Chapter 10
Nate
Cyberspace…
from: Nate
subject: Three Days in Miami
I might have melted. Remind me not to schedule a trip to South Beach in June.
from: Casey
subject: Here’s your reminder
Don’t schedule a trip to South Beach in June. So, how are you beating the heat? Walking around town in your Speedo?
from: Nate
subject: A Red One
Do you think that’s why everyone in the lobby is giving me funny looks right now?
from: Casey
subject: Try pink next time
Absolutely.
from: Nate
subject: Benefits to Broiling
On the plus side, I can personally vouch that the air conditioning in The Luxe properties is top-notch. Chilled to arctic perfection.
from: Casey
subject: Island Heat?
How are you going to survive Jack’s wedding? Pretty sure it’s hot in the Maldives in June, isn’t it?
from: Nate
subject: My classy clothing plans
You don’t think he’ll mind if I wear a Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts during the ceremony?
from: Casey
subject: Another sartorial choice…
Go shirtless. I won’t mind that.
from: Nate
subject: Back ‘atcha
I would say the same thing about you, but I can’t stand the thought of anyone else seeing you naked. Save the naked just for me, will ya?
from: Casey
subject: Island Attire
I believe I can do that. By the way, want to see the dress I’ll be wearing? I was sending Michelle a picture so I have it on.
from: Nate
subject: Send Now
Yes.
from: Casey
subject: Attachment
Here’s me.
I slid my finger across the message, clicked on the attachment and waited as it downloaded.
The image opened, revealing her legs first, then the rest of her filled the screen.
My heart tripped when I saw the picture.
She was standing by the open window of her apartment wearing a simple yellow dress.
A gorgeous, summery dress that did amazing things for her breasts, and her legs, and her waist, and her hair, and her face.
Hell, the whole image was sheer perfection.
Her body was lush and inviting, her hair was soft and falling loosely around her shoulders, and she smiled that fresh, bright smile that lit up her beautiful face.
I wished I were looking at her right now.
Kissing her. Touching her. Telling her to turn around for me, then dropping to my knees, sliding my hands underneath the skirt and worshipping her body with my mouth.
from: Nate
subject: Wow
In case you heard a clanging sound from the south, that was my jaw hitting the floor. You look spectacular.
from: Casey
subject: Equal Opportunity
Send me a picture of you.
from: Nate
subject: Now?
I’m just wearing a shirt and a tie. Nothing special. But I’m about to have a meeting with my COO about New Zealand. It would look weird for me to send a selfie.
from: Casey
subject: Later then.
I’d hate for you to look…weird…*shudders.* So send one before you go to bed.
from: Nate
subject: Later it is.
I promise.
Casey
I waited an hour. Then another one. Sure, I had emails to answer, and product details to approve, and plans from Mahsa to review.
Through that all, I kept checking my phone as I worked in bed on a hot Friday night with the windows open.
I twisted my hair on top of my head and stabbed a pen through it to get it off my neck.
Why did I even want Nate to send me a picture?
Hell, I knew what he looked like. I didn’t need a photo before I fell asleep.
But he’d said he’d send one, and he was a man of his word.
Now it was eleven. Okay fine, a meeting could last a long time.
Very long. So long in fact that when I finally fell asleep after midnight he must still have been with his COO, and maybe even at two a.m. too, when I woke up in the middle of the night to pee. Because there was no picture.
When I returned to bed, I checked once more. Still nothing.
Maybe he wasn’t meeting with his COO. Or maybe he had met with him, and then they’d gone to a club, and danced with some women, and one of those women was all over Nate, her long nails trailing along his strong arms, her hair falling against his chest, and her breasts in his hands.
I burned inside at the pictures that flashed before my eyes, but the reel wouldn’t stop.
It ran faster, and unspooled more scenes as I saw him pushing the elevator button, stepping into it with a beautiful brunette, pressing her up against the wall, and kissing the stranger the way he’d kissed me.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to block out the foul images, but they didn’t end until I was seeing him in a dark and sexy room, stripping off his belt, undoing his shirt, and fucking this nameless, faceless woman who was surely with him tonight.
