Chapter Forty
Bronzed, euphoric, and feeling like I’d been soaked in sea salt—I suppose I had been; the cold water was worth it with Nick by my side—we returned to his place to get ready for dinner. We walked in with my legs and arms around him while he easily carried me. Our lips and tongues were as tangled as my limbs around him. I could still taste the lingering mango nectarines we had eaten for lunch. It was my new favorite fruit.
“It would be so easy for me to walk you to my room,” he said between labored breaths and kisses.
I pulled away abruptly. “Nick.” My hands moved to his cheeks. “I don’t want easy.”
His penetrating eyes fixed on mine. “I promised we would build the anchor first, and I meant that. At least tell me you want me, too.”
“So much . . . but I need time and commitment.”
“I’m committed,” he countered.
“You know what I mean.”
“How long do you think that is all going to take?”
“As long as it needs to.” I pecked his lips.
He groaned and returned the kiss, but it was much less passionate this go around. “Maybe several states between us is a good idea.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Not at all. We’re going to have to work out a plan.”
“Agreed, but I need to get ready first so I don’t smell like an aquarium.”
“I like the way you smell.” He buried his face in my neck.
His breath tickled, making me laugh. In between, I got out, “Nick, thank you for today. You have a beautiful life here.”
He stopped and looked up. “I want you to be a part of it.”
I swallowed hard and blew out a heavy breath. “That’s um . . . I mean . . .” I couldn’t articulate a thing.
“I know we’re just getting started, so we have time, but think about it.”
I would be, for hours and days. That was a huge, life-changing decision that necessitated a commitment. I slid down his tall frame. “I’m going to take a shower.”
He kissed the top of my head. “I’m going to get in a few lines before I jump in.”
I nodded and walked off numbly. Did Nick Wells just ask me to think about moving here? I turned around quickly. “Nick?”
He stopped and turned.
“What if I—”
“We would make it work in Georgia.” He didn’t say another word. He didn’t need to. Those were the exact right words. I needed to know he was willing to make the same sacrifice. It meant all the world to me. Douglas never would have.
I hurried to get ready because I didn’t want to waste a moment away from him. I was even considering changing my flight to a red-eye and going straight from the airport to work Monday morning. Anything to prolong my time with Nick and Skye, who I was anxiously awaiting to return. She’d texted earlier to say she had some news. My assumption was it was boy related.
I wore the cream sundress with my new silk scarf draped around me. I let my hair fall loosely in romantic curls. It reflected my mood. With the last swipe of lip gloss, I headed out to find Nick. Our reservations were in an hour.
He was easy to find; he was already headed my way, firmly gripping his laptop. He stopped in his tracks and perused me. “Mmm. I have a sexy girlfriend.” He pulled me to him for a kiss.
“You haven’t showered yet.” Which was fine by me. I could still smell the ocean air on him. And mixed in with his natural scent of amber, it was intoxicating.
“I got lost in my screenplay. You’re inspirational.”
“I am?”
“Very.” He stepped back, still in his swim trunks. “As much as I would like to continue here with you, my partner, Simon, is dropping by in fifteen minutes. He insisted on bringing over the studio contract with our lawyers’ mark-up on it. He wanted to discuss a few points in person, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.”
“Just in case he shows up early, don’t be shocked if he walks in without knocking. I’m still trying to house train him.”
“Okay,” I laughed.
“And Skye’s running late, so I changed our reservations,” he called, hurrying to his room to shower and change.
I didn’t even make it to the kitchen where I was going to grab some water when I heard a strange man’s voice. “Nick, man, it’s me.”
I walked toward Nick’s grand entryway. “Nick’s in the shower. He should be out in a few minutes,” I said nervously. I realized how this represented a footstep into Nick’s world.
