re discriminating, but you’re Leslie and you do things the Leslie way.”
Leslie stopped her sniffles. “Then why am I sitting her blubbering over some jerk?”
Kim shrugged. “You tell me.”
Leslie sighed. “Because I thought he was different. I broke my own first rule: Don’t get serious until you’re sure the guy is worth it. That way you don’t get hurt.”
Kim thought about her and Reggie. “Sometimes your heart doesn’t line up with your brain, Leslie. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You and Nate weren’t a match. You’ll meet another guy.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Leslie said with a dry laugh. “Anyway, I’m back to myself now and I’m just gonna write Nate off. I’ll never meet the man of my dreams if I spend all my time mooning over the ones who couldn’t cut it.”
~ ~ ~
Two hours later, while Leslie was in bed and probably sleeping soundly, Kim was still thinking about their conversation. She and Tam had often been envious of Leslie’s seeming success with men, not stopping to think how the attention made Leslie feel. Though their friend seemed to always get her pick of men, in reality, she didn’t fare any better in relationships than she and Tam did. Leslie wanted a man who loved her for herself—the person she was inside —just the way she and Tam did. Sometimes the outlook for the three of them looked bleak, then she remembered the happy sisters out there who’d found the man of their dreams.
Sometimes she wondered if she and her friends were at fault. Were they too hard on men as Jim had accused? Did they demand too much? She didn’t think so. Actually, she thought the opposite was true. Sure, if a guy who held no appeal for them came along, it was easy for them to brush him off and forget him. But with a guy with potential, they seemed to lose their backbone and their mind. Why was that?
She turned her head when she heard the suite door open and waited for Tam—who else could it be at this hour—to enter. From the wobegotten look on her friend’s face, Kim guessed her evening with Luther hadn’t gone well, either. Though not usually a superstitious person, she wondered if there had been a full moon last night. Or if all the black cats had escaped from the zoo and had walked across their paths.
“Morning, Tam,” Kim said brightly, hoping her friend would give a smile.
“Morning,” Tam said, not looking directly at Kim. “What are you doing up so early? Or did you just get in?”
Kim shook her head. “I was in before ten. I got up when Leslie came in.”
Tam scanned the room. “Where is she?”
Kim inclined her head in the direction of Leslie’s bedroom. “Probably sleeping like a baby.”
“Good,” Tam said, dropping down on the couch and kicking off her black pumps. “I don’t want to hear her ‘I told you so’ this morning.”
Without bothering to ask, Kim poured coffee for herself and a cup for Tam then took it to her friend.
Tam smiled up at her. “Thanks, though I could use something a bit stronger.”
Kim smiled too, since Tam didn’t drink. “The coffee’s strong enough.”
“I don’t know, Kim,” Tam said. “Sometimes life requires something a bit stronger.”
Kim placed her cup on the table. “Something happened with you and Luther?”
Tam shook her head, the sadness in her eyes speaking volumes.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Kim suddenly wondered about psychiatrists. How did they spend all day listening to people’s problems and making comments on their lives?
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Tam said, staring down at her coffee cup. “Not really.”
“I don’t want to pry, Tam, but you look so down. Is it Luther?”
“I’d rather not talk about it, Kim,” Tam said.
“Talk about what?”
Both Kim and Tam turned their heads in the direction of Leslie’s voice. “When did you get up?” Kim asked.
“I never went to bed,” she said, dropping down on the couch on the other side of Kim. “What’s up, Tam? You having man problems, too?”
“Too?” Tam asked.
“Yes, girl,” Leslie began. “Nate turned out to be a jerk, after all.” She then explained what had happened.
Tam turned back to Leslie. “You’re the jerk, Leslie. I don’t believe you. Frankly, I don’t see what a nice guy like Nate wants with you anyway. You’re nothing but a selfish, stuck-up—”
Kim grabbed Tam’s arm and cut off her words. She knew Tam was speaking out of frustration at her own situation, but she also knew that some things said couldn’t be taken back. “Don’t take whatever happened between you and Luther out on Leslie,” she said softly. “Just tell us what happened.”
Tam got up, taking her coffee cup with her. “Nothing happened,” she said.
“Yeah, right,” Leslie said. “I don’t know why you fell for that brother’s line anyway. Any man without enough money to get his own place doesn’t need to be dating. Please tell me that the two of you haven�
�t been having sex in Reggie’s house.”
“That’s enough, Leslie,” Kim said, stepping into the familiar role of referee. This time she couldn’t leave the room and hope her friends would work out their differences.
“That’s all right, Kim,” Tam said. “I don’t pay much attention to what Leslie says anyway. As usual, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. How she ever got a promotion is a mystery to me.”
“Hey, I got a promotion because I’m good at my job,” Leslie said. “I’m damn good at my job. Now, your Luther, it doesn’t take much brainpower to figure him out.”
Tam poured herself some more coffee and took her time coming back to join her friends. Instead of sitting on the couch with them, she took the armchair that faced the sofa. “So you think you know so much about Luther, huh?”
“I know the brother doesn’t have his own place. Now, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out he probably can’t afford one, which means either he doesn’t have a job or he has a piece-of-a-job that pays crap.”
Kim cut her eyes at Leslie, wondering how a woman who’d been practically blubbering over a man a few hours earlier could be so unsympathetic to her friend’s pain. “He must have some money,” she said. “You should see the car he drives.”
“Like that means anything,” Leslie said, clearly cynical. “It probably means the brother has priority problems on top of everything else.”
“You know The Club?” Tam asked Leslie.
“Sure,” Leslie said. “Nate took me there again last night.”
Tam smiled. “I’m sure Luther will be glad to hear it. He owns the place.”
“What?” Kim and Leslie asked at the same time. While Kim didn’t think Luther was a bum or anything, she surely hadn’t suspected he owned The Club.
“He’s lying to you, girl,” Leslie said. “No way does that brother own The Club. Though he’s probably spent enough money there to have purchased it.”
Tam nodded her head toward the phone. “Why don’t you call the county office and ask them who owns The Club? They’ll tell you.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you, Tam?” Kim asked, surprised but believing her friend’s words.
The Nicest Guy in America Page 17
