Embracing You, Embracing Me (25 page)

No chance. Becca was in her own little
world. Luckily, Stacie skipped up with a huge grin. “Hey Nico!”

“Hey Stacie, are you just getting on
shift?”

Stacie strapped her money belt around her
waist. Then with a fling of her shiny auburn hair, answered, “Yeah, I just got
here. Uh, Nico? Have you met the new girl yet?” she looked back and forth
between the two of us as we both shook our heads. “Oh, well... Roshell, this is
Nico, the technology manager. Nico, this is Roshell McRady, she started last
week while you were gone.”

Introduction complete, I finally gave her
my attention. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you too,” she
answered, looking me directly in the eye.

Her bold confidence intrigued me further.
But I couldn’t show my interest. Not yet. So I pulled my hand from hers and
deliberately broke our gaze, returning to my earlier conversation with Becca.

Yes, I’m definitely drawn to her but I’m
bemused as to exactly why. Is it purely physical attraction and curiosity, or
is it something more?

I can promise you that I’ll be sure to find
out.

During my first encounter with Nico, I was
a little miffed with his indifferent greeting, but I was stunned by his
beautiful, brown eyes. His gaze was direct, and his eyes were larger, even
deeper set than I’d thought before. When he was up close, I could see that he
had impossibly long, thick eyelashes, and the skin around his eyes was slightly
darker giving him an exotic and slightly dangerous look. I reached out to shake
his outstretched hand and registered the quick jolt that passed between us when
his large soft palm enveloped mine.

Off balance, I kept neutral during our
exchange, friendly but a little reserved. After he walked away, I realized I
was actually disappointed that he hadn’t shown any interest in me at all. He
barely acknowledged my existence. I felt a little slighted by him. It irked me.
It nagged at me, like an annoying sliver wedged under the skin.

Then I caught myself. Why should I even
care what he thought or how he acted toward me? I had only just met the man. So
what if he didn’t give me the time of day? I didn’t want any male intrusions in
my life right then anyway. I closed the door on my wandering thoughts and
pushed the encounter out of my mind.

Over the next two weeks, I encountered Nico
multiple different times as he made his way around the casino floor, messing
with computers and any other equipment that required his attention. Every
single time he landed in my section he went out of his way to talk with all the
girls except me. Not one word.

I began to feel as if he was specifically
avoiding me, and
jeez
was that irritating? How could he dislike me so
much? He didn’t even know me. Maybe he was being a jerk on purpose because I
was new and didn’t fall all over him like the other girls.

Well, too damn bad. I promised that I
wasn’t going to make a fool of myself the way they did, no matter what.

Then one day, he had one of the machines in
my section opened up and was messing around with its innards, while he talked
with Stacie. Showdown time, I decided: I would just go over there, make my
presence known and see if he would finally be decent toward me.
Hard to
ignore someone when they’re in your face
, I thought. I stomped down the cat
walk so they would both hear my approach.

NICO:
Heard her heavy-footed approach while I was out fixing some of the
machines, so I knew straight-away that my little plan was working all too well.

Stacie glanced up with a friendly smile,
but Nico kept his head buried inside the machine, a monkey wrench in one hand.

Not missing a beat, he kept his
conversation focused on the upcoming Associate of the Year banquet that would
fall on the following Wednesday, and how there were speeches planned, and how
this, and how that, blah, blah, blah.

He put the shiny tool down with a metallic
clink, closed the machine up and locked it. Stacie rambled on about how she
didn’t know what she was going to wear to the banquet. She had been invited by
one of the guys who worked in surveillance.

By this time, I was flat out pissed off,
unable to reconcile why he would be so rude to me. Infuriated, I crossed my
arms over my chest and stared him down like a pesky child, burning a hole into
the side of his face, just daring him to continue ignoring me.

NICO:
Wow, I felt her aggravation like the heat from one of these
ticket-chewing slot machines. Maybe my plan was working a little better than
I’d expected. She looked like she was gonna light me up. I came that close to
giving in—lucky my pager went off. Meeting in 5 mins...

Nico excused himself without even a glance
in my direction, leaving me astonished. The machines pinged and clattered
around us, playing their electronic tunes, luring the punters into their snare.

Stacie watched her boss walk away in long
strides and sighed aloud, “What a babe!”

I snorted. “Yeah, a real Romeo, that one
is.” The sarcasm dripped heavily from my tone as I retreated up the cat walk.

One of the blackjack dealers asked if I
would be his date to the Associate of the Year banquet. Only employees that had
been nominated over the past year were invited and they were encouraged to
bring a date.

I knew him very well, just as I knew his
boyfriend who had to work that night which was why Evan invited me to the
function with him. I thought that it would be fun to attend the event,
especially since Evan’s preference for men would mean that I wouldn’t have to
refuse his advances. The fact that he was hilarious was a huge benefit and I
knew we would have a great time.

Evan was dressed in a simple gray suit with
a pink tie. I chose to wear a tailored pin-striped suit that hugged my curves.

As I entered the banquet hall on Evan’s
arm, I immediately spotted Nico standing just off the dance floor with one of
the girls that worked in the lounge on the opposite end of the casino.

He was wearing a black suit that enhanced
his dark features and looked devastatingly handsome with his arm slung casually
around the tall brunette’s shoulders. I quickly sized up the pair, comparing my
own short stature and plain looks to the leggy bombshell that was draped over
him.

“So that’s his type, huh?” I murmured
quietly. “Figures. Can’t compete with that.” Then I reminded myself that I
wasn’t competing with anyone, especially not for that jerk’s attention.

