Читать книгу Hidden Gems - Carrie Alexander, Carrie Alexander - Страница 7

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THE INTRUDER LET OUT a high-pitched yelp. Either his balls had crawled up into his body cavity or he was a woman.

“I said not to move.” Marissa dug the heel deeper.

She looked at Harry, who was calmly washing his face with a paw. Simultaneously, Marissa recognized the thief’s curly blond head. Her remaining fear drained away.

She dropped the shoe. “Shandi?”

The woman corkscrewed around to gape at Marissa, then flopped over on the cushions facedown. “Chh’yah, girl! You scared me to death!”

“I scared you?” Marissa stared down at her former roommate, wondering why she even bothered to be surprised. Shandi Lee was the proverbial bad penny. “I thought I was being burgled.”

Shandi rose up on her elbows. “What are you doing here? You said you were going on vacation for a week.” She was a pretty girl under the glitz, but beginning to look run down from not taking care of herself. A heavy application of lipstick, mascara and eyeliner had melted and smeared, giving her the look of a sad-eyed clown.

“I’m back early. Man troubles.” Marissa crossed her arms. “And you?”

Shandi attempted a chagrined grin, which wasn’t very convincing. Her misdeeds were too frequent to be excused as momentary lapses or bad judgment. “You caught me. Since I knew your apartment was empty, I crashed here after Ming kicked me out.”

“Ming kicked you out?” Oh, hell. Another roommate bites the dust. But Marissa wouldn’t be persuaded to provide shelter. Not again. “What did you do this time?”

“Spent my rent on a Fendi purse. Look at it.” Shandi pointed at the coffee table, where a pink leather pouch perched atop the stack of fashion magazines, newspapers and junk mail. “It’s adorable. So worth it.”

“The purse is cute,” Marissa conceded, adding quickly, “but you can’t stay.” The roommate before Ming had given Shandi the boot after a raucous New Year’s Eve party had resulted in three arrests, two infidelities and one hole punched in the wall. That time, Shandi had bunked on Marissa’s couch for a week.

“Aw, c’mon. Don’t make me pack up.” A pair of Chinese silk pajamas spilled from the open tote bag on the floor. “I’m ready to pass out.”

Harry tightroped the back of the couch to press against Marissa’s arm. She rubbed the cat’s head, weakening. Shandi was like an alley cat—superannoying when yowling at night, but scruffily irresistible when she meowed on the doorstep in the rain. “Okay, you can stay until morning. But you have to find another place tomorrow, okay?”

Shandi flopped again. “I could ask Jamie to lend me a corner.”

Marissa stiffened, but she kept her voice casual. “You could.”

Shandi’s visible eye opened. “If I can get past you.”

“I’m not his bodyguard.”

Snort. “You’re each other’s bodyguards. I wish you two would get over yourselves and just do it already.”

“Let’s not get into that again.” Marissa resisted, then couldn’t help herself. “We’re dogs and cats.”

Shandi yawned. “Like that matters when you know he wants to ride you like a mustang.”

Marissa didn’t reply. The kisses with Jamie remained a bright neon sign at the back of her brain. ¡Dios! Middle of the night and she was lit up like Broadway. If the mugger hadn’t knocked some sense into her earlier, there was no telling how naked they’d be right now.

But she didn’t want that…not really. Her resolution was to make no more mistakes. Fooling around with Jamie could be a huge one.

Shandi was smirking into an Ultrasuede sofa pillow. To avoid another bawdy comment, Marissa went to the linen closet and selected a pair of sheets, a blanket and an extra pillow from the jumbled contents. She came back and dropped them on her guest’s backside. Not up to Martha Stewart’s standards, but then, Marissa hadn’t sent out any engraved invitations. “At least take off your shoes.”

Shandi lifted her feet up and toed off her Reebok sneakers. The shoes must have weighed five pounds. They hit the floor like andirons. Better weapons than the sandals, especially when inserted into an open mouth.

