Empty Net (17 page)

Now, tears filling her eyes, she sat in the parking lot of Luther Arena trying to figure out if she should go inside and see Fallon or go to work at Top Wines. Even though she’d rather sell all her shoes than go to that job she hated right now, hearing what Fallon would say was probably worse. With a frustrated yell, she pushed the car door open and headed toward the doors of the large arena. Fallon was usually at the office in the cellar, but since her sister had been away honeymooning, she would be in the wine room today to check on things.

“Hey you,” Audrey said, throwing her purse on the counter.

Fallon jumped in surprise before making eye contact and smiling. “You scared the crap out of me!”

“Good. I’m here like your text commanded.”

Fallon laughed, laying her pen down before pinning Audrey with a look. “You know why
I asked you here, so spill it, what happened while I was gone?”

Audrey took in a deep, frustrated breath. If she didn’t tell Fallon, her sister was going to bother her until she did, so she said in a rush, “I slept with Levi again.”

“Ugh! Why on earth would you do that?!”

Audrey shrugged her shoulders again, looking down at the ground, “ ’Cause I’m dumb?”

“Ugh, yeah. So what happened? Are y’all back together?”

“We were never together to be
back
together, we were just fucking around, you know that.”

“So why did you sleep with him again when I was gone?”

“It didn’t happen yesterday, all right?” Audrey said. “It’s just that he’s been sending me text messages that are screwing with my mind.”

Fallon shook her head. “Stay away from him,” she said. “He’s bad news. Look, I’ll prove it to you.” She moved to her dry eraser board and wrote out his name. “ ‘Levi’ is spelled like this,” she said. “If you move the letters around,” which she did while talking, “it spells ‘evil.’ He’s evil, Audrey, stay away from him. He’ll suck your soul right out of you.”

“You’re crazy,” Audrey said with a shake of her head.

“No I’m not. I’m serious.”

“Well, this has been a blast, but I gotta—”

Fallon reached out and grabbed the shoulder strap of Audrey’s purse, stopping her. “I just want you to be happy, Audrey. I don’t like when you are sad, and you know I hate when you cry. Damn it, I want you to be like me. I am blissfully happy, except when I think of you being hurt by this dick. You deserve better. Way better.”

Audrey looked down at Fallon’s hands on hers. “I know.”

“Then stay away from him. Why chase after someone who isn’t chasing you? He is just messing with your head. He doesn’t love you, and he doesn’t deserve to be loved by such an amazing woman. Stay away.”

“I am. It’s just these messages he sends—”

“No you’re not,” her sister said, interrupting. “I can see it all over your face. You’re a glutton for punishment. You love his crap because you think it’s attention. It’s not the right attention. Please, listen to me.”

“I am,” Audrey said. “I love you, Fallon.”

She headed for the door then, and as she walked out she heard her sister say, “I love you too.”

Walking down the arena hallway to the exit doors, she knew that Fallon was right about Levi. She always had known she had to let him go. She decided to send him a check for his Xbox and never see him again. If she didn’t, she would never be happy. She reached for the exit door just as it opened, and before she knew it she was on the ground, her butt aching more than her heart. She looked up into the eyes of her gorgeous neighbor, at a loss for words.

“Audrey! Are you okay? I’m so sorry,” Tate said, helping her up.

“Ow, my ass,” she complained as she rubbed her butt. “I think you broke it,” she said, pulling her purse up on her shoulder.

“Please be joking.”

Seeing his worried look, she said, “Yes, I’m only joking.”

Tate smiled, his eyes running down her body before looking back up into her eyes. “I am glad that I ran into you, Ms. Parker.”

He was flirting.

Damn it, he was flirting, and she liked it. It took her mind off her problems and made her focus on something good. Someone good.

She couldn’t help it, a grin took over her face and she flirted right back. “Is that right?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I wanted to ask if you would want to go out tonight. As friends, of course,” he hastily added.