Simon was a walking stereotype of what you thought Hollywood people looked like. He was tanner than tan, with sparkling white teeth, dark hair slicked back, wearing sunglasses in the house, and his shirt could do with being buttoned up a bit. As nice as his chest was, it looked ridiculous hanging out of his dress shirt graced with gold chains. Their company name, Wilder than Wells, was making much more sense now.
Simon whipped off his glasses, revealing his grey eyes alight. “What do we have here? Nick’s muse in the flesh.”
I tilted my head and held out my hand. “I’m Kate.”
He took my hand and kissed it instead of shaking it. “You are the muse then.”
“Muse?” I pulled away my hand.
“Yes. And thank you. This screenplay is going to be huge for us. It’s brilliant, and we have you to thank.” He hardly took a breath. “Here I was sending him out to Georgia to pretend to use a dating service—like he needed one—but we needed an inside man. Filling out that questionnaire was hilarious, but it fit the whole romantic comedy idea we originally had.”
Suddenly I couldn’t breathe and my legs felt like jelly, but I had to stand there to hear the ugly truth of it all.
Simon didn’t care that I was probably pale as a ghost or that I wasn’t responding. He kept on going.
“But then,” he waved his hand up and down, “he met you and BOOM!” He made me jump. He grinned at my reaction. “It was like Oscar gold. Psychological thriller wrapped up in a romance about a beautiful but broken psychologist being hunted by a serial killer. Even the working title is genius, Narcissistic Tendencies.” He smiled to himself as if he had thought it up himself.
I felt everything I’d eaten today bubbling up in my stomach.
“And you were not only the muse, but a built-in reference. You’re one smart cookie, from what Nick says.”
Every conversation we’d had all summer now became vile and twisted. He was using me. This entire weekend was probably a setup to get more information out of me. No wonder he asked about narcissists in the car. I don’t know why he needed to ask. He could look in the mirror and get all the answers he needed.
When I could finally catch a breath, I eked out, “I’m sorry, will you excuse me?”
“Sure, sure. I know my way around. Hey,” he did the finger-gun thing, “it was nice to meet you. I’m sure we will be getting to know each other better. Nick has big plans for you.”
I’m sure he did. Too bad for him I refused to be used.
I rushed to the kitchen and grabbed my purse and phone. I looked down at my beautiful scarf. It suddenly felt caustic against my skin. I threw it on the counter and backed away as if it would bite me like a snake. I would take off the dress and shoes and get back into the outfit I’d come in, but leaving was the most important objective.
I hustled past Simon, who was loitering in Nick’s office, but stopped with a thought. “Do you know the address here by chance?” Uber typically used GPS to find you, but occasionally they required an address.
He gave me a funny look but didn’t ask why I wanted to know. He spouted off the address.
“Thank you.”
“Sure thing.”
I ran out the door, pulling up my Uber app as I went. It was proving difficult due to how hard I was shaking. Once I was able to type in my destination—my hotel’s address—the tears began to fall, first one-by-one then by the dozens as they streamed down my face. I could hardly see the name of the driver when his name popped up for how blurry my eyes had become. I traversed Nick’s stupidly long driveway haphazardly, only caring to be as far away from him as possible. If I tripped, so be it. It couldn’t hurt worse than the pain I was feeling inside.
My chest was heaving, but I was trying to hold back the racking sobs. He didn’t deserve the tears that I’d already shed. What was wrong with me? I’d read the books, been down this road before, yet here I was again. Never again would I break the rules.
Minutes seemed like an eternity while I waited at the end of the drive, leaning on one of the stone entry posts, all my strength drained from me.
My hell turned into an inferno with the sound of my name being called. Where was that blasted driver? There was nowhere for me to escape to unless I wanted to take my life into my hands. There were no sidewalks, only a busy two-lane road.
“Kate,” Nick’s voice was filled with pleading and panic.
“Don’t waste your breath! Stay away from me!” I refused to look at him.
“Kate, listen to me.” He grabbed my arm gently.
I yanked it away and gave him the foulest look. “Don’t touch me.”
