Authors: Unknown
DevilishlyHot (17 page)
Chapter Sixteen
A
nnie was surprised at how even her voice sounded. How utterly indifferent.
nnie was surprised at how even her voice sounded. How utterly indifferent.
Bobby froze, one hand under the woman’s shirt, cupping her breast, the other digging into her bare thigh.
The blonde gaped at her, her hair tangled in her face, her legs still spread wide to accommodate Annie’s boyfriend.
The boyfriend she didn’t even want, but had somehow felt obligated to be loyal to. A giggle threatened to spill out of her throat, but she managed to control it.
“This is Ally, I assume,” Annie said, her voice filled with an unsurprised acceptance.
“Annie,” Bobby said, pulling away from his blond actress lover, rearranging his clothing with embarrassed, jerky movements. At first, Annie thought it was for her benefit, but then he realized Bobby kept glancing to her right, and she realized it was the appearance of Nick that seemed to have him more unnerved.
That realization should have irritated her. That he was more concerned about a stranger’s reaction than hers, but for some reason she found that ironically amusing as well. Another inappropriate giggle threatened to spill out of her.
“Who is this guy?” Bobby demanded.
“Really?” Nick said, a disbelieving look on his face. “You’re worried about me? I think I’m the least of your concerns at the moment.”
Bobby stared at them, his eyes moving from one to the other as he obviously struggled for what to say.
“Annie,” he finally said, his voice a little pleading. “I can explain.”
Annie stared at him for a moment, then couldn’t suppress the giggle that had been bubbling up inside her any longer. “Of course you can.”
Of course he would say the most clichéd response to this situation ever. That was Bobby for you.
“I don’t think I need it explained. I can see pretty clearly what’s going on. I just feel a little silly that I didn’t see what was going on sooner.”
“Annie, please.” Bobby started to take a step toward her, but she held up a hand to ward him off.
“Don’t Bobby. There really isn’t anything you can say to change this. And frankly, I don’t want you to.”
“Annie,” Bobby said again, and he did sound truly torn, upset. Behind him, Ally looked upset too, but Annie didn’t think it was for her benefit. She was sure the blonde’s feelings had to be hurt because Bobby looked moments away from groveling.
Annie shook her head. “No. I don’t want to hear it.”
She turned and walked back through the sets, feeling a little dazed, but surprisingly calm, given that she’d just seen her boyfriend of the last several years having sex with another woman.
“Annie,” Nick said, once they were back in the theater proper, his hand caught her arm, pulling her to a stop. His eyes roamed her face. “Are you okay?”
Annie stared at him for a moment, her mind whirling, although she still didn’t seem to feel anything. Finally she gathered her thoughts enough to say, “I think I need a drink.”
Nick kept glancing at Annie, who sat on the barstool next to him, calmly sipping her glass of white wine. If he hadn’t witnessed exactly the same thing she had, he’d swear she was truly just a woman out to have a relaxing drink.
There was no sign she’d just caught her boyfriend banging another woman in the back of a theater. And frankly, her odd serenity worried and unnerved him. It was almost as if she was in shock.
God knows, Nick didn’t feel as calm about the entire event as Annie appeared to feel. He was furious and disgusted on her behalf. And very certain that Bobby may very well be one of the dumbest men alive. Did the idiot truly not realize what he had in Annie?
Beautiful. Sweet. Funny. A smile that always managed to scramble his brain and make him rock hard.
Nick realized he’d only known her briefly himself, but she had affected him to the core. And if he had her, he sure as hell wouldn’t let her go. He sure as hell wouldn’t hurt her like Bobby just had.
He studied her. Bobby must have hurt her, but still he couldn’t see any emotion on her face. Nothing. Add to that the fact she hadn’t said a word since they arrived, except to tell the bartender what she wanted to drink, and Nick was really concerned.
“Annie,” he said softly, not sure how to handle the situation. Being a detective, he was always trying to get someone to talk. A witness. A victim. A suspect. But sometimes people just needed time to process, not share.
But sitting here silent didn’t feel right to him either. He needed to know what she was thinking, to help her any way he could.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She didn’t answer right away, her eyes on her drink, her fingers on the stem, slowly twirling the glass back and forth, first right, then left.
Finally she met his gaze, her gray eyes dark like stormy seas—and like a churning sea, he still couldn’t see past the surface. He still couldn’t tell how she was feeling.
“I’m fine,” she said, then turned her attention back to her glass.
He didn’t believe her. “Do—do you want to talk about it?”
She shook her head. “No. I mean what is there to say?”
“That he’s a stupid ass,” Nick suggested.
She still didn’t look at him, but he saw the corner of her mouth lift in a slight smile, the gesture reluctant like she did it despite herself. “Well, there is that.”
“And you never should have had to see that.”
