Naughty and Nice

by Sarah J. Brooks

  I bit my lip. Just how much traveling have you done? I wondered. If we stayed together, would we do more traveling together?

  “Maybe when you’ve got that famous hot chocolate business, I can teach you the ropes of getting international support.” His eyes sparkled as he looked down at me.

  “That would be handy.”

  He was silent for a couple seconds as we made our way into a restaurant. “You know, I really like that about you.”

  “Like what?”

  “The fact that you have your own goals …” He paused as a waitress led us to a table and offered to bring us each a drink.

  “Water, please,” we both said in unison.

  As soon as the waitress walked away, leaving us with our menus, Dean turned his attention back to me. “I mean the fact that you have a goal in mind. A business.” He smiled. “I mean, if we last—not saying I don’t have faith we will, but it is something to consider; we’ll both be business owners, not co-owners like most couples do, but we’ll both have our own successful business.”

  “Hey, speak for yourself; I’m not promising my business is going to be anywhere close to successful.” I grinned, but it was the truth. I had no clue of whether could cut it.

  “Oh, it will be; trust me.”

  Chapter Seven

  “Oh, wait!” I skidded to a stop in front of a small chocolate shop. I still needed to pick stuff up for everyone.

  “We just ate!”

  “It’s not for me.” I pulled him into the shop and looked around. “I still need to get favors for everyone. Katie is going to fucking kill me if I don’t get her something.”

  Dean laughed softly as he let me pull him around. I reached out and grabbed a small bag of chocolate. That wasn’t enough, but I wanted to get both my mom and Katie some chocolate from Italy. And snacks from everywhere I went. After being here, I’d decided last night that I was going to make it my goal to travel the world. Ideally with Dean at my side.

  I grabbed another bag of chocolate and looked around the store for a couple seconds. There were so many options. I bit my lip mulling it over. “Perfume or wine? It really was a hard choice.

  “Both.” Without warning, Dean grabbed them and headed for the counter. I opened my mouth to protest, but he was already at the counter, and they were getting scanned. I rushed over there and pulled my wallet out of my purse before he could reach for his pocket.

  I shot him a grin. “I’m not going to let you pay for everything.”

  “Fine.” He shrugged, but his grin widened as the girl rang up my total. The price was better than I thought. I didn’t even have to worry about whether or not my card would be accepted.

  “Thank you; have a great day.” The girl handed me a small paper bag with all my favors in it and gave us a smile.

  “Thanks, you too!” I called as I turned around and we headed for the door. I have to admit, I was going to miss this. There was something about shopping in Italy that was so much better than shopping in Las Vegas. I mean, Vegas had the better prices, but I was willing to bet most of the stuff in Italy was better quality, at least the stuff in these little shops that were so close to the hotel.

  We ended out not really doing anything today, and we had to head out to catch our flight in a couple hours, but thanks to my recent trauma, I hadn’t felt like going out, Dean was understanding and went out to get us some coffees while I packed our bags. After that, we had to head out so I could get a couple of last minute things before we headed back to the good old USA.

  I have to admit it felt good to be home. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I loved being in Italy, but it’s true. There was no place better than home.

  It was well past midnight, and we were both beyond tired when I closed the door to my apartment and we headed for my bedroom, leaving our bags where we had dropped them in the kitchen.

  “That. Was. Amazing.” I touched Dean’s back softly as we crossed to the bed. “Thank you. I know … I know I was hard to deal with, but it means a lot to me that you did that. It means a lot to me that you wanted to help.”

  “You weren’t hard to deal with, babe. Don’t you get that?” He smiled, turning to face me as he sat down on the bed. He pulled me into his arms and placed a soft kiss on my belly. I stood there staring down at him. With him sitting and me standing, I was a two or three feet taller than him. My fingers tangled in his hair. “I didn’t think you were hard to deal with once this trip. I mean, I get that you’re going through stuff, and I don’t want to make it seem like it’s not a big deal, but I expect things to be a little hard on you. I’m surprised you were alright going out as much as we did, and in retrospect, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to have so much planned.”

