What Now? (19 page)

Shari
couldn’t believe that it was only four days since she’d left Fort Lauderdale
and Nick because it seemed like forever. How could she miss him so much? She
wondered if he even spared her a thought. It was hard for her not to think
about him all the time because she was spending hours putting together the
documentary, which meant listening to his voice on her recorder, or hearing
someone else talk about him, or watching the videos that Brian had taken.

She
was actually very pleased with how it was turning out and once she’d sold Gerry
on the reason why it made sense to come back into the office to get the
documentary close to the finishing point, he pulled out all the stops to provide
the resources she needed. Of course, the fact that they would save on the cost
of a couple of hotels helped her case as well.

The
only thing he couldn’t help her with was the excitement that made her feel
almost sick at the thought that Nick was in Raleigh and he had called to tell
her he’d come over after the concert. He didn’t need to ask her address; after
all, he had all sorts of people on staff to find out anything he wanted to
know. She wasn’t going to the concert; Brian had said that he would go and get
some footage since they should at least have some videos of Nick and the band
in the station’s hometown, if nowhere else.

She
had cleaned her house from top to bottom (not that he would see everywhere) and
had even gone out and bought some new accessories to spruce up the place. It
wasn’t bad, but, as she’d told him, it didn’t even come a close second to any
of the hotels where they’d stayed. It fact, it probably wouldn’t even have made
it into the same race. Anyway, she wasn’t out to impress Nick.

The
sound of a car pulling up in the driveway sent her hurrying to peer through the
window. Nick was getting out of a cab with flowers in one hand and a bottle of
wine in the other. It was minutes to eleven and she knew the concert had
started at seven, so he must have practically walked off the stage and into the
cab.

He
had a bag slung over his shoulder. Was he planning to spend the night? She
hoped that he didn’t think she’d changed her mind since their conversation by
the Jacuzzi. Going to the door, she opened it before he could knock.

“Hi, Nick.
Come on in.” It was pretty cold outside.

“Hi,
Shari. It’s crazy how much I missed you.” He put down the flowers and wine on
the hall table and pulled her into a hug. Shari hugged him back, feeling safe
and comfortable in his arms.

Reluctantly
releasing her, he stepped back to feast his eyes on her. She was dressed in a
faded pair of jeans and a white, light-weight sweater, but she looked
incredible to him. He somehow knew that she’d decided not to dress up for him
so that he didn’t get the wrong idea, but all kinds of ideas were running
through his head anyway, none of which she would approve of.

“These
are for you,” he said belatedly, picking up the flowers and the wine.

“Thank
you.” She inspected the label. “Merlot is my favorite, but I’m not familiar
with this brand. Must be out of my price range.” She laughed.

“Hope
you like it.”

“Come
into the kitchen while I find a vase for these. They’re beautiful, by the way.
Thank whoever got them for me.” She knew that Nick had no time to buy flowers.

“Can
I get you a drink or some coffee?” Shari tried to sound normal, as if her heart
was not thumping because Nick Badley was actually in her house. Her friends
would freak out if they knew and they would have camped at her door to wait for
him, which is why she hadn’t told them anything.

“A
drink, please.” He followed her into the kitchen, looking around the small
house.

“How
was the concert? I should have asked you that first. Was it sold out? Is this
your first time playing in Raleigh?”

“Great.
Yes and yes.” Nick smiled. He wasn’t used to Shari jumping from one question to
the next so rapidly. His being there seemed to be making her nervous. He rather
liked the effect he had on her because she had a powerful effect on him. He had
barely restrained himself from kissing her just now; he was trying to honor the
word he had given her on Fisher Island and he would respect the boundaries she
set.

“Something
smells good. What’s on the menu tonight?”

“I
decided to go simple, so I made shrimp and chicken kebabs with a salad. I
figured you’d be late, so I didn’t want to make anything too heavy. Speaking of
the menu, you actually passed up a potential menu to be here?” She reminded him
of their conversation at the AA Arena.

