Dangerous Curves: The Good Girl

After (7)

After

It was all so perfect. Then two days passed and no Nick. No phone call, no text. Nothing.

I felt like a gigantic fool. Had that been all Nick wanted? Mission accomplished. He had made me come, he had done what no other man had ever been able to accomplish.

Perhaps that was his only intention all along. To see if he could to it, and then be on his way.

It was such a private, personal thing – such a monumental moment in my life to have come for him on his desk that day. When I didn’t hear from him right afterwards, I was devastated.

Then, finally, on Friday night the phone rang. It was Nick. “I’m sorry I haven’t called.”

“That’s okay,” I lied. I was still stinging from his disappearing act.

“What’s up?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

“Japan,” he sighed. “It’s a nightmare. Look, can I just come over? I’d rather not talk about it on the phone.” There was something in his voice that sounded odd. I couldn’t quite place it, but I had the distinct feeling that something was wrong. “Sure,” I said. “I live at – ”

He cut me off. “I know.”

Was there anything he didn’t know about me? That reminded me – how had he ever found out I’d been the one to write the Naughty Little Secrets column in the first place? Had he tracked me through IT like Mariah had? I made a mental note to ask him when he came over.

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

He made it in ten. And he’d brought flowers. Gerbera daises, my favorite. Again, how did he know such things? I was about to ask, but instead I blurted out: “I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”

I immediately wanted to smack myself. If this was a game, I was failing miserably. Talk about showing your hand.

“Didn’t think you’d see me again?” Nick set the flowers down on the table. He reached up and brushed a lock of hair out of my eyes. “What on earth would make you say that?”

That you made me come…that you got what you wanted. That, maybe, for you the challenge was over. That you called this a game. There were a million things I could have said, but I kept my mouth shut.

He leaned forward and kissed me, softly. The gentleness of his lips against mine caught me off guard. 

I felt myself tingling all over. “So you’re not leaving?” I asked, as we pulled apart.

“Leaving?” Nick said, laughing lightly. He stroked my hair again. “We’re just getting started….”