Making a note of that, Marissa chirped to Harry and walked back to her bedroom. She softened her tone. “Good night, Shandi.” Then couldn’t resist. “Please don’t get makeup on my pillows.”

She left the door open a couple of inches for the cat and crawled into bed. The Habaneros T-shirt she slept in rode up around her waist and she pulled it down, humping her hips a couple of times. The bedsprings squeaked.

In a voice filled with deviltry, Shandi called, “Ride me, big Sheldon,” quoting from When Harry Met Sally, one of their favorite movie night chick flicks.

“Oh, just shut up,” Marissa murmured. She was usually quicker with a comeback, but the skin on her thighs had jumped to her own touch and she was busy thinking how she would have reacted if Jamie had been waiting in bed for her. Gone on a bucking bareback ride? With her platonic pal?

One day ago that notion would have been laughable. Now it wasn’t. And what had changed? There was her breakup, but she’d lost boyfriends before and hadn’t turned to Jamie except for brotherly comfort. Maybe she was only having an unusually adverse reaction to a bad vacation, complicated by loss of sleep.

She’d be sane by morning.

Instead of wanting Jamie like crazy.

“GIVE ME BACK MY KEY,” was the first thing Marissa said the next morning when she passed through the living room to get to the galley kitchen, her eyes crusted into slits. If she didn’t take a firm stance from the start, she’d find herself giving in, one night at a time, until she had herself a new roommate.

Her resolve was reinforced when she stumbled over the junk that had been scattered throughout the room. Shandi’s worldly possessions—basically a wardrobe, a collection of shoe boxes, one packet of important papers like tax returns and inscribed cocktail napkins and the toolbox that held an oversize makeup kit. Marissa shoved the meager belongings into one big pile. Harry danced ahead, meowing for Fancy Feast.

Shandi muttered something unintelligible and pulled the blanket over her head.

In the kitchen Marissa popped the top of a can of turkey giblets, filled the cat’s dish, then got the arabica dark roast coffee beans from the expanding igloo of her freezer. She made the grinder sing like a swarm of killer bees.

Shandi got the hint and staggered to her feet, saying, “Coffee. Need coffee,” as she lurched toward the bathroom.

“You’re going in the wrong direction.” Marissa gave the beans one more good buzz. The rich smell was waking her up too. Soon the past thirty-two hours would make sense.

She was picking at the corners of her eyes, waiting for the coffee to brew and going over all the reasons that Jamie was no good for her as a lover even though he was nothing but good as a friend, when the doorbell rang.

Jamie’s eye met hers in the peephole. Marissa wanted to run away back to the bedroom and execute a frantic

twenty-second toilette, but Shandi was occupying the bathroom. Acting differently around Jamie would only call attention to how really different Marissa felt since The Kiss.

She scrubbed her hands on her shirt and opened the door, glad she’d pulled on a pair of yoga pants.

A wet nose thrust into her crotch. “Sally!” Jamie tugged at his dog’s leash. He offered an easy smile that lessened Marissa’s self-consciousness. “Sorry. I was taking the beast out for a run at George’s when I heard your coffee grinder.”

“I’m still waking up.”

His face changed when he heard the shower. “You have company.”

Marissa weighed her options. She could tell him Paul had followed her home, they’d made up and that would be that. Except that wouldn’t be that. Anyone who’d ever seen a romantic comedy starring a Hollywood It girl knew “that” only led to more complications.

Besides, she couldn’t lie to Jamie.

Yeah, except about your feelings.

“Shandi showed up after the bars closed, looking for a soft place to land.” Marissa leaned in. “Start thinking of your excuses now.”

Jamie pulled back. “Uh, the Village chapter of the Angelina Jolie fan club is meeting in my apartment.”

“Not bad, but I have lice.”

“Then I’m fumigating for cockroaches.”

“Spring-cleaning,” Marissa said, sure she’d trumped him since she hadn’t spring-cleaned since forever.

