Of course, that last part hadn’t happened in… Huh, he couldn’t actually remember the last time he’d gone out with his best friend,
Caz
. They’d both been too busy to grab more than a few minutes for a beer a couple times a month lately.
But this girl…
Something was different about this one, something he couldn’t put his finger on.
With a sigh, Merri did a little shimmy with her shoulders and her backpack dropped to the floor. Then she folded her legs under her and followed the pack down until she sat with her chin on her hands, long curls hanging over her shoulders and nearly to the floor.
“Well, this day just sucks, doesn’t it?” She sounded forlorn, so absolutely desolate, as if she’d just lost her last friend. It yanked at his gut. “God, what else can go wrong?”
Jimmy lowered himself to sit next to her. “Wanna tell me what’s going on?”
She sighed and he heard tears lurking again.
Oh please God, no tears
.
She shook her head, her expression covered by all that beautiful hair. “Not really, no. It’s embarrassing.”
He wanted to reach over and take her hand, but that heat still simmered in his gut.
If he touched her…
Shit. He really wanted to touch her. “What’s embarrassing?”
“My stupidity.”
He barked out a laugh. “Now I know that’s not true. According to Mal, you’re one of the smartest people he knows and, coming from Mal, that’s straight-up fact. Come on, Merri. Why don’t you just tell me what happened?”
She shook her head. “My mom was right. I don’t have the common sense God gave a mule. You know, I can decipher code that’d make Bill Gates cry uncle. Any other woman would’ve been able to see what the guy was up to.” Finally she turned that teary gaze on him and he felt his spine weaken. “I’m damn good at my job and now they won’t even let me do that.”
Okay, that gave him a little something to work with. “Did you—”
“A vacation, he said.
Like I need a vacation.”
She snorted again and shook her head, making those ringlet curls bounce.
He clenched his hands into fists so he didn’t sink them into that hair. He’d always been partial to blondes and curls. He wondered if they felt as soft as they looked.
Not helping the problem solving.
Forcing his gaze back to her face, he saw she
was
crying now, fat tears rolling silently down her cheeks. Oh man. His gut clenched.
“Everything’s all wrong.” Her hands came up to wipe angrily at her cheeks. “And I don’t know how to fix it.”
“Why don’t you just tell me what the problem is? Maybe I can help.”
“No. You’re a guy, you wouldn’t understand.”
Well, that might be true. But she looked like she needed a friend. And he wanted to be that friend.
Desperately.
He wanted her to spill her guts as they sat here in the dark together. He wanted to ease some of that despair in her voice. And he really wanted to wrap his hands around those curls…
Instead, he placed his fingers under her pointed chin and tipped her face up. “Try me.”
Their gazes met and held. Those green eyes swam with tears, making them shine even brighter in the low light. Her lips parted and his gaze dropped to watch the tip of her tongue emerge to wet them.
He moved closer—
And she blinked and looked away with a sniffle. “I think I’ll just go home. This was a mistake.”
Jimmy knew he couldn’t let her do that. She was drunk and, judging by the sag in her eyelids, dead on her feet. No, he’d have to take her back to his house and let her sleep it off.
He stomped down the inappropriate urge to pound his chest and concentrated on strategy. He’d have to outmaneuver her.
Mal had told him this woman loved a good fight. But Jimmy, who hated confrontations only slightly less than full-cavity searches, might have a fighting chance given her level of inebriation.
“So how ’bout I give you a ride to the train station. You really shouldn’t be walking alone this late at night.”
She must have been drunker than he’d thought because she didn’t give him a hassle. “Okay. This day sucks. I’m tired.”
She closed her eyes and slumped against him, fast asleep.
* * * * *
Merri woke with the mother of all headaches and a mouth that tasted like dirt mixed with…something really nasty.
Groaning, not daring to open her eyes yet, she put a hand to the back of her head, trying to pull out the knife that felt like it had to be lodged there. No knife, but her fingers tangled in knots. She’d forgotten to braid her hair before bed. Oh God, that might be worse than the headache.
“Hey, I thought I heard you moving around. How’re you feeling?”
She froze, her lungs seizing until she thought she might actually suffocate.
No, there was one thing worse than a hangover
and
forgetting to braid her hair.
She cracked open her left eye and saw
him
standing in the doorway, one lean, denim-clad hip cocked against the jamb, a smile on his perfect mouth.
Jimmy DeMarco, in the flesh.
The only man who’d ever made her heart
flutter
like a stupid girl. And though she might be a girl, she was
so
not stupid.
Although, those tiny little men
jackhammering
away at her skull from the inside tried to contradict that.
With another groan, she pulled the covers back over her head, ignoring the forward pitch of her stomach as it nearly rolled into her throat.
Maybe she’d get lucky and he’d go away and leave her to her misery. Because, God, was she ever miserable.
