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He closed the distance between us, and his answering smile held a hint of challenge. “Unless you’d like for us to be more.”
My cheeks flamed anew. I put my hands to them and laughed. He laughed too.
“I take it that’s a yes to the possibility of being more than friends?”
I lowered my hands, and my heart beat faster. I forced myself to act cooler than I felt. “It’s a maybe. Maybe we should go to lunch together first.”
He winced. “Oooh, sorry.” He glanced at his watch. It was the same Patek Philippe model he’d been wearing in the window. Did the store let him keep all the stuff he modeled? That might turn out to be a very profitable gig. Did he ever get to model jet skis? I loved jet skis. “I can’t make it for lunch today. I have other plans, unfortunately. Tomorrow?”
The acrobats in my stomach turned handsprings. “Tomorrow’s perfect.”
“Great.” He smiled, and the amber flecks in his brown eyes warmed. “Do you want to meet me back here at noon tomorrow?”
“Absolutely. That’s perfect.” Sunshine brightened me up from the inside, and my body swayed toward him. I was halfway to a swoon. I stood up straight and told myself to chill. I didn’t want to scare him off with frenzied enthusiasm. He probably got that from fans all the time. Besides, the man had plans. “See you then!” I took two steps but thought better of it and turned around to grasp his hand in a deal-making handshake. He laughed and I smoothed my other hand over the spot where I’d pinched him.
“Sorry about that. Again.”
“No problem.” His voice was gruff and low. Chemistry sizzled between us. Did he feel it too?
“I promise to be less pinchy at lunch tomorrow.”
“Oh, don’t disappoint me.” He smiled so big he showed dimples on both cheeks.
My heart thumped harder, and my palm in his began to sweat. “Disappointing you is probably pretty likely. Though I can deliver more on the pinching.”
He shook his head, laughing. “See you then.”
I gave his hand one last squeeze. He squeezed me back, and a thrill ran through me all the way up my arm. I stumbled for the door. I had a date. For lunch tomorrow.
And four days to get him to agree to accompany me to my sister’s wedding on Saturday.
It looked like the N.Y.C. might make good on its IOU.
Chapter Two
Ireturned to the hotel to find Lindsay lying in wait. She physically pounced on me from behind a potted plant in the lobby.
“Margot! There you are! This is Janet, Troy’s sister—my almost sister-in-law—the one I’ve told you so much about.” She glanced beside her and, seeing that no one was there, turned and gestured to the potted plant. A woman a few years older than us with a dour expression and medium-length dark brown hair that hung limp on the sides of her face slunk out into the open. She didn’t have pigtails, but I still got a slight Wednesday Addams impression from her.
Lindsay beamed from me to Janet and back again. “Well, have fun, you crazy kids!” And with that she sprinted from the lobby. It was the fastest I’d ever seen my sister move.
I sighed and with no words but a resigned exchange of glances on both our parts, Janet and I left the hotel and set out in the direction of the subway station.
Although Janet was dressed completely in black—also much like Wednesday Addams—I didn’t think she’d be able to actually pass as a New Yorker. She was garnering way too much attention. We hadn’t yet gone a full city block when I noticed that Janet was on the receiving end of a number of odd looks from pedestrians streaming past us. I almost stumbled into a man carrying a briefcase who’d stopped short to stare after her. I jogged a few steps until I was level with her.
“What are you doing that’s—” I cut myself off midsentence. Janet had such a hideous scowl on her face that I did a double take.
“What?” she asked, standing still in the foot traffic with her arms folded and staring at me as if I was the problem.
“People are staring at you.”
“So?”
“So they’re stopping to look at you because of the face you’re making. You just look so mean.”
She blinked at me, once, slowly. “Not possible.”
“What do you mean?”
