Blake searched for another handful of stones from the landscaping around the building. He knew this was a childish method of reaching Andrea, but her phone was going straight to voice mail and the front door was locked. It was only when he’d seen her pacing back and forth in the windows above that he’d resorted to throwing pebbles at her window.
If he was going to feel like a middle schooler in the throes of first love, who cared if he acted like one? Plus, there was something so satisfying about each little ping that he’d never gotten from an email ping.
He was preparing to pelt another round at her darkened window when he realized she was already watching him. “Andy,” he called, both desperate and excited. “Andy Dawson.”
She lifted the window up and yelled down to him through the crack of screen she’d exposed. “Go away, Blake Douche-ovan!”
Well, that wasn’t the greeting he’d hoped for, but he hadn’t expected her to be welcoming, either. Not after the way she’d walked out on him that afternoon.
That was fine. He was in this for the long haul. “I’m not going anywhere until we talk, Andy. Let me up.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“Well, I do.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“Are you sure about that?” He got his answer when she pulled the blinds down. Dammit. Not the answer he’d assumed. “Come on, Andrea.” Then the blinds in the next set of windows went down. “Andy!”
“Hey,” a voice said from the apartment below the Dawsons’. “Could you hold it down out here? Some people are trying to—Blake Donovan? Are you fucking serious?”
Blake squinted at the woman. “You!” No wonder the area had seemed familiar. It was where one of his dates lived. He always Google Earthed, even if it was in private. Joey, was it? Or Joy?
“I’m Jaylene,” she said, with a roll of her eyes.
“Right, right.” Stupid name, anyway. “Don’t you live—” He glanced at the next building, confused. He was good with addresses, and he was sure that on the night of their horrid date he’d dropped her off one house down.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m next door. I’m … visiting someone.”
Blake saw a man behind her. And he was missing his shirt. Ah, well, maybe there really was someone for everyone. Even though he was certain there was a woman for this one.
“Anyway, it’s kind of late. Could you keep it down?”
He glanced at his watch. It wasn’t yet ten. What was she talking about kind of late? City ordinances wouldn’t even fine him until eleven. He was about to argue it when he realized instead that she was his key into the building. “I’ll stop my shouting if you’ll buzz me in. I need to see Andrea.”
“Buzz you in?” She seemed confused.
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other trying to stifle his impatience. “Through the main door.”
“There’s no buzzer. It doesn’t lock.”
She was crazy. He’d tried it when he first arrived and it was most certainly locked.
“Wait there a moment, will you?” He hurried up the stairs, twisted the knob, and pushed in. It wouldn’t budge. “See? Locked.”
“It’s a pull, not a push.” She said something else that he couldn’t quite hear, but he sensed it was along the lines of, You idiot.
Blake gritted his teeth before he let out a string of his own insults and pulled on the door. It opened. Well, that was dumb. Didn’t outer doors always open inward? And why wasn’t the door locked? That didn’t make for a secure environment. He’d be sure to call the building’s owner and get that fixed tomorrow. Whatever happened between him and Andrea personally, he still wanted her safe.
For the moment, though, he was happy to be inside. He took the stairs two at a time and found her door. He pounded loudly. “Andrea. Let me in.” No sound of movement came from inside so he pounded again. “Let me in. Please, Andy.”
The sound of a door creaking open drew his attention downstairs. Great. The femi-Nazi again. He noticed now she was clad only in a tank top and yoga pants. She leaned against her door frame, watching him, her arms folded across her chest.
The woman was infuriating even when he wasn’t on a date with her. He felt sorry for the man she was “visiting.” Bearding, likely. He muttered under his breath and tried to block out his audience of one as he pounded again. Still, the door didn’t open.
“They have a hide-a-key box, you know.”
He peered down again at the woman below, his brow raised.
“Under the railing there.”
Uncertain whether to trust her—their date together had been one of the most miserable of his life—he swept his hand under the railing. Sure enough, there was a small metal box secured to the bottom. He removed the lid and out fell a key.
Well, how about that. He met the eyes of the woman downstairs, wondering why she was helping him.
