“Good for them,” she said under her breath as she got out of the car.
Grabbing her laptop in case she might need it, she double-checked the time on her phone—fifteen to five. She’d purposely made sure to get there way after noon. She didn’t want to chance them running late and still being here when she arrived. Ali had told her any time would be fine. They closed anywhere between five and five-thirty, depending on how busy they were. But since Orlando lived above the shop, even if she couldn’t make it out until that late, he’d still be there regardless.
From the looks of it, they’d be closing later tonight, so her timing was fine. The rest of her day was clear, and she was all set to be here as long as it took so she wouldn’t have to make any more trips back.
Her phone rang just before she made it to the door of the shop. She let it go to voicemail because it was Ali and she was likely just calling to ask how it went. Drew figured she’d call her back on her way home when she actually had something to tell her. She walked into the reception room, her heart thudding when she saw the stairs that led to Nine’s apartment above the shop. The older woman behind the front desk was on the phone and motioned to Drew to give her a moment.
Drew nodded, glancing around when she heard her phone ding. Bringing her phone up to eye level, she saw the text from Ali and tapped it.
Did you go to the shop yet?
Drew responded that she’d just now arrived there and that she’d call her when she was done. To her surprise, her phone rang seconds after sending her response. It was Ali, so she answered curiously.
“Did you already go inside?” Ali sounded almost panicked. Before Drew could even respond, Ali went on quickly. “I just got off the phone with Leo. Nine’s not with him. Orlando is. Something about a last-minute change in plans.”
The lady behind the desk hung up just then. “You must be the website gal,” she said as Drew stood there frozen in place. “Rudy!” she yelled out before Drew could make a mad dash out of there. “She’s here!”
“Oh shit,” Ali gasped. “You’re already inside. I’m so sorry. I’ve been going back and forth with Leonardo all day. Each time he mentioned we and us, but I just assumed he meant him and Nine. Then just now he finally mentioned Orlando being there, and when I questioned it, he said they had a last-minute change in their plans, and Nine stayed behind instead.”
A door upstairs opened, and a second later, Nine stood at the top of the stairs, smiling. It wasn’t one of his usual wicked smiles either. It was sweet and genuine as if seeing her made him as dangerously happy as it made Drew to see him. The man was more gorgeous than she remembered if that was even possible.
Chapter 17
Nine
Too long. Almost an entire month had been too fucking long to go without seeing her. How in the hell was he supposed to deal with this impossible situation? When he heard about Dee coming down here today, he’d all but begged O to switch places with him. He had no choice but to admit to what his friend had been teasing him about since the wedding: that he’d fallen head over balls for Dee.
Unlike Beast, O had witnessed their lost-in-heaven time on the dance floor. He said he’d even been ready to jump in to break it up when he saw Brad heading toward them. But it’s why Nine had to do this. Because just like his moms, O was in agreement with their assessment of the situation. He said he would’ve dumped Dee’s ass if she’d been his girl. “She looks just as sprung as you do. No way would I stay engaged to someone who so obviously is into someone else.”
It’d been music to his ears. But because of Beast’s warning about not getting any ideas about Brad’s fiancé, Nine had no choice but to deny, deny, deny. With Dee ignoring all his texts, no way could he risk getting banned from any gatherings where he might get the chance to talk to her—see her again. Like at the barbeque. So he’d resorted to playing it off big time. O was insane. Nine wasn’t sprung the way his idiot friend kept saying. He’d admitted he’d flirted with her because, after that dance-floor scene, there was no denying something was up.
Nine had chalked it up to lots of “you know me” comments. “I was just having a little fun with it.” And while he knew his friend wasn’t buying his lies, despite his not having seen or been around her in almost a month, Nine had stuck to his guns.
Until that morning.
Beast texted O to give him a heads-up about Dee coming down later that afternoon. The moment O mentioned it to Nine, any thoughts of going to Vegas came to a screeching halt.
Now he stood there, heart pounding, afraid to move or even speak for fear she might disappear. She looked as perfect as he remembered. More so. Was that a halo glowing around her head? Alright, now he was just being stupid. But damn it if she wasn’t absolute perfection.
“Hey,” he said as his feet finally made a move down the steps. “I was beginning to think you might not make it after all. They said after noon.”
She nodded, saying something into her phone then slipping into her purse. “Yeah.” She glanced around a bit nervously then did what she was notorious for now: cleared her throat and stood up a little straighter, regaining her poise and looking him straight in the eyes. “I had some things I had to take care of, but Ali said, even if it was on the late side, someone would be here since you guys live up there.” She motioned up to his apartment.
“This is true and it looks like we’re probably gonna be closing late tonight anyway. We’ve been crazy busy.”
“Oh,” she said, turning toward the shop where the cars were. “I noticed that as I drove in.” She turned back to him, eyes a little wider. “I can come back another time if today isn’t good for you.”
Not a chance in hell. “Nah, nah.” Nine shook his head, pointing her to the small room where they had the computers and printers set up. “I got enough guys out there today. It’s why I’d gone upstairs. I had some calls I had to take, and it gets noisy down here.”