“There’s
only one thing I fancy on my menu tonight, if it’s available. Otherwise I’ll do
without. I seem to have lost my appetite for substitutes.”

“Really?”
she asked in disbelief.

“Really,”
he confirmed. “You’ll be happy to know that I’ve been on the straight and
narrow.”

Nick’s
idea of the straight and narrow would probably cause her to cringe.

“What
does that mean? That you only slept with one woman at a time?”

“Shari,
you have such a low opinion of me. I’ll have you know that I haven’t slept with
anyone since Miami.”

She
supposed that he considered four days to be a long time. What would he say
about four years?

“So
what’s the matter? Were you ill?”

He
knew he deserved that, given what she’d seen of him in the past. He didn’t know
what was going on with him, but he was not interested in sleeping with anyone. OK,
he knew what was going on. It was Shari. He could only liken it to having
tasted gourmet chocolate cake made with the finest ingredients and then being
offered a box cake. The box cake was OK when you didn’t know any better, but
now he knew better, even based on the little sample he’d had by the Jacuzzi.

“No,
I wasn’t ill. I’ve become more discerning. Besides, I’m getting tired of
meaningless one night stands where there is no connection to the person and
sometimes I can’t even remember their names.”

Shari
was elated, although her face remained expressionless. Finally, progress was
being made. Her prayers were working. She’d started praying for Nick to begin
to see how empty his relationships were, if they could even be called
relationships.

“Well,
I’m glad to hear that, Nick.”

“So,
how is the documentary coming?” he asked, pulling out one of the chairs at her
four-seater table. He liked that he could see her in the kitchen from her small
dining room. From the brief glance he’d had of the place when he came in, it
was cozy and well decorated. It certainly looked homier than his sprawling
villa set on several acres of land. Although it was hard for his house to look
homey when he was hardly home.

“Great!
It’s shaping up really well. When I meet your family and pull that segment in I
think it will round things out nicely and give the viewers a different – and
more positive – perspective of you.”

“That
should please Lily.”

“Do
you know if your parents have any videos of you as a teenager or a child still?
Since you don’t want them on camera, we could have them speaking about you
while we show home videos.”

He
groaned.

“Do I
want the world seeing my home videos?”

Shari
laughed. She put the kebabs on a plate, hoping that they had not dried out, and
took the salad and her homemade dressing out of the fridge.

“Would
you like me to open the wine?” he asked. Shari hesitated. Was wine a good idea
with Nick in her house?

“Sure.”
She’d just have one glass. She handed Nick a wine opener when she brought the
food over to the table.

“That
looks great, Shari. I didn’t know you could cook.”

“You
don’t know a lot about me, Nick. I actually love to cook and experiment with
new dishes.”

“I
like to experiment as well,” he said suggestively. “Maybe we can experiment
together.”

“Are
you going to be good tonight or not, Nick? Let me know so that I can call a cab
for you now.”

“I’m
always good, Shari.” He leered at her, making her throw her hands up in
despair.

“By
the way, how are you getting back to your hotel? Is the cab coming back for
you?”

“I
brought stuff to spend the night, if that’s OK.”

“Of
course it’s not OK, Nick! Are you out of your mind?”

“Don’t
you have a spare room? I meant that I could sleep in there or on your couch and
maybe tomorrow you could show me around a bit; take me to work with you...”

“Well,
I suppose so. Gerry and the staff would be thrilled to meet you. I hope none of
my neighbors saw you come in.”

“Don’t
worry. I’m sure they know that you’re a good girl and that it’s all perfectly
innocent.”

Shari
fervently hoped that it would remain so. She really should flee from the temptation
that Nick was offering.

The
meal was very enjoyable, with Nick praising it as if it was the finest meal
he’d ever eaten. Shari basked in his praise since Rob had been very stingy with
his.  Granted, she had improved considerably since college days and was no
longer cooking on a college budget. They talked about the concert in Atlanta
and the upcoming one in Washington.

“After
that, it will be just New York and then you’re free. What are you planning to
do, apart from going to your parents’ for the Holidays?”