She’d never drunk so much in her life. Why did people willingly do this to themselves? And then call it fun?
Fun was… Well, at the moment, she couldn’t think of one fun thing but—
The mattress dipped as Jimmy sat on the edge then gently but firmly pulled back the cover.
Seemed her luck had run out yesterday and still hadn’t returned.
“Come on, Merri.” He’d pitched his voice low and easy, and damn if it didn’t make her head hurt just a little less. Or maybe it was because her heart had picked up its rhythm. “Hangovers are a bitch. You’ve got to get some water in you or you’re going to feel even worse.”
She didn’t think that was humanly possible but she couldn’t help retorting, “I do know that. I’m not stupid.”
She peeked out from beneath her mostly closed eyelids and caught the grin he tried to hide. “Oh yeah? Then drink the water.”
With a grimace, she took the glass he held and downed the whole thing. “Okay.
Happy? You can go now. I’ll be out of your hair in a little while.”
Wow, did she ever sound like a bitch. Her mom had taught her better, but she felt so awful lying here, having him staring at her. Why wouldn’t he just leave?
When he didn’t, she took a few seconds to consider her situation.
She was in a bedroom so she figured she was in his home, though, please God, not in his bed. It’d just be too damn pathetic if she’d finally managed to end up exactly where she’d dreamed about being for months but didn’t remember how or what she’d done to get there.
With a quick glance down, she saw she wore the same t-shirt she’d had on yesterday. But not her jeans. “Umm, this isn’t… I’m not in your room, am I?”
He shook his head, grin still in place. “Spare room. Think you can handle something to eat? Toast or something?”
She swallowed, the mere thought of food making her stomach revolt. “I think I’ll stick with water for a while.”
Carefully, he rose from the bed so it didn’t jiggle. Much. “I’ll bring you a pitcher. Bathroom’s through that door.” He pointed to his left. “I’ll get your backpack. You might want to consider a shower.”
Naked in Jimmy
DeMarco’s
shower? Be still, my heart.
How often had she dreamed about that? Dreams she’d never told anyone, including Jimmy’s sister, Janey, the closest female friend she had. Janey would probably think she was crazy, lusting after Jimmy.
But… She sighed as her gaze followed him out the door, caught on the cutest butt she’d ever seen on a geek. And she knew a lot of geeks.
When he disappeared around the corner, she eased herself into a sitting position and checked out the rest of the room.
She didn’t know what she’d been expecting—early-American bachelor pad maybe. But pale blue walls, cream Berber carpet, and antique oak furniture weren’t even close. The bed looked Victorian, covered in smooth blue cotton sheets and a colorful quilt. The chest on the far wall and the armoire to her left matched the bed.
It was clean and bright and… Oh God, she hoped like hell he wasn’t gay.
No. No way
.
Janey had once told her Jimmy had been in love and had almost married a woman soon after college. The wedding had never taken place and Janey had never explained what happened.
“What the hell do you have in this backpack? It weighs a ton.” Jimmy walked back into the room, holding her pack in one hand and a huge bottle of water in the other.
God, he was just gorgeous. Dark hair and blue eyes and the face of a male model with sharp cheekbones and a strong forehead and—
She must look like road kill. At least she never wore makeup so she didn’t have raccoon eyes. Reaching up to smooth her hair, she sighed as she remembered the mass of tangles.
“I packed so I could spend a few days away.” An icy stab of pain pierced her chest, but she refused to give in to more despair. Last night had been more than enough.
His eyebrows raised in disbelief. “You mean to tell me you can live out of this backpack for a few
days
? My mother and sister can’t leave the house for an overnighter without two pieces of luggage.”
She smiled despite herself then felt it fade as she remembered why she’d packed in the first place. “Yeah, well. I’m sure I’ve forgotten something. I think I’ll take that shower now…”
She held out her hand for the pack, but Jimmy didn’t turn it over, just continued to stare at her with solemn eyes.
“What’s going on, Merri? What happened? Tell me. It can’t be that bad.”
The quiet concern in his voice almost loosened her tongue. But she refused to appear weak. Not to him. Not to anyone. She couldn’t afford it.
Shaking her head, she slid out of bed, tugging at the hem of her shirt although it already reached to mid-thigh. She took the bag and turned toward the door for the attached bathroom. “It’s bad enough. Thanks for the bed, Jimmy. I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I can.”
With the bathroom door shut firmly behind her, she didn’t waste any time turning on the water and shedding her clothes. She dug shampoo, conditioner and body wash out of her bag, pulled out a comb, and avoided looking directly into the mirror. She didn’t think she could take any more humiliation right now.
She sighed as she stepped into the wide shower stall. The wet heat soaked into her skin and made everything just a little bit better. Her miserable headache eased as she washed and conditioned her hair and, for a few seconds, yesterday’s disgrace rolled off her shoulders with the freesia-scented bubbles.