She nodded, walking in front of him to where he directed her to. Once in the small room, Nine was overwhelmed with the sweet yet luscious scent of Dee.
“So how’ve you been?” he asked as he pulled the rolling stools from the corner and gave her one.
Dee set her things down on the counter and sat down. “Good. Busy.”
“Find a house yet?”
The question was a planned one. Not too obvious. What he was really doing upstairs was rehearsing so he wouldn’t fuck up what could be his last chance to get the truth out of her. If she was still house-hunting, that meant they were still moving forward with the wedding but they likely hadn’t set a date.
Nine had planned this as meticulously as he could. Another reason he was upstairs was because he was researching how to purposely slow the Wi-Fi connection. It took him a minute, but he figured it out. He had it all set so all he’d have to do was hit a button and it’d be done. Only he hadn’t done so yet because the place was too busy. But he had every intention of doing so if it meant keeping her here longer.
“No,” Dee said, answering his question about the house-hunting. She moved the mouse around on the mouse pad. “Still looking, just haven’t found the perfect one yet, but it’s out there. I’m sure.” She turned to face him with a strange smile. “Just gotta be patient, you know?”
He nodded, and for a moment, they were locked in a gaze, but she glanced away fast enough. The screen lit up after she moved the mouse again. His other planned questions were put on hold as she began going over some of the things they’d been struggling most with the website.
Listening to her explain it with such ease was impressive. He and O were hardly computer illiterate. They’d both mastered all the other software they used to keep the shop running smoothly. Like with most software programs, it’d been a bitch to learn it all at first, but they both had it down now. Just like with all the other software, Nine knew if they played with this website long enough, they’d eventually get it too.
The tremendous restraint Nine had to conjure up this past month not to a
sk or say anything too obvious when trying to hear more about Dee, had been a feat in itself. So many times he’d been this close to asking Beast more about her when he happened to mention having been around her. But he was determined not to let her leave today without saying what he needed to say to her.
They were interrupted several times when the guys needed him to okay certain things and handle a customer asking to speak to the manager. So, much to Nine’s delight, the website management lesson ran on a little longer than it probably would’ve and even past closing time. Except as he’d predicted, they were running late. Thankfully, not too long after five-thirty, the guys started wrapping things up.
Not only did the interruptions cease, Nine still had a ton of questions for Dee about the website. But only until he could get the place cleared out. After that, he’d get to everything else he wanted to ask and say to her.
Of course, it was impossible not to ask anything personal in between the website crap. So the next lull they had while they waited for something to load, Nine gave in and just asked.
“How’re things with Brad?”
She was staring at the computer screen, but Nine was staring at her. He didn’t miss the twitch in her expression in reaction to the question. “Okay,” she said, still staring at the screen.
Nine glanced at the screen. There was nothing but an hour glass displayed, so he turned back to Dee. He was almost afraid to ask, but he had to confirm if, in fact, Brad was the reason she’d ignored him this past month. “Was he pissed?”
If he hadn’t been staring at her delicate profile so closely, he might’ve missed the movement in her neck as she swallowed in reaction to that question. “About what?”
“You know about what, Dee. The night of the wedding. He looked ready to tackle me.”
Finally, she turned to face him. Of course, it’d be that fucking moment Byron and Fern Dog knocked on the glass window of the small room. Clenching his jaw so hard Nine thought he might break a tooth, he motioned for them to open the door.
“I need you to sign off on some stuff from earlier when it was too busy to get the paperwork to you.”
Feeling like he could roar, Nine stood up but leaned into Dee’s ear. “Hold that thought. I’ll be right back.”
Rushing out of there, he signed off on Byron’s papers and went over some final close-out rituals, practically pushing everyone out. “Leave that,” he said to one of the guys who was walking around picking up dirty rags. “I’ll get ’em. I got everything, guys. But I need to get back to what I’m doing in there right now. I’ll close it all down. Just get out of here already.”
“What’s he doin’?” One of them asked as he stretched his neck toward the room where Dee was.
“You mean who’s he doin’?” Fern Dog said.
There was some chuckling and more wisecracks before they were all out. Nine locked the shop door, skipped steps as he ran up to his laptop upstairs to slow the Wi-Fi, then rushed back to Dee. She was on her feet, had put her laptop away, and appeared to be wrapping it up.
“Were not done yet.”
She turned to him, looking confused. “We’re not? But I thought—”
“Nah, I still have a few more things I need to get straight.”
Boy did he ever. But for now, he’d stick to pretending it was all about the website. One of the other rehearsed tactics was to ask about the stuff on the website he knew took the longest to load. With the Wi-Fi slowed, they’d take even longer.
“You hungry? Thirsty?” he asked as they waited on the computer.
“No, I’m good,” she said, putting her things back down and taking a seat again. “Thank you.”
She smiled and he got right back to it. “So what’d he say?”
This time she didn’t pretend not to know what he was talking about. But she shrugged, already making it less of it than what Nine knew it’d been.
“He was a little upset but got over it quickly.”