“I’m
flying home for a week. I need to sleep in my own bed and drive my cars! Then
I’ll drive to my parents’ on Christmas Eve and spend a few days before I fly to
Barbados.”

“You’re
going to Barbados?”

“Yes,
I thought I’d told you. I managed to get the villa I stayed at last time for a
week. So I fly in on the twenty-eighth and leave January fourth.”

“Sounds
like fun.” She hoped she didn’t sound as wistful as she felt.

“I
want you to come with me.”

“Yeah
right I’m going to come to Barbados with you.” It was a very tempting offer.
She would love to see the place that her great grandparents were from and find
out more about the history of the island.

“You’ll
love Barbados. And for the record, I wasn’t inviting you to sleep with me; I
was inviting you to experience it with me. There’re six bedrooms in the villa
and I thought I would invite Steve and Marie and some other couples, maybe Brad
and his wife. I plan to throw a party on New Year’s Eve for a hundred of my
closest friends.”

She
laughed as he had intended.

He
liked this side of Shari; the homemaker, rather than the career woman. Not that
there was anything wrong with her pursuing a career, but she seemed softer and
more relaxed in this setting. He realized that he was also more relaxed than he
could remember in a long time. It was a great feeling; one he wouldn’t mind
getting used to.

“Will
your party have the Who’s Who of celebrities, or at least who isn’t performing
that night? Do you all know each other?”

“Of
course we don’t all know each other, but we still get invited to each other’s
parties. It’s all publicity. Rihanna will be invited and, if she’s home for
Christmas, she’ll probably be there.”

“I
forgot that she was from Barbados. OK, I’ll come, if only to see Rihanna.”

“What?
You’re not coming for me, but you’re coming to see another woman? This is
taking things too far.”

She
laughed at his teasing, liking this side of Nick.

“Actually,
a week in Barbados in a luxury villa sounds wonderful. I’ll come if my boss
agrees to give me the time off. If I finish the documentary early he may be
willing to.”

“We
could drive back from my parents’ to my place and then catch a plane to
Barbados together. I’ll need to get my PA to book flights soon because this is
the peak season. Otherwise we’ll have to charter a jet.”

He
said that as if he was talking about renting a car. How could she have
forgotten how much money he had? Not that he seemed to flaunt it. Except for
his three cars, he seemed to live pretty modestly. No Rolex on his wrist or big
gold chains.  She liked that.

“I’m
getting excited. My mum will be there from December twenty-third to the end of
the month. I know she’d love to meet you if you have the time.”

“Of
course I’ll have the time. Great! It’s agreed then. You can tell your boss that
you’re doing a bit more research for the story.”

“I
wonder if he would buy that.” She got up and started to clear the table. 

“Let
me help you,” Nick insisted, taking the dishes from her over to the sink before
rinsing them and putting them in the dishwasher.

“I’m
amazed that you know how to do that,” Shari said, wiping the table with a
cloth.

“I’d
like to amaze you with some of the other things that I know how to do.” He
barely had time to move out of the way of the dirty cloth that Shari threw at
him.

“That
is a declaration of war,” he said, filling up a glass with water and heading to
where she was taking the mats off the table.

Shari
shrieked, dropped the mats and ran towards the living room, calling over her
shoulder, “Nick Badley, don’t you dare.”

He easily
caught her sweater and pulled her back against him with the cup held
threateningly over her head.

“Let
me go,” she laughed, struggling to get away.

“You
have to pay the price.”

“What’s
the price?” she asked breathlessly.

“A
kiss or two or three…” he murmured, bending his head to kiss her neck. Shari
almost dissolved in a puddle at his feet as he found a particularly sensitive
spot on her neck. Nick leaned around her to put the glass on the coffee table
before turning her, almost in slow motion, giving her time to resist.

“I
always pay my debts,” she assured him, tilting her face up to his. Even as the
words left her mouth she knew that she was inviting trouble. Nick needed no
further invitation. At least she wasn’t working, technically speaking, she
reasoned.