Chapter Fifteen
Nina
I got home, took a long hot bath, and then climbed into my bed. It was all of seven o’clock, and I was done for the night. Not exactly what I had envisioned when I left work early.
My head wasn’t into anything. All I wanted to do was stop thinking about Ashton Lange and how he’d made me feel. But I couldn’t seem to do it.
A loud commotion in the living room had me climbing back out of bed to see what was going on. When I opened my bedroom door, I found my roommate, plus some company. Sandy had come in with two guys flanking her. “Oh, my bad. Are you sick, Nina?”
I looked down at my nightclothes. “Um, no. Just kind of worn out.”
“You’re home a lot earlier than usual. You should get dressed and come out with us,” she urged me.
“Yeah, you should,” the guy on her left said. “I feel like a third wheel.”
“I don’t know.” I was never much one for going out. “Where are you guys going, anyway?”
Sandy came to me, taking me by the shoulders as she pushed me back into my bedroom. “Somewhere we can get our groove on. Now put on something tight and short that shows lots of skin.”
The guy who must’ve thought he and I could be third wheels together chimed in, “I like red. And the name’s Ty, by the way. Nice to meet you, Nina.”
I didn’t have a chance to respond, as Sandy had already pushed me into my room and forced me to sit on the bed. “I had better pick something out for you. You’re good at picking out work clothes, but party clothes are not your forte.”
“Sandy, I’m not really sure I’m up for partying. Not by your standards, anyway. I could probably just go for some wine and a little jazz.”
I didn’t go on with my idea of a good time, as Sandy shot me a look that told me I wasn’t cool in the least. “Jazz? Wine? What are you, sixty?” With a toss of her head that sent blonde curls falling over her shoulder, she reached into my closet and pulled out a garment from a few years back. The sexy devil costume that I’d worn once for a Halloween party—and I hadn’t even kept it on the whole time, having felt too uncomfortable.
“No.” I shook my head furiously. “I should’ve thrown that away. That thing is tight and just too naughty.”
She held it up to her chest. The red lace corset plunged into a V shape in the front. It left very little to the imagination. And when she found my black leather skirt to pair it with, I just couldn’t stop shaking my head.
But she nodded. “Yes, this will look amazing on you. And I’ve got red heels that will match. All you need to do is gather your hair up in a messy ponytail and throw on some makeup, and we’ll be good to go. As soon as I change, that is.”
Peering out my bedroom door, I jerked my head toward it. “Hey, the Ty guy doesn’t think this is a date, does he?”
“So what if he does?” Her hand went to her ample hip. “All that means is that you won’t be paying for any of your drinks. There are worse things to have than an easy date for the night, girl.”
“Yeah, but ...” I looked again, to be sure neither of those guys was listening to us. When I found no one anywhere near the door I went on, “Most guys think a date ends with a kiss, at the very least.”
She laughed so loudly and abruptly that I jumped up and went to put my hand over her loud mouth. She pushed my hand back as her blue eyes danced. “Nina, stop being such a prude. One little kiss won’t kill you. And if you’re lucky … well, then you’ll get lucky.”
But I didn’t want to get lucky with anyone other than Ashton. And now, not even him. “I should just stay home. I’m going to ruin that guy’s fun.”
“No, you won’t.” She walked over to my door, kicked it shut then came at me. “If I have to put these clothes on you myself, then I will.”
I laughed as she pushed me onto my bed and ripped my shorts right off. “I’ll do it myself! God!”
Tossing the thin jersey shorts off to one side, she wagged her finger at me. “Hurry up. I want to get going. The night is young, and so are we.”
She finally left me and I set to work, making myself slutty enough to meet Sandy’s standards. It wasn’t a look I usually went for, but I needed to make some changes anyway. I wasn’t really going to be slutty. But I could look that way for a little while. And I could shake my ass for a few hours, if it helped me get my mind off things.
A mere half hour later I emerged from my room and found Ty and the guy who was supposed to be Sandy’s date with their jaws gaping. I laughed at their expressions. “Come on, guys. Don’t mess around with me.”
Ty was quick to walk over to me. His hands took mine as he held me back and looked me over. “All I can say is I’m damn glad I came up here with those two and met you first. You’re something else, baby.”
“No.” I pulled my hands out of his. “No baby. I’m Nina. You’re Ty, and there will be no exchanging of sweet nicknames or anything like that.”
“Sandy said you were single.” He eyed me with his large dark eyes. He was cute, really. Tall, dark, and handsome enough. He smelled nice, and his beard was pretty cool too. But he didn’t do it for me.