“Well, yeah, I could have done without that too.” She took a long swallow of her wine, almost as if she hoped the pale gold liquid could blot out the image.
“And that he is a fool for not realizing what an amazing relationship he had with you.”
She took another sip of wine, then began twisting the glass again.
After a few twists, she sighed. “We didn’t have an amazing relationship. We might have at some point, but that was a long time ago.”
Nick waited, expecting her to finally show some pain. Some sort of anguish, but she surprised him by meeting his eyes and giving him another smile, this one just slightly bigger than before.
“He’ll be happier with someone like Ally. A fellow actor is exactly the type of girlfriend he wants and needs.”
Nick didn’t return her smile. In fact, the irritation continued to well up inside him. She shouldn’t be so generous to the jerk. He didn’t deserve her understanding.
“And what about you?” he said, his tone harsher than he intended. “What about what would make
you
happy?”
you
happy?”
She considered him for a moment, then shrugged. She took another sip of wine, this time draining the glass.
Nick watched her, his irritation not lessening. He knew this wasn’t the time to be annoyed. She was already overwhelmed, but he couldn’t seem to control the emotion.
She’d nixed his attention toward her, because she knew it was the right thing to do. She’d been determined to be a loyal and true girlfriend. Bobby hadn’t shared that same belief, that same respect. By Nick’s way of thinking, Annie deserved to feel betrayed, hurt, angry.
But rather than tell her that, he simply opted for, “I don’t know how you can be so understanding.”
She glanced at him, then back to her glass. She twisted it again. Twist. Twist.
“It’s easy,” she said after a moment.
“Easier for you than me.” He was furious for her.
“I understand, because I know how it feels to want someone else too.”
Nick chest tightened, and he didn’t pretend to not know that she was talking about him. “But you didn’t go there. You respected your relationship.”
She nodded, not looking at him. “I did.”
He opened his mouth to tell her that she should be proud of herself, that she’d done what she thought was right.
But before he could speak, she shifted on her seat, her knees brushing his outer thigh as she faced him.
“I guess I am angry.”
“You should be,” he told her.
“I mean I didn’t really feel anything when I saw the two of them together. Well, maybe a little silly, but no pain, no anger, no regret. But you know what does make me angry?”
He didn’t respond, his eyes locked on her, waiting for her to continue.
“Bobby actually took a chance. He wanted something different and he went for it. I wanted something different, but I was too scared to make a change. To reach for what I wanted. To reach for you.”
He stared at her, his heart pounding, then he touched her face. Her beautiful face.
“I want to kiss you,” he told her, his voice low and husky with need. “I’ve thought about you nonstop.”
“Me too.” She cupped her hand around his, pressing his fingers closer to her skin. “So how can I be angry with Bobby when the truth is, I’ve been aching to be with you?”
Nick closed his eyes, his body reacting violently to her words. Every cell in his body became painfully alive, and only Annie could make that pain go away.
She turned her head and pressed her warm lips against his palm, the simple gesture almost driving him to the edge of sanity.
He’d been holding his desire tightly in check for what seemed like forever, even if it had only been a few days, but now she was telling him all the things he wanted to hear.
He pulled his hand away from her to reach into his pants pocket and retrieve his wallet. He plucked out a few bills and tossed them onto the bar.
Annie watched his almost manic movements as if entranced. Then he grabbed her hand, needing to get her out of there and to someplace where he could hold her. He might be desperate and half-mad to be close to her, but he wasn’t going to be as tacky as Bobby.
He was taking her to his place to love her senseless in private.
By the time they caught a cab and reached his apartment, snow was falling, coming down in large, fluffy flakes.
The street where he lived on the edge of Hell’s Kitchen was startlingly quiet, only the occasional car passing them, the wet sound of tires on pavement. Otherwise the night and snow gave Annie an insulated feeling, sort of surreal and otherworldly.
Of course, it had been a rather surreal night. Now she walked with Nick, his finger curled warmly around hers, through the beginnings of what appeared to be the beginnings of a full-fledged storm, heading toward his apartment and his bed.
If any time in her life deserved to be perceived as surreal, this was it. What a strange, strange night.
Yet in this moment, she felt more alive than she had in years. She actually felt excited about something, rather than just making it through another day.
The cold air stung her lungs, the snowflakes, icy and wet, chilled her cheeks and somehow heightened her awareness of the simmering, hungry burn in her body. A burn that sizzled deep inside her because of Nick. She was reminded of another time, with Nick, in the snow. Just days ago—although it seemed like she’d known Nick forever. Wanted him forever.
Tonight, a kiss between them could go so differently. Would go very differently.
She glanced over at him, just as he looked at her. He pulled her to a halt, his gaze still locked with hers. Those usually twinkling eyes of his now serious, filled with concern. Maybe even doubt.
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