  “I really enjoyed it.” I didn’t want him to feel bad for anything he did.

  “And that’s all that matters.” He smiled widely. “So, where do you want to go next?” He raised an eyebrow. “I was thinking somewhere Asian; how does that sound to you?”

  My eyes widened. “That sounds amazing. I’ve always wanted to go to Japan.”

  “We’ll go there in May.” His smile widened further. “The cherry blossoms are gorgeous that time of year. I think you would really like it.”

  He pulled me down onto the bed and placed a kiss on my forehead. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I wasn’t sure what I had done to deserve someone as amazing as him but sure did know I was lucky to have him. My arms wrapped around his chest and I pulled him into a kiss.

  “I love you, Dean.”

  “I love you too, Rebecca.”

  I cuddled close to him in my own bed and felt a sense of calm that I hadn’t experienced in a long time.

  Chapter Eight

  When I woke up, Dean wasn’t there, not that I was surprised. I knew he’d be heading into work early today, and I had an early therapy appointment. I slid out of bed and dressed quickly before stopping by Katie’s to see if she would give me a lift—and, of course, give her the favors I’d picked up for her.

  Sitting down in my therapist’s office this time was actually okay. As we talked, I started to relax more. I’m not sure if I was still just in a good mood from the trip or what, but today I wasn’t scared to talk to her about stuff.

  “So, you went away for a couple days?” My therapist looked me up and down.

  “Yup.” I took a deep breath, looking anywhere but at her.

  “And how was that?”

  “It was … interesting. I ran into an ex-boyfriend and his current girlfriend.”

  “Really? That must have been interesting.”

  “It was, but more than anything, it put things into perspective for me about Dean and myself. I realized that I’m actually really happy with him.” And I was; I mean I knew that before I ran into Brad and Kirra, but I did know for sure that Dean made me happy. He was kind and sweet and caring—obviously caring enough to send me to therapy and take me to Italy. “Dean’s going to come to one of our sessions,” I blurted out.

  “Really? That’s great! Was that your idea or his?”

  “Mine.”

  An hour passed without me even realizing it. It was like going in there this time had felt 1000% different than it had the first time I went. This time, I was actually looking forward to talking about things. I’m not sure what changed in me, but I was eager to make changes. She wanted me to start working on my goals more, and she thought it was great that Dean and I were going to pay her a couple visits.

  Katie waved me over to where she was parked. I hadn’t felt like going out alone today, and Dean couldn’t take me, so Katie had offered to drive me as soon as she heard I wasn’t feeling too great about it.

  “So, how’d it go? She decide you’re crazy?” Katie gave me a soft grin. From anyone else, it might have pissed me off, but my best friend just got a playful hit on the arm.

  “No, she actually says that I should be able to get over these nightmares soon.”

  “That’s awesome!” Katie gunned the engine,
and we made our way home. As it turned out, she’d had quite an eventful weekend herself. All with that teacher, she’d been telling me about.

  *

  “Where’s your girlfriend?” Melina called from the desk. My cheeks flushed as I felt everyone turn to stare at me.

  “She’s in therapy,” I said quietly. I was totally aware of the whispers that were already starting despite the fact that I was still around.

  Melina grinned, following me as I headed to my office.

  “Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to rat you out there.”

  “It’s fine; she just might be mad at you once everyone realizes it’s her that I’m dating.”

  “I’ll take it.” Melina shrugged. “Oh, by the way, some woman called, she left a message about business.”

  My head shot up. Was this the same woman who had stopped by my place? “Wait, what?”

  As if reading my mind, Melina nodded. “I wondered if it was the same one too.”

  “You said she left a message?”

  “Yes. With a number.” She pulled a piece of paper out and handed it to me. I dialed the number with shaking hands, and she answered on the second ring.