Audrey looked away, knowing damn well he wasn’t thinking of them being friends at all. Fortunately for her, she had plans. “I have a date with my DVR tonight, a show whose episodes I recorded, and maybe some popcorn and a beer will keep me company.”

Tate chuckled. “Can I be included in the guest list?”

“As a friend, of course,” Audrey supplied.

Tate raised his hands, palms up, a grin still on his face. “Of course. Plus, I can bring ice cream to make up for almost flattening you.”

Looking up at him, she said, “That’s true, my poor behind would like some ice cream so that it can build some extra cushion for the next time you try to flatten my ass.”

Tate took a deep breath, his eyes getting darker as his voice dropped to a yummy, husky male tone. “I think your ass already has the perfect amount of cushion.”

“Do you, now?” she found herself asking while her finger twirled a strand of hair.

“Oh yeah.”

Nothing was said as heat burned between them. She wanted nothing more than to lean up as far as she could and hope he would meet her for a hot, lusty kiss. Her lips begged for his, and with the way he was looking at her mouth, she was sure Tate wanted the same thing.

When that didn’t happen, she straightened up and said, “Then I’ll see you tonight, Tate Ooooodder.”

She walked away then, reaching for the door just as he said, “We’re friends, but when I look at you, I don’t see an old hag, Audrey.”

Sparing him one last glance, Audrey saw the heat in his eyes. Seeing his want made her body catch on fire and her girlie parts wet. But then reality set in, and all her hot feelings went away. Tate may not see an old hag, but little did he know, Audrey basically was one.

Audrey’s day didn’t get better.

Worse was more like it.

The only thing keeping her from killing her employees with her stapler was knowing that later she would be in front of her TV with a beer and popcorn and hopefully some ice cream, if Tate came. She wanted to be excited about seeing Tate, too, but knowing that nothing could ever happen between them made being around him hard. She wanted him, bad. But it didn’t matter. For his sake and hers, they were better as friends. She couldn’t ruin his life by being selfish; he deserved to find a woman who could give him everything he wanted. Audrey wasn’t that person.

With consumer reports and expense spreadsheets by her side, Audrey sat clicking away on Facebook. She should have been working, but she hated this place. Hated the color of the orange that adorned the walls, hated the employees, hated everything. She hated dealing with customer complaints and business services, whining restaurant managers and incompetent store owners. She was not made for customer service. What she was made to do was beyond her, but she knew it wasn’t this freaking desk job.

Audrey leaned on her hand, looking at her friend’s statuses, when a knock came at the door, causing Audrey to look up.

“Come in,” she said, shutting the page down in case it was someone important. Like her father.

It wasn’t though.

Taking in a deep, troubled breath, Audrey looked up in the face of the last person she wanted to see right now.

Levi shut the door behind him, smiling down at her as he leaned against it. Of course, he was looking gorgeous as ever in a dark blue button-up shirt and khaki pants. His light gray tie hung loosely around his neck as his eyes stayed pinned to hers.

“Hey there, Cupcake,” he said in a low voice. “You’ve been ignoring me.”

Clearing her throat, Audrey asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you. Like I said, you’ve been ignoring me.”

“Well, there is a reason. You were quite the ass the other morning,” Audrey said, not moving as Levi rocked back on his heels, his hands in his pockets as if he was nervous. Audrey knew better, but it still tugged at her heart to see some kind of emotion from him.

“You know I’m not the best person to deal with in the morning.”

Levi then took a step forward toward her desk, and Audrey didn’t move, even though she knew she should have. She stayed behind her desk, watching as he came around the desk, pulling her chair out so that she faced him. He gave her another lazy smile before squatting down and looking up at her.

“I have nothing to say to you, Levi,” she said, so softly she wasn’t sure he heard her. Levi moved his hands up her thighs and Audrey froze.

She knew she needed to make him stop, but with the way he was looking at her, like he cared, like he might love her, had her frozen in place.

