Nick faltered for only a moment, before regaining his perfect composure.
“I’m glad you asked. The thing that’s professional about this, is the price.” He lifted his chin proudly. “It’s a little over a hundred dollars. Bringing us closer and closer to our goal.”
There was a burst of laughter from the front of the store, and I shot a furious glare over my shoulder before turning that glare back to him.
“A hundred dollars?” I stepped forward, hand outstretched. “Let me see.”
In one fluid motion, he ripped off the tag and stuffed it into his pocket. If I’d really pressed him, I’m sure he would have swallowed the damn thing.
“Sorry,” he said dryly. “Reflex. Guess you’ll just have to trust me.”
To trust him.
I took a step back, and for a moment, everything paused.
“What are you doing?”
Over the last ten minutes, I’d asked the question a million times. But this time, it came out completely different. No banter. No games. We were talking about thousands of dollars here. It didn’t matter if that was pocket change to him, it was still a hell of a lot of money. The kind of money that shouldn’t be spent on employees, no matter how good of friends they might be.
Nick’s playful smile vanished for a moment, replaced with something almost shy.
Shy. From a man who didn’t know the definition of the word.
This, more than anything else, stopped me dead in my tracks.
“Just...let me.”
There was no entrapping debate this time. No tricks or champagne. Just a simple request.
Let me.
Chapter 10
WE
STARED AT EACH OTHER for a long moment, gazing appraisingly into each other’s eyes. It was a look we had shared countless times before. Times when we were measuring each other’s opposition to an idea. Measuring each other’s intoxication. Measuring each other’s willingness to participate in either a PR venture, or a whimsical, hair-brained scheme.
It had never been quite like this. Truth be told, it had never even come close. But no matter his intentions now, the age-old question remained: When had I ever refused him?
“Alright, but that’s enough.”
He thrilled, then hesitated. Wedging his bets. Probably thinking about the word compromise for the first time in his life. Weighing its merits.
He clearly didn’t like it.
“Abby, we are friends, are we not?”
I studied him cautiously as some of the previous tension began to melt away. There was a little dimple forming in the corner of his cheeks, and those twinkling eyes worked even better than the booze. The accent was a lilting as ever.
“Yes...we’re friends.”
He nodded seriously, then held up the things he’d collected.
“Well as your friend, I cannot allow you to walk outside like this.” He glanced over each of them in turn. “In nothing but a garter, a purse, and some shoes? How could I?”
I dropped my head with an exasperated smile, covering my face in my hands.
“Nick—”