I averted my eyes when he glanced my way.
Even from that distance I could see the way his eyes flashed with something I
couldn’t quite identify.

NICO:
I’ve ignored her long enough. Tonight I switch into ‘phase two.’

She’s here with Evan, and given Evan’s lifestyle,
I’m sure he won’t mind me moving in on his date. When she heads to the bar I’ll
intercept her.

I grew apprehensive when I realized that he
was one step ahead of me and just barely beat me to the bar. I thought about
turning around to avoid him but it went against my nature so I pushed on,
determined to keep my cool. I took in his casual demeanor, his hands in his
pockets as he rocked back on his heels and with a friendly grin he offered to
buy me a drink.

I was stunned. He was actually speaking to
me like a civilized human being. But I didn’t feel inclined to return the civility
and declined his offer. “No thanks.”

He shrugged, ordered a beer, and stepped
aside while I ordered a glass of white wine.

Glass in hand, I turned and tried to slink
past him without further incident. Nico did a little sidestep to block my path.
Man, what is up with this guy
, I wondered. “So, you’re here with Evan,
huh?” he asked.

I tensed in response. There were so many
backwoods jerks who had plenty of opinions regarding Evan’s choice in partners,
and I was the type to give those jerks, opinions of my own. However, Nico was
management and I felt that it probably wasn’t a good idea to give him a tongue
lashing, especially at a work related function. I simply replied, “Yep”

“That’s cool. I like Evan. He’s a funny
guy.”

I relaxed a bit, relenting that at least he
wasn’t too big of a jerk. “Yeah, he’s hilarious. What about your date?” I
asked. “She’s probably wondering what’s taking you so long. You better run
along,” I prodded in a mocking tone.

Nico smiled. “My date? Oh yeah, Marguerite.
She won’t mind. We’re just friends. I didn’t have a date and you had already
arranged to go with Evan by the time I started looking for one, so I just asked
Marguerite.”

I nearly choked on my wine. “Me? I mean,
how did you know that I was going with Evan?” I stammered. And why did he look
like he was enjoying himself so much?

“I was gonna ask you, so I started asking
the girls you work with if you were seeing anyone and they told me that you
were single but going to the banquet with Evan,” he stated offhandedly as if it
were no big deal.

The wine was warming up my system, causing
me to forget whom I was speaking to. “You are a piece of work, you know that.
You have been flat out ignoring me the entire time that I have been in the
department. You haven’t even bothered trying to be polite and have gone out of
your way to avoid me as if I were a leper or something.

“Now you’re telling me you wanted to ask me
on a date. Wow, you really are full of yourself!” I stood there staring him
down and waited to see if he would get angry with my little outburst.

Nico calmly sipped his beer, raised one
eyebrow, and replied, “Feel better now?”

Ugh! He was so aggravating. I rolled my
eyes and stepped around him, stomping off to find which table Evan had picked.

When I plopped down in the seat next to
him, I finished my wine in one emphatic swallow. He smirked, noticing the murderous
look in my eye.

“Dang, girl! Who pissed in your Wheaties?”
he said. “You look like you could scratch someone’s eyes out.” He pursed his
lips with a hand in the air as if he had claws.

I mumbled under my breath, unfolding and
refolding my napkin in frustration.

“Come on sweetie, tell me, and I’ll go
bitch slap ’em,” he offered, twisting around in his chair trying to eye the
culprit of my nasty mood.

“Good god, Evan, you have such a way with
words,” I quipped sarcastically.

Evan pursed his lips, “Never mind that, I
think I like you better mad. You look hot! Makes me want to spank you and send
you to my room.”

I howled with laughter and wiped a tear
from the corner of my eye with my mangled napkin. I could always count on Evan
for comic relief. Something about the way he spoke without hindrance reminded
me of Sabrina and caused a brief wave of nostalgia. I sure did miss that girl.

The rest of the evening went well. Evan
kept me giggling mercilessly. I would pause for only a moment, when I thought
about my earlier conversation with Nico, and wondered if he had been serious
when he said that he had planned on asking me out.

I didn’t speak to him again while at the
banquet, but occasionally I caught him looking at me from across the room and
would immediately shift my gaze.

Evan and I were dancing to a Matchbox
Twenty song when he said, “A bunch of people are meeting down at the pub after
this. I was thinking of joining them. Do you want to go?”

I thought about it for only a second before
realizing that I was actually enjoying myself and wasn’t ready for the night to
end yet, so I agreed to go.

Once we arrived, I noticed Nico shooting
pool with a couple of the guys toward the back and thought about leaving. While
I was debating what to do, one of the gals that worked in the back offices ran
up and grabbed me by the shoulders. “Oh, my God, thank goodness you’re here,”
she said.

I was shocked and wondered for a minute if
I should be scared of this lady and run for my life? She was one of the Native
American employees that worked in the administrative offices and I hoped that
maybe she had confused me with someone else.

“I’m Sharon. I’m a friend of Nico’s. We
work together. He has been asking everyone in the office about you, driving all
of us crazy.” Her voice was friendly and enthusiastic. I relaxed. This woman
wasn’t going to assault me after all.

When my mind caught up with her and I
started to process what Sharon had just said, I was perplexed. Nico had been
asking about me? What was this guy’s deal? “Are you sure he was asking about
me?” I wondered aloud, confused.

“Oh, yeah, it was you! None of us really knew
anything about you, so we couldn’t tell him much. But then one night at Laura’s
house, we all got him soused up real good and I brought it up. We were all
curious about why he was so interested in you and wanted to know more about it.