“Nuclear bomb testing.”

She opened her mouth. Nothing came out. Damn. “Come in for coffee,” she said, leaving the door open and going back to the kitchen. “But this doesn’t mean you win.”

“Don’t fight over me now.” Shandi had come out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. Her mop of wild curls dripped down her back. “You can split me like my parents did.” She gave Jamie’s golden retriever a pat. “Daddy, will you buy me a pony?”

He put up his hands, the leash twisting around his wrist. “Sorry. I don’t have room for either of you. But if I get a choice, I’d rather muck out after the pony.”

“Sheesh. I didn’t even ask yet.” Shandi dropped onto the couch, pouting. “You two are giving me a complex.”

“That’ll be the day,” Marissa said from the kitchen doorway. Shandi was a creature of airy confidence. She worked off and on as a freelance makeup artist, which meant that she was either flush with funds or flat broke. The state of her finances never bothered her. She lived her life on whims and luck, both good and bad. Unfortunately her morals tended to be as flexible as her address.

“I have a job all next week,” Shandi announced. “I’m doing makeup for an episode of ‘Law & Order.’ And I met a guy last night who’s an art director at an ad agency. He loved my book.”

“Good. You’ll be able to pay for a new room.”

“Something really swank. But in the meantime…” Shandi made big eyes at them, looking wan without her makeup.

“No,” Marissa and Jamie said in unison. They eyed each other, sending signals. The only way to stand firm was to make a run for it.

Jamie turned to go. “I have to walk the beast before her bladder bursts. Want to—”

“Yes, I’ll come.” Marissa grabbed her keys out of the straw purse and Shandi’s shoes off the floor. She flew out the door, right behind Jamie. “Lock up when you go,” she called over her shoulder before slamming the door.

She stabbed her feet into the one-size-too-small shoes. Jamie took her arm. “Let’s hurry before she follows us.”

“This is so undignified,” Marissa said as they hit the street. “We’d better not come across anyone I know. I haven’t taken a shower. I’m not even wearing a bra.”

His gaze skipped to her boobs. “Um, nice.”

“‘Um, nice’?” She crossed her arms, then uncrossed them. “Since when?”

“Nice isn’t flattering?”

“No, it’s— I meant, since when did you notice?”

“I’ve always noticed when you’re not wearing a bra.”

“Oh.” She counted back in her head and figured that must be about a couple hundred occasions, adding in all their lazy Sundays when she didn’t get out of her pajamas till noon. Going without a bra wasn’t something she spent a lot of time contemplating. She was small on top and liked it that way.

So did Jamie? Wow.

They moved off down the street, heading toward George’s, the large-dog run at Washington Square Park. Her heart was beating like a bongo drum. “How come you never said anything?”

Jamie took a long time answering. “How would you have reacted if I’d mentioned that you look sexy with a little jiggle and perkiness under your shirt? Or if I’d confessed that I steal looks through the gap every time you miss a button?”

Marissa bit the inside of her cheek. “I might have been more careful.”

She should feel mortified. Or at least insulted. But the knowledge that he’d been looking at her that way, noticing her body and maybe lusting after her hard-core, was not as weird as she’d once have expected. Ever since The Kiss—

No, her feelings had started even before that. Ever since she’d met him at the airport, there was a difference between them.

A difference that made heat crawl through her veins every time she thought about him touching her.

“I’m teasing,” Jamie said in a flat voice, his gaze pinned to the dog’s flopping ears.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

She sensed he was only trying to placate her. “Why don’t I believe you?”

He grinned sheepishly, looking a little more like the boy next door who kept her safe instead of off center. “Because when it comes to ogling the naughty bits of naked women, guys will always lie if they think they can get away with it.”

“I didn’t used to think of you as that kind of guy.”

“Then what am I? A eunuch?”

