Seven-Night Stand

by Nicole Helm

  Well, that was something.

  Nate scooted his stool closer, so that his leg was pressed against hers. “It could just be a good-bye.” Since she didn’t back away or refute his words, he leaned closer. “What could be the harm in good-bye?”

  This time she did look at him. He didn’t see her usual confidence or ease. Instead he saw an expression he couldn’t read, and maybe it was best if he didn’t. So, instead of trying to read it, he pressed his mouth to hers.

  She kissed him back, a silent agreement. They might not be talking about feelings, yet, but he knew this was no good-bye.

  …

  “Are you okay?”

  Vivvy pulled the covers to her chin. Somehow everything she’d set out to do tonight had unraveled with one kiss from Nate. Now instead of business and business only, she’d ended up in bed with him.

  Was she okay? Sure. If okay meant she couldn’t even get good-bye sex right. Nothing about being in bed with him, his arms around her, was okay. It was perfect. Which was a disaster of complication she couldn’t wrap her mind, or her heart, around.

  Vivvy cleared her throat, realizing she needed to answer. “Yes. I’m okay.” He was probably thinking about this afternoon, and Vivvy felt a strange warm feeling in her cheeks. Was she blushing? She never blushed.

  His fingers trailed through her hair. “Why are your eyes closed?”

  Vivvy swallowed, worked on the courage to open them. When she did, she kept them focused on his mouth. If she looked in his eyes, she might say something foolish. Like whatever she was feeling scared her to death.

  “Just...” No lie came out.

  “Look at me, Vivvy.”

  “I am looking at you,” she replied, frowning at his mouth. Why did she need to look him in the eyes? So he could see all the confusion and fear there? No, thank you.

  Nate sighed, his breath fluttering her hair. “You never talk about how you feel, do you? Everything is about what you want or don’t want. Vivvy, don’t you feel anything?”

  “No.” She hadn’t let herself. Until Nate.

  “That’s bullshit.”

  Vivvy tried to wiggle away, but Nate held firm. His mouth had turned to an irritated hard line, and for the first time she lifted her eyes to his. With anger behind her, she could fight the lure of those green depths. “Let me go.”

  He held on tighter. “Tell me I’m not crazy in being scared shitless by what’s happening between us.”

  His words froze her and she no longer tried to escape. “You’re scared?”

  “Are you kidding? Four days and I feel more strongly about you than I’ve ever felt about any woman. That’s scary. Everything about this—about us—is nuts, and here I am in bed with you again. Already thinking about being in bed with you again...and again.”

  She blinked. She’d been so sure she’d been alone in her feelings. So sure her feelings were strange, would be ridiculed. But… He was admitting to the same things. So easily.

  He released her. “And I see I am officially nuts. I’ll be go—”

  He started to roll off the bed, but she grabbed his arm. “No! Don’t.” He looked back, his expression miserable and embarrassed. He’d seen her fall apart that afternoon and he was embarrassed? “I’m scared too,” she said on a quick exhale. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.” Oh, God, she’d said it. Expressed it. Now it was out there.

  “You never show it.”

  “What the hell do you think this afternoon was?” she demanded, not releasing her tight grip on his arm. She couldn’t let go, not now that she’d admitted something real.

  “You said it was claustrophobia.”

  “You’re no idiot.” Looking him in the eyes wasn’t hard now, knowing he had some of the same fears as her. “Everything about this is overwhelming. New. I’ve never…” Vivvy struggled for words to express it.

  His family may be nuts, but they expressed their feelings without filter. He had the same knack for that. She’d spent so long fighting any impulse to share or express, she felt as if she were in the middle of an ocean on a boat without knowing how to get to shore.

  “It’s scary,” Vivvy finally said. Saying it, knowing it wouldn’t be met with a negative reaction, knowing he’d return her feelings with his own, wasn’t so hard.

  His hands were on her again, rubbing up and down her bare arms. “What are we going to do about it?”

  He seemed as much at a loss as she, and in a weird way that was comforting, too. “I have no idea.”

  A knock sounded at the door, and Vivvy frowned. “Must be the wrong room.”

