Just Good Friends (5 page)

“It’d work for you. It’s OK on blondes. But I’d look like an
Italian grandmother. Short, dark, and dumpy.”

“You look great as you are,” Hannah assured her, admiring
Kate’s simple tomato-red sheath dress, worn with her usual high heels. “You’ll
stand out.”

“Wonderful,” Kate answered glumly. “I was going for just a
bit sexy. Instead, I feel like I’m wearing leopard-print pants. I’m not going
to quit wearing bright colors, though. I’ll just have to resign myself to being
a freak. Oh well. Time to circulate. Good thing I’ve met a few people by now.”

A bit late, Koti thought guiltily as he pulled up to the
house. Hopefully Hannah would forgive him. But he’d been chatting to a girl
he’d met on the beach, and time had slipped away. He had her mobile number now,
anyway. Maybe he’d ring her later tonight, see if she fancied a drink. Or him.

Or maybe not, he thought as he entered the lounge and saw a
very nice little body in a red dress. She had her back turned, chatting with Reka
and Hemi and a few of the other guests. Nobody’s girlfriend, unless she was
new. He’d check it out, anyway.

He sauntered over and greeted the group. His hopes plummeted
when the brunette turned and he saw it was Kate. He should have recognized that
shining fall of dark hair, not to mention the figure. No surprise, she was
frowning at him.

“How ya goin’, Kate. In a good mood as usual, I see. Ready
to warn me off yet, or should I go away and come back?”

“Hannah says I should apologize. Again.” Kate stepped away
from the others. “Sorry for accusing you of following me. I guess I should
explain why I did that.”
            “It’d be good to know. Unless you’re this stroppy all the time.”

“We do rub each other the wrong way,” she conceded. “But
that’s not all it is. Someone was stalking me, back home. That’s why I’m here. And
it’s why I’m jumpy, too. I realize now that I overreacted. Sorry I accused you.
That wasn’t really fair.”

“No, it wasn’t. But I thought that kind of thing only
happened to celebrities.”

“Unfortunately, no. You’d be surprised how much it happens.
And how little you can do about it.”

“So who was it?” Koti pressed. “Somebody who was overwhelmed
by your fetching personality?”

“OK, forget this.” Kate turned to leave.

“Sorry. Out of line again,” he told her hastily. “I want to
know. Tell me.”

She turned reluctantly back to him, eyes still stormy. “It
wasn’t a joke. I’m trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here because
Hannah and Reka swear you’re a nice guy. But I have to tell you, from what I’ve
seen, I’m having a hard time believing it. I keep hearing how much women love
you. All I can say is, New Zealand women must not be that discriminating. Do
you actually get a lot of dates with that charming attitude?”

“I don’t know what it is,” he apologized. “You bring out the
worst in me. I usually do much better. Sorry.”

“I guess I’d have to see your seductive mode again. Obviously,
you don’t know how to talk to women any other way.”

“That’s not fair,” he objected. “You’ve seen me being nice
to Hannah, haven’t you? And I’m nice to Reka too, you’ll see. Because they’re friends.
Trust me, I’m not being seductive there. Value my life too much, don’t I.”

“They’re friends,” Kate said flatly. “Right. I’d be willing
to bet that you haven’t had a woman friend in your life. And wives of your
teammates don’t count,” she cut him off. “A real friend who’s a woman. Name
one.”

“Well?” she pressed.

“I’m thinking,” he protested. “Right, then. My cousins.”

“Nope.” She shook her head. “No relatives.”

“That’s the women I know, though. My whanau.”

“Your what?”

“My family. Extended family. Those are the girls I grew up
with, that I know.”

“But you don’t date any of them, do you? They’re off-limits,
I’ll bet.”

“Maybe. Some of them,” he conceded. “But that doesn’t mean I
couldn’t be friends with a woman, just because I haven’t done it much.”

“Yes, it does,” she insisted. “You only know how to deal
with women if they’re attached to a man you know, or related to you, or if
you’re trying to go to bed with them. You obviously don’t have a clue outside
of that. You couldn’t be friends with a woman for two weeks without making a
move on her.”

“Course I could. Easy as. I’d make a bet that I could.”