“Of course not! I know you’re, well, virile. In fact, you’re very attractive. Just not—”

“Just not attractive to you?” They’d slowed. His level, brooding stare was unnerving. But hot. Her cheeks flared. Forget the boy next door. He was giving off heavy-duty, man-in-your-bed vibes.

The old Jamie would have cracked a joke to distract them, but this one wasn’t backing down. He said, without a trace of embarrassment, “That’s not what your mouth was telling me last night.”

She gulped. “I wondered how long it’d take for us to go there.” She glanced around at the street, busy with the morning’s comings and goings. The dog walkers were out in full force: slender gay men matched with their greyhounds, high-heeled women toting pocket pooches, family guys leashed to a selection of setters and retrievers. “Huh. Not long. We haven’t even made it off the block.”

Jamie let Sally pull him forward to the corner, the dog’s nose quivering as she scented the bursting spring foliage at the park. “You want to pretend it didn’t happen?”

“I want us not to change. Not to make one kiss—”

Jamie’s new triple-X adult eyes knifed at her.

“Okay, a few kisses. Hot ones, even.” She took a steadying breath and started again. “Not to make a few hot kisses into some big drama that wrecks our friendship.”

“Like I said, you want to forget it happened.” Suddenly he sounded sad. Marissa’s stomach flipped. “Might as well forget what I said about your breasts, too.”

“Whatever. Really, it’s no big deal if you snuck a few peeks.” She looked down the neck hole of her T-shirt. “Breasts are breasts, unless they’re Pamela Anderson’s. So what if you’ve seen mine. I’m not shy.”

Jamie made a motion as if he intended to get another look, and she grabbed at the loose fabric, stretching the shirt taut across her front. Her nipples pressed sharp little points against the thin cotton.

The crosswalk light switched. The other pedestrians moved off quickly. Jamie didn’t budge an inch. Sally whimpered, tugging at the leash.

“Okay,” Marissa said. “You made your point. We can’t put the genie back in the bottle. But I’m not ready to deal with this.” She made a motion to reach for his hand, then pulled back. “Please, let’s go along as usual for a few days. I just got home. I’m wearing Shandi’s shoes.”

She put a hand up to flip back her hair and her fingers got stuck on a snarl. She never went out in such a state of disarray. Even going to the gym required a certain look with a coordinated outfit and her hair in a braided knot. “I’m all out of sorts.”

“I understand,” Jamie said. Grudgingly, for him. “But I’m not letting this drop for good,” he added because he couldn’t seem to help it. “You should think about the possibility that our friendship won’t be ruined if we become lovers. It might even be enhanced.”

“You’re such an optimist.”

He smiled. “And that’s a good thing.”

“I’ll think about it. But I can’t make a decision so fast.” Even though she always made decisions fast. “Will you wait? A reprieve is all I need to get my head straight.”

Man and dog cocked their heads at her.

“All I need,” she repeated, hoping that he couldn’t see that her heart was saying something more.

All I need is you.

“That and breakfast.” Jamie took her hand and turned Sally loose. The dog bounded into the crosswalk, feathered tail waving like a semaphore. They jogged after her, stretching their legs, and the tension inside Marissa finally let go.

“DO YOU THINK she’s gone?”

“I don’t want to get my hopes up.”

Jamie angled his head toward their brownstone. “I hear music. Maroon Five.”

“Then she’s still there. Damn.” Marissa slowly climbed the steps. “I really don’t want a roommate again. It’s been nice, having the place to myself. My first time completely on my own.”

Jamie followed. She’d talked often about her family in Miami, so he knew that she’d grown up poor but ambitious, sharing a tiny bedroom with her sister, dreaming of life in the big city. “I don’t want her, either, but if I have to take the bullet, I will.”

“No!” Marissa looked startled by her own vehemence. “That is, I don’t expect you to sacrifice yourself for my sake. She’ll find a place.”

He weighed the possibilities. “Are you worried that we’d sleep together?”

“Who? Us?”

He could only hope. “Me and Shandi.”

