Chapter Fifteen
LOUIS SAT AT his office desk trying to murder a little blue stress ball with his right hand.
He’d been at work for more than an hour and hadn’t even bothered firing up his computer yet.
Last night had been much the same, minus the stress ball and shitty coffee.
He’d paced the floor in his apartment continually talking himself out of going back to Roxy’s apartment and shaking some sense into her.
No, his annoyingly wholesome other half had argued.
This is the right thing to do. She thinks she has you all figured out? Well, fuck that.
The idea had been to show her she was wrong.
To prove he wanted to spend time with her that didn’t necessarily end up with her horizontal.
Or vertical, depending on file cabinet proximity.
Now he wondered if that rash decision to walk out had been a major mistake.
Leaving her staring after him, bailing on her in front of her roommates, might not have sent the message he’d been going for.
It might have just been the nail in his coffin.
He’d just been so fucking mad. Law school had prepared him for just about every argument he would need to face, but he couldn’t argue with someone who was skeptical about his character.
About him as a person. It hadn’t been easy to stand there and take it.
At some point last night, roughly around one o’clock in the morning, he’d realized he might not be able to change her mind.
That revelation had knocked him on his ass.
There was a solution for everything, wasn’t there?
He always managed to find answers and repair problems. What if there was no fix for this?
Yeah, he hadn’t been looking for a relationship.
But now he’d met this girl who made him feel a thousand different ways at one time, and he’d already formed an addiction to her.
To those overwhelming feelings. And it might already be over.
This was his punishment, wasn’t it? For taking girls home without knowing their names and not bothering to get phone numbers. He’d set himself up for Roxy to take one look and peg him. Christ, maybe she was right. Maybe she was better off without him.
A phone call from his father this morning hadn’t helped.
He still hadn’t gotten back to Doubleday about signing a new contract minus the pro bono work.
Obviously his boss had clued Louis’s father in on the delay, probably wondering what the hell there was to think about.
He wouldn’t get another job like this. If he voluntarily left a job at one of the top firms in New York City, potential employers would probably assume he had a screw loose.
He thought of Roxy, the way she seemed to tackle everything on her own.
What would she do in this situation? A smile ghosted his lips.
She’d give them the finger and never look back.
Kind of like he’d done yesterday. The stress ball in Louis’s hand squeaked in protest. Yeah, he’d told her he didn’t play games, but maybe this wasn’t a game.
Maybe it really was a genius plan. She would come around.
Have faith, old boy . He snatched up his cell phone and grimaced at the blank screen.
Apparently he’d reached the stage of Roxy-induced grief where he started deluding himself.
He thought of her in the short red skirt, the way her mouth had felt moving on his skin .
.. and he dropped his forehead onto the desk with a groan.
Why hadn’t he just walked her backward to the bed, thrown her down, and banged her ever-loving brains out?
So what if her roommates had been listening?
He’d probably done worse somewhere along the line.
He knew why he hadn’t done it, though. This was Roxy. She was different for him. He felt it, felt her, everywhere. Moving around in his head and chest, ruining him for anyone else. God, please let this be the right thing.
Someone knocked on his office door, dragging him from a fantasy involving Roxy’s belly and melted rocky road ice cream. “Come in,” he shouted, grimacing at the misery in his voice.
His misery took a backseat to surprise when his future brother-in-law walked in.
Louis was almost grateful for the distraction, until he remember Fletcher had almost gotten a lap dance from Roxy, which just sent him back to Miseryville on a one-way ticket, with a layover in I-Want-To-Punch-Him-In-The-Nuts Town.
Still, why the impromptu visit? Fletcher had never come to see him in his office before, and as far as Louis knew, he wasn’t in need of legal counsel.
Unless, of course, Lena had committed a crime, which was not outside the realm of possibility.
Louis stood up behind his desk and shook the man’s hand, trying his best not to squeeze hard enough to break fingers. “What’s up, Fletch?”