“Right,” she scoffed. “How would we judge that? Have one of
your lady friends tell me you’ve been a great friend to her? That you always
give her a ride home in the morning?”

“You really don’t think much of me, do you?” His temper was
flaring now too.

She shrugged. “I’m calling it as I see it. And as I hear it.
You’re not exactly discreet.”

“Whatever that means. For somebody who doesn’t like me, you’re
pretty interested in my life, aren’t you? But I’m going to show you you’re
wrong. I’ll make that bet with you. I’ll be your friend for a month. No, for
six weeks. That’s as good a test as I can think of. If I can be friends with
you, reckon I can do it with any woman. We’ll spend some time together. And you
can see for yourself.”

“You’re willing to bet you can do that, for six weeks. Without
making any moves,” Kate said dubiously.

“No worries. Make my living with my hands, don’t I. Not
going to risk getting them bitten off. No rabies in New Zealand, but you may
just be the one to introduce it.”

“Well, this is off to a great start,” she observed. “But
I’ll take that bet. That you can’t do six weeks of friendship. What are the
stakes?”

“If I win, you give me a big kiss in the office, in front of
all the staff. And tell me how wonderful I am.”

“Right. That’s happening. But since I know you won’t win,
I’m not worrying. And if I win, which I am counting on, by the way . . . Let me
think.”

“I know,” she decided. “
When
I win, you wear a pink
hoodie. All day, except when you’re actually practicing.”

He winced. “That’d be dead embarrassing. Reckon I’d better
win.”

“And I win if you stop spending friend time with me, too,”
she clarified. “Which I predict you’ll want to do pretty soon. Because it’ll be
sooooo boring for you. And we have to do something together . . . at least once
a week. That shouldn’t be too hard, as close as we live.”

“Deal,” he confirmed, putting out his hand. “And shaking
hands doesn’t count. Has to be a real move. Which isn’t happening, trust me.”

His big, firm hand enveloped Kate’s as he stood over her. She
pulled herself to her full five-foot-almost-two and demanded, in an imperious
tone he couldn’t help finding funny, “All right. You’re on. What’s our first
friend date?”

“Uh, I don’t know,” he cast about. “Swimming, I reckon.”

“You like to swim?” she asked in surprise.

“I’m a Kiwi. Course I like to swim. Next Sunday morning at
nine, at Takapuna, then. And we’ll have a coffee afterwards, at the café on the
beach there. That should give you heaps of time to tell me what you think of
me. That suit you?”

“OK,” she agreed. “I’ll meet you at nine, on the main steps.”

“I’m so glad to see you two talking,” Hannah said as she
came up beside them. “I know you got off to a rocky start, but I do hope you
can be friends.”

“No worries,” Koti grinned. “We’re working on that.”

Kate shifted her position on the steps. Looked around her
again, then checked her watch. Nine-ten. It was starting to look like Koti was
going to stand her up, the first time out of the chute. Well, this looked like
the easiest bet she’d ever collected on. Five more minutes, she decided. That
was all she was giving him.

At nine-fifteen, she gave it up and marched to the water’s
edge, annoyed with herself for waiting so long. The swim took the edge off her
irritation. She’d only wasted fifteen minutes of her day. And she wouldn’t have
been this relaxed if he’d been with her. After she’d made the bet, she’d
wondered what she had been thinking. Why would she want to spend time with him?
He had got under her skin, that was all. Well, missing out on his company
wasn’t any sacrifice. She’d be her own date today. She’d take herself out for a
coffee afterwards, too. 

When she was settled at a table in the beachside café with
her raspberry muffin and cappuccino, she was startled to hear her phone ring.
She dug through her bag and found it at last. It was Hannah, of course. Only
five people had this number, and two of them were her parents, she reminded
herself.

“Hi, Kate. I just got a really strange phone call from Koti
James,” her friend told her. “I didn’t realize you were going out with him.”

“I’m not. I
was
supposed to be swimming with him this
morning, but he didn’t show. No loss.”

“Well, he wants to talk to you. He called me to get your
number. I didn’t give it to him, of course, but I got his, if you want to call
him back.”

“No, thanks,” Kate decided. “I’m really not interested.
Let’s just say I’m still less than impressed by him. Sorry you were disturbed
on your Sunday, though.”

