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1056 Words
d**k already told me in the car coming here that he hadn’t made the call yet to tell her we were going with a different service, so I know her comment about getting fired is based on guilt, not fact. Which makes me feel like an asshole.
“I wasn’t gonna fire you.”
She turns her attention away from the painting and examines my face. Then she folds her arms across her chest again, tilts her head down, and looks at me over the top rim of her glasses.
I’m in for it.
Before she can rag on me for being the degenerate liar I am, I turn the tables.
“But I am curious about your lunch date. Looks pretty hot and heavy, considering you said you weren’t in love with him. Is that standard procedure, fibbing to your clients about your love life?”
My attempt to distract her works, because she groans. “What you saw out there isn’t my love life. That’s the Titanic right after they discovered they ran out of lifeboats.”
From her obvious misery, I realize I misinterpreted what I saw. She wasn’t gazing deeply into the robot’s eyes… he was gazing deeply into hers.
Instantly, my hackles go up. All my protective instincts slam into overdrive.
I step closer to her. “What’s going on? Is he bothering you? Do you need me to go out there and set him straight?”
Startled, she glances up at me. “Oh, look, we’re growling again. Have you thought of taking one of those DNA tests to see if there’s a bear somewhere in your family tree?”
“I’m serious, Maddie. If that guy’s bothering you, I’ll break his teeth.”
She gazes at me for a moment in silence, then smiles. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but that’s actually very sweet.”
I feel myself bristle again, getting ready to smash something. “Is that a yes?”
Her sigh is exasperated. “Calm down, Hulk. It’s a no.” She mutters to herself, “A marriage proposal is hardly cause for ruining twenty grand worth of dental veneers.” “He asked you to marry him?”
I know my tone was way too loud because an aggravated male voice says from one of the stalls,
“Hey, pal, you mind keepin’ it down? I’m tryin’ to take a crap in peace over here.”
Maddie gapes at the closed stall door with that queasy look like she’s about to barf again, so I take her by the arm and lead her out of the john.
Once we’re in the hallway, I steer her to a quiet area behind a bunch of potted palms.
“Sorry about that.”
She says smartly, “Which part? Calling a meeting in a public restroom so our conversation can be eavesdropped on by a stranger emptying his bowels, or acting like a man proposing marriage to me makes about as much sense as that painting over the urinals?”
A flare of anger tightens my stomach. “Why do you always have to take things I say about you the negative way?”
“Why do you always have to have conversations near a row of toilets?” “I don’t.”
“Neither do I.”
Standing a foot apart, we stare at each other, unblinking, breathing hard. She’s pissed off and so am I, but I can’t remember exactly what happened to get us this way, because there’s a voice inside my head screaming Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her! and it’s taking all my concentration to ignore it.
Eyes blazing, she says, “You know, before I met you, I hadn’t argued with anyone in fifteen years.”
“Doubtful. That tongue of yours is way too sharp to be outta practice.”
Her face flushes. Her eyes flash. Her mouth makes that angry, puckered shape, and holy f**k, I want to kiss this woman so bad I can taste it.
She says, “I’m going to walk away now.”
“Go ahead. No one’s stopping you.”
We keep staring at each other. Neither one of us blinks or moves. “Am I fired?”
“No.”
More staring. I want to latch my mouth onto that pulse pounding in the side of her neck and suck on it, hard.
She says, “Okay, then.”
“Fine.”
“Good.”
“Yeah.”
“Fine.”
“That’s what I just said.”
“I know.”
“Fantastic.”
“Yep.”
“Thought you were leaving, Pink.”
When she moistens her lips, I almost groan out loud.
There’s a moment, a long, breathless moment when I’m sure she’s gonna go up on her toes and kiss me. A crackle grows between us, a strong sense of pull. A gravitational, irresistible attraction, hot and elemental, like superheated magnets.
Like magic.
On instinct, I lean closer to her. My hands shake. My heart pounds so hard it hurts.
Then a concerned voice says, “Madison?” and the spell is broken.
We look over, and there he stands in all his baffled, over-groomed, robotic glory.
“Is everything all right?”
“Yes, Bobby,” says Madison, blinking like she just woke up from a dream. “Um. Yes.” She slowly exhales. “We were just… I was just…”
“Talking to Mason.” His gaze sharpens. “Yes, I see. Hello, Mason. How are you?”
Bobby approaches us warily. Maddie jerks away from me like we’ve been caught plotting the overthrow of the government. I have to force myself to drop my hand to my side and not reach for her again.
“Swell. You?”
“Excellent, thank you.”
We size each other up while Maddie stands to the side, looking shell-shocked.
She wanted to kiss me. I know she did. I f*****g know it.
What I don’t know is if that makes everything better, or so much worse.
Bobby asks pleasantly, “Are you here alone?”
“Having lunch with my agent.”
“Ah. That’s unfortunate. I would’ve invited you to join us.” He smiles at me. We both know he’s lying.
- Writer