“Hey, man.” Fletched dropped into a chair and tugged at his tie. “Your sister sent me over. She’s making dinner tomorrow night and wants you there.”
“My sister is cooking?” Louis swallowed heavily. “Like ... with fire and knives?”
“Yeah.”
They both shuddered.
Louis didn’t have to think about whether or not he had plans tomorrow night. Nope. His calendar this week was painfully empty, thanks to a certain stubborn, green-eyed actress. “Fine. I’ll come early just in case we need to reattach limbs or—”
“Order pizzas.”
Louis half-smiled. “Why’d you come all the way over here? You could have just called.”
“You’re right. I could have.” Fletcher shifted in his seat. “Listen, I wanted to thank you in person for not telling your sister about the stripper. She would have cut off my nuts.”
Louis forced himself not to jump down Fletcher’s throat for referring to Roxy as the stripper .
Fletcher’s tone of voice made him feel sick, as if they were coconspirators.
He wanted to get the guy out of his office as fast as possible, so he shrugged off the apology. “No worries. Nothing happened anyway.”
“You sure about that?” Fletcher tilted his head and gave him a sly smile, obviously not picking up on Louis’s hint to drop the subject. “You two looked pretty cozy. You hitting that?”
Blood rushed to Louis’s head, darkening his vision. When pain shot up his arms, he realized he was gripping the edge of the desk so hard it creaked. “ That ? Am I hitting that ?”
Fletcher must have been trying to beat the record for world’s most oblivious man, because his sickening grin only widened.
He still hadn’t picked up on Louis’s growing desire to launch himself across the desk and wipe the smile off his face with both fists.
“Hey man, I don’t blame you. I’m thinking about ringing the agency back and getting a private show, maybe at the office.
Did you see her ass? Jesus . You think she’d charge extra to let me slap it a few times? ”
“ Get out .”
Finally, awareness dawned on the other man’s face. He rose to his feet with an uncomfortable laugh. “I was making a joke, man. Take it easy.”
If Louis had to spend another minute in this asshole’s presence, he was going to need his own lawyer.
A criminal one. Louis rounded the desk and opened the door.
“Don’t tell me to take it easy. I said, get the fuck out.
” When Fletcher only looked incredulous, Louis grabbed him by the collar and jerked him toward the exit.
“I swear to God, if you ever speak about her again, or call that agency for anything, Lena will be the last person you have to worry about. I will make you so goddamn sorry.”
Fletcher threw up his hands, dislodging Louis’s grip in the process. His movements were confident, but his expression was far from it. He’d gone pale. “See you at dinner?”
Louis slammed the door in his face.
Everything in his office was bathed in red.
He paced to one end and back toward the other, breathing deeply against the urge to grab the signed Derek Jeter baseball bat off his wall and smash everything in sight.
His skin felt itchy, crawling underneath his dress shirt, so he yanked off his tie and threw it in the garbage.
He wanted to go back five minutes in time and un-hear everything his sister’s fiancé had said, but that was impossible, so it replayed over and over until he knew he’d never forget it.
Remembering the way he’d been fantasizing about Roxy’s body before Fletcher had walked in, he wanted to kick himself.
When it came right down to it, he was no better than Lena’s fiancé, was he?
Roxy had met him the morning after a one-night stand, for chrissakes.
He’d never made it a secret that he wanted to sleep with her.
Hell, he’d broadcast it to her friends before their first date.
That was why. Why her knee-jerk reaction was to believe the worst of him.
She wasn’t stubborn, she was just smart.
It would take her a little longer than a couple weeks to trust him.
So what? He liked that about her. He liked the fact that she made him work harder to earn it.
Yet he shouted at her and walked out like an idiot?
Dammit. Dammit . All he wanted to do at that moment was look at her face, smell her hair, and apologize.
Not just for himself, but for every other prick in the world that had made her so wary.
A knock on his door did nothing to calm him down; it only made him angrier.
Fletcher had probably come back to beg him not to tell his sister what he’d said.
