by Lori Wilde
“As in the guy. Remember the one you forced me to go out with last year?” I had to give her details, or she’d never let up about Darcy.
“Wait. You mean the one-nighter you borrowed my black lace bra for?” Kenzie grabbed my watch from the dresser. “You have exactly ten seconds to spill, then explain why you’ve waited till now to spill.” She checked the watch. “Okay, go.”
I took a quick breath. “It’s Troy.”
She dropped the watch. Her mouth fell open. And for the first time in forever, not a sound came out.
“Troy.” She repeated when she regained speech. “As in...Troy. You...and the Theo lookalike?”
I rescued my watch before she could step on it. “How many times do you want me to say it? Yes. He was the guy. The one I almost slept with.”
“You said you were in his class.”
“I was, sort of, but we didn’t exchange names, obviously. Last day of color theory, I was late...missed the bus from the hospital, and he offered to help me catch up on what I’d missed, but they were closing the school. So we decided to head to this afterparty instead. It started with a few drinks, then it kinda became more when we went back to his place. It was supposed to be uncomplicated. Hashtag—no strings.”
“Uh, hashtag—too-late-for-that-now.” Her brows tightened as she tried to work things out. “So, he’s the one you bailed on when he went to the loo to grab a condom? The one you borrowed my new Victoria’s Secret lingerie for?”
Why do I tell her so much when it always comes back to bite me? “Yeah. The one and only. In the flesh.” I cringed at how literal that had been. We’d been wearing next to nothing when he...we...oh God. What did it matter? It was over, and he either didn’t remember it, didn’t recognize me, or was pretending not to. I was grateful for any one of those, even if the first two bruised my ego just a bit. I mean seriously, who forgets an almost one-night stand with a girl he met a year before hiring her for a job?
Kenzie pressed her hands on the edge of the desk and leaned forward. “Hey, d’ya think you can get my black bra back?” she deadpanned.
I blew out an agonized breath. “Not likely. I don’t think he remembers.”
Kenzie was still processing as she hopped onto the desk, dangling her legs over the side. She frowned. “Wait a sec. Lemme get this straight. You were in class with him; you went to bed with the guy, and he doesn’t remember you?”
I shrugged like it was no big deal. Although it was. “Nothing much happened really. We... I chickened out, remember? Wish I could forget the whole thing too.” I let out a long sigh.
“Maybe he’s just being nice. Not to embarrass you or something. I mean he is your boss now.”
“Thanks so much for bringing that up.” I snapped. “No, really. It’s not like I couldn’t get that fact out of my head since day one or anything.” I took a calming breath. “All I know is I need this job too desperately to let anything screw it up. Grandad’s bills are going to be more than covered with what we make in a month here. No almost-fling with a guy is worth that.”
“Alright. Fine. Then you stick with your denial. But I’m still really proud of you.”
“Of course you are.” I rolled my eyes.
“Seriously, Nora, it means you’re capable of having real relations with a real guy. Not just the one in your head.”
I nodded, trying hard to remember why I’d given her the role of best friend.
She hugged me. “This is good, hon. It’s progress. It might actually mean fewer sessions with Dr. Franken-strange.”
I had to laugh at the comparison, cause let’s face it, the name fit. Anyway, it was nice not having to hide all of this from Kenzie anymore. “Now, you have to swear not to breathe a word of this to him,” I warned her.
“Not a word.” She held up her hand, Girl Scout-like. It meant about a fifty-fifty chance. I’d have to take it.
My phone rang, and Kenzie grabbed it before I could. “Nora’s phone, who’s calling please? —Of course she’s here, Troy.” Her eyes flashed to me as my breath caught.
“We were just talking about you and saying what a small world it is.” She winked at me then handed me the phone.
“I hate you like poison,” I whispered, taking it. Seriously, with friends like that... “Hello? Hi, Troy.” I scowled at Kenzie as she hopped down from the desk and went over to the bed.