I suppose I had a type. Tall, muscular, blond, with eyes as blue as the Caribbean Sea. Ashton Lange was my type. Ty was nearly the polar opposite of the man that I was trying so hard to get out of my mind.
So, what better way to do that than to hang out with his polar opposite?
A little while later, we were walking into a dark nightclub where the music was blasting and people were dancing. And drinking. I saw a hell of a lot of drinking.
Ty bought a couple of drinks at the bar and handed me one. He took a drink and put mine to my mouth, urging me to drink up. Which I did. I needed something to take the edge off.
My heart wasn’t in this at all. My mind knew I had to get out of my comfort zone, but my heart was telling me that I needed to take it easy. It was hurting; I needed some time.
But I’d given my heart too much time already.
Ty had my hand in his, and our drinks were in our other hands as he led me to the dancefloor. Gyrating to a hard beat wasn’t the easiest thing for me to get into, but as I sipped on the fruity drink, it became easier and easier to do.
Sandy and her guy, who I found out was named Sloan, came up to dance near us. She kept flashing me smiles and nods, along with several thumbs-ups.
Watching Sandy dance was like watching porn. But that was how most of the people in the club were dancing too. It looked like they were dry humping each other. I imagined most of them actually were doing just that.
I had never been that kind of a dancer, preferring not to get that damn close to virtual strangers. Ty was being cool about it. He only pulled me close once. When I put my hand on his chest, he smiled and let me go. I supposed it was enough for him to be dancing with me, knowing that I wasn’t going off with anyone else.
I wasn’t, either. Before we’d gotten to the club I’d asked him to please not leave me to the wolves that night. So far, Ty was being a nice guy about it all.
But alcohol and dancing might take their toll on the guy, and who knew what would happen then?
It began to get hot, and I was relieved when Ty took my hand and led me out of the crowd. He took me to a quieter place in the club, and we sat at a table where a waitress came to ask us what we wanted to drink.
“A couple of gin and tonics,” he ordered us.
I hadn’t ever had one of those, but I was so thirsty I didn’t care what type of wet liquid came to me. “Thanks, Ty. You’re a pretty nice guy.”
“Ya think?” His lips pulled up to one side as he sat back and draped his arm over the back of my chair.
“I hope,” I corrected myself. “The truth is, I am single, but I’ve been crushing on this one guy for about two years now.”
His dark brows shot up. “Two years?”
“Yeah.” I turned my head as I felt my cheeks heat up with embarrassment at how surprised he was. “And recently, he made a move on me.”
“So, where is he then?” he asked as he reached out to take my chin, pulling my face back to look at him.
“No, we’re not a thing. He’s afraid. But he has his reasons. I wasn’t mad at him about it at all.” I thought about how I was mad now though. “But he’s been hiding from me, and that has made me mad.” I frowned, both at the memory of Ashton storming away from me, and at how easily I was spilling my guts to this stranger.
“Hiding?” he asked, with confusion riddling his face. “From you? Why?” His eyes narrowed as he looked at me. “Are you crazy or something? Because that would be the only thing that would make any sense. You’re a knockout. You’ve got to know that. You do have a mirror, right?”
I rolled my eyes at him. “I know I’m attractive, if that’s what you’re getting at.” I found it odd that guys always thought that women just needed to know they were pretty and that would solve all their problems. I happened to believe that a woman should have a personality that was on the attractive side too. Having a nice personality was even more attractive than natural beauty, in my opinion.
The drinks came, and we downed them in record time. Ty had held up two fingers at the waitress when she dropped those off, so we had a couple more coming that we could sip on.
He put his empty glass on the table before I did. “Seems we were parched.”
Putting my empty glass down, I agreed. “Seems so.”
“So, this moron, what’s his deal?” he asked me as he sat back and once again draped his arm over the back of my chair.
“He’s not a moron,” I corrected him. “He’s just had a really rough few years. That said, tragic past or not, that doesn’t excuse his behavior of late.”
With a shrug, Ty said, as if it were the easiest thing in the world, “My advice is to forget about this guy. Two years is too long, if you ask me. He had his chance, and he messed it up. Time to move on.” He curled a chunk of my hair around his index finger. “And I’m right here. I think you’re gorgeous and nice, to boot. One hell of a combination, and a rare one at that. In New York, anyway.”
When his dark eyes caught mine and his went soft and sultry, I had a feeling I knew what was coming. When his head began to move closer to mine, I knew I was right.
And I knew I wasn’t going to let it happen. Not because he wasn’t nice. Not because he wasn’t cute.
It was because he wasn’t Ashton.