  “Hello.”

  “Hi, this is Dean. You’ve been trying to get a hold of me.”

  “You are a hard man to get a hold of.” She sounded pleased to hear from me. “I’ll be over in ten minutes. I really have something you’re going to want to hear.”

  *

  I glanced down at my phone to see a text from Dean telling me he wasn’t going to be able to come over for dinner tonight, and that he had to work late. As much as it sucked, I told him I understood and would talk to him later before tucking my phone into my pocket and pulling my keys out of my purse.

  “Hey.” Katie and I looked up to see Jake standing there. He didn’t look in good shape at all. His eyes were red, and he wore a dirty sweater. He must still be crying over that ex-girlfriend, I thought before giving him a smile.

  “Hey, we were just about to go in and order a pizza, want to join us?”

  He returned my smile. “I could really use a little company right now,” he admitted.

  I opened my door and motioned for him and Katie to step inside before I did, closing the door behind me. Looks like I was going to be busy tonight as well. As much as I would have rather hung out with Dean, at least, I was with good friends.

  *

  My heart raced as I waited for her to get here. Melina paced up and down the lobby, and I glared at her. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to give away the fact that something was going on, and I didn’t want my staff to start talking about what could be wrong. I cleared my throat, and that seemed to get her attention. She stopped and made her way over to me.

  “How is she doing?”

  “She’s alright … I think the trip did her some good … I just hope she’ll be feeling better soon.” I tried to swallow down my guilt, but it didn’t work.

  “This isn’t your fault.”

  “You can’t say that. If I hadn’t started dating her, I wouldn’t have put her in danger. If I’d told her the truth, she wouldn’t have left that room, and he wouldn’t have been able to get to her.”

  “And if I’d stayed outside, he wouldn’t have been able to either.” I stared at her blankly. She looked away from me. “I … I was out there—we were talking about what was happening, and I was telling her to give you a chance to cool down or something stupid like that. If I’d told her to come back in and demand you tell her the truth, or just to go home, he wouldn’t have been able to get her alone.”

  I reached out and touched Melina’s arm. “You can’t blame yourself for this.”

  “Why not? You do.”

  “But you’re not the one—” I stopped. I knew she was trying to make a point. “Because one of us has to be rational here.”

  A smile touched her lips. “I’m sick of it always being me.”

  “Am I interrupting?” I spun to face the woman who had said it. She had blonde hair and a black suit. She looked me up and down before smiling. “I can’t believe we’ve never met. It really is a pleasure.” She looked at Melina, her nose wrinkling. “If you don’t mind, honey, the adults need to talk.”

  Melina opened her mouth to say something—and it most likely wasn’t nice, but I cut her off by clearing my throat.

  “If you have something to say, please make it quick; I’m rather busy.”

  “Oh yes, of course.” She gave me a smile. “I’d like to talk to you about a business idea.” She smiled widely, and for a fraction of a second, I could see how someone might think she was pretty.

  “I’m listening, but I’m busy, so please make it quick.”

  Any hint of bitchiness left her the second I said that. “Of course, I’m sorry. You were so hard to get a hold of; I can’t begin to imagine how busy you must be.” She pulled something out of her oversized purse and handed me a file. “Here is a little bit about me; well, a lot. I’ll spare you the details so you can read them in your own time, but basically I work with companies to get more people in here. I had a friend who tried to find your publicist and realized you didn’t have one. She mentioned it to me. Do you know how much you’re potentially losing out on by not having someone to take care of all the marketing and networking for you?” She gave a coy smile. “That’s where I come in. I’m a freelance publicist. What that means is you hire me for a set amount of time—I normally suggest a month to start so that we can both be sure that this is a good fit overall, and then I get to work. I bring people into your casino; I get you the interviews and the press releases and the merchandise so that you can focus on work, or maybe even go home and forget about work for a couple of hours.” She took a deep breath; I could tell she’d practiced her speech, but all the greats in business had an elevator pitch. Her smile reappeared. “After what happened here over the weekend … Eh, the tragic shooting I mean, you’re going to have a lot of media attention. I know how to spin that in your favor. That is if you’re interested.”

