Empty Net (15 page)

Looking dangerous and hot in a tight black Ed Hardy T-shirt with fitted jeans, his black hat tilted to the side, she couldn’t help but admire the look of him. Levi’s mouth curved into a wicked grin as a woman moved into his arms, and he placed a kiss along her temple while still keeping eye contact with Audrey. She froze, but unlike last time, the air rushed out of her when she recognized the girl was Elli’s assistant, Janet.

Angry tears sprang to Audrey’s eyes as she watched Janet wrap her arms around Levi’s neck, taking his mouth with hers. She had no problem with Janet, she was a nice girl, but didn’t understand how Levi could think that she was fat when Janet was twice her size. Actually, Janet looked a lot like her; dark brown hair flowing to her bottom, a round face, big breasts. The difference was that Janet had blue eyes and was wider in the middle.

Levi sent her one last grin before wrapping Janet in his arms and leading her down a hall to the living room. Audrey took in a deep breath, begging her tears to stay at bay. She couldn’t do this. Not here.

“Audrey, you are really beautiful.”

She looked up after hearing the words every girl needed to hear. That did it. The next thing she knew she was handing Shelli off to him and rushing to the bathroom so no one would see her cry.

Tate had no clue what he’d done to make Audrey cry. He waited outside the bathroom for her, with both of Shea Adler’s daughters in his arms. Shelli was babbling while smacking him in the face, and Posey was snuggled close in the nook of his arm. He wished he could go find Elli or Shea, but he didn’t want to miss the chance of seeing Audrey when she came out. He had to know what he did.

Telling Audrey that she was beautiful wasn’t the plan. The words just poured out of him. He loved her kooky style, and today was no different. She looked amazing in a blue dress that was really tight along her hips and thighs. The top was made of a sheer white, flowing fabric that dipped down, showing off her impressive breasts. His mouth watered at the sight of her. She was delectable, and he would have loved any excuse to rip the dress off her.

Tate had enjoyed spending time with her the night before, and he’d hoped he was wearing her down. Asking to be friends, and Audrey agreeing, was one step closer to her seeing that he was the guy for her. They could be great together if she wouldn’t overthink it. He was excited to see what would happen between them. He could still feel her body against his, the
softness of her curves in his hands, her lush lips against his. With a groan he banged his head against the wall.

This was not helping the situation in his pants.

Still leaning against the wall, he took a deep breath as Shelli continued to run her tiny little fingers through the coarse hair on his jaw. He usually didn’t allow a beard or mustache to grow, but the Assassins charity was doing a fund-raiser for prostate cancer. All the guys on the team were growing out their mustaches for donations. He wasn’t having much luck with the mustache, so he decided not to shave at all and hope for the best. He basically had a neck beard, and that was all.

Not his best look.

When Elli Adler turned the corner, he didn’t know if it was he or Shelli who squealed in delight. Elli’s face broke out in a large grin as she looked from her beautiful baby girls to Tate.

“Why do you have Shelli? Where’s Audrey?”

Tate moved his head toward the door. “In there, she—”

“Oh no! Did one of the kids puke on her?”

“No, but could you—”

Before he finished, Elli left for the bathroom, leaving him with Shelli and Posey. He glanced down at Posey just in time to see her puke all over his cardigan.

Wonderful.

“Ew! Baby Posey icky on you!” Shelli giggled.

Even with “icky” all over him, Tate couldn’t help but laugh.

“Audrey?”

She looked up from the sink when she heard knocking on the door. Recognizing the voice as Elli’s, she quickly splashed water on her face, hoping to wipe away any sign of tears. At another knock at the door, Audrey took in a shuddered breath.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, are you okay? Did the kids get you? Little spewers! I end up changing like fifteen times a day!” Elli laughed. Audrey unlocked the door so she could come in.

With a smile, she said to Elli, “You don’t know how lucky you are, spewers and all.”

The look in Elli’s eyes told Audrey her smile hadn’t worked, that Elli could tell she’d been crying. Taking her hands, Elli said, “What’s wrong?”

Audrey shook her head, begging her tears not to fall.

“I know something is wrong, what is it?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Audrey, tell me what’s wrong, let me help you.”

Shrugging, Audrey said, “I’m so tired of caring so much about someone who doesn’t care about me.”

Elli looked confused. “Okay, what happened to make you feel that way?”

“My ex. He always told me I’m fat, but the girl he just showed up with at your party is twice my size.”

Elli grimaced as she looked away. “Yeah, that sucks.”

“Basically,” Audrey said, choking back the tears, “what made her better? I was so good to him. It just isn’t fair.”

When Elli looked up into her eyes with compassion, Audrey allowed a tear to fall. Elli
said, “Saying that you are better than him, and that you don’t deserve it, would be pointless, huh?”

Audrey nodded.

“Yeah, I figured it would be.”

They stood for a moment, neither of them saying anything. Audrey felt more tears rolling down her face and she became disgusted with herself. She hated how much she’d let Levi affect her. Like Elli said, she didn’t deserve this. So why did she let it bother her?

