"When do our parents stop knowing what’s best for us?"
"Some of them never seem to know what's best for their kids. Like Alicia's prick of a boyfriend. If you don't want to stand up and be a father, why wait almost six months to walk away? Why not do it at the beginning? Then she knows what she's facing instead of being three months away from having a kid and finding out then."
"Sometimes people don't make sense.”
"All too often." Nick smiled at her. "I guess we'd better go check on Carson and Ali. And you look tired. I'd better get you home."
She followed him back into the bowling alley. Carson and Alicia were no longer making out, but they were holding hands, still having what looked like a private conversation.
"You two about ready to head out?" Nick said.
Alicia nodded, and Carson said "Sure."
"You want a ride home Ali?"
Ami was surprised it was Alicia who said it and not Carson, but she wasn't surprised at the words. "I'm going home with Carson. I'll ride with you guys."
"Okay," Nick said.
Carson gave him a triumphant grin. When they got to the car, Ami, trying to be polite, asked Alicia if she wanted to sit in the front seat. Alicia shook her head.
Nick turned up the radio to drown out the sounds of making out from the backseat, so there was no conversation on the way back to the apartment complex. Nick pulled in and went around and opened the door for Ami. Carson and Alicia still hadn't emerged from the back seat so he banged on Carson's window.
"You're home. Take it inside."
Carson came out with a grin, still holding Alicia's hand as she followed him out his door instead of going out hers. "Sorry."
"Have a good night you two." Alicia winked at Ami.
Thinking that her attraction to Nick was written on her face, Ami felt a stab of panic. She figured it was a little tardy to tell Alicia and Carson to have a good night so instead she said "Goodbye Alicia. It was nice to meet you. Bye Carson."
Carson wasn't listening. He was too busy propelling Alicia towards his apartment but Alicia called out "Nice to meet you too, Ami. Bye Nick."
Nick turned to her and gave her an amused smile. "They certainly hit it off."
"Yeah."
"I'll walk you up."
She was a little disappointed when he allowed her to go ahead of him up the stairs. She found herself wanting to check out his butt.
Once upstairs, she stood indecisively in front of her door for so long that Nick said "Did you forget your key?"
Now she was really embarrassed Ami thought. She'd been thinking about whether or not she should invite him in. Her face got hot. "Um, no. Do you want to come in for a minute?"
He looked indecisive himself, and Ami wondered if she'd made a mistake. Then he gave her a smile and said "Sure.”
He followed her inside. They ended up sitting uncomfortably together on the floor. She lit a cigarette and sat back, wondering why she'd felt semi comfortable around Nick until he was inside her apartment. “Sorry about the lack of furniture.”
He shrugged. "Your place is nicer than Carson's. Jenkins always has to fix one thing or another. Then again, who knows how much of it Carson actually causes himself."
"How long have you two been friends?"
"Since the day I moved here, so it's been almost three years now. I lived next to him for a while until the place I have now opened up.”
"Oh. Alicia seems to like you a lot."
"Yeah, but we'd never have been more than friends even if Carson hadn't swept her off her feet. And it's nothing to do with the fact that she's pregnant with another guy's kid. We just don't have that connection."
It came back to Ami’s mind then that she had felt a connection ever since she’d met Nick.
She looked into Nick's eyes and knew that he felt it too. Before she knew what she was doing, before she could even breathe, she was kissing him and he was kissing her back.
When they broke apart several minutes later, she was horrified at what she'd done.
Not just that she'd kissed him, but that her tongue had been in his mouth and her hands had been under his shirt, feeling the chest that she'd been dying to get more than just a teasing glimpse of.
"Nick. I am so sorry."
He gave her an easy grin. "It's not like I didn't encourage you." Then his smile faded. "But I know. Your boyfriend. I never met the guy, but man do I envy him.”
She felt guilty that she’d lied to him about having a boyfriend, but wasn’t sure how she could tell him now without sounding like an idiot. “Yeah.”
