Page 48 of Too Good to Be True

Kelsey handed her a beer, and then the intercom buzzed again.

“I’ll go get it,” Kelsey said and hurried out of the room.

Stacy knew her friend had left them alone on purpose, but she wasn’t upset about it. How could she be? She had a cold drink in her hand and a handsome man beside her. Life was good.

“Sorry I was late,” he said as he popped the top on his beer. “Fran asked me to help her move some furniture right as I was getting ready to leave.”

She laughed. “Big Friday night for Fran, huh?”

He chuckled. “Yeah. She bought an antique hutch last weekend when I was with you. It got delivered today, and my uncle wasn’t around to help.”

The reference to last weekend made her flinch. It wasn’t the first time she’d wondered if Fran knew they’d been together.

“Aren’t you going to open that?” he asked, pointing to her beer.

She’d almost forgotten she was holding it, and now her fingers were damp and cold. She popped the top and took a long swallow while Nick watched. He seemed extra attentive tonight, unless she was just imagining it. He’d come here to make some new friends, yet so far, he hadn’t left her side.

Then she realized Kelsey hadn’t returned to the kitchen, and more voices were drifting in from the living room. It was like she and Nick had been lost in their own private world.

“Maybe we should go out and join the others,” he said as if he’d read her mind.

Mind-reading. Now there’s a scary thought. If he only knew what had been going through her mind lately…

“After you,” she said. This time, she’d be able to peruse him, and that, she did.

Tonight he was wearing dark wash jeans that fit his body to a tee, a short-sleeved polo shirt, and shoes that looked like a cross between sneakers and hiking boots. She admired his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and firm, round butt, which she should not have been ogling, especially as they reentered the living room.

Where had all these people come from? She glanced around and saw Kelsey and Hudson huddled together in the corner. Two other women had shown up, and they both appeared to be with dates. Everyone was either paired up or in groups, and Stacy suddenly felt out of place.

“Hey, you two, have a seat. We were just talking sports,” said Jared. The only available place to sit was next to him on one of the love seats.

“Go ahead and sit down,” Nick said to Stacy.

“We can all fit,” Jared said and scooted over as far as he could to one side.

Stacy sat in the middle, and Nick squeezed in beside her. She considered herself average-sized, but right then, she wished she were smaller. The three of them took up every inch of available space, and she found herself crammed next to Nick, their bodies touching from hips to knees.

Of course, she was also next to Jared, but she didn’t feel the same sizzle on that side. Since she wasn’t a big sports fan, she listened and sipped her beer while Nick talked baseball with the guys. Normally, she would have found the conversation incredibly boring, but she could have sat and listened to his voice all night long.

She loved the cadence of it. His voice was smooth and easy, just like coffee on a Sunday morning. It also described how she was beginning to feel as the beer took effect. She’d helped Kelsey put out the snacks, yet she hadn’t eaten anything. She’d been too enamored by her hunky coworker to think about food. She’d eaten dinner before she’d come over, so it wasn’t like she was starving. Still, the alcohol seemed especially potent tonight.

While the men were talking, Nick became more animated, and his leg pressed into hers. She’d started anticipating those moments and had leaned closer to him than Jared.

After some indeterminable amount of time, Nick nudged her arm. “I’m going to get another beer. Want one?”

She shook her can and realized it was almost empty. Tipping her head back, she swallowed the remainder and then held out the empty can. “Sure.”

When he took it from her, their fingertips brushed. Then she made the mistake of looking directly into his eyes, and she felt his warmth wash over her.

“Be right back,” he said, smiling sweetly.

She purposely averted her eyes when he walked away, lest she get caught looking. Instead, she glanced at Jared, who’d gone quiet while talk continued to buzz around them.

“So. Are you and Nick…?”

“What? No!”

A few heads turned her way.