“No idea. She’s mental. Might want to get Miss Strange to have a chat with her. Anyway, what’s up? —Tonight? Um, sure. Okay, I’ll be there. Thanks, bye.”
“Where will we be tonight?”
Apparently, my assessment of Kenzie’s mental state hadn’t fazed her. She was all but bouncing off the mattress waiting for me to give her every detail. I opted for the abridged version. “Next Puppetry and Drama orientation have been bumped up by an hour.”
“Oh gawd. That’s in thirty minutes,” she groaned.
“And, Troy and I...are going out tonight. For dinner.”
Her expression lifted. “Man, you really can bury the lead. Like a date?”
“More like a business meeting. He has some papers for me to sign that got missed.”
Kenzie stared at me for a beat then rolled her eyes. “I don’t know which of you is more pathetic. You could sign papers anywhere anytime. Dinner is hardly a requirement.”
“Maybe there’s a lot of papers.”
“Uh-huh. That, or maybe it’s a date.” She pushed off the bed and sashayed down the hall toward her room. “Just make sure you wear something that didn’t belong to your grandmother for a change,” she shouted over her shoulder.
I hoisted myself onto the desk, staring blankly at the phone still in my hand, wondering if any of this was real.
Moments later Kenzie came back with an armload of clothes and dropped them on my bed.
“All I know is we have less than a week till the little buggers invade our utopia with their runny noses and jam hands, and you need to make the most of the alone time you’ve got. Have you seen the way every other girl in the place ogles him? Stake your claim, babe, before it’s too late.”
I held my phone up in front of her face.
“What are you doing?” she frowned.
“Taking a picture. I want to remember this as the moment you completely lost your mind.”
“Ha. You’re funny.” She snatched it away to inspect my photography skills then wrinkled her nose. “At least wait till I’ve fixed my face.” Her finger hit delete, and she handed it back to me. “Anyway, this isn’t that moment. I’m not crazy. I’ve never been so right. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be making such a fuss. You like him. I mean you like him like him, and it’s totally freaking you out. It’s okay to say it.”
“I’m not saying anything. Except that we’re going to be late for training.”
“It’s summer camp, Nora. Chill out.”
“It’s a high-paying job, Kenzie; I can’t afford to chill out.” I peeled myself off the desk and headed down to the kitchen, with Kenzie right on my heels.
“Hey, at least give it a shot. Maybe, just maybe he’ll be the guy who finally gives you a good night’s sleep. I’m tired of all that moaning you do in your room at night.” She proceeded to demonstrate her porn-version of my nightly dreams.
I tossed a crumpled napkin at her on my way to the door. “I do not moan in my sleep. Besides it’s never that kind of dream.”
“I know,” she muttered. “That’s the problem. Even your hot guy dreams are vanilla boring. How sad is that?”
I shut the door before the napkin she tossed back could land. She had a point. I was boring, but I really didn’t see that as being a bad thing. If I was going to have to spend all summer shadowing this guy, then there were some things that needed clearing up.
In a moment of unprecedented bravery, I went back inside, grabbed two mugs, filled them with coffee, and headed to the main stage.
Chapter Ten
Brandishing the coffees like armored shields, I headed back to the outd
oor theater. Literally everything here was outdoors. I was seriously going to OD on nature this summer.
Troy was waiting when I arrived. He sat in all of his surreal gorgeousness on the edge of the stage, one leg over the side, the other onstage as he leaned against his bent knee.
“You’re early,” he said. “I thought we’d go over how the summer plays unfold so you’re familiar with it.” He handed me a notebook, not bothering to look up from his own notes.
“Hello to you too,” I said and handed him a mug of coffee.
Finally, he looked up. “Thanks.” His crystal gaze traveled up the length of me and then back to his papers. “You look tired.”
“Gee, thanks. Bet you say that to all the girls.”
“Only to the ones who look tired.”
“Well, I’m not tired. I’m fine.”