What if he did love her and all this stuff they had been dealing with was over? He wanted to come home! He wanted to be with her! Maybe she could get him to adopt!

“Don’t be like that, Cupcake, talk to me. Don’t you miss me?”

Audrey’s heart skipped a beat at the name he had for her. He used to always call her
his little cupcake
when she would be busy in the kitchen, working hard to make something good for him. That was when baking was most fun, when she had someone to bake for. Levi didn’t eat sweets much, but when he did, they would have a blast stuffing their faces. Those were the early days, when she mattered and when he was just with her, well, as far as she knew, anyways.

Moving away, she folded her arms across her chest. “Even if I do, it ain’t like you miss me. I saw you with her, Levi. Y’all looked really happy.”

Levi shook his head, moving on his knees to get closer to her. “I don’t want her. It’s a convenience, Cupcake. You’re the one I think of all the time.”

“No, I’m not,” Audrey scoffed.

Levi gave her a sweet shy smile, his eyes bright as he slid his hands down the backs of her calves to the five-inch coral suede Jimmy Choo heels that were killing her feet. He slowly slid her shoes off, taking her aching feet in his hands. Moving his skilled fingers along her arches, Audrey was basically in heaven with the devil knocking on her heart.

“Remember how good I make you feel, Cupcake? Remember?” he whispered against her bare knee. Closing her eyes and letting her head fall to the plush backing of her chair, she let out a long breath as he continued to move his fingers in just the right way to make her putty in his hands.

“Yes, but there are also times, I can very vividly remember you being a huge ass to me too.”

“But there are more good times than bad, you know that,” he whispered.

Levi was right, there were more good times, and they were great, but the bad times were worse. Opening her eyes, she sat up, removing her foot from his grasp. She couldn’t think straight when he was doing that. Looking into his deep brown eyes, she shook her head.

“You hurt me, Levi, countless times.”

Levi moved up on his knees, leaning over to cup her face softly. He skimmed his thumb along her bottom lip, while still holding her gaze with his. “I want our good times.”

The next thing she knew, their mouths were connected and his hands were in her hair, pulling her closer. His lips were thin but efficient. As his tongue swept inside her mouth, she felt her heart stop. She had missed his lips and his kisses so much. She found herself drowning in them when she knew she shouldn’t. But it seemed that no matter how far away she was from him, she could always feel him near. She wanted nothing more than to drown in his love and be his forever, but she knew this wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. He was just ready to get laid again.

“No, you don’t,” she said, moving away, “you want to have sex with me, that’s all.”

“Well yeah, but, Audrey, that’s not all. I miss your laugh, and I’ve never missed someone’s laugh before.”

Audrey shook her head. “Levi, I want more, and you know that.”

He rolled his eyes. “I can’t give you the husband, kids, and white picket fence, but I can give you a good time, and maybe in the future I’ll change my mind. Damn it, Audrey, I’ve missed you. You’re my number one girl.”

“Out of how many?” she said in disgust, moving away. There needed to be distance between them. She was doing a good job withstanding him. She couldn’t stop. Not now.

“Don’t be like that, Cupcake,” he said, pulling her close to him. She didn’t know how he
did it again, but she found herself in his arms, looking deep into his eyes. “Let’s start over. Let’s not jump into a domestic relationship where you cook, clean, and take care of me. Let’s just try to be friends that, you know, fool around.”

“So you want me to be a convenience fuck? I’m not her,” Audrey said, referring to Janet.

Levi laughed. “Jeez, Audrey, no. I want you to be my friend with benefits.”

Audrey let out a soulless laugh, shaking her head. “I don’t want to be friends with benefits. It’s with you, Levi, I want a relationship. I want to get married. We’ve been doing this dance for eight months; don’t you think it’s time?”

“No, and I won’t tomorrow or the next day either,” he said, standing up. He ran his hands over his buzzed hair, looking up at the sky. “I don’t understand why you are keeping yourself from me. I know you want me. I want you, so let’s do this. Why keep us apart?”