Ami felt that it would be a good time to change the subject and said "What exactly has gone on between Gabe and the other women?"
Nick sighed. "You name it. I guess technically the worst thing that anyone ever walked in on was him snorting a line of coke with this girl that worked there. But more than one has ended up pregnant while they were working there. I think there's been three if not four, just since I've been here. He's always got a girl in his car that's not his wife. He's always advancing them paychecks, giving them raises, driving them to doctor's appointments. I think he's paid for a couple of abortions too."
That gave her pause. What if people had it all wrong she wondered? What if Gabe was just cleaning up after some other guy's mess, trying to help the women that worked for him instead of hurt them like everyone seemed to think?
"Did anyone ever think that he was trying to help these girls out? You said so yourself, in a small town someone is always pregnant. There's not a whole hell of a lot to do in small towns besides get drunk, have sex, and go to church."
Nick laughed. "You're right about that. But yeah, at first people wanted to think better of him, especially since he pays a pretty good wage compared to most places around here. But he seems to favor beautiful, messed up girls. And I've heard that he pays the women more than the men. If you don't mind me asking, what's he starting you out at?"
"$11.00."
Nick nodded. "That sounds like it's true at least. He pays Rick more because Rick is so big that no one makes trouble when he's there. But I think he only pays Eric $1.00 above minimum wage and he's worked there for a long time."
"Really? Are you sure it's not just a rumor?"
"I used to hang out with Eric. He talks a lot of shit about Gabe. He was always complaining about how Gabe paid a woman that walked in off of the street more than him."
"Hmm," Ami said. Then she yawned.
"I guess I'd better let you get to sleep. I had a nice time tonight Ami. Maybe we can all do it again sometime."
She did not think that would be a good idea at all, but she smiled at him. "Sure."
He stood up, stretching, and once again, his shirt rode up. She closed her eyes so she couldn't look and gave him a weak smile when he asked her what was wrong, telling him that she was just tired.
She had a feeling she wasn't going to be okay when Nick was around for a while, at least until she could get her hormones back under control.
"Goodnight Ami.”
"Night Nick."
She closed her eyes again until the door was shut behind him, but then she got up and watched him go down the stairs anyway. He was almost running away. She wondered if she had affected him like he had her.
Ami wondered what she was going to do about Nick. The best thing to do would be to stay the hell away from him, but she wasn't sure how easy that was going to be. She was bound to at least run into him since his best friend lived downstairs. And what about Gabe? Yes, he had looked at her like he wanted to screw her brains out on the couch in his office, but had she done something to encourage him?
He may have caught the way she looked at him when she first saw him. Her first automatic thought was that he was hot as hell. Had he picked up on that thought?
How much of what people said about Gabe was really true though, she wondered? She hadn't grown up in a small town, but she'd certainly lived in enough of them in the last few years to figure out tha
t small town gossip ran from blatantly ridiculous to half-truth and half blown out of proportion lies.
She had a feeling that that was probably the way it was with the talk about Gabe.
Maybe he had taken some of the women that worked for him to bed and maybe he hadn't.
Maybe he'd even gotten a couple of them pregnant. Who the hell really knew?
Only Gabe and the women themselves and she doubted that she'd ever even meet half the women, and she sure as hell wasn't going to ask Gabe about it.
She sighed and went into the bedroom, using the restroom and then changing into her pajamas and climbing into bed.
Chapter 5
She slept surprisingly well that night. It was a little after eight a.m. when she got out of bed the next morning. She took a quick shower, then got dressed and started a pot of coffee.
She had sat down on the couch with a book when there was a knock at the door.
She opened it and saw Alicia standing there, looking well rested and utterly content. She was wearing a baggy pair of pajama pants and t-shirt that Ami thought must have belonged to Carson. "Good morning Ami. Sorry to bother you, but do you have a cup of sugar we can borrow?"
Ami did so she told Alicia to come in and dug around in the cupboard until she found it, pouring some into the plastic container that Alicia was holding.
