Love Me: The Complete Series (12 page)

Abby trailed down the street after her. “What I need is a kick in the ass. How could I do that to him? I mean the guy has already been through hell with his shitty best friend. Here I am lying to him every time I turn around. It’s awful. I’m a horrid person! And he’s incredibly … nice.”

“Is he? I thought you were still pissed he felt you up and blabbed about it. Now you think he’s nice? Make up your mind. Do you like him or not?”

“Yes. I mean, no.” She sighed. “I don’t know. Except for that fake boob trick, he seems pretty decent. Fun too. I mean, we like a lot of the same things.”

“Yeah. Dogs. Running. Flowers. Baseball. Jackson. I mean you, of course—not the other dweeb.”

They scooted into a booth at the back of the bar and ordered a round of beers.

“I know, right? Although, he’s not much on flowers. I even like his smartass friend Roger. I’ve talked to him a couple of times at the office. He kind of grows on you once you get used to him. All I’ve done is lie, lie, lie. Carter will never get past that. I can’t believe I dumped that entire pitcher of water on Jackson, but hell, at the time it seemed safer than telling the entire story.”

“You have to be kidding about Roger.”

Abby laughed. Of everything she said, Caroline picked up on
that
? “It’s hilarious actually. He’s like this totally obnoxious misfit of a guy who can’t help blurting out the most inappropriate things in front of a woman. What’s odd is if you just observe what he does otherwise, he’s got a big heart.”

Caroline rolled her eyes. “Sure. I believe
that.”

“He does. Every time he says something totally wretched, the secretary apologizes and says he’s really a closet teddy bear. He loaned her money to fix her car when someone sideswiped hers in the parking lot. She’s fifty and has three kids in high school. Her husband left and she’s barely able to pay her bills.”

“He wants to make sure she shows up for work. Big deal, that’s a win-win for both.”

“It was twelve hundred dollars, Caroline. Not exactly a homerun for him, in my book. Oh, and he thought you were cute.” That caught her friend’s attention.

“Me? Cute? Ha, that’s a laugh. I haven’t been cute a day in my life.” She shuddered as if the words insulted. Abby noted she swallowed a grin and avoided eye contact.

“Well, he thought so. He even asked if you were seeing anyone.”

“Was that before or after he asked if
my
boobs were real? Or maybe he was still ogling yours?” Caroline gulped a couple of swallows of beer and raised her glass for a refill as the bartender darted by.

“To be honest, he turned ten shades of red the first time I met him and didn’t have the balls to look me in the face which was kind of odd, considering he had no way of knowing I’d read the messages. It kind of made me wonder what else the dirtbags were saying outside of the text messaging. Then I ran into him in the hallway and he was forced to acknowledge me. Very polite, as a matter of fact. You should talk to him.”

Caroline shook her head so hard the spikes on top rattled. “Not on your life.”

Abby shrugged. “Your call.”

An hour later, they were still in the booth. A plate of nachos sat in front of them, half eaten. Abby licked the sour cream from her thumb. The beer glasses had been recycled more times than Abby could remember and she’d switched to water.

Not Caroline. “Hey, I’m off tomorrow, remember? I don’t have to get up early. Here’s to you, boss.”

“Technically, we’re partners.”

She held up the empty beer glass, peered at the drips in it and shrugged, then clanked Abby’s water. Caroline leaned forward over the table and winked. “You should stay out late tonight. Real late. Like maybe go water his plants or give him, I mean them, a little tender care.”

“You’re wasted. And talking crazy.” Crazy but still an enticing thought.

“Hey, you said he had a good set of tonsils. That’s not something one should waste. You know what I mean? Besides, you told him it had been a while.”

Time for a subject change.

“Forget him. Listen, I’ve meant to talk to you about this—we need to do something to drum up business. Even with the loan, we’ll have a hard time making it through the end of the year unless we do something more. I was thinking we should advertise. Maybe take on some more office maintenance projects like Carter’s. What do you think?”

Caroline shrugged. “Sure. I still like the breakup package idea. That was stellar.”

“Yeah, and mean. I can’t go through that again—it was excruciating.”

“For you or her?”