  Nate’s face hardened as if he knew who was on the other side of that door. “Or…”

  “Ms. Marsh?” The voice was muffled, but the knocking continued.

  Nate pulled away from her in a quick, jerky motion. “Son of a bitch didn’t listen to me.”

  Nate was out of the bed before Vivvy had time to process it all, but she quickly scurried behind him. He pulled on his clothes with a fierceness she didn’t understand.

  He was downright furious. Over what she couldn’t pin down, but anger wouldn’t be the appropriate response here.

  “How did he find me?”

  “Privacy isn’t quite as respected here as it is in California.” Nate spoke through gritted teeth. “And you stick out. It’s not too hard to track you down.” He jammed a leg into his jeans, then another. “I can’t believe that rotten son of a bitch—”

  “Nate, calm down.”

  “I told him to stay away. I told him to go home. I told him I was handling this.” Nate laughed bitterly. “Why on earth did I think he’d listen to me? I must be losing my damned mind.”

  Vivvy found her underwear and shimmied into it. “Well, he didn’t listen to you, but I don’t think you charging to the door like some kind of pissed-off grizzly bear is really the best answer here.”

  “What do you suggest?” he demanded, his voice little more than a growl as he searched the room for his shirt.

  “I suggest I answer the door.” Vivvy snapped her bra on, went over to her suitcase to find clean clothes. “I’ll tell him that I’ll be glad to talk to him. Tomorrow. At Harrington.”

  “Vivvy, my father is… I should be the one to answer the door and tell him to get the hell out.”

  “It’s my hotel room, Nate. And my job.” Vivvy pulled on a shirt and shrugged away from Nate’s hand. “Just stay out of sight and let me handle it.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t like—”

  Now dressed, Vivvy pulled her hair into a band and began walking to the door. “I know you’re the big strong man and all, but you’ll be right there.” She pointed forcefully at the bed, which would keep him hidden from the doorway.

  “He gets people to do what they wouldn’t normally do,” Nate muttered, moving out of sight.

  Sympathy warred with reason. “Just stay out of sight. I’ll handle it.” She straightened her shirt and stomped toward the door.

  Vivvy pulled the door open only about an inch. “Can I help you?”

  The man smiled. He looked so much like Nate she had to be careful not to let her jaw drop. Same light brown hair almost too long, same dark green eyes on a handsome, chiseled face. Jed Harrington had some crow’s feet and some gray at the temples, but if Vivvy didn’t know he was Nate’s father, it would have been easy to mistake him for Nate and Ry’s older brother.

  “Ms. March, so terribly sorry to disturb you.” He held out a hand. “Jed Harrington.”

  Vivvy looked down at it but didn’t shake it. She’d heard a lot of nasty things about Jed, and after Nate’s angry reaction she wasn’t too happy with this introduction. “Mr. Harrington, this is my hotel room, and it’s late. Now is not the time or place to be doing business, especially after I spoke with you on the phone a number of occasions before making the trip out here and you are just now showing up.”

  He faltered at that; whether it was the truth to the words or the cool way she said th
em, he wasn’t prepared. Still, he quickly regained the charming smile. “Of course, and like I said, I am so sorry to disturb you. My absence is inexcusable, though unavoidable. A nice woman like yourself, I’m sure, can understand how life can get in the way of plans sometimes.”

  If she hadn’t heard Annie, Ry, or Nate’s disgusted words about Jed, she might be tempted to school some of the irritation, but knowing they didn’t trust him had her looking for all the bad in him. “I’m afraid I don’t understand that sentiment at all.” No, she wasn’t charmed by Nate’s dad. He was too shrewd, too smooth. Like those men who tried to get girls to get naked for an acting role.

  “Ms. Marsh, I apologize and I will leave. I just want you to know how much this television show means—”

  “I didn’t peg you as a slow man, Mr. Harrington. I asked you to leave. I suggest you do it.” The tiniest bit of guilt sneaked into her mind. She was letting what Nate and his family had said about Jed influence the way she felt about a man she’d only talked to on the phone. Maybe she wasn’t being fair. Maybe this TV show did mean something to him. Chastising herself for jumping to conclusions, Vivvy smoothed out her features and gentled her tone. “I’ll be happy to talk with you tomorrow morning at Harrington about any and all matters of the television show.”