As if she could read his mind, she said, “I owe Andy. Or, rather, Andy owes me. I hope tonight goes … exactly as it’s going to.” She smirked, and turned back to the door she’d emerged from.
He had a feeling that paybacks for being set up with him were the underscore of her aid. Nevertheless, he shouted down, “Thank you, JayLo.”
“Jaylene, shithead!”
Right, Jaylene. But he didn’t really care about his error at the moment. Right then the only thing he could think about was getting inside that apartment and working things out with Andrea. Though she hadn’t seemed very warm at the window, he hoped she’d be more amiable to him when they were face-to-face.
He took the key and slid it in the lock. Then he breathed out a silent prayer, turned the key, and twisted the knob.
The minute he opened the door, an orange cross trainer came at him. He ducked and it flew past him into the hall, just missing his shoulder. He looked back at Andy. Her eyes were blazing mad, her nostrils fuming. In her hand was the matching shoe. She drew her hand back and fired it at him.
Maybe it was going to take more work than he thought.
* * *
“Why are you throwing things at me?” Blake cowered behind the front door, yelling at her through the open crack.
She had to admit she got some satisfaction from the situation. Not enough, though. She wanted more. She wanted to seal all the cracks in her shattered heart with blood, sweat, and tears from Blake “Fuckshovel” Donovan. She was so mad, she’d even think that word, though maybe not say it aloud.
“Because you’re an idiot.” She’d already rolled up a magazine from the coffee table, preparing to launch it next.
“I don’t disagree in the slightest.” He actually sounded sorry.
But she was too wound up. Besides, she was sure he didn’t know what he was sorry for, and violence seemed much more satisfying than explaining it to him.
She waited until he poked his head around the door to fling the magazine. She narrowly missed his cheek.
Dammit. Why was she such a bad aim?
He flung the door open. “Jesus, Andy. That was close.”
“Not close enough.” She scoured the room for something else to throw and settled on her soda. “You’re also an egotistical, chauvinistic, self-centered ass-hat.” She double-checked she’d slugged down the last drop, then heaved it across the room. It landed a whole foot in front of her target.
A flash of a smile crossed Blake’s lips, but he recovered quickly. “You’ve always known these things about me. You didn’t seem to mind before.”
“Didn’t seem to…?” She was absolutely incredulous. She minded. She’d minded since she met him.
Hadn’t she?
Considering that she fell in love with him despite all his flaws, maybe she hadn’t minded as much as she thought. But she wasn’t telling him that. Plus throwing stuff felt really, really good. And who the hell did he think he was, absolving her of being pissed? She had every flipping right to be pissed. And defensive.
She swiped the TV remote off the couch and readied for the pitch. “You’ve broken into my house. I’m defending myself.”
She let the remote go.
Blake caught it midair.
Dammit all to China!
“Andrea, please stop.” He held his hands up, palms out in front of him as if to halt her from further bombardment.
“Fine.” She was out of things to throw anyway except couch pillows, and what kind of weapons were those? “Why are you here?”
“Can I come in?”
She shrugged, though honestly she’d rather have him come in than have Mrs. Brandy hear all her business. Also, she’d lost enough shoes to the man. Also, he was pretty even when he was groveling. She decided to stop also-ing.
Blake ventured in and shut the door behind him. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and flicked his eyes around the room. Luckily Lacy had done a quick pickup that afternoon or Andy might be embarrassed. Andy was not great at pickups. Double entendre intended.
Actually, no. She wouldn’t be embarrassed. Because she didn’t care about the asshole’s opinion. Not everyone was lucky enough to have a housekeeper and money and a perfect, petite soon-to-be bride.
Blake’s presence was certainly not helping her temper. Best to get him of her house—out of her life—as soon as possible.
She folded her arms over her chest and repeated her earlier question more pointedly. “Why. Are. You. Here. Blake. Mister Donovan.”
He caught her eyes and for half a moment she was falling into him again, losing herself in the dizzy chaotic trance he always put her in.
But then he spoke. “We need to talk.”
