I screwed up my face. “I can’t call Nick. I ditched him last week when I thought something was going to happen with Will.”
“Of course you can. He doesn’t know that.”
“Wow, you’re harsh.”
She shrugged. “Welcome to New York—it’s a dog-eat-dog dating world out there.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“
Ohmygod
this fondant is to die for.” I closed my eyes, savoring the rich warm chocolate as it oozed down my throat.
Nick kinked an eyebrow at me. “You sure you don’t need a moment alone over there?”
I laughed. “Potentially. If it means I don’t have to share my dessert with you.”
Nick held his hands up. “Hey, I’ve never been one to come between a woman and her chocolate.”
I spooned a mouthful of the fondant and offered it to him. “Tempting but no, it would be a sin for you not to try this. I’d never forgive myself.”
So far we’d had a great evening. It really was too easy to be around Nick. We had this comradery that made me feel like I’d known him for years. Couple that with the fact that we were out to dinner at New York’s latest
it
restaurant and I was feeling better than I had all week.
Not only had Julia single-handedly helped me make it through the last seven days without falling apart, she’d even forced me to take her reservation at Line, even though it took her a full six weeks to get it in the first place. I was even wearing a little black dress—she was taking phase two of
getting over the quarterback
very seriously.
The restaurant was packed, and even though it was still relatively early, the bar was buzzing. The space was all matte blacks and shiny metallics, with dim lighting and a floor to ceiling hanging garden built into the wall of the bar. We were seated at a row of small tables for two that lined the opposite wall, complete with beautiful bronze-tinted, mirrored table tops that had been polished to perfection.
Nick groaned, his head dropping to the table. “Ohmygod you’re right, I would almost give up Super Bowl tickets for that.”
I grinned. “Yup, if I wasn’t so full already, we’d definitely be getting another one of these.”
“Give me an hour and I think I could handle it.” I watched as he took a swig of wine. “Speaking of the Super Bowl, how’s your job going? You found your feet yet?”
I paused, unsure of how to respond. I thought I’d well and truly found my feet until a certain someone tripped me up a week ago. I’d managed to bury myself in work for the week but, truth be told, Will was rarely far from my thoughts—it was unavoidable really. His name came up in every meeting I went to, and almost hourly emails seemed to cross my desk with
Jensen
in the subject line.
In some ways it had gotten easier as the week went by, as I realized just how ludicrous the idea of having a relationship with Will really was now that the possibility of it happening wasn’t clouding my judgement. But the other side of me, the side that didn’t acknowledge the challenges Will’s position in the club would have brought us, still ached for him. During the day, at work or out with Julia, there was always a dull pain in the pit of my stomach to remind me of my bruised and battered heart.
But at night, as I lay in the dark in bed, I couldn’t help the memories of him that came flooding back. How his eyes seemed to light up whenever he saw me, or the easy conversation we fell into each time we were together. Reliving those moments filled me with a physical ache, like if I didn’t keep my mouth shut it would crawl up through my stomach, squeeze through my throat and drape itself around my neck as a constant reminder of the loss I felt.
“Question too hard?” Nick was leaning forward, trying to catch my eye.
“Oh! Sorry, work’s a bit of a distracting topic at the moment.”
You’re on a date Emma, don’t think of Will. I repeat, do not think of Will.
“I imagine. It sounds like things have been crazy busy for you the last couple of weeks.”
“Oh.”
That little fib.
“It’s good, still busy but settling down a bit. I’m trying to improve the work-life balance right now.” The bit where my life wasn’t consumed by a certain person I worked with anyway.
I swallowed down the last drops of wine, mentally chiding myself. One simple question about work and my head went straight to Will. So much for phase two being any help. I liked Nick—I didn’t think about him every second like I did Will—but he was a good guy. We had fun together.
“You wanna get out of here? Grab a drink at Acme or something?”
I nodded. “Definitely.”
We settled the bill, laughing at how seriously the host had taken himself when giving us the check with a flourish.
“Man, he was bossy.” Nick held the restaurant door open for me.