Finally, I fell back asleep, the pit in my stomach eating away at me.
When I woke up to the sun streaming through my window, I found a new message. From Grant Abbot.
It was a beautiful day in Portugal. It was made even lovelier by a deal memo outlining the first steps of our marketing partnership and the products we’ll focus on.
Little pleases me more than a well-done deal.
(Well, perhaps a FEW things do please me more.) In any case, I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again—I am delighted to be in business with you.
This partnership will be fantastic for both our companies.
My best,
Grant
I breathed deeply as I pulled on workout clothes.
It was a good thing that Grant had written to me.
It was the necessary reminder of why I was spending more time than usual with Nate.
So I could have a better chance of becoming the woman that the Grant Abbots and Scott Nixons of the world would want.
A woman who’d learned to rein in her controlling tendencies, her alpha femaleness.
Fine, Grant wasn’t writing to me about me, but who cared? Either way, I was a woman on a mission. I was in hot pursuit of the big love, and the only way to get there would be to excise the parts of myself that had held me back from truly having it all. That was what Nate was helping me with.
Only that.
I contemplated heading to the gym for a swim.
I’d been on the swim team in high school and still loved the water.
But right now, I craved speed. Riding a bike in New York City required a determined sort of focus that would help clear my head.
Heading to the basement of my building, I retrieved my wheels from the bike storage area, strapped on a helmet, and attacked the Hudson River Greenway, burning off the final remains of the waste of energy I’d let consume me last night.
Jealousy was such a stupid, worthless emotion and there was no need for me to be envious whatsoever of Nate’s after-hours activities.
I had no claim to him, and besides, he knew the score.
He was merely training me to hand me off to someone else.
For a new start.
And a new start called for a new dress. Whether for Grant, or the next man who was suited for me.
After my workout, I’d go shopping. That would pass the time until the baseball game. I’d see Nate tonight, and I’d smile, having forgotten completely about the fact that he’d promised a photo. What photo? Who cared?
Not me.
The emerald-green dress hugged me in all the right places, and my friend Jane agreed.
“That is a rocking dress,” Jane said, nodding appreciatively as I stepped out of the dressing room of the boutique on Christopher Street. “It’s sexy, but it’s not over the top.”
“So I should get it? Is it first date material? Would you wear it if you were on a first date again with Matthew?”
Jane laughed, practically doubling over, then shook her head, her wild, curly brown hair framing her face.
“Then why are you telling me to get it?” I asked, parking my hands on my hips.
“That’s not what I’m laughing at. I’m laughing because it’s been more than three years since I had a first date with Matthew, and we didn’t even technically date.
We went from him interviewing me for a story about my music to sleeping together,” my friend said.
Jane was a rock star. Literally. She’d won a Grammy a few years ago for a hit album, and had continued churning out top-notch, and top-selling tunes.
“You’re no help then,” I said, teasing, as I checked out my reflection in the store’s mirror. The dress hit above the knees, and had a soft flare to the skirt. It was suggestive, but not inappropriate, and that’s what I liked about it.
“Just ask your BGF,” Jane offered.
I shot her a curious look. “Is that some kind of an app?”
“No. That would be creepy.” Jane snapped a few times, like she was trying to recall something. “You know, that guy Nate. Your Best Guy Friend.”
I felt a flush spread through my cheeks when Jane said his name. I didn’t know if it was due to the heat, or the secret almost-sex, or the fact that I still hadn’t heard from him. Odd, since we were supposed to be going to the ballpark tonight.
“Send him a pic and ask his opinion if you don’t believe me.”
I waved my hand to shut down that idea. “No. I don’t need to send him a picture,” I said.
“Why not? Isn’t that the point of a best guy friend?”
Jane was right. It was the point, or one of the points, and it was also what I should be doing instead of wondering why he hadn’t called or sent a picture. Normal. I had to keep things normal with Nate.
I handed my phone to Jane. “You’re right. Take a picture of me.”
I struck a pose—a simple, friendly pose—and texted it to Nate. Should I wear this on a date with Grant? Yes or no?
Then, because it was what I would have done if I weren’t sleeping with him, I called him to hear the answer.
He sounded pissed when he answered.