His hands dropped, but he refused to move away from me. He stared at my pathetic state with only his dress pants on and wet, mussed hair. His blue eyes bore down on me with disquiet. “Please, it’s not what you think.”
“No, it’s worse. Not only did you use the company I’ve worked so hard for, but you used me. And I fell for it all. You must be congratulating yourself for breaking me all the way. You can write that into your screenplay.”
He reached out to touch me but pulled back and flexed his hand. “You have it all wrong.”
“Actually, I was right about you to begin with.” I closed my eyes, trying to hold back the tears, but it was as if trying to hold back the rough waves we’d experienced earlier. “I was wrong to let you ever pass that evaluation.”
“Hell, how I wished you wouldn’t have! Do you think I wanted to use that damn service?”
“How else were you going to do your ‘research’?” I mocked.
His nostrils flared. “When I approached Kenadie last year about a mutually beneficial deal in which I would do some advertising in exchange for some insider information, she refused based on the proprietary nature of what she’s created.”
Good for her, I thought.
“The fact of the matter is, what you do there is unique, and I felt it was the best fit for what we initially wanted. I approached her again, and after some considerable vetting on her part, she agreed, but only if I would use the service for real. She feels strongly,” he stretched his neck, “about the integrity of her company.”
“I’m sure that was hard for you to understand, since integrity must be a foreign concept for you.”
A flash of anger rippled through his eyes. “Why do you think I embellished the damn questionnaire?”
“Did you?”
“Yes,” his voice was strained. “I knew by doing that I was going to get someone who didn’t care if things worked out between us. I didn’t want to knowingly hurt someone.”
“Except me.”
He blew out a heavy breath and ran his hands through his hair. “Kate, I didn’t count on you, and I couldn’t tell you the truth because despite what you think, I’m a man of my word, and as much as I didn’t like it, I entered into the agreement with Kenadie.”
“And when were you going to tell me?”
“When I could.”
“But after you made sure you got all the material you needed from me. What was this weekend? Crunch time? Let’s see if we can get Kate to break all her rules? Were you going to seduce me next? That would make a great plot line. A little sexual healing with some meaningless sex for the broken doctor. Maybe some pillow talk about narcissists and diagnosing psychotic killers.” I rubbed my hands in my face, feeling like I was about to lose it. “You played me the entire time. Just. Like. Douglas.” I removed my hands to find him stone-faced. “But you’re worse. You used your daughter to get to me.”
“Stop right there, Kate, before you say more things you’ll regret.”
“The truth hurts? Or, let me guess, you don’t believe it, because like a true narcissist, you don’t see anything wrong with your behavior. You probably think this is all my fault or in my head.”
His face turned the deepest shade of red.
My ride finally arrived.
“What’s this?” Nick looked over the Toyota Corolla that had pulled up beside us with disdain.
“My ride.”
“Kate,” he took my hand, panic played in his eyes. “Don’t leave . . . please.”
I looked down at our clasped hands one more time, sick over the connection I felt with him. I pulled away. “I should have never come.” I opened the car door and jumped in.
Nick grabbed the door, preventing me from closing it. He leaned in and first focused on the young driver, who looked worried that he’d interrupted a domestic dispute.
Nick scared him even more. “If anything happens to her, you will wish you never lived. Take her straight to her destination, eyes on the road, and take the shortest, safest route. Got it?”
The poor kid nodded like his life depended on it.
Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out a money clip. He threw several one-hundred-dollar bills in the front seat.
“You are not paying for this.” I was never taking anything from him again. And I certainly didn’t need his pretend chivalry.
Nick ignored my protest. Instead, he leaned in more, coming within inches of my face, making me push my back against my seat.
“The truth is, Kate, you’re never going to have the magic you’ve been searching for because you keep running scared from it every time it finds you. Every time I find you.”
It felt like ice cold water doused my spine.
“Goodbye, Kate.” He slammed the door.