Opposites Attract (4 page)

“
How
much of it? How many pages?” she asked.

“
Three.”

“
So,
just ignore it. Believe me, three pages in a romance novel can easily
be deleted and no one would know.”

“
Oh,
they’ll know.” He laughed and motioned her over. “Read.”

“
Okay,
but I want to skim it from the beginning so I know what’s
happening.” She looked excited.

He
laughed. “You really are hooked on this stuff. Go ahead.”

Brad
went to the kitchen to get himself another cup of coffee and give her
both his chair and time to read. When he got back, he perched on his
desk as she sat still reading. She leaned back in the chair when
she’d finally finished.

“
Yeah,
the editor will definitely notice that whole scene missing.”
She leaned forward again and began scrolling ahead, reading every few
pages until she found what she was looking for. “Do you know
what I’m thinking?”

“
Do
tell.” He would take any advice he could get at this point.

“
I
think anybody can write this stuff. At least a few pages of it.”

“
What?
Are you crazy? First of all,
I
can’t write this stuff.
Second, that would be too presumptuous. I just can’t write it
and pretend it’s hers.”

“
But
look. There is enough in the corrupted scene for us to piece it
together and fill in the missing words. And look, here is the next
sex scene. We can use that as a guide. All you have to do is read
this one and kind of copy it. Use some of the same words she uses.
Here’s a good one, ‘his throbbing phallus’. Yeah,
nothing like a good throbbing phallus to turn the reader on.”

Brad
nearly choked.

“
Yeah,
okay. Thanks for the advice. I think I’ll wait for her.”
He physically picked Alyssa up by the shoulders and bodily thrust her
out of his cube.

“
Hey,”
she cried in protest. “I’m just trying to help.”

Just
then the phone on his desk rang. He grabbed it. “Bradley
Morgan.”

“
Brad.
It’s Maria White…with the laptop? I’m on the ship
in Miami but we haven’t left port yet. Did you recover the
file?”

“
Yeah,
Maria. Thank God you called. I got the file but there are three pages
that are really messed up. More than half of the words are missing. I
can’t get them back. But the rest is okay. Should I send it to
the editor anyway?”

“
Oh
no. Tell me it’s not the first sex scene. That’s what I
was working on when I spilled the coffee.”

“
Yeah,
I’m afraid it is. What do you want me to do?”

“
I
don’t know what to do. I’m not a writer. I’m an
accountant. This is my first book. I don’t even have a signed
contract yet. I guess… ask… rewrite the scene…
could you please send it my editor…” The call started to
cut out and fade.

“
Maria?
Wait, I can’t hear you. What do you want me to do?”

“…
heading out to sea. I want you to…
the editor…rewrite the scene… internet here is down.”

The
fuzz was replaced loud and clear with a dial tone as Brad stood
helplessly by.

He
hung up the phone, got the number off of the caller ID and called
back only to get the usual message saying the cellular caller he was
trying to reach was unavailable.

“
What
did she say?”

He
hung up the receiver and glanced at Alyssa. “Good question. I
lost the call but I think she said I should re-write the scene and
email it to her editor because the ship’s internet is down.”

“
So
do it.” Alyssa looked way too excited at the prospect.

“
I
can’t do that.” The full horror of the situation began to
hit him.

“
Sure
you can. You read up to the missing scene, right?”

He
nodded.

“
Then
you know that scene is a pivotal moment in the relationship between
the two main characters.”

His
rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I guess.” If you could believe
that anything like this story could really happen, that is.

“
So
you can see how the hero is not as mercenary as he seems. He really
cares about the heroine. And the girl, she really is attracted to the
man, but she thinks that he’ll never want a woman who sells her
body for money. So you just fill in what’s missing. Half the
words are already there.”

“
No
way. I can’t write three pages of a sex scene even with half of
the words already there.” Brad tried to keep his voice down,
very aware that everyone in all the neighboring cubes was watching
his interaction with Alyssa very intently.

He
still didn’t know what to do about Maria’s file. Maybe he
could just write her editor a note of explanation. He just hated to
let Maria down.

“
Brad,
I’m sure you can.”

“
No,
I really can’t.” He hoped his tone left no further
question,

Alyssa’s
eyes opened wide. “Oh… I’m sorry, Brad. I should
have realized… You’re gay.”

“
What?”
Alyssa his dream girl thought he was gay? He’d have to correct
that misconception immediately. “No, I’m not. Definitely
not. That’s not it.”

“
Well
if you’re not gay, then what’s the problem?”

He
wished she’d stop saying that word so loudly. “I just
wouldn’t feel comfortable rewriting someone else’s work…”

“
But
she asked you to. And half the words are already there. I told you, I
read these books all the time and it’s like a formula. You
understand formulas, you write computer code.”

“
It’s
not the same.” Brad frowned.

“
Sure
it is. Besides, how can you let Maria down? She’s counting on
you. Disappointing her will severely sully your nice guy reputation.”

That
was a low blow, playing on his nice side. And was she actually
batting her eyelashes at him? Damn it, it was working too.

He
scowled. “All right, I’ll do it.”

Alyssa’s
face lit up and she unleashed a killer bright smile on him. Brad
shook his head at his own behavior. He was such a sucker for this
girl. He’d probably jump out the window if she asked him to.