To give him some bullshit apology that should have been directed at Roxy.
Not him. Louis surged to his feet and strode to the door. “I told you to get the fuck out.”
He threw the door open.
Roxy stood on the other side with her hand raised midknock. Based on her wide-eyed look, she’d heard what he’d said. “Bad time?”
His heart started knocking against his ribs at one hundred miles an hour.
He didn’t even want to question why she was there, it only mattered that she was there.
After all the ugliness he’d just gone swimming in, the sight of her felt like the first breath when you breach the surface.
Something about her appearance struck him as different, but he couldn’t look away from her face long enough to check.
She looked tired, though, probably reflecting the exhaustion on his own face.
He really didn’t like seeing her so tired.
Hated knowing he was at least partially responsible.
“Um.” She gave a sideways glance down the hallway. “You’re kind of leaving me hanging here. Is there no room at the inn or something?”
The hint of insecurity in her voice snapped Louis out of his trance.
“Get in here,” he growled, snagging her wrist and hauling her up against him.
He kicked the door shut and wrapped her tightly in his arms, letting the scent of cherry blossoms clear away the remaining ugliness. “I just didn’t expect to see you here.”
Her body gradually relaxed. “I didn’t plan on coming here.
I kind of just ended up outside.” She put a hand on his chest and pushed him away gently.
He took that opportunity to figure out what was different about her, or he would drive himself crazy trying to figure out why she didn’t want to be held.
If she’d come here to officially break things off.
Louis took a bracing breath and studied her.
Clothes. Her clothes were different. The high heels he’d never seen her without had been replaced by a pair of white Converses.
She wore snug black pants and a thin, cream-colored sweater.
Sexy as all get out, but conservative compared to her usual attire.
“I’m glad you ended up outside.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. “If you hadn’t come to me, I was going to you.”
She scrutinized his face, as if trying to decide whether or not to believe him.
“I’m here to say I’m sorry about last night.
You brought my hormonal roommates ice cream and then I acted like a jerk.
” He started to tell her it was okay, but she clapped a hand over his mouth.
“If you haven’t decided yet that I’m too much trouble, I want to take you out tonight to make up for it. On a date-date.”
Louis’s lips spread into a slow smile against her palm.
When was this girl going to stop catching him off guard?
He hoped the answer was never. Ten minutes ago, he’d been ready to beat his head against the wall.
Unbelievable how quickly things had changed.
He couldn’t be more thankful at the moment not to have a self-induced concussion.
Roxy had just asked him out. Would she take back the invitation if he did the running man?
Slowly, she removed her hand from his mouth. “So. How about it, McNally?”
“We’re down to just one name now?” She studied her nails, looking bored, which only made his smile widen. “Where are you taking me on this date-date?”
“Not telling.” She shoved his shoulder. “Is that a yes?”
“That’s a hell yes.” Don’t reach for her. Don’t do it. Make it through the date . “What time should I pick you up?”
“I’m picking you up. This is my show.”
Louis’s old-fashioned instincts gave a collective grunt of disapproval, but he shot them the mental middle finger to shut them up.
No way was he rocking the boat when he’d finally gotten her to come around.
Don’t kiss her, even though she’s tossing her hair around now like she wants it.
Don’t. Do. It. “Okay, Rox. What time should I have my hair washed by?”
“Funny. I have rehearsal later, so I’ll be at your place around eight.”
“Rehearsal,” he repeated. “Already?”
Why wouldn’t she look at him? “Yeah. Johan just wants to help me get comfortable with the script.” She tossed her hair one final time and waited, but he didn’t take the bait.
Even though it churned his insides up not to touch her like she clearly wanted.
“Fine. If that’s how we’re playing it. .
..” She backed toward the door, a mischievous smile playing around her mouth. “See you tonight, Louis.”
“Shit,” he muttered when the door clicked shut. He had a feeling he’d just issued a challenge he didn’t have the willpower to face. He couldn’t wait to get started.