Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) (24 page)

“It’s a long story. We sort of got into a fight.”

“What happened?”

“I slapped her and she jumped me.”

“An actual girl fight,” he murmurs. “Wish I could have been there.”

Natalie rolls her eyes. “It was awful, believe me.”

Anthony hands her phone back. “Who is she? She sounds like a piece of work.”

Natalie tells him briefly about Lena, leaving out the part about how gorgeous she is, figuring he doesn’t need to know that.

“I just signed the divorce papers last week though, so that’s it. In fact, I’m going out on my first date in fourteen years tonight.”

He eats more cake. “Is this part of your try-some-new-things plan?”

Natalie’s eyes widen. She’d forgotten that she’d told him that. Ironically, he’s the only one she’s mentioned it to. She decided not to tell Lindsay and Blair since they’d have her jumping out of airplanes and scuba diving before you could say the word “adventure.”

“Yes,” she admits. “I figured it was time to get out there again. Try to move on.”

“Is that why you colored your hair blonde?”

Her hand immediately goes up to touch her hair. “I guess so. It’s a change.” She’ll never admit to anyone she was copying Lena. They’d have to torture it out of her and even then she doubts she’d admit it.

“I like it. Mostly I like your hair down. I’ve never seen it that way before.”

“I usually wear it pulled back for work.”

“It looks pretty like this.”

Natalie’s hand freezes. There’s an odd quivery sensation in her stomach. Self-conscious, she quickly reaches for her untouched cake. “Thanks,” she murmurs, staring at her plate, trying to catch her breath.

He finishes up the last of his tiramisu. “Have you ever been to a star party?”

She takes a bite of cake, still in a daze over his compliment about her hair. “With actual movie stars?”

Anthony laughs. “It’s a party where astronomers get together with their telescopes to stargaze.”

“No, I’ve never been to anything like that.”

“Would you like to come with me to one this weekend? A friend of mine is having a star party at his house in Monroe.”

Natalie is too stunned to speak. Her pulse skyrockets.
Is Anthony asking me out on a date?
It’s like she’s entered an alternate universe, where the laws of physics have changed and someone like Anthony is attracted to her.

He grins. “It could be another new thing for you to try.”

I should tell him no. It would be a mistake. I can’t go out with him, of all people.

“Okay,” she hears herself say.

“I’ll text you with the details.”

Natalie’s head is spinning. She feels giddy with excitement, though she’s trying not to show it.

Suddenly, there’s a woman’s voice coming from behind her.

“Knock, Knock! Anybody here?”

Anthony’s eyes widen. “Justine?”

Natalie turns in her chair and sees Anthony’s girlfriend. The one she completely forgot existed. Justine with the gold jewelry and the endless giggling is standing before them in living color. Natalie feels as if she’s been slapped in the face.

I am ten thousand kinds of stupid.

Justine sweeps into the room, her rich perfume overpowering the small space, and Natalie can’t help but notice that Justine is gorgeous. And to quote Lindsay, she has quite a rack, though Justine’s rack is on a skinny body.
As opposed to mine.

“
What are you doing here?” Anthony asks her.

Justine giggles. “I came to see you, of course!” She suddenly notices Natalie sitting there. At first there’s confusion, but then her expression clears and her brown eyes narrow. “It’s you again.”

Natalie gets up hastily. “I was just leaving. I need to get back to work.” Embarrassed, she realizes she’s still in her stocking feet and has to put her devil boots back on.

“I came by to see if you’d like to get some dinner,” Justine tells Anthony. “I made reservations for us downtown.”

Anthony’s jaw tightens and he looks annoyed. “I don’t know why you did that.”

“Because you have to eat, silly!” she giggles.

Natalie finishes with her boots and stands. Her coat is draped over the back of the chair and she grabs it along with her purse. “I should go now and leave you two. I didn’t mean to take up so much of your time!”

Justine wears a smug smile, but Anthony looks pissed.

“Don’t go—”

“I need to get back to work anyway,” Natalie says quickly as she heads for the door. “I’m glad you liked the tiramisu.”

“I’ll get in touch about this weekend,” Anthony calls after her, but she ignores him.

I’m so stupid,
is all she can think walking down the hall away from his office.
And I’m throwing these boots in the garbage.

“What do you want, Justine?” Anthony says, annoyed. “I thought I made it clear that we are not dating. I’m not interested.”

Justine moves closer. “I know, but I was in the area and thought I’d drop by and see if we could get a bite to eat.”

“Right, and you happened to make dinner reservations?”

She sits down on the corner of his desk near him. Her coat parts and he can see she’s wearing a miniskirt beneath it. There’s a lot of tan skin showing between the top of her boots and the bottom of her skirt. “Don’t be like that.” She catches him gazing at her legs and leans closer, pouting. “I think we’d be good together. You should give it a chance.”

Anthony looks into her perfectly made-up face. He used to date women like Justine. They know all the right moves, all the right things to say to get a man’s attention.

But he’s done with that and has been for a while now.