“Both. Besides, that might make things worse rather than better. How would you like to be the place that sends out hate flowers? Talk about a bad rep.”

“Okay, the date thing then. Tell you what, while I’m off tomorrow, I’ll draw up some ads for you. I do Photoshop pretty well. I was real good at making prank pictures in college. I should show you some of them. It’s not an easy thing to—”

Abby thrust a finger in her face. “I don’t
even
want to know. If you feel like taking a stab at an advertising campaign, I won’t stop you. Just don’t bring me anything that will get us into trouble, okay?”

Caroline had a mouthful of nachos when she nodded. The sour cream on her bottom lip was in direct contrast to her complexion. She wiped it with the back of her hand and slipped out of the booth. “We should do a blog too, and maybe do promotional things on it. I’ll give it a shot and show you next week. See ya. I’m done. Be careful walking home, okay? Or go get your tonsils checked again—that would be fun.”

She winked and was gone.

• • •

A few weeks later Abby smiled at her phone display then dropped her chin onto fisted hands. She’d opened the Justchat app. It was time to officially give up on Carter. With all the lies she told, he’d never forgive her. She wasn’t even sure she wanted him to, knowing the crap his friends had texted about her. Totally childish and so … so … caveman. The Jackson-dousing incident had sealed the lid on the entire fiasco. Besides,
this
guy had no baggage. Yet. Why couldn’t everyone be like the chat guy? She left the messages on her screen as a reminder that not
all
guys are dumbasses.

She Hearts Dogs: Perhaps YOU should be brave if traveling … and safe. My curiosity is killing me—you’re not some kind of military spy or diplomat, are you?

Traveling To Survive: LOL. I wish. Nothing that exciting, just an average-joe-business-guy with customers in strange lands. Talk to you later.

She-Hearts-Dog: Later

She kept smiling when the next customer entered then acknowledged a small crowd window shopping through their store before she rushed off to Carter’s building for the scheduled maintenance. She left Caroline in charge. Her friend had done a great job, not only with advertisements but also inventory. While Abby hadn’t looked, apparently the blogging thing was getting a lot of followers too. After the nacho and beer night, Caroline had recommended they add in a few gift items. Things that would catch someone’s eye in the window and offer an alternative to flower gifts—or complement them. They now offered amazing jeweled gift boxes that could be included or center-pieced in a bouquet or plant for any occasion. Perfect for, say, an engagement ring or anniversary item.

The beer and nacho night had been a great idea, one they chose to repeat twice. In the kitchen/break room at Carter’s office, she felt the dirt in the ficus tree she prepared to water and fertilize.

“Great,” she muttered. “Is it that hard to dump coffee in the sink? Plants don’t need caffeine. Neither do people.” She reached in her pocket for the fertilizer stick and hoped it would counteract the mold.

“That depends on whether the person has spent two days on an airplane with a bunch of people who don’t speak English.”

She squared her shoulders. She hadn’t seen Carter since the come-to-Jesus meeting with Jackson. Purposely avoiding him had been difficult at first, but then the office buzz said he was overseas on a project. Guess he made it back.

Good, it was time to put this thing between them to bed. Ahem, scratch that. Time to put it in the past. “How was the trip?”

He shrugged and the shift of his shoulders was laden with stress and fatigue. “Long.” Judging by the shadow on his face, he’d come straight to work from the airport. Without a shave.

She swallowed hard. Hadn’t bargained for the sexy, scruffy look.

Nor the way his eyes seemed to dig right into her head and pull all sense away. She cleared her throat. “Have you talked to your friend Jackson lately?”

He shook his shaggy hair. “Nope. I’ve been away for work. Haven’t had time. Normally we keep up through text messages but—I’ve been busy.”

Even with the lapse in time, he was hard to ignore. He scratched his head with vigor and smiled. “Abby, do you like baseball?”

“Huh?” She was brain dead. What did baseball have to do with anything?

“Baseball. I have tickets to the Astros for tomorrow night. Do you want to go?”

“With you?” Still brain dead.

He snickered, “Yeah. Unless that’s a problem. I could give you both tickets, I guess, but I was kinda hoping to go.”