Yeah, they needed to talk at seven thirty that morning. Where was he then? Now she was past talking. “There is nothing that needs to be said.”
He cocked his head. “Obviously there is. You’re angry, and I’m not sure why.”
That pissed her off more than anything. Not only had he completely wrecked her in every way a woman could be wrecked, but he didn’t even have a clue. And if there was one thing a woman didn’t do it was explain her emotions to a man who should understand anyway. “My anger is my business. It wasn’t what brought you here in the first place, anyway. So whatever you came here for, spit it out.”
“All right.” He hesitated as if trying to decide exactly what to say. Which was odd. He’d come all that way to see her—didn’t he have an agenda?
Finally he said, “I have questions about Jane.”
“Seriously?” Her fury ticked up another notch. No, not a notch. It went a notch at a time, until it exploded the freaking meter. He came to ask about inane, stupid, usurping Jane? “I’m not your matchmaker anymore, Blake. You can find out anything you need to know about your girlfriend by asking her yourself.”
He removed his hand from his pocket and rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s not what … she’s not my girlfriend.”
Oh, yeah, fiancée was the term now. The word made her want to throw things again. Or puke. Or both. “Whatever she’s called. Talk to her yourself. I’m no longer your go-between. Now get out of my house. You shouldn’t be here.” She started toward him, ushering him out.
“Wait!” He threw his hands out again to stop her.
She scowled but nodded to indicate he could go on.
He began pacing in the confined space she was allowing him. “It’s not … I mean … There’s a lot to say and…” He stopped suddenly and pinned her with his interrogative gaze. “All the things that went wrong on our dates—that was you, wasn’t it?”
She scoffed. “No.” But inside she said, Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
Blake shook his head. “The missing wallet—you took it that afternoon, didn’t you? And the reservations—they weren’t lost—you never made them.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Also, she had no idea how she’d ever get a job in town again. She bit her lip. She was so screwed.
“You know you’re the worst liar.” Strangely, he didn’t seem all that mad.
“Look, Blake, I don’t … I didn’t … I’m not…” His lack of annoyance threw her balance. How should she address this? Come clean? Then he’d want to know why and that would be one big mess of humiliation. Maybe she could just dodge the whole thing.
She plastered on the sweetest smile that she could muster. “Does it matter now? Everything worked out between you two, so no harm, no foul.” Speaking of Jane … “Where is she anyway? Shouldn’t you be with her tonight?”
“She’s probably home by now,” Blake said dismissively. “I’m not sure. I put her in a cab.”
“You didn’t drive her home?” It pleased her more than it should to realize he hadn’t followed up his proposal with a sleepover.
It also pissed her off again. That exactly was her point about him and Jane—he wasn’t even into her enough to do the deed after he popped the question. If it had been her that he’d asked to marry, Andy would have been all over him. Like the brainless sex-obsessed woman she’d apparently become reduced to in his presence.
And that just made her sad. And destructive. Wanting to wallow in her pain, no—revel in her escape—she pursued the subject further. “You know, you don’t have to keep it in your pants anymore. You could bang her all you want and I won’t say a word.”
“Is that what you want? For me to be with Jane?”
“No.” It was out before she could stop it. She backpedaled fast. “I mean, what do I care? I quit, remember?”
He took a step toward her. “And the only reason you ever cared about that was because of your job?” His expression was more prodding than accusatory.
She swallowed back the lump in her throat. “Of course. Why else would I give a shit?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”
They stared at each other in a standstill and it occurred to Andy that Blake might know. Was that possible? Did he somehow guess that she had a massive love boner for him, and if he did, why did he feel the need to expose it? Did he … care?
No, it was probably just because of his ego.
She pinched the bridge of her nose, breaking their eye contact. She couldn’t take much more without the rage dissolving into tears. “Blake, I don’t know what you’re insinuating, but I have a headache. Could you please just let this lie? Go meet Jane at her house and celebrate the occasion.”
“What occasion?” He looked truly confused.
“Don’t patronize me. I know, Blake.”
“Know what, Drea?”