  She looked eager as I weighed her words carefully. A smile touched my cheeks, and it didn’t take me long to decide what I was going to say.

  *

  I laughed softly. Having people over was definitely better than being alone, and having someone other than Katie to taste my hot chocolate was proving to be useful. I was still trying to get the salted caramel recipe down pat, and Jake was proving to be very useful.

  “Don’t listen to her! You need more sweet.” He shook his head.

  “No, you need more salt.” I grinned, watching them banter and try to prove that they were right, and

  jumped as I felt something vibrate in my pocket. I grabbed my phone out and looked down at it. “I um, give me a second. It’s my mom.” Unlocking the screen, I raised it to my ear. “Hello?”

  I walked away from the kitchen trying not to listen to Jake and Katie banter.

  “Hey! Are you home?”

  “Yea, I got home really late last night, what’s up?”

  “Um, it’s your dad. He’s in the hospital.”

  I felt my heart hit the bottom of my stomach. “What? How? When? What happened?” I closed my eyes trying to silence the thoughts racing through my mind.

  “It’s nothing major … it’s just … I guess he never took my name off as his next of kin. A mild heart attack. I’m heading over there now. Do you want me to come pick you up? Are you at home?” Her voice broke as I heard her sniff back a tear.

  “Don’t drive, Mom. Take a cab, okay? Just to be safe.”

  “Okay … do you want me to have the cab stop there?” Okay, that wasn’t a good sign. She always put up a fight over this kind of stuff.

  “No. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

  I hung up the phone and felt the urge to cry overwhelm me.

  “Why are we going to the hospital?” Katie asked behind me.

  “We’re not. I just … I’ve got to go; my dad had a heart attack. You guys stay and
finish your hot chocolate.” I forced a smile over my lips as I turned to face them.

  “Fuck that,” Jake’s words took me by surprise. “You two have been nothing but kind to me since I moved in. It’s about time I return the favor.” He smiled, standing. “Come on, I’ll drive.”

  “Yea, we’re here for you.” Katie stood, heading for the door. “Should you call Dean?”

  My brow furrowed. I shook my head. “No.” There was nothing he could do anyways. And I didn’t want him meeting my mom in a hospital.

  *

  “So, how much do you charge?”

  That seemed to get her attention. She raised an eyebrow. “I’m flexible. Should we go to your office and talk now? Or would you rather think things over?”

  “Let’s talk some more.” I motioned for her to follow me to the office. “Of course, talking doesn’t make me obligated to contact you, does it?”

  “No.” She laughed softly.

  I have to admit, having someone manage that kind of stuff would be useful. I had always done all that work myself. When I was with Jessica, we did it together, and then none of it mattered because I didn’t have someone to go home to at the end of the day, but now that Rebecca was in the picture, and I was actually into the idea of having a relationship—a real one—it might be kind of useful to have someone around to do that. And the idea of being able to go home and not do work kind of appealed to me, too. I mean when was the last time I could say I did that?

  I opened my office door and motioned for her to step in. She inclined her head and stepped in past me, strutting towards the chair and sitting down like she owned it. As I made my way to the other side of the desk, she crossed her legs and stared at me. “So, what questions do you have?”

  *

  We arrived at the hospital within record time of actually driving the speed limit—well, not getting caught speeding, at least.

  “Are you sure we shouldn’t tell Dean? I think he would want to know.”

  “No. I don’t want to take him away from work.” I walked as fast as I could without running towards the part of the hospital my mom had told me to go. The second I saw her, my heart did a back flip. “Mom.” I rushed over to her and pulled her into a hug.