“But you bought them to go with—” Oops, she snapped her mouth shut before she said
her.

“I bought them because I like baseball. If you can get away from the shop, go with me. If not, no problem, I know you’re busy.” He stepped away from the wall in the lounge, stuck his hands in his pockets and turned to leave. “You look great, by the way.”

“I love baseball.”

He’d already stepped through the doorway. He turned back. “Yeah?”

“What time?”

“I’ll come get you around six-thirty. Will that work?”

She nodded. Would he last nine innings? The man was a walking zombie. She hoped he got some sleep before the game.

• • •

By the third inning, the Astros were down by five and had gone through two pitchers. This wasn’t going to be their year to make the playoffs unless something big happened. Carter frowned at the display over the stadium. Hey, if they couldn’t win, at least he had good company and plenty of beer while he watched. Abby seemed filled with nervous energy. Every time a ball appeared to head for the stands, she leaned into him and clenched his arm. The Astros couldn’t seem to seal the deal though. On the last one she groaned and slapped the counter. “Oh, my God. Get it out already!”

He laughed. “You’re really getting into this, aren’t you?”

“I love baseball. My brother played and I went to all his games. Dad took me. It was probably the only thing we did together, mainly because my sisters were too girly to stand the summer heat. When I was in college, that was all Dad and I could talk about without arguing.”

Carter sighed.

“What? Something wrong?”

“No. I just think I died and went to heaven. I’ve never been around a woman that enjoyed it as much as I do.”

In the fifth inning. A loud tune played and the overhead screen flashed the words
KISSCAM!
The ballpark cameras then searched the crowd and zoomed in on couples, enticing them to kiss—or not. Young. Old. In-between. It didn’t matter. While the new pitcher warmed up, they watched and laughed.

“I love the kisscam! It’s so fun.”

“Everyone does. It’s hilarious when they zoom in on two people obviously not comfortable with each other—say a brother and sister.”

“Or a first date.”

Carter nodded. Abby’s eyes lit up as she grinned at the next photo. She’d worn lipstick again. Not the red she’d had on at his office that day, but a pale pink. Still, it had the same effect and he wished the camera would settle on them.

Instead, it found an elderly gray-haired twosome. The man leaned over the woman, bent her back in her chair, and kissed the hell out of her. Both laughed the entire time and when they sat back up, the woman gave a big thumbs-up to the crowd, who applauded vigorously. “That was definitely
not
a first date.”

She laughed. “I’d love to be on the kisscam. With someone I actually
wanted
to kiss, of course.”

Touché. She stared in admiration at the pitcher, who was now ready to sail the first pitch past a ready batter.

Her concentration amused Carter. He reached a hand under her chin and pulled her face around. “You don’t need a camera for an excuse to kiss someone, Abs.” To prove his point, he leaned down and brushed his mouth lightly against the pink of hers. He’d thought the passion from before a fluke. At least he wanted to believe it, because the last thing he needed was to get involved with another woman. Only, this wasn’t really
involved—
she was just—fun, he guessed. He wasn’t sure how to describe Abby, nor what the proper term was for his thoughts. Thoughts concerning her polished fingernails against his skin. He groaned and pulled away from the kiss.

“What? What’s wrong?” Her half-lidded eyes were no longer focused on the ball field or the score.

He grinned. “Nothing’s wrong. See—who needs a camera? Want a beer?”

She nodded and he trotted up to the beverage stand. He wasn’t looking for an escape, but a little breathing room—or thinking room—was necessary.

It had been ages since the kisses at his office and, as much as he’d wanted another right away, her involvement with Jackson had cooled those jets. Or he thought so, before he went away for a month to manage the project overseas. He was snowed under the entire time with work, yet he still managed to think about her. He chalked it up to an overstimulated and over-worked imagination. It hadn’t made sense that kissing Abby actually set off anything more than just a desire for temporary female companionship.

He could see her in the seat while he ordered and paid for the beer. Her ponytail, pulled through her cap, was sweet and cupped against her neck. Tonight’s kiss wasn’t what he’d expected. It had been an experiment, driven by a need to prove the unimportance of the ones in his office. The experiment failed miserably.