“About the engagement.” Did he think he could hide it from her? And why did he want to? Goddammit, was he trying to get out of paying her find-a-bride bonus on top of everything else? “I saw the ring. I know you were going to propose. Are you trying to screw me on my bonus, Blake Donovan? Because if you—”
He cut her off with a finger pointed at her. “Hold on. You saw … the ring?”
“Yeah, I saw it. So stop trying to hide the truth and let’s talk about my payment. Because I know you proposed. Why did you think I quit?” If she was going to walk away with a broken heart and no referral, she’d better at least have money for groceries for a couple of months. And who was he kidding with this ridiculous late-night drop-in?
“Andy, stop talking about payment. I’m not trying to screw you out of anything. What the hell is it that you think you know about my proposal?”
“I know all of it. I’m not an idiot.” She sighed. A deep, heavy, frustrated I-can’t-believe-I’m-spelling-this-out sigh. “The ring came in while you were at your meetings. Sarah was already at lunch so I signed for the package. I was nosy. I looked. Add that to dinner reservations at Menton, it didn’t take much to put together that tonight was the night you’d pop the question.”
“Pop the…” Dawning settled over his features. “You thought I was going to propose to Jane?”
“Well, duh.”
There were exactly two seconds of silence before Blake began to laugh. Not a simple chuckle, either, but a deep, hearty laugh much like the night she’d shown up in her nightie on his doorstep. And just like then, she felt totally humiliated and utterly confused and goddamn pissed.
Fucking Blake.
Before she could find a new item to pelt him with—this time, preferably a very hard, very damaging object—his laughter ceased sharply. He met her eyes and advanced upon her, backing her up until she’d met the wall.
He caged her in, his body so close but not touching her anywhere. God, it was just like when he’d seduced her the night before. Heat rolled off him—sexual tension and emotional tension—it took everything she had not to choke him with his tie and then rip all his clothes off. Because it was the only thought that distracted her from how she still wanted him to do that to her. Why was he torturing her like this?
“Why are you mad at me?” His low, husky timbre fell over her like liquid sex.
“I…” She wasn’t sure anymore. Wasn’t even sure if she was still mad at him. Or if she was mad, maybe she could take it out on him in another way. Like with her body, with her hands. With her teeth. Maybe one last … maybe they could hate-do it?
“Is it because you have feelings…?” He didn’t add for me, but it was implied.
Andy shook her head but squeaked out a contradictory “Maybe.”
He settled his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, as if relishing her oh-so-tentative answer. When he opened them again, he said plainly, “I did not propose to Jane.”
Her breath hitched. “You didn’t?”
“No.” He circled his nose around hers once, then drew back to meet her gaze. “It would be a serious conflict of interest. Considering I’m completely in love with you.”
Andy swore her heart flipped in her chest. “Wh—what?”
He trailed his hands up her arms. “I love you, Andy. The ring was for you.”
“For me?” Now her heart was in her throat. She had to be hallucinating because there was no way that ring had been for her. Or dreaming. Maybe she was still asleep on the couch.
Except his hands on her body felt awfully real and the scent that she’d come to know as pure Blake pervaded the space between them, filled her with all of him. Not as full as she was fantasizing, but …
Her eyes fell to the floor as she tried to work through the fog that had settled around her. “But you went out with Jane tonight—”
“—to break up with her.”
“At the fanciest restaurant in town?”
“I thought you’d be impressed with my considerate letdown.” He took a step back. Not too far, but enough to give her a smidgeon of breathing room.
“Impressed?” He was still close enough for her to punch him in the shoulder. So she hit him twice. “It’s misleading! To her and to me.”
Blake rubbed at the place she’d struck him, but was otherwise a good sport about the infliction. “Jane was far from misled. She was well aware I had no feelings for her before I even told her. As for you—”
She opened her mouth to ask more about the highly interesting thing he’d just said about Jane, but he put a finger up to shush her. “I could have explained all of it to you, if you’d asked me about it instead of quitting and running off—”
“—like how you ran off this morning?” That hypocrisy had to be addressed. “I may have run off, but let it be clear you abandoned me first. At least I left a note.” She brushed past him, unable to stand his close proximity any longer. If he was going to play mind games with her, then she at least needed to have a fair shot at fighting back, and there was no fair shot when he was that near.