Cool now, Marissa raised an eyebrow. “Would you?”

“Hell, no.” When he ran into Shandi these days, he couldn’t remember why he’d ever been involved with her. Thinking about it, he saw that she’d dazzled him with her freewheeling zest, somewhat like Marissa. Shandi Lee was an experience. Three years ago, he’d still been new to the city lifestyle, recently removed from a comfortable suburban home. He had commuted to college, then put in a short stint at a small-town paper before realizing that he’d become too settled.

But he’d progressed since his first days in the city. He’d become a lot smarter about what kind of woman he wanted in his life.

“You liked her once,” Marissa ventured.

“Uh, I still do.” Even if he didn’t entirely trust her.

“You liked her in a romantic way.”

“Well, you were with…what was his name?”

“Ivan. He’s a cancer researcher now, you know, at Sloan Kettering.”

“Impressive.” Marissa’s men usually had careers of importance or wealth. Jamie would never accomplish either with his average-paying job at the Village Observer. His big attempt at ambition was ghost-writing a biography with a rock legend, a project that had hit a major pothole when he’d realized the man was functionally illiterate.

Marissa had unlocked the front door. She turned her eyes on him. They were clear and unblinking, framed in a fringe of dark lashes. “No, I don’t want Ivan back.”

“And I don’t want Shandi.”

“Then we’re agreed. We’ll all be just friends.”

Little did she know. After Sally’s sojourn in the park, they’d gone to Blue Dog’s Café, a popular coffeehouse with huge breakfasts and free doggie biscuits at the counter. Marissa had excused herself and come back with her hair finger-combed and the baggy T-shirt knotted above her belly button. Without makeup, her face glowed. Her bare lips were full and soft. He’d found it tough to pull his gaze away, although her natural beauty was daunting. She could emerge from a ragbag and still pull herself together, while he counted himself dapper if he remembered to put on an unwrinkled shirt.

Over a tofu and spinach scramble, she’d continued with her insistence that this wasn’t the right time to start up anything between them. He’d agreed against every instinct, silently planning to bide his time until she adjusted to the idea.

The situation might have seemed hopeless. Except that he’d been struck by the way she’d avoided touching him. At first. And proof that she was as aware of him as he was of her.

The dog, who’d been sniffing at a concrete urn holding only the stiff brown stalks of last year’s planting, suddenly gave one short sharp bark. She shot to the end of the leash. The jolt almost jerked Jamie off his feet. “Sally! Quiet.”

Marissa stood at his shoulder. “What is it?”

“There must have been a cat.” He looked across the street. A woman pushed a stroller. A man in an ill-fitting business suit leaned against a mailbox, head lowered while he lit a cigarette. Sally growled low in her throat.

“I’m jumpy since the mugging attempt,” said Marissa. “I even thought Shandi was a burglar.”

“I’ll keep an eye out.” Jamie squeezed her hand.

The gesture was innocent, then not. They realized their proximity at the same moment. His gaze caught on her lips. She dented the lower one with her teeth. They leaned even closer, inches away, holding their breath—

“Hey, hey, hey! What’s going on here?” called a voice from above. Shandi hung out of the third-floor window. “Break it up, you guys.”

Marissa pulled away, her cheeks almost as pink as her lips.

“Would you mind answering your cell?” Cavalierly, Shandi tossed the phone out the window. “It’s driving me up the wall, ringing every ten minutes.”

Jamie made a lunge and caught the phone. He handed it to Marissa. “I thought it was switched off,” she said when the shrill ringer went off.

Shandi grimaced. “Yeah, well, I had to make a few calls and my minutes are running short. Quid pro quo— you stole my shoes.”

“Great.” Marissa flipped the phone open and said a wary “Hello?”

A deep voice immediately began fast talking on the other end of the connection. Jamie knew by the way her face sobered that the caller was Paul Beckwith. What he couldn’t tell was whether she’d wanted to hear from him.