“I know.” I laughed, looking over my shoulder. “So intense.”
I turned around just in time to run smack bang into someone coming into the restaurant.
“Oh! I’m so sorry.” I stepped back, checking to make sure I didn’t reverse straight into Nick.
“Emma?”
I turned around. “Will?”
Oh shit. Oh shit, shit, shit on a stick.
We both gaped at each other. “What are you doing here?”
What was I doing here? What was
he
doing here?
“I…I’m um here, with—” I looked over at Nick, who was now standing beside me with a hand resting on the back of my neck. “Nick, this is Nick.” His eyes were wide as saucers and I cringed. Of course my date would be star struck by Will.
Nick grinned, enthusiastically offering a hand to Will. “Jensen, wow, it’s great to meet you.”
Will looked at Nick’s hand before taking it with a frown.
I tried to calm my heartbeat, conscious that if it went any faster, it was likely to burst through my chest. I couldn’t drag my eyes from Will, not even for a second. His body was composed, that beautiful strong chest as stoic as ever, but I felt as if his gaze could burn a hole right through my skin. I watched as it moved slowly from my eyes, down my neck to where Nick’s hand rested against me.
We both snapped out of it when Nick reached forward, offering his hand to the woman at Will’s side. I had barely noticed her, so consumed by the man standing before me.
Will blinked away from me, gesturing towards his date. “Emma, Nick, this is Elena.”
As my eyes absorbed her, a sudden and violent urge to vomit overtook me. She was stunning, in fact jaw-droppingly so and she was here with Will. Suddenly all my efforts to get over him seemed ludicrous. In what world did I expect I’d be able to move on so easily? Simply seeing him in the flesh was enough to crack my heart in two, but add in the glamazon by his side and I was literally toast. Seriously, just push me out to sea and keep going.
I managed a weak hello before turning back to Nick, desperate to get away from Will and the most beautiful woman on the planet. Okay, so maybe I was getting a bit carried away. To be fair, there may have been two or three others that were slightly more beautiful. But no more than five. She was definitely no less than the fifth most beautiful woman on the planet.
I was opening my mouth to mumble a quick goodbye when Will spoke. “How do you two know each other?”
Nick grinned at me before turning to Will, somehow totally oblivious to the awkward tension that had set in between us. “Second date. We met through Emma’s roommate a few weeks ago.”
Will’s eyes never left my face, his jaw clenching slightly as Nick spoke.
“How
nice
.”
I felt the blood rise in my cheeks and wanted nothing more than to reach out and slap him. Nice was certainly better than the choice words I’d use to describe Will after last week.
I turned to Nick, tugging on his arm. “Well, enjoy your night, we better go.” He looked like his favorite toy was being taken away from him.
“Hey, I never heard back from you the other day. You get my message?”
My head snapped up at Will’s words. Was he serious? He was doing this here? Now?
“Yeah, I got it.”
Will stared at me. “And?”
“And I was busy. I couldn’t talk.”
“Right, you’ve been too busy to talk since Thursday and you couldn’t even find time to text me back?”
I bristled. I couldn’t help it. “Will, like it or not, my life doesn’t revolve around you. I didn’t think your text needed a response, okay?”
He gaped at me. “Well, I needed to talk to you. You might not think it’s important, but I do.”
I sighed. “It’s Saturday night, Will. Let’s not talk about work.”
He stared at me, the fierce determination I’d previously only seen him show on the field clear in his eyes now. “You’re right. I’ll call you Monday. We’ll settle it then.”
I could only nod. Unable to hold his gaze, I focused on the cracks in the footpath as we walked away.
“Emma!” I turned, forcing myself to meet Will’s eyes again. “I’m serious, I really want to resolve it on Monday.” He looked meaningfully at me, his face a mixture of anger and…was that pain I saw too?
#
“Was that a little odd?” Nick looked at me as we stopped at a set of traffic lights.
“Was what odd?”
“You always speak to the players like that?”
“Oh.” I waved his words away. “He can be particularly frustrating to work with sometimes.”
