Nathan and I both froze, my hand on his belt buckle, his fingers tangled in my hair.

“Saucy! I know you’re in there!” Tim’s voice thundered from the hallway.

“Fuck!” I leapt to my feet, clipping the top of my head against Nathan’s chin in the process. “Owww,” I moaned as he grabbed my shoulders to steady me.

“You OK?” he asked, his own expression dazed.

“Is someone in there with you?” Tim shouted from the other side of the door.

I exchanged a wide-eyed look with Nathan.

“Maybe he’ll go away?” Nathan whispered.

“Saucy! Let me in!” Tim was now pounding on the door. “Come on, babe. I know you’re in there. I have something to tell you about the Nathan Ryder piece.”

“Bathroom,” I muttered at Nathan, shoving him in the direction of it. “Be quiet. I’ll get rid of him as soon as I can.”

“Soooooooooooooooophie,” Tim crooned and I cringed.

Nathan narrowed his eyes in the direction of the door and I could tell he wasn’t pleased either.

“Let me handle him,” I said, about to shut the bathroom door, but Nathan held it open.

“Your shirt!” he gestured downward.

My shirt was still hanging open, displaying two very wet spots on my bra.

“Shit,” I said, scrambling to button it and my jeans. Once I was semi-presentable, I shut the bathroom door on a scowling Nathan and ran to where Tim was still pounding and calling out. I smoothed back my hair, prayed to God I didn’t look like I had just had the best orgasm of my life, and yanked the door open.

“Tim!” I said, trying to keep a cheerful tone in my voice. “What are you doing here?”

“I got some leads on the Nathan Ryder piece,” he said, barging into the room. He had changed from that morning. Same leather jacket and pants, of course, but a new, even more garish Hawaiian shirt. He also reeked of whiskey and cigarettes. Lovely, fucking lovely. I tried not to gag.

He also seemed to notice my change of attire.

“Looking hot, Saucy,” he said. “Got a date tonight?”

“What leads?” I asked, knowing better than to engage with Tim on his habit of inappropriate questioning.

He frowned, clearly disappointed. “I got the names of some kids he went to high school with.”

“I thought he went to school in Houston.” I was confused. One of the reasons we had been given the opportunity to talk to Nathan was because we were from his hometown paper.

But Tim just rolled his eyes at me like I was the dumbest person in the world. I fucking hated Tim. “Well, duh, Saucy. But some of them go to school here. And they’re willing to talk to us.”

He was still saying “us,” which meant he still needed me to finish this assignment. Just like Nathan said, he was probably expecting I’d do all the grunt work so he could get all the credit. Well, he didn’t know that I had no interest in furthering his career. But I also didn’t want to get sent back home and leave Tim to wreak havoc all over Austin.

My stomach did an unpleasant little loop-de-loop. Nathan had said that there wasn’t anything Tim could find on him, but he didn’t know Tim the way I did. He didn’t have the connections he had in Houston, but he was clearly doing just fine here. What had he found?

“So what’s the plan?” I asked automatically, my journalistic instincts kicking in. Then I remembered that Nathan was still in the bathroom. I wondered if he was listening and if he was, what he was thinking. Was this going to fuck things up between us? And what had happened between us? Because it hadn’t felt like just two people hooking up. It felt…like something more.

I got a little light-headed. And then I noticed Tim was heading towards the bathroom.

“I gotta use the john,” he said.

Immediately I lunged in front of the door. “What’s wrong with your room?”

“It’s on another floor,” he said, looking at me like I was a moron. “What’s wrong, Saucy? Got your sexy lingerie hanging from the shower curtain? I promise I won’t look. OK, naw, I can’t promise that.” He let out a big, stupid guffaw.

“It’s not that,” I said, my brain spinning a mile a minute. “It’s just that, I uh, I think I left my tampons out on the counter. That’s it.”

Bingo.

He backed away from the door as if it were made of fire.

“Jesus,” he said. “You just can’t keep anything private, can you?”

I shrugged. “Sorry.” I wasn’t sorry at all. “Look, can we talk about this tomorrow?” I gave a little cough, trying to look as pathetic as possible. There was no way someone like Tim would know that the symptoms of a cold and PMS were totally different. It was convenient that he was such a total moron, really. “I really just need to rest. Get my strength back, you know?”

He held his hands up as if he was afraid I would touch him again. Part of me wanted just to make him squirm, but then again, I would have had to get near him, so I just settled for swaying dangerously close.

“Tomorrow?” I asked again.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” he said, now back towards the door. “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He grabbed for the door handle in a way not unlike a cartoon character, only without the big plume of white smoke, he was gone. I shut the door behind him.

“All clear,” I called out.

Nathan came out of the bathroom looking as numb as I felt. I rushed over to him. The last thing I wanted was for him to think I was going to help Tim.

“You said you don’t have any deep, dark secrets.” I took his face in my hands, hoping he would look at me. He did, but he seemed a million miles away. “Please tell me he’s not going to find anything.”

A frown furrowed Nathan’s brows. He wouldn’t look at me, glancing everywhere but my face. My stomach dropped. Did he have something to hide?

“Don’t you trust me?” he asked.

“Of course I do,” I said, hoping he could see that I was telling the truth, that I was on his side. Because I was. That much I knew for sure. I wasn’t going to let Tim drag him through the mud, but I had to make sure he was as clean as he said he was. Because I couldn’t do anything if I didn’t have all the facts. “But you have to trust me. I can’t help you if you don’t.”

He finally looked at me. Met my eyes straight on.

“He’s not going to find anything,” he said. But I could see there was hesitation. Fear.

“I believe you,” I told him, swallowing my own apprehension.

Nathan’s face softened. He leaned down and gave me a gentle kiss.

“I should go,” he told me. “But I’ll call you tomorrow, OK?”

“OK,” I said, wishing he didn’t have to go.

He smiled, but it wasn’t one of his genuine smiles. There was nervousness there. He was hiding something and the thought made my stomach twist. What was Tim going to find?

“It’s going to be alright.” He kissed me on the forehead and left.