“
I
can’t do this here. What if someone saw?” He glanced
around the close confines of the cubicles.

“
So
go home. The day is pretty much over.” She glanced at her
fancy red watch.

“
Over?
It’s not even two in the afternoon yet.”

“
And
you’ve been literally sleeping here all week. I think you can
leave.”

He
did have his boss’s permission to take the day off. “Yeah,
I can. But what about you? You talked me into this. You’re
going to help me, Miss ‘I read romance novels and you can
definitely write one’.”

“
I’d
love to help. You go home and start. I’ll meet you there after
I get off work. Just leave me your address.”

Holy
crap. Alyssa Jones in his apartment and she actually looked keyed up
about it. He tried to remember that this wasn’t a date. She was
excited about the damn book, not about seeing him.

He
leaned over and scribbled his address and phone number on a sticky
note, shaking his head as he handed it to her. He had a feeling he
was going to be very sorry he agreed to this. But right now he had
mundane things to worry about, like that his apartment was a total
mess and Alyssa with the Sexy Voice would be there in just a few
hours.

Brad
sped home and flew around the three-room apartment like a whirlwind.
He vacuumed, washed dishes, picked dirty laundry off the floor and
dumped his accumulated mail into a paper bag that he stashed under
his desk. His place had really gone to hell with all the late hours
he’d worked this week.

At
least the massive cleaning kept him from being nervous about having
to write this sex scene, with Alyssa of all people.

He
finally got himself showered, only to realize that his laundry
situation was pretty dire. He threw on a pair of old gray sweatpants
and a clean white t-shirt that said “Byte Me” across the
chest, then sat down at the laptop to begin his scene before Alyssa
arrived and found that he hadn’t done a thing yet.

“
Okay,
here we go.” Brad laid his fingers on the keyboard.

Now
what? He remembered back to his freshman composition class in
college, a required course even for computer majors. What had the
teacher said about writer’s block? Just get something, anything
down on the paper, even if it sucks and you can always fix it later.
Armed with that sage advice, he let out the breath he had been
holding and began to type.

Chapter 4

Alyssa
stood at Brad’s door and stared at it. This had seemed like a
good idea at the time, but now she felt weird. In spite of the fact
that secretly she had always wanted to write a romance novel, it
would be extremely strange writing a sex scene with a guy she hardly
knew. She’d even started a novel back in college. It was still
just scribbles on a yellow legal pad that currently sat gathering
dust in a manila folder in the bottom of her desk drawer, but the
dream was still strong. That was something she’d never even
told Jane.

At
least being at Brad’s kept her away from her own apartment and
Jake the Shit. No way she could be tempted to let Jake in again if
she wasn’t even there. With that resolution firmly in mind, she
rang the bell.

After
just a moment, the door flung open and there stood Brad, looking
flustered.

“
Good,
you’re here. I have no idea if I’m doing this right.”
He left the door open for her and walked back to the laptop across
the room. When she didn’t follow him immediately, he turned
back toward her. “What’s the matter? Come on in. We have
a lot to do.”

In
total shock, all she could do was stand and ogle Brad. Brad the Geek
was not such a geek anymore. She even found her mouth was hanging
open. Alyssa closed it firmly at that appalling discovery. Somehow
she got herself pulled together enough to at least walk into the
apartment and push the door closed behind her. He stood next to a
table where the laptop was set up and stared back at her.

He
seemed to be expecting her to say something, so she finally said,
“Your hair. It’s different.”

“
I
didn’t have time to dry it. I’ve been working on this
stupid novel you convinced me to write since I got out of the
shower.” He groaned and raised his hands to his blondish-brown
hair.

He
was about to run his fingers through the loose sexy curls that
currently framed his face in place of the usual frizz when she sprang
forward.

“
No.
Don’t touch it. You have beautiful curly hair when you let it
air dry. Never brush it or touch it too much or—God forbid—use
the hair dryer unless you have a diffuser. You’ll ruin the curl
and just get frizz.” She walked closer now. “Do you use
any product? You need a leave-in conditioner and maybe a curl
enhancing gel.”

Alyssa
had to stand on her toes and reach way up to touch his hair. He was
tall. Really tall. She liked tall men.

She
swallowed when she realized she was still touching him and lowered
her hand. “Do you need me to write the products you should buy
down for you?”

“
No,
I think I can remember it. Can we work on the book now, if I promise
not to touch my hair?” He lifted one brow as he smirked.

“
Make
fun of me if you want, but you look much cuter with curly hair.”
She shrugged, walked over to the computer and sat down.

Focusing
her attention on what he’d been writing, she tried not to think
about how cute his ass looked in those tight gray sweats or how he
actually appeared to have nice pecs and biceps in that tight white
t-shirt. Even his glasses didn’t look so bad at the moment.
They made him look smart and sexy at the same time, like the male
version of a hot librarian.

She
looked up to find him staring. “What?”

Were
her naughty thoughts written all over her face?

“
You
think I look cute?”

Oh,
boy. She had said that, hadn’t she? “Oh, get over
yourself and come show me where you started.” She focused on
the screen and dismissed the question, but she didn’t miss his
smile.