He glanced up. “Good. ’Cause we’ve got a lot to do.”
“Good.” I shrugged.
This was going well. What happened to the flirting from this morning? How could I possibly endure an entire summer of this awkward tension between us? I set down the papers and bit down on my lip. “Why am I here? Really.”
He lifted his head slowly, his eyes eclipsed by a shadow. “Pardon?”
I could hear Kenzie’s voice clucking in my mind, telling me I was going to blow it. But it didn’t add up. “My interview sucked. Miss Strange basically said so herself. There were hundreds of applicants, most way more qualified than me. So why am I really here?”
I must have been losing my mind. It was risky, bringing up my lack of qualifications. But in the last year alone, I’d lost my college acceptance, my dignity, and my best friend’s favorite bra. Sounds trivial I know, but I think that was the lacy-black-straw that broke the camel’s back. Makes sense that the next thing to lose was my mind.
Troy set down his paperwork and folded his arms. His sleeves were rolled to the elbow, showing off his lean, deeply tanned forearms. “This school is special, Nora. And so is everyone who comes to work here.”
“That part was in the pamphlets,” I said.
“Then you must sense that there’s more to it than meets the eye. And because of that, we don’t hire the people who look like the best fit on paper. We hire the ones who will be the best fit in actuality. We chose you. I chose you.”
I frowned at the butterflies slam-dancing in my midsection. “Then why the psych profiling? Why the counseling Miss Strange is forcing me into?”
“She’s the expert on mental health and stability. We have to make sure your mind is strong enough to handle what it could face.”
What could my mind face, other than a psycho in a goalie mask running through the woods taking out campers? And honestly, that much I expected already. Slowly, my brows tightened. “So, you knew about the counseling?”
He eyed me evenly. “I authorized her request.”
A spark lit in my chest as rage and longing burned through me. I’d hurdled over humiliation and embarrassment and awkwardness, into full-on fury. The guy had three computer monitors, a tablet, and a smartphone in his bedroom. He remembered the world clock time zones for every country on the planet, but not a one-night stand from a year ago? I mean, you’d think he’d have an app for that or something. And he thinks I need help. I stood, scooped up the notebook, and threw it at him.
“Screw you. You know nothing about me. You don’t even know who I am.”
He arched a brow. “And you would be...?”
“Leaving,” I shouted, flipping my blue-tipped ponytail over my shoulder. I stormed away from him, from the stage, from his judgment and scrutiny. I didn’t need their money. Not like this. I’d rather scrape roadkill off the highway for five bucks an hour than spend my summer here with him.
“Not exactly what I was asking, Nora,” he called after me patiently.
“Oh, no?” How many ways can you say I don’t give a crap?
Troy’s footsteps jogged to catch up to me, then he caught my arm. “No. It wasn’t.”
His arm flexed as he held mine. Jeez, he still smells really good. My eyes locked on his then pulled away. Eyes on the ground. Not on him. I averted my gaze and tried to walk away, but he held fast.
“I’m not judging you. You do know that, right?”
Clearly, I didn’t know a damn thing, considering I’d just told my boss to screw off and take his life-saving salary with him.
“What makes you such an expert on the human mind that you think you have the right to enforce the monitoring of others?” I lifted my chin. “Pretty ballsy, considering.”
His eyes narrowed. “Considering?”
“People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
“You seem to be implying something, Nora; spit it out.” He released my arm.
“Maybe someone with your level of memory impairment shouldn’t be running a business. Or teaching kids. Or diagnosing his staff.”
He leaned against a tree, his arms crossed over his chest.
I watched the way his biceps flexed. Stop. Looking. At. His. Muscles.
“June 6th, one year ago to the date last Friday. You had cherry-pink lipstick that actually tasted like cherries. Your hair was red then and smelled like wildflowers. You wore a yellow sweater. V-neck. And a black lace bra. Clasp in the front. You ordered the New England clam chowder but ate dessert first—s’mores cheesecake.”