“Did he now? I don’t know. He looked mad as fuck to me. What’d he say?”
She turned back to the screen, and Nine refrained from smiling as the hourglass took its sweet-ass time. “The Wi-Fi here is wonky sometimes. I’m gonna have to call and get someone out here to check it.”
Dee turned back to him with a nod, but Nine lifted a brow in question. He was not about to let her off the hook with this question. He was curious as hell to know what that asshole said.
“He just asked if anything was going on between you and me. But I’ve been known to get lost in music and he knows it.”
Bullshit.
Nine held her gaze for a moment before smiling slowly. “I’m gonna grab a beer.” He got up, making his way to the door. “You sure you don’t want anything? I have wine.”
It was just another thing he’d planned in case today went better than even he could dream of. The moment Beast and O had left, he’d run out to buy a bottle of wine. Unfortunately, she turned it down but did ask for water.
Rushing upstairs, he grabbed a beer, some peanuts, and a couple of cold bottled waters. When he got back, Dee was on her phone.
“That’s fine really. We can do it another time.”
Taking a deep breath as he put Dee’s water bottles down next to her, Nine tried not to clench his teeth too hard.
Dee giggled sweetly. “Oh my God, that’s hilarious.” She glanced up at Nine, who struggled not to stare at her too hard. “Yes, of course. Don’t worry about it. I’ll see you tomorrow night then. Love you too.”
It felt like a kick in the groin, but Nine refrained from reacting. Brad was postponing or cancelling something on her. Likely for his job again. He had to be fucking blind and brain dead not to appreciate whom he neglected so often.
It was hard, but Nine managed to keep from saying anything stupid or rude. Remembering the very thing they’d started to discuss before Brad cut in on their dancing, then the bullshit she’d just fed him earlier and now hearing this, his next words just flew out.
“It wasn’t just the music you were lost in that night, Dee.”
He opened his bottle of beer and drank the first sip down bitterly but kept his eyes on her. She opened her water as well and took a swig, looking straight at him the whole time.
Again with the dismissive shrug. “I can admit it. I was dancing to some incredibly romantic songs with a very good-looking guy. I got lost in the moment.” She shrugged again. “Not unheard of. Of course, I didn’t tell him all that, but he got over it.”
“It’s not unheard of for an engaged woman who’s in love to get lost like that with another man?”
Something flickered in her eyes, but she turned away to look at the computer screen. “Sometimes if you reboot, it kicks it out of what it’s stuck on.”
“Go ahead,” he said, taking another swig of his beer.
She turned away immediately, almost as if glad for the change in subject. But Nine would be damned if he’d let this go, especially now that she appeared to be trying to make so much less of what really happened that night. Not unheard of, his ass.
She turned back to him for just a second. “Anything you wanna save before I hit restart?”
“Nah, I’m good.
He watched as she clicked on restart then turned back to him—almost reluctantly. Nine had never held back with his curiosity when it came to Dee, and he wasn’t about to start now. After another big swig of beer, he asked what he’d been wondering since that night.
“So have you ever gotten lost with anyone the way you did with me since you’ve been engaged, or am I just special?”
“Look. I admitted it, okay,” she said. sounding a little annoyed now too. “You’re a good-looking guy; you’re fun to be around and easy to talk to.” She lifted and dropped that fucking little shoulder again. “It was easy to get caught up in the moment.”
“But you said I’m not your type.”
“No.” She shook her head. “No, you’re not, not for anything serious anyway. We’ve gone over this
already—at length. I also said I’d be all for a just-for-fun thing with someone hot like you if I was available.” She touched her lower neck as she cleared her throat. “I have nothing against two consenting adults enjoying some carefree time together with no strings attached if they’re both available.”
Nine couldn’t help but smirk. As maddening as it was to hear her re-confirm that he’d never make her ideal man list, he’d never get tired of hearing her say she was attracted to him or that she thought he was hot. But he had to get back to something she’d said earlier. “Brad doesn’t strike me as someone fun to be around.”
“He can be.”
“But not always.”
“Well, no one is.”
“I am.”
Dee laughed and Nine was glad for it. The conversation had started to feel on the verge of getting heated. “I am,” he insisted with a smile. “Name one time you haven’t had fun talking to me.”
“There haven’t been very many times, Nine.”
“There’s been enough for me.”
She took a drink of her water, taking that last comment in stride, as if she didn’t catch what he left out: that he didn’t need any more time around her to know he’d already fallen hard.
Her eyes went wide as she finished her drink. The second she pulled the bottle away from her mouth she pointed it at Nine. “That first night.”
Feeling his facial expression sour, Nine got up to get another beer. “You mean the night my friend murdered someone?” He walked out the small room, raising his voice so she could hear him. “Same night I had to sit in an ER waiting room for hours? You sure you don’t wanna beer or some wine?”
He smiled when she agreed to a glass of wine. Deciding he didn’t want to go up and down and he doubted she’d be okay with going up to his apartment, Nine brought the six pack he was working on and the bottle he’d chilled for her down.
As expected, she seemed surprised when she saw the bottle. “I said a glass. I have to drive home.”