Blake spun around after her. “What are you talking about, Andy? I didn’t abandon you. And I did leave a note.”
“Where? There was no note. I know. I looked.”
“There was a note, Drea. It was by the bedside with the money—” He stopped as if realizing what must have happened.
At the same time, Andy remembered everything falling off the nightstand. Remembered the dog …
“Puppy,” they said in unison.
She couldn’t help smiling at that. Then she couldn’t stop smiling because Blake hadn’t abandoned her.
Blake ran a hand over his face. “No wonder you were mad. You thought I’d just left you.”
“Left me with a pair of twenties.”
“Oh, God … it was for a cab to get home. You must have thought…”
“Let’s not even go there.” All that heartache, and it had just been a misunderstanding. Luckily they’d sorted it out before she’d gone and done anything drastic. Well, anything more drastic. How different the day would have gone if not for the damn dog.
“I told you the dog was a bad idea.”
She hit him again, though a part of her agreed. “So.” She leaned against the back of the couch. “What did the note say?”
“Nothing important. I wanted to save the good stuff for in person.”
“Well. Here I am. In the flesh.” She was flirting now. Hard-core.
“That you are.” His eyes scanned down her body and she was suddenly aware she was only in a camisole and shorts.
She shivered. He acknowledged her reaction with a curl of his lip and all she wanted was to stop talking and make out already. The way he was slinking closer made her think he had the same thing in mind.
But then there was his admission of love and the ring … God, the ring!
Maybe he hadn’t said the things she’d thought he said. It all went by so fast. “Wait, wait.” She shook her hands by her head as if that would clear her head. “A lot of information has flown by in the last ten minutes and I’m muddled.”
Blake halted his approach. “Understandable. What can I do to un-muddle you?”
“Let’s sit. Can we sit? I think we should sit.” She circled the couch and sat on the edge while Blake took the armchair. Where to start, where to start … “This morning—” She shook her head; she wanted to go back farther. “Last night, I mean—”
“Last night was the best night of my life, Andy.”
Her lips went dry and her pulse picked up. She was dumbfounded. He had been as blown away as she’d been! Luckily, it wasn’t her turn to talk.
Blake leaned forward, close enough that their knees almost met. “And this morning when I woke up, I realized that every minute I’ve spent with you has been the best of my life. I think I’d figured out that I loved you long before, but last night is when I realized you were the one I wanted to spend my life with.”
Andy brought her hand up to cover her mouth. “Really?” She let her palm fall to her chest. “But I’m not your ideal.” Not even close to his ideal. Her body, her personality—none of her fit the mold of the woman he wanted.
Blake reached over to settle his hand on her knee. “You’re exactly my ideal, Andrea Dawson. It just took me longer to realize it than it should have.”
She let out a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, it did.”
“Hey, I didn’t hear any declarations from you all that time.” He sat back and instantly she missed his touch. “In fact, I still haven’t heard any declarations from you. Should I even be here right now?”
She practically jumped out of her seat. “Yes. You should be here. I’m glad you’re here.”
He looked skeptical. “Even though you threw those awful cross trainers at me?”
“Even though I threw the cross trainers at you. They are not awful, though. Don’t even think I’m going to say that they are.”
“Andy, I love you even though you have no taste in shoes. And don’t know how to cook.” He glanced at the dusty picture frames on the wall behind her. “Or clean.”
She couldn’t even defend herself. She wasn’t good at any of those things. “Those are all requirements you had for your wife.” Her spirits sank. Even if he did love her, how could she fill the role of Blake Donovan’s wife? He’d never be happy with her when she lacked so much.
Blake, however, simply shrugged. “We’ll just always have to have a housekeeper. There’s nothing to do about your eye for bad shoes, however.”
She chuckled, but immediately grew somber again. “I might want more than one baby.”