"Can I ask you a question Ami?" Her beautiful face was suddenly serious.
"Sure."
They sat down and Alicia said "Do you believe in love at first sight?"
"I don't know. I've never really thought about it. You can certainly be attracted to someone when you first see them obviously but actual love? I don't know Alicia."
Alicia nodded, biting her lip. Then she grinned again. "I think I'm in love."
Ami laughed. "Carson."
"Yeah, Carson. It's funny. I didn't want to meet him. Nick kind of warned me about him. He loves the guy, but he told me that Carson isn't always the nicest guy when it comes to women. And Nick would know because he is. Nick is gorgeous, he's got a pretty good job, he's nice, he's smart, and he's funny. But it never clicked between us. Carson isn't the hottest guy around, he's probably not always the nicest guy around, but when I saw him, I swear to you Ami it was like I was coming home." She laughed. "Home to a place I'd never been before, but it felt so right. It's so quick and I'm not exactly in the position to be making rash decisions since I've got a child growing in my womb, but somehow it feels right and I am going to go for it. I am going to go for it all the way."
"He really seems to like you."
"I feel like I'm going crazy. My boyfriend left me three weeks ago. I've been so lost ever since. But now I feel like everything is falling into place. He wants me to move in, he wants to get married, and he wants to adopt the baby. I must be crazy because I've never been happier in my whole life."
Ami smiled. It was almost contagious. She wasn't sure why, but she had a feeling that Alicia and Carson would make it. "I wish you guys the best of luck."
"Have you ever met a guy like that Ami? I mean, I saw what was going on between you and Nick, but Carson said you had a boyfriend?"
Ami sighed. How was she supposed to explain this to Alicia? “About my boyfriend.”
"What about him?"
“I don’t really have one.”
"Um. Okay."
"I feel like such an idiot. I told not only Nick and Carson that I have a boyfriend, but my boss too. And I kissed Nick last night. I shouldn't have done it. I feel so guilty."
"Why? He wants you bad girl."
“I want him way more than I want to admit. I told them that I have a boyfriend because it makes things so much easier. I um, had a really bad experience with a boyfriend when I was a teenager. So I’ve been kind of man shy since. Now I have to figure out how to tell Nick that I lied. Or stay away from him completely. I don’t know which would be harder.”
"Damn. I still think you should take a chance and tell Nick."
"I don’t know how. I feel like an idiot. I’m no good with men. Most of the time I don’t care. With Nick, I’m afraid it’s going to be different though."
"Just tell him Ami. He might be a little pissed at first, but I’m sure he’ll get over it. I thought my ex was going to shit his pants when I told him I was pregnant. Then he chilled, said we'd get married on that wonderful day called when we can afford it, and bought me some crappy ring that started to turn my finger green. But it was still a hell of a shock to wake up one day and find him and all of his stuff gone, including the car that I put the down payment on."
"That sucks."
"Yeah, but they say everything happens for a reason right? If Brian would have stuck around I never would have met Carson. Which reminds me, I'd better get back downstairs. If you ever want to hang out, knock on the door. If I'm busy working I'll let you know. I might have to pop in on you at work one of these nights, check out this infamous Gabe guy."
"I don't think Carson would like that very much."
Alicia laughed. "I'll have to drag him and Nick with me. What does Gabe look like?"
"He's pretty damned hot. Tall, nice arms, shoulder length wavy blonde hair, killer blue eyes. He looks like he belongs on the cover of a romance novel."
"Hmm. Sounds like maybe the guys are jealous."
"I don't know. He made me uncomfortable with the way he was looking at me."
"I'll bet guys look at you like that all the time Ami."
"Like they don't look at you like that. You're gorgeous, Alicia."
"And very pregnant, though that seems to attract some creeps even more. What nights do you work?"
"Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday."
"We might have to pop in on Saturday night then. I'm pretty sure Nick works the day shift that day."
"That would be nice."
"I will see you later. You take care Ami, and thanks for the sugar."