“Riiight.” Nick paused, sucking in a breath. “Because I couldn’t help but get the feeling that cryptic conversation had nothing to do with work.”
I froze, not wanting to go anywhere near that topic with Nick.
“Does this have anything to do with why it took you two weeks to return my calls?”
“No! Of course not, what are you talking about?”
Nick turned to face me. “Emma, I’m not an idiot. The tension between you two was obvious. Clearly there’s something going on.”
I met his eyes. “It was nothing, Nick. Honestly. It was stupid, and it’s over.”
He shook his head. “You should see yourself. It doesn’t look like some stupid little thing from where I’m standing.” He paused, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look. I like you all right, but I’m not cool with being called up just because things went in the toilet with someone else.”
I looked down at his chest, searching for the right thing to say but it was useless—I’d never been a good liar. “I’m sorry Nick. I didn’t mean for this to happen, honestly. I do like you. I just…things are confusing at the moment.”
Nick nodded, stepping away from me. “Yeah? Well maybe don’t call me until you’ve figured out your shit.”
He walked away, leaving me on the sidewalk.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I woke on Monday with that familiar feeling I always had when the day of something I was dreading arrived. Like school exams or the start of the harvest season. Problem was, I was someone who liked to be prepared, so while I might have dreaded exam day, I never went into one without studying. But how did I prepare for today? How did I prepare to speak to the man who’d effectively pulled out my heart and stomped on it?
For starters, I did the cowardly thing and silenced my phone, hiding it in my bag. I was also highly skilled in the art of procrastination.
Will called just after ten. I didn’t see it until I was heading out to grab some lunch, when I finally gave myself a mental ass kicking for behaving like a sixteen-year-old. My heart rate immediately spiked when I saw the missed call. I was petrified of reliving the events of over a week ago, yet warmed just at the thought of hearing his voice.
Mark and I nearly ran into each other, crossing paths at the lift.
“Oh!” I pulled up quickly. “Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
Mark held up his palm. “Don’t be.” He took in the purse and sunglasses in my hand. “You’re getting some lunch?”
I nodded. “Just a sandwich.”
“I’ll join you if you don’t mind. I haven’t eaten yet.” He held the lift door open for me to step in, leaving me little choice in the matter.
We walked to a bustling nearby deli, making small talk about the mid-summer heat wave. I didn’t feel completely out of place grabbing lunch with Mark, but we certainly hadn’t spent any one-on-one time together outside the office before. He was so busy I rarely saw him other than at scheduled meetings.
We put in our sandwich orders, watching as the staff worked at a furious pace to cope with the lunchtime crowd.
“Here or to-go?” The middle-aged woman behind the counter didn’t look up from what she was doing as she asked me.
“To-go please.”
Mark put a hand on my shoulder. “Why don’t we eat in?” He shrugged. “I’ve got a half hour to spare if you do.”
“Um, sure, that would be good.” I leaned back over the counter to get the servers attention. “Could I change that to here please?”
When we’d paid, I led Mark through a sea of tables to one in the corner, feeling my pulse pick up slightly. I hoped he was good at small talk because thanks to a certain quarterback, I wasn’t in the greatest headspace for any real banter let alone my first non-work conversation with my boss.
“So,” Mark said as we sat down. “You must be coming up to two months with us by now, aren’t you?”
I nodded, picking up my sandwich. “Next week to be exact.”
“And how have you settled in?”
“Fine thanks, everyone’s been great.”
Well, almost everyone.
“Good, I’m glad to hear it.” Mark took a drink of his juice. “And what about Jensen?”
My eyes snapped up to meet his. “What do you mean?”
“How have you found working with him?”
I exhaled, pretending I was still chewing as I mulled over how to answer that particularly touchy question. “He’s good, great with the clients and all, just like you said.”
“Good.”
We both bit into another mouthful of food and I let my gaze sweep over the deli as we ate in silence.
“You know, Jensen seemed disappointed when I showed up instead of you for the ESPN interview.” Mark watched me over the top of his sandwich.