“That means lots of baby making. I like baby making.”
“Blake, I’m serious.” This conversation was the most serious she’d ever had, to be honest.
“So am I.”
She met his eyes and saw he was indeed as sincere as she was. It gave her a rush to realize they were making plans together for their future. Funny how, this time, it was her ticking off the list of requirements for his wife. “And I want to work. Even though I have no idea what I want to do.”
“I hope you work for me. But even if you don’t, I’ll be happy as long as I can come home to you and beat your pants off in pinball.”
This time when she laughed she let a smile linger after. “Do I have to be wearing pants when we play pinball?”
“I’d actually prefer that you don’t.”
No longer able to stand the distance between them, Andy leaped into his lap. She straddled his hips and cupped his cheeks in her hands. “Blake, I love you. I have a confession, though—I did sabotage your dates with Jane because I didn’t know how to tell you, and I couldn’t stand the idea of you with someone else. And that’s why I quit, too. I thought last night meant nothing to you. I thought we meant nothing to you.”
“We mean everything to me.” He turned his mouth to rest a kiss on her palm. “If I asked you to marry me…?”
It was an echo of the way he’d asked her to stay with him the night before, but she wasn’t about to let him get off that easy. “Are you asking me?”
“Hold on. You’re right. We have to do this properly. I have to do this properly. You deserve it.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and stood. Andy squealed as he carried her out like a potato sack from where the furniture was arranged tightly to a clearing in the room. There he knelt on one knee and propped her on the other.
She giggled with nerves as he stuck his hand inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a velvet box—the same one she’d seen earlier that day. As if this wasn’t happening, as if she didn’t know what was going on—as if he hadn’t flat-out told her. With one hand still anchored at her hip, he awkwardly used his mouth to open the box. She started to shake. Then there it was, the beautiful ring she’d held between her fingers, wishing against hope it belonged to her. And now it did.
Or, it almost did. Blake had yet to ask the question.
“Andy Dawson, you are everything I never knew I wanted. You are more than ideal—you’re my perfect match. Will you do me the honor of becoming my bride?”
For the first time since she’d met him, she didn’t argue. “Yes. Yes, Blake Donovan, I will.”
He kissed her then. Hard and deep. She matched his passion, telling him everything in her heart through her lips, through her tongue, through her hands that she wrapped around his neck and wove through his hair. It was a kiss that spoke of beginnings. A kiss that promised the future. A kiss heavy with love. A kiss that was also the end, but the happiest ending she could dream of.
When they both came up for air, Andy pushed away. She wanted to keep kissing him all night—all her life—but she had yet to put the ring on her finger. Still on his knee, they fumbled through getting the ring out of the box and on her finger.
“I’m impressed,” she said, her gaze caught up in the diamond’s sparkle. “It fits perfectly.”
“I may have done some measuring. While you slept.”
“Clever man. And only a little creepy.” She couldn’t stop staring at her hand. It was so beautiful. So impossible. And so … right. “I loved your proposal, by the way. Though”—she couldn’t believe she was admitting this, but fresh start and all that—“I do kind of like it when you call me Drea.”
He laughed and clutched her close to him. “I knew it.”
Happier than she’d ever been, she teased him as he kissed along her jawline. “Is this a good time to tell you I still want my matchmaking bonus? I did find you a wife, after all.”
His mouth found her ear and nibbled. “Well, I’d hope that being married to me would be all the bonus you’d need.”
“I do love you, Mr. Donovan. But I’m going to need a personal account at Macy’s, too.” Though she’d settle for a lifetime of that thing he was doing with his tongue. And maybe a monthlong honeymoon in St. Lucia. She had promised herself a tropical vacation.
Blake found her mouth again. This time the kiss was deeper, longer, more desperate. When Blake’s crotch hardened against her thigh, she knew what was coming next.
“Come home with me, Mrs. Donovan-to-be,” he said against her lips. “I want to spend all night not sleeping with you. What do you say?”
And for the second time since she met him, she found herself in agreement. Because spending all night not sleeping was the perfect way to celebrate an engagement.