  “Perhaps you’d join me for a drink down at the bar.” His eyes drifted down her body and then back up again. “And we could discuss it now.”

  Vivvy grabbed onto the door handle harder to keep her anger in check. “Good night, Mr. Harrington.”

  Though Vivvy moved to shut the door, Jed held his hand on it to keep it open. “I’m sorry. Again, I have to apologize. Here I can’t help but noticing what a beautiful woman you are when I should be focused on business. Can you forgive me? You have to know us men are weak creatures, especially in the face of such a…” His eyes roamed her body again. “Stunning creature.”

  Vivvy had to fight off the heebie-jeebies. In another situation, it might not be so creepy. Like if she wasn’t sleeping with his son or if his hand wasn’t on her hotel room door. “You should be focused on removing your hand from that door.” Before she could slam the door shut without regard to Jed’s hand, Vivvy felt Nate’s presence behind her and the door was jerked completely open.

  “Or you’re going to be focused on limping your way home.”

  Vivvy sighed. How many more awkward ways were Nate’s family members going to find out they were sleeping together? “I was handling it, Nate.”

  He didn’t look down at her, barely even acknowledged her existence. “Now, I am.”

  Men. She wasn’t sure which was worse, the pig or the grizzly bear.

  Chapter Ten

  Nate watched his father’s face. Confusion, dawning, then confusion again. Nate didn’t give two shits what his father was feeling.

  Jed looked at Vivvy, then back at Nate. His next expression was unreadable. “I think I deserve an explanation.”

  “No, Mr. Harrington. You don’t.” Vivvy’s voice was strong and clipped.

  Nate wished he could muster that cool disdain, but anger bubbled and spewed in his veins. A demanding heat urged him to do more than just visualize violence.

  He’d told his father to stay away. He’d been the one to, yet again, pick up the pieces of one of his father’s crazy schemes when the man had disappeared for the millionth time. Jed had no right to reappear and stick his nose in this, interrupt whatever tenuous grasp Nate and Vivvy had on...something.

  Damn Jed to hell and back.

  “I’ll speak with you tomorrow at the airport,” Vivvy continued, trying to pry the door out of Nate’s grasp.

  Nate knew he should let go, should let it slam in his father’s face, but his brain and his body couldn’t meet up.

  An internal war played out on Jed’s face. He was trying to decide which way to play the situation, which character to bring out of his bag of tricks. Jed Harrington belonged in LA because he was an amazing actor.

  It only made Nate’s grip on the door tighter.

  Finally, Jed smiled. His role? Sheepish father. “Of course, Ms. Marsh. I’ll see you tomorrow morning. You, too, son. We have a lot of things to figure out before Ms. Marsh heads back to LA.”

  The role of father was so absurd, Nate managed a bitter smile. “We don’t have anything to figure out.” This time, Nate let go of the door and got some satisfaction out of seeing his father’s surprise as the door closed.

  Vivvy’s arms folded across her chest and Nate didn’t have to look at her face to know she was irritated. The tapping foot and cocked hip told him that.

  “Is there some part of the male brain that simply refuses to work rationally?”

  “Maybe.” Nate sank onto the bed. He knew what came next. The inevitable “your family is too crazy” speech. He’d heard it enough times, but strange how it would hurt so much more coming from Vivvy.

  “We’re going to have to figure out a civilized way to deal with him. The show was his idea. I’m not sure he’s going to give it up so easily even if he is just now showing up.” She sat next to him on the bed.

  Nate could only stare. No speech. No brush-offs. Vivvy was full of surprises.

  He brushed a hand over her hair, just to convince himself she was there. “Is that all that’s keeping you here, Viv? The show?”

  “Nate.” She cleared her throat, shook her head. “It’s the important thing right now.” She met his gaze, steeled her expression. “I need something to take back to my bosses. I need a show. I need this. I need you.”