A pinprick of regret pierced me over my earlier comment. Okay, so clearly he did remember—and that set in motion a whole other range of emotions. Mostly embarrassment and humiliation, and a small flush of arousal.
My face had to be red, but that didn’t stop him.
“We went to my place, because you didn’t want to go back to yours. Then like Cinderella, you disappeared, just when we were about to...”
“Okay. Okay. So your memory isn’t that bad,” I said, holding up my hands. I’d give anything for a hole to fall into right now. The wind rustled through the leaves, carrying the smell of pine trees. I flipped my hair over my shoulder and looked around. More people would be showing up soon, and this was embarrassing enough without an audience.
“And just like the prince, I tried to find you. But since it wasn’t a shoe you left behind, going door to door would have been awkward.”
He flashed another smile. and I wanted to crawl into myself.
No…leaving a shoe behind would have been a whole lot classier than the lacy black bra I’d dropped when I sprinted from his townhouse.
He dipped his head forward. “Any chance you’re going to tell me why you left?”
“Any chance you’re going to tell me why you pretended not to remember me?” I cocked my head.
Two junior counselors emerged from behind the stage for the compulsory meeting. They smiled and laughed as they waved to Troy. He had that effect on the female populace no matter what age they were. I waited until they were out of range then lowered my voice. “I don’t think we should talk about this here.”
“Fine. Tonight then, as planned. Meet me at the office.” He waited for me to agree, even though none of what he’d said sounded much like a request.
“Fine.” I folded my arms. “Tonight.”
Chapter Eleven
When I arrived at Troy’s office, there were papers for me to sign, but no dinner in sight. Just a mahogany desk with a simple vase of daisies next to a laptop and stacks of papers. Maybe he’d changed his mind. Just as well, things were still a little tense between us.
I penned my name with a flourish to the last of the pages, ’cause if you’re going to sign your life away, it might as well be with style. Then I handed him the pen with an even look. “So, you wanted to talk?”
“I do, but not here. Will you come with me?”
Yeah. Did anyone ever say no to that request? Doubt it.
We trudged along an uphill path deeper into the woods than I’d ever ventured before.
“Where are you taking me?” I finally asked when my legs started to burn.
; “Almost there.”
Almost where? I was about to complain when the densely treed path gave way to reveal the most amazing log cabin I’d ever seen. You could hardly call it a cabin; it was more like a log and glass mansion, reflecting the trees and the setting sun, nestled right against the forest.
“This is your place?” Duh, Nora, obviously it had to be. He was a millionaire after all. Something it was easy to forget since he was so down-to-earth. Even the fact that he was my boss was easy to forget. He spent more time making everyone feel comfortable than he did flaunting his own importance.
“It’s incredible.” I arched a brow at him. “But why are we here?”
“I heard a rumor there’s something you were craving.”
My stomach tightened. Oh no. Please do not let the source of this rumor be Kenzie, because God only knows what she’d tell him I was craving. I took a step and tripped over my own feet.
He took my hand, steadying me…with a small chuckle at the expression on my face, which must have read as horrified…and led me around the house to the back. It overlooked the lake, opposite from the view at camp. It was breathtaking.
“Do you bring all the girls here to check out the view?”
“Actually, you’re the only girl I’ve brought here. Conflict of interest. I make it a policy not to get entangled with—”
“The help?” I said sarcastically.
“My employees.”
We both glanced down at his hand still holding mine. He let go.
“Good policy.” I looked up at him, my eyes fixed on his. “Then, why am I here?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “Because it’s too late for us to have that rule, Nora. We’re already entangled.”
We stayed there lost in the moment, gazes entwined, while the breathtaking view lay just beside us.
“Conflict of interest. Is that what I am?”
I was aiming for nonchalance, but it came out as the total opposite. Being with him was a huge deal in my world, because I usually played it safe, and Troy was anything but. He was sexy and interested and sincere…and looked at me with an intensity that made me light-headed.