"No problem." She followed Alicia to the door.
Alicia was a sweet girl Ami thought. She wasn't quite sure what she saw in Carson, but to each her own.
She read for a while and then surfed the net, checking out the latest news. Her furniture was delivered at 10:00 as promised. Once everything was in place she got bored, so she decided to go down and see what Alicia was doing.
When she went outside, she almost turned around and went back to her apartment. Carson and Alicia were outside at the picnic table with Nick. Nick was the last person she wanted to see she thought.
She had started to turn around when Alicia looked up and spotted her. "Hey Ami."
She walked down the stairs slowly, looking anywhere but at Nick. "Hi, Alicia. Hi Carson."
She had to clear her throat before she could say it "Hi Nick."
Alicia knew what was going on. But she did the opposite of what Ami wanted her to. She jumped up suddenly and said "Carson, I need to get some things from my house. Would you mind giving me a ride?"
He looked at his watch. "I have to be at work in an hour, so we gotta be quick. Talk to you later Nick."
And then she was alone with Nick. At least he looked about as comfortable as she probably did Ami thought.
"Good morning Ami."
"I figured you'd be at work."
"My shift changes a lot, depending on when Bobby needs me. I'm working from 2-close today."
"Oh.” Then she had no idea what else to say. She wanted to run upstairs and hide.
Why did he make her feel this way she wondered? She could smell him, and he smelled so good.
He lit a cigarette. "Alicia is trying to convince us to go over to Gabe's on Saturday. I told her he probably wouldn't be there but she won't listen."
She gave him a weak smile. "There's probably not much you can do to change the mind of a pregnant woman."
He laughed. It sounded about as weak as she was sure her smile had looked. "I can't believe she's moving in after one night."
"It must have been a hell of a night," she said, then regretted it. She was think
ing about what could have happened between her and Nick.
"I'm sure it was." Nick wouldn’t look at her. She had a feeling he was thinking about what could have been too.
"I guess I'd better get back upstairs. I've got to um. . . e-mail my mom."
"Okay," he said, but when she started for the stairs he said "Ami."
She turned. "Yes?"
"It doesn't have to be this way between us. I'm really sorry about what happened last night. I wanted you to know that."
"It's not your fault Nick." Then she was suddenly babbling like the idiot that she felt like. "I kissed you but it was only because I really, really wanted to."
Her face was on fire. She wanted to bury her head in a hole in the ground. Even worse, he looked amused. Why oh why had she opened her big fat mouth Ami wondered?
"Ami."
"What?" She wanted to cry.
"Come here."
She took two steps down the stairs and then she was in his arms. "Nick." It was almost a moan.
"I know. Believe me Ami, I know."
He kissed her, just once, very softly and very slowly. But it said everything. "Your boyfriend is a very lucky man. But we can’t do this. I am a better man than that, and I know that you are damn sure a better woman."
Was she Ami wondered? She had lied to him. She wanted so badly to tell him the truth. She just couldn’t figure out how to do it. She mumbled "Yes, Nick."
He smiled and squeezed her hand. She was damned because she wanted to throw herself back into his arms. "Chin up Ami. Soon you'll be so busy you won't even have time to think."
"Yes Nick." Then she wanted to smack herself in the head again because it brought to her head saying those words in a very different situation. She felt like a hopeless pervert.
She wondered if he was thinking the same thing, because a smiled passed his face and then faded. "Goodbye Ami. Have a nice day at work."
"You too.” She still couldn't look at him.
He gave her a wave and then walked away. She didn't care if he knew she was looking at his butt. Was it her imagination or was he walking slower so she COULD look at his butt she wondered? She shook her head at herself and lit a cigarette.
Why did he have to be so honorable, she thought as he shut his car door. She was the one that had the supposed boyfriend and he was the one that was stopping what felt like a speeding freight train of attraction between them from going any further. She was going to have to find a way to either tell him the truth or figure out a way to break up with her fake boyfriend.
Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set Page 76
