As she walked behind Nate, he shot out an arm as if he were signaling to turn left on a bicycle, and physically stopped her. He cocked his head to the side, and flashed his trademark grin. “You don’t say hello anymore?”
She smiled, the kind that didn’t reach her eyes. “I didn’t see you. How are you?” she asked him as diplomatically as possible
“Great. This is my property manager, Nicole,” he said, and the woman extended her hand. Casey shook, but didn’t let go of the possibility that Nate’s property manager had her sights set on him.
“Nice to meet you. I have to go. I’m needed out there,” she said, gesturing to the veranda and the empty table reserved for Jack’s party, then picked up her pace.
In seconds, she heard the click of his shoes. His hand was on her arm. She turned around and looked down at his fingers wrapped around her wrist. She shook them off.
“What’s wrong?”
She gave him a pointed stare, as if he were crazy for even asking the question. “Nothing,” she said with a nonchalant shrug. “Why would anything be wrong?”
“You gave me the cold shoulder back there. And now. That’s not like you.”
“That’s because I have a rehearsal dinner to be at,” she said in a crisp, businesslike voice.
“So do I. But you’re early, and no one is here yet.”
She raised her chin. “I wanted to be early. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
He furrowed his brow. “Casey, I thought you wanted to be friends.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry. Was I not trying hard enough? Would you like me to work even harder? Maybe sit down with you and Nicole and have a drink together? Because that’s what we’d do as friends, right?” Her voice heated up angrily with each question she flung at him.
“Casey, this isn’t you.”
Something dangerous welled up inside her. Something that felt horribly like no-holds-barred anger, like ragged jealousy, like all the pain she didn’t want to show him. But she was tired, and she was jet-lagged, and on top of that she was really fucking sad. She let it all loose. “Maybe it’s not me. But maybe you don’t know me. Maybe you should go spend time with Nicole. She sure looks like she wants to be much more than friends with you. You can get what you want from her,” she said, the cruel remark coming out of her mouth before she could stop it.
Nate nodded several times, absorbing her below-the-belt comment. His hand came down on her arm again, and he tugged her into a quiet hallway of the restaurant, leading to the restrooms.
“Do you want to go there? She’s one of my goddamn employees, and you better know me well enough to know I would never cross that line. But if it bothers you so much that I’m talking to my property manager about how to keep growing the hotel’s revenue, then let’s discuss how much it bothered me that you were after Mr. Lingerie,” he said, biting out the words.
She held her own against him, standing tall. “It didn’t seem to bother you at all. It didn’t even seem to affect you one bit when I told you why I was no longer going to pursue anything with him.”
“Are you crazy? You think it didn’t bother me that you were hot for that asshole? Did you already forget Yankee Stadium?”
She shivered briefly as the memory flashed before her eyes of their first time together, the way he’d talked to her, so rough and jealous, and the way it had turned her on to no end. But that had all been a game, another move in the chess match of their lessons in seduction. Those lessons were over.
“No. I didn’t forget it. But sometimes I think you did,” she said, crossing her arms.
“I didn’t forget a thing. I remember everything about every night with you. Every day with you. Every hour with you. Like when you bought this dress,” he said, raking his eyes over her from head to toe. “By the way, nice dress.”
“Thanks,” she said coldly. “I’m thrilled to learn you can recall details of a blow job. I was worried that was starting to fade from your mind.”
He shut his eyes briefly and pursed his lips, fighting to hold back, it seemed. She should do the same. She really should. It wasn’t her style to lash out. She was direct, she was upfront, but she was also kind. Only right now, she wasn’t. She was playing dirty because the snake inside her was stronger. She wanted to shake Nate, yell at him to get over his ex-wife, shout at him to stop flirting with another woman. And then slap him and tell him he never should have toyed with her heart in London. “I’m sure, though, that all those lovely things you said to me that night in London have completely faded from your mind. But then, I suppose it’s not a surprise. We already know I’m not terribly good at reading men and what they really want. Especially when they only say those lovely things in bed.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, jamming his hands through his hair, messing it up. “I meant everything I said that night.”
“What does it matter now? We’re friends. We’re fabulous, amazing, wonderful friends.”
“Casey,” he said softly, reaching out a hand to try to touch her. She shirked away. “You’re not really acting like a friend right now. But then, I don’t feel that friendly either. When I see you in that dress, I don’t feel the least bit buddy-buddy. I feel—”
She cut him off. “I don’t care if this dress makes you want to fuck me. All you ever wanted was sex and friendship. I’m sorry that you only have one of those things now, but it’s all I can give you, and even then it’s really hard to be your friend with the way I feel for you.” Her voice broke yet again. She swiped at her face, trying to erase the start of the insubordinate tear. “Excuse me. I need to go to the ladies room,” she said, giving him the universal excuse that freed a woman from any situation. She rushed into the bathroom, grabbed some tissues, and sank down in a soft chair in the sitting area, her head in her hands.
A minute later she heard the soft whoosh of the door opening. “Please don’t come in,” she said in a harsh warning.
“Hey. Are you okay?”
It was Michelle, and Casey couldn’t keep her feelings inside her any longer. “I’m not okay at all. I’m a raving bitch,” she said, then spilled nearly everything to the woman who was about to become part of her family.
Michelle listened calmly, her warm brown eyes fixed on Casey the entire time. “Now what?” she asked, holding out her hands helplessly.