Me: Why is it that I had sex with a woman tonight, but couldn’t stop thinking of you?
I stared at it a long time before I deleted the draft, switched off my phone, and lay in bed, awake and drained. I reclined awake to witness a beautiful sunrise, only I took no pleasure in the pretty splashes of orange and pink.
At that moment, I hated that sunrise almost as much as I hated my weakness.
Chapter Twelve
Mia
It had been four long days since I had spoken to Quinn. Sure, we’d sent the occasional text in that time, but I was longing to hear his voice, which was stupid, because I didn’t like the way I felt when we spoke. I felt on edge, unnerved.
Perhaps that was the difference. I had known about Matt Quinn for so long that I was positive he would never do anything to hurt me—not on purpose anyway.
He was safe. I could never have a relationship with him, because of his friendship with my brother. Not that he’d ever want me in that way, and if my brother trusted him, it was all I needed to know that he was a good guy. My brother had always been a good judge of character, and even though he was a jock growing up, he never befriended assholes. See? Safe.
It was my first day of work, and having spent the last few days in my apartment near memorizing complete websites of information, I felt confident today would be a good day.
I woke at six a.m., showered, dressed in my standard business wear of a feminine white shirt, high-waisted black pants, and heels, then added light make-up, and sorted my chaotic hair into a sophisticated chignon. I was happy with my appearance. I had come a long way in a mere forty-minutes.
After spending most of my weekend with Bill and Terry, we were becoming fast friends. I found myself telling them things I had never told other people. In a single evening, I told them about my crush on Quinn and how it began. I told them about my being so overweight that I started to develop health issues. And finally, I told them about my being a virgin. I blamed the wine.
Terry seemed to be locked in a state of shock, whereas Bill seemed to accept everything with a soft smile and nod, never interrupting. Terry, however, interrupted, and always managed to do this in a most dramatic way. The common curses used were, “Shut up!” and a gasped, “Oh, my God, no!” He would sometimes add a, “Nuh-uh. I don’t believe it!” or a “You’re kidding! Tell me you’re kidding!”
Terry had made me a project. And while this would normally have me running for the hills, I didn’t mind so much, knowing Bill would be there to manage the Terry situation.
Take last night for example. The guys had dragged me away from my computer long enough to get me nice and tipsy on wine before Terry pulled out a pharmacy bag. My gut sank. I didn’t even want to know what was in there.
Smiling like the Mona Lisa, Terry pulled two boxes out of the bag and held one up. And I choked on my own saliva. Coughing, I shook my head and wheezed out a firm, “No!”
Terry’s smile vanished. He came to kneel by my spot on the sofa, tilting his head in a most pathetic way and begging, “Oh, please? Why not?”
I held the box in my hand and gave him a look that said, ‘You know why!’
Terry stood, feigning innocence. “I don’t see the problem.”
I fought down my argument, simply uttering, “It’s fire-engine red. I’m starting work on Monday for a very professional events management company, Terry. I need to meet with clients and talk to them in an expert sense. I am not dyeing my hair fire-engine red.”
Bill took the other box and handed it to me. I glared up at him. “You’re in on this? You’re meant to be the practical one!”
He grinned, and it was so gorgeous that I forgot my name. Then he spoke in that English accent I loved so much. “I chose this one. I think it’ll suit your coloring much better. Not to mention the fact your warm brown eyes are beautiful right now, but with this color, they will pop so hard men everywhere will need to cover their eyes when you pass.” He smiled down at me. “Did you know you have a small amount of green hidden in your eyes, and when you smile, it comes out to play?”
That was it. I was sold. I turned to Terry and whispered, “You are a very lucky man.”
Terry sighed while looked up at Bill lovingly. “Don’t I know it, sister.”
When I looked down at the box in my hands, I was pleasantly surprised. So, with a curt nod of approval and a loud “Yay!” from Terry, I was whisked off into their bathroom, where I had petroleum jelly rubbed into my forehead, ears, and neck, and then Terry snapped on a pair of gloves and got to work.
Thirty minutes passed. I was bent over the tub and washed, conditioned, and rinsed, and then Terry spent an insane amount of time blow-drying my hair. After he deemed my hair ‘Ah-mah-zing!’, I was finally allowed to see the difference. And what a difference it was. I could hardly believe my eyes.
How on earth could going from a dull brown to reddy-brown auburn make such a change? My skin looked as if it had more color and glow, my face looked sharper with my cheekbones more pronounced, and Bill, the sweetheart, was right. It made the slight green in my eyes look more apparent. So when Bill saw this, he stood behind me in the mirror, grinning, and then leaned down to my ear and muttered, “Pop.”
And I almost lost use of my legs. Bill was a seriously attractive man. He knew it, but he didn’t care about it, and he never—and I mean never—used it to his advantage. And that made me love him even more.
I loved my new color, and sitting on the bus this morning, I could definitely see men noticing my new ‘pop.’ When I felt eyes on me and caught a thirty-something-year-old man in a suit watching me, a blush lit my face. I dipped my chin to hide the furious pink of my cheeks and neck.
I still felt eyes on me though, and I felt them there from stop to stop. Curiosity got the better of me. I peeked up to find Mr. Suit smiling at me, and although my heart was racing, I smiled back, albeit nervously.
That was when he grinned, and something about that grin made my stomach flip. Mr. Suit looked a little like Quinn, only rather than being an explosion of perfect chaos, Mr. Suit had blue eyes matching the color of his tie, and his longish brown hair had been styled in an attractive business-do.
I liked it. So when I stood at the same time he did, and got off at the same stop as him, then almost walked into him as we made our way to the same building, my nerves had built up to the boiling point. I suddenly turned to face him as he held the door open for me, and then blurted out, “Are you following me?”
His chuckle washed over me, causing my skin to break out into goose bumps. “If I didn’t have work, I probably would be. But no.” His eyes narrowed teasingly. “I could ask you the same question.”
My cheeks heated so much that I thought they might melt. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m a little paranoid. This is my first day at Addison Limited.”
He blinked and his smile faltered for a second, but his eyes remained devoid. “Addison Limited? That’s level three. I’ll walk you up; it can be a little confusing if you don’t know your way around.”
I started to decline then thought better of it. I didn’t want to be late on my first day because I pulled up my big girl panties so high that I couldn’t see someone trying to do me a favor. Instead, I smiled through a sigh. “Thank you. The last thing I need right now is to be late. A first impression lasts, you know.”
He looked down at me, his brow creasing slightly as he muttered thoughtfully, “It sure does.”
We stepped into the elevator, and as he pressed the button, he held his hand out and uttered, “I’m Nicholas.”
Thankful for his help, I took his hand, shook it, and smiled. “Mia. Mia Bridgeton.”
He let go of my hand and we both looked straight ahead. Nicholas stated, “Pretty name for a pretty woman.”
My eyes widened. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. I was sure a ‘thank you’ would make him assume I was shallow and thought I was pretty, but if I said ‘oh, I’m not pretty,’ then he’d think I was fishing for compliments. So rather than respond, I simply smiled and swallowed hard.