“It’s just dinner, Anthony.” She tilts her head and smiles with very white teeth. “I really like you.” She giggles.

“I understand, and I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but like I said, I’m not interested.” He already regrets meeting her for coffee at La Dolce Vita. Clearly that was a mistake, because now he can’t shake her loose.

“I don’t believe that.” She gives him a sexy smile.

“Believe it. In fact, I’d like you to leave now. I’m busy.”

“Come on, Anthony.” She’s still smiling, but then something occurs to her and Justine’s lips turn down with displeasure. “Is there . . . someone else?”

Anthony is about to tell her no, but then gets a sudden inspiration. “Yeah, there is actually.”

“Who?”

“You just met her.”

“
Her?
” Justine takes this in and gets a bitchy expression on her face. “That baker? You can’t be serious.”

“Why not?”

“Because she’s . . . fat.”

Anthony raises his eyebrows and then chuckles. “I wouldn’t describe her that way.”

Natalie flashes through his mind. It was a shock seeing her after class. He had no idea that’s what she looked like without those baggy black clothes. She’s a knockout. It was alarming to discover he’d been so wrong. He’s seldom wrong about anything, especially women. She isn’t a plain matron type at all, but more like an old fashioned pin-up girl. She seems unaware of it, too. The way those guys were checking her out after class, and how she’d smiled so innocently, she didn’t know what they were thinking, but Anthony knew. And he didn’t like it.

“She’s chunky,” Justine says, pouting.

Anthony suddenly has a vision of Natalie sprawled across his sheets. Nothing but lush curves, full breasts, and a plump ass. And that sexy mouth. She’d be a handful in every way.

Damn.

But then he comes to his senses.

I can’t get involved with Natalie.

There are too many reasons to name. She’s extremely stubborn and he suspects she still thinks he’s a dick despite all her endless apologies. Plus she’s newly divorced. And finally, she’s his unhappy tenant.

I don’t want to go there.

He realizes he asked her to that star party without thinking it through.

“Are we still going out to eat?” Justine asks, as if dinner had been his idea. “Because we’re going to be late for our reservation.”

“No, we’re not. And I’ve still got papers to grade, so it would be good if you left now.” He stares pointedly toward the door. He doesn’t want to be an asshole, but with some women that’s what it takes.

She stands up. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”

“I’ll take that chance.”

“HOW WAS YOUR
date last night?” Anthony glances around the bakery’s busy back kitchen. The smell of fresh pastries is making him hungry.

Natalie turns to him in surprise. She’s standing in front of a mixing bowl that’s as big as a bathtub while a huge paddle mixes chocolate batter.

There’s flour dusted in her hair and chocolate smeared on her cheek. She’s sweaty and disheveled, but Anthony’s first thought is that he wouldn’t mind seeing her sweaty and disheveled more often. Sweaty and disheveled in his bed would be a good start.

Dude, get a grip. When did you become this attracted to Natalie?
Seeing her after class yesterday has been causing all sorts of thoughts to go through his head. And, yeah, most of them involve Natalie sweaty and disheveled.

She pouts.

Anthony feels his groin tighten.
That mouth.

“It was great!” Natalie says too quickly. “I had a great time!”

He can tell she’s lying, but feels a peculiar twinge of jealousy anyway. “Good for you. Another new experience under your belt.”

She’s watching the mixing bowl, but shoots him a dark look. After a few seconds she reaches over to turn the machine off. It’s clear she’s annoyed with him about something, but he has no idea what.

He smirks. “Whatever it is, I swear I’m innocent.”

“What do you mean?”

Anthony shakes his head, chuckling to himself. “Forget it. I came in to get the numbers from you and to talk to you about that star party. Why don’t you come out front when you’re ready?” He leaves the kitchen and makes his way out to the front counter to get in line for coffee. Two of the women in line are smiling at him, but he pretends not to notice. Instead, he gets out his phone and studies his email.

He orders his usual espresso breve and takes a seat by the window. As soon as he sits down his phone starts playing the
Star Wars
theme song. A glance tells him it’s Graham.

“Hey brah, what’s up?”

“Just thought you should know I got some interest in the space next to the bakery.”

Anthony glances around. He’s not sure if he wants to have this conversation right here.

“They want to come by and see the space,” Graham continues. “What should I tell them?”

Anthony quickly runs through possible scenarios in his mind. He knows Blair and Natalie aren’t turning enough business away to warrant leasing them that space. At this point he’s certain they’d overextend themselves.

“When do they want to see it?”

“Tonight.”

He thinks it over. Serena’s school tuition is due next month, and he promised Nicole he’d take care of the entire amount. “Okay, tell them that’s fine. Don’t have them sign anything yet though. Let’s make sure their financing is solid. Also, how do they plan to use the space?”

“Clothing boutique.”

“Okay. Let me know what happens.”

Anthony hangs up. He doesn’t want to screw Natalie and Blair over, but at the same time that space has been empty for months and he needs to find a tenant who can afford to pay.