Page 28 of The Do-Over Girl
Lowering his voice, he says, “Have it your way, Lollipop. We can talk about my dream back at the inn.”
A shiver of excitement followed by a shudder of fear shakes me up enough to keep me from answering him, though I know I should discourage him. Later. I’ll shut this thing down later. It can’t go anywhere because we’re two different people now, and we were never meant to be.
Not after the way he crushed my heart. Not after all these years and no apology for how he humiliated me.
Without knocking, he opens the door to Nikki’s office and lets me go inside before him. She looks up and smiles, waving us to sit at the small conference table. Nash chooses to sit next to me instead of across from me. Nikki does a double-take as she comes over but doesn’t comment as she sits at the head of the table.
“Thanks for popping in. The days are so crazy. I wanted to get a status of where we’re at.”
“We have a winning team,” Nash says. “It’s early, but I’m confident we can take the state championship.” As always, his mind goes to hockey.
Nikki nods. “What about the fundraising and the benefit game with the NHL Players?”
“I gave my contacts to Kali. Look, I should really get going. We’re playing Cabot Cove this Friday, and they’re tough. I have practice then film to watch—”
Nikki lifts her hands in the air. “Okay, okay, I get it. Go. But don’t forget the meeting with the Board of Trustees tomorrow at five.”
Nash is out of his chair before she finishes her sentence, and he winks at me on his way out the door. Clearly, he’s leaving the fundraising and PR to me. “Looks like he’s in charge of the product, and it’s up to us to do PR and sales,” I mutter.
“Yeah. Is that corporate speak for we’re on our own to get the money?” Nikki says.
I nod. “We can do it. I’m busy going through all the responses we’re getting from alumni. Everything from five-dollar donations to a thousand. Nothing much that’s going to move the needle without the game and some big guns stepping forward. Five million is a lot of money for a small-town base and our alumni pool.”
“Tell me about it.” She blows out a breath.
I reach out and touch her arm. “Don’t worry, Nikki. We’ll do it. I’m determined to make it happen.”
“Good to know. But how are you doing, personally, I mean? With Nash?”
Even if I’m giving myself away, I can’t help heaving a sigh.
“That bad, eh?” Nikki smiles.
“No. Not really. I mean, we’re working together. It’s just that he’s…”
“Hot?”
I stick out my tongue and lean back in my chair. I’m still reluctant to share the slip in my promise to myself to maintain a professional-only relationship—mostly because my slip went the wrong way. I thought I’d have to be more concerned about continuing hostilities. And now? Shit. I have no idea. Are we too friendly? I finally say, “Okay. Yes. Partly because he’s hot.”
“And?”
Shit. She knows something is going on. I shrug and look out the window as if I need inspiration from the arena next door.
“Spill it, Kali. You know you will.”
“I have to get to practice—”
She puts a hand over mine as if to hold me in place. “What is it? I’m worried.”
Taking a deep breath because I know I have to dive in and tell her or the guilt will get to me, I tell her about our phone sex with only the wall between us.
“The scary thing is, I can’t help fantasizing about eliminating that wall between us and hopping right into his bed, invitation or not.”
She blows out a low whistle. “Shit, Kali. This is hotter than I thought it would be.” Her grin makes me want to laugh, but I hold it in because my heart is thundering with real fear at what I’m getting into with Nash, the man I’ve considered a no-good, untrustworthy jerk for the past seventeen years…and counting. Right? Has he changed, really? Has my opinion of him changed?
What has he done to show he’s not mean, arrogant, and untrustworthy?
The flood of things attempts to crowd my head space in answer to my mind’s question, but I shut it down.