“How’d you do it?” Audrey whispered. She didn’t know if what she said was audible until Elli looked up and smiled.

“Do what?”

Audrey shrugged her shoulders, tears running down her cheeks. “Get so lucky to find such a fantastic man.”

A dreamy look came over Elli’s face. “I didn’t find Shea, he found me,” she declared. “But, Audrey, you have to believe that you are good enough for Prince Charming to sweep you away.”

“I do believe it,” she said. “I just can’t find him.”

“I don’t think you do believe that you are worthy. I think you are settling for less than you deserve and that you need to wait for the grand prize. Stop messing with these idiots and find a man who will love you for the amazing girl you are.”

Audrey nodded. “I’m trying.”

Elli smiled. “Then he’ll come, and when he does, you’ll wonder how you went on without him.” She looked down at her growing belly before looking back up at Audrey. “Shea is the best thing that ever happened to me. His love has made me the strong, confident woman who
is in front of you. Not only does he love me, but also my rapidly growing waistline. He is the best father imaginable. With just one glimpse of him with his niece and nephew, I knew he would be.”

With those words, Tate came to mind. Audrey wanted to shake the thought away but it didn’t go anywhere. She pictured him playing with Aiden and then holding Posey. He would be the best father ever.

To someone else’s kids.

“Your person is out there, Audrey, don’t give up and don’t settle for crap,” Elli said, bringing her attention back.

Audrey slowly nodded, knowing that Elli was right.

“Now come on, Tate is holding my babies and we have a party to get to.”

Wiping her eyes again, Audrey followed Elli out of the bathroom, through the sitting room, and into the hall where Tate stood with Shelli and Posey. Her heart could have exploded at the sight of him with the two little girls. He was at such ease with them in his arms.

“Give me my babies, Tate Odder,” Elli said, and giggled.

Tate smiled as she took both her babies, kissing them both before saying, “Thank you.” Elli looked between Audrey and Tate before going back to Audrey and pinning her with a look.

“Sometimes what you’re looking for is right in front of you,” she said. “Don’t be blind, Audrey, it isn’t attractive.”

With that, Elli Adler was gone.

Audrey looked up to see Tate watch her walk away. When he turned to look at her, he shrugged. “That was weird.”

Audrey laughed, and Tate smiled before saying, “Are you okay, I’m sorry for … yeah, I
have no clue what I did.”

She continued to laugh, to the point of tears. Tate joined in, leaning against the wall as she held her stomach. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” she said.

“Oh, good,” Tate said in a whoosh. “I was worried that saying you are beautiful was wrong, or something.”

Audrey shook her head, her face starting to hurt from smiling so widely. It was weird how not ten minutes ago she was crying her eyes out, and now, out in the hall, with Tate for only a minute, she was laughing her butt off. He was so easy to get along with when she allowed herself to enjoy him.

“It isn’t wrong,” she said when she finally stopped laughing.

“Well then, really, Audrey,” he started, his voice dropping a few octaves, “you are simply gorgeous today, and every day for that matter.”

God, his voice was orgasmic!

Her cheeks became warm as she looked up at him through half-lidded eyes. “I thought we were friends.”

Tate smiled, his grin wide. “We are. I can think my friend is hot, right?”

Audrey giggled. “I guess.”

“What, you don’t think I’m hot?” he asked with a wounded look. “It’s my beard, huh?”

Audrey was full-out laughing again. If only he knew how much she wanted to lick that beard of his. “Jeez, I thought only girls fished for compliments.”

Tate chuckled loudly. “I am just curious about what you think.”

Audrey rolled her eyes. He was fishing and he knew it. Without thinking, she moved off the wall onto her tippy toes so she was closer to him. Her lips only inches from his jaw, she
whispered, “I slept with you, didn’t I? I think that says something.”

Tate ran his tongue along his bottom lip, his gaze holding hers. “Sure it does, but you ran out the next morning. What does that say?”

Audrey knew she was wrong. She was flirting and had no intent of moving forward with him. She couldn’t help it, though; she was so attracted to him.

Taking in a shuddering breath, she whispered, “That I was stupid?”

Tate took in a quick breath, and her gaze fell to his lips. They were so full, so inviting. She wanted nothing more than to get lost in his kisses, but knew it was wrong.

Tate was frozen against the wall as he watched every move that Audrey made. She started to move away, she had to or she would ignore all the reasons she couldn’t kiss him and do it anyway.

“Flirting is against friends’ rules,” she said as she backed away down the hall.

“But it’s fun,” he said with a grin.

Audrey nodded. “It sure is.”

And it was fun, even if it could be considered another epic mistake, because she didn’t think their friendship was going to last long. Either they wouldn’t be able to be friends or they were going to end up in bed.

She didn’t know which was worse.

Audrey was lying on the couch, recapping how great Shelli’s party had been while she looked mindlessly through the Facebook app on her phone. Aiden was upstairs asleep, but she wasn’t tired yet and so decided to take time off instead of work. She needed to check in on work stuff
but had no desire to do that. She’d much rather play on Facebook.