  There was something so honest in her words, he wanted to smile. She was opening up. She needed him, and coming from her it didn’t feel as weighty as the way his family needed him. But he didn’t know how to feel about Vivvy’s newest proposal. A show with him and Ryan.

  What if Ryan wouldn’t agree? What if his family found a way to get involved anyway? And did he really want to give up his privacy, his anonymity for TV? Besides, it wasn’t as if this new idea would keep Vivvy here. That wasn’t her job. She’d always made that clear.

  “Me and Ryan and planes, it sounds great.” It could expose Harrington for what it really was, a strong family-built business. Something that would make Grandpa proud. Not just a circus of the nutjobs in his family. But... “How are you really going to keep Grandpa and Dad out of the picture?”

  “By not making them part of the show. What if I give you my word, my word, it would be just you and Ryan?” Her brown eyes met his, fierce and determined. It looked like need was no exaggeration. “I don’t have the luxury of being my own boss, Nate. I need this. It has to work out.”

  He rubbed his palm to his forehead. “Shit, Vivvy, I don’t know.”

  “I need you to decide. I need you and Ryan to decide. And I need that decision tomorrow.”

  “All right. I’ll...I’ll talk to him. I guess.”

  “Good.” She let out a relieved sigh, and a weighty silence filled the room. “Nate,” she began softly. “Your family doesn’t matter. It’s not them that scares me. They’re not who you are. What they say about you isn’t who you are, either.”

  This wasn’t business Vivvy, it was this new entity. Unsure, open Vivvy.

  Damn, she confused the hell out of him. “Then who am I?”

  She turned back to him, her eyes focusing in on his. “I think you’re a good man with a lot of baggage.”

  Bitterness worked its way through all the surprise. “So that’s the scary part? My baggage?”

  She let out a gusty sigh. “No, Nate. Whatever fear I have isn’t about you. It’s my own baggage.”

  He nudged her shoulder with his. “Maybe we make a matching set.”

  She snorted. “Corny.” But she leaned against him. “Let’s just go to sleep, huh?”

  Nate slipped his arm around her shoulders, held her there against him. “What happens tomorrow?”

  She looked at him not without fear or uncertainty, but in spite of them. “Business.”

  He
should let it go at that. Not press this. What was there to press? Neither of them understood or had any handle on what was happening between them. And if there was more to this, he needed very much to discuss business with her.

  But those words didn’t emerge. Stupid ones did. “After that?”

  She looked away again. “Maybe we just enjoy each other for the time left and then go our separate ways.”

  Just as he’d always known they would. It was the best choice, the only choice, and it felt like the worst. “Don’t you think…” Nate struggled for his next words and the courage to say them. “It’ll be harder than that?”

  She frowned, examined her twisting fingers. “It’s not like I’ll disappear. We’ll still have some contact because of the show, if you agree. I’ll have more work to do before they start production and—”

  “That’s business,” Nate interrupted.

  She frowned up at him. “It doesn’t have to be all business. What do you want, Nate? Didn’t we both agree we have no idea what we’re doing?”

  “Yes, but—”

  She clutched his arm. “Let’s just take it one day at a time, okay? One piece. Maybe at some point it’ll all make sense?”

  “I’ve done very little in my life without a specific goal, Viv.” The goal of making Harrington successful, keeping his family in line and away from screwing that up. A “day at a time” motto with anything seemed like a stretch.

  “Yeah, same here. I guess it’s time we try the whole wait-and-see approach.”

  “I fucking hate that approach.”

  She smiled a little, moved her hand up his arm, and leaned closer. “Think about it this way. In this approach, it gives us a lot of time for extracurricular activities.”

  Nate couldn’t suppress a smile. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to define extracurricular for me. I might get the wrong idea.”

  Her lips met his, and maybe Nate didn’t forget all about the confusion in his mind, but it was one hell of a distraction.

  …

  Vivvy woke up in Nate’s arms. It was more disconcerting this morning than it had ever been. They’d admitted things last night. A level of caring new to both of them. Being curled up against him made all of those things and feelings grow exponentially.