She pressed the
End
button. Looked down at her phone.
She had to stop jumping every time she heard it ring, the chime of a text.

Can’t wait to watch you die.

She was here. She was safe. That was over. Deliberately, she
put the phone away. Got a fashion magazine from the rack. Sat with her coffee
and her muffin and looked at clothes she couldn’t afford. She’d had a great
swim, it was a beautiful day, and she was on her own. Nobody to look out for.
No company at all. Frightening, annoying, or otherwise.

She put the incident out of her mind over the next few days.
There was so much to learn in the new job, she didn’t have time or energy to
waste in obsessing about some prima donna with a deficient sense of time. Even
her fears were receding as she became more and more engrossed in her work. She
was at her desk on Tuesday afternoon, immersed in tracking a particularly
knotty publicity expense trail, when she was annoyed to be interrupted by the
sound of a male voice.

“Uh, Kate. Can I talk to you a second?”

She looked up with a frown. Set down the paperwork she had been
studying and cast a disillusioned eye over Koti. His hoodie today was navy
blue. He really did have a limited wardrobe.

“Oh. You,” she said without enthusiasm. “I’m pretty busy
here. If you came to tell me you lost the bet, I already figured that out.”

“I tried to get in touch with you,” he said with
exasperation. “Sorry I was late. But I did try to ring. Didn’t have your mobile
number though, and Hannah wouldn’t give it to me. Didn’t she give you the
message? I expected you to ring me back. To text me, at least.”

“Oh, she gave me the message. But I wasn’t interested. I’d
already had my swim, and my coffee too. Let’s just say you were surplus to
requirements by the time I heard from her.”

“You should have given me the chance to explain, though,” he
protested.

“OK. Explain now. Somehow, I’m guessing you weren’t in a car
accident, or held hostage by terrorists. But let’s hear it.”

“I was tied up,” he began, a bit shamefaced. “Lost track of
the time. Forgot, if you want to know the truth, until ten or so. But as soon
as I remembered, I tried to get in touch.”

“Tied up,” she mused. “Let me guess. You were . . . busy.
Getting
busy. Which seemed, hmm, just a
bit
more inviting at the time than a
swim date with some bitchy girl who doesn’t even like you.”

“Could be.” He tried his best charming grin. “But now that I’ve
seen you again, I’m wondering what I was thinking. Especially since it
was
a
swim date. Sweet as, with you. What d’you reckon? Want to try again, this
weekend?”

“Wow, that’s enticing. Let me think about it. Mmm . . . no. You
lose.” She picked up her pencil, tapped it impatiently against the desk.
“Tomorrow work for you, pink hoodie-wise?”

He flushed angrily. “Why are you being so snotty about this?
I’ve apologized. What more do you want?”

“An apology doesn’t make bad behavior go away. Didn’t
anybody ever explain that to you? How hard is that, to say you’re sorry? You
think you can flash that smile, give me a come-hither look out of those big bedroom
eyes, and that’s it? All’s forgiven, and you get a free pass?”

Koti turned at the sound of Corinne’s half-muffled laugh at
the next desk. “Didn’t realize this was public.”

“Sorry,” Corinne said with a grin. “But I’d say that’s spot
on. Does my heart good to hear it, too. Good on ya, Kate.”

Koti set his jaw. “I’m not ready to chuck it in. Let’s start
over. We’ll make it two months. Starting next weekend. And if I stuff up once
more like this, you win, no arguments. That do you?”

“All right,” Kate agreed reluctantly. “But only because I’m
critically short of entertainment right now. And I like the idea of raking you
over the coals again next time.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Kate muttered the following
Saturday afternoon as she descended the broad steps to Takapuna Beach. There
was Koti at the foot of the stairs, his usual hoodie having failed to preserve
his anonymity, having his picture taken with two young women.

“Should I go away and come back later?” she drawled as she
approached the group, just as one of the excited women switched places with the
photographer to allow yet another picture to be taken.

“Last one, girls,” Koti told them with a smile. “Got to go.”

Kate rolled her eyes as they walked across the broad beach
toward the water’s edge. “That’s quite a fan club you’ve got there. Must be nice.”

“You think so?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t enjoy that. You sure seem to.”

“Comes with the territory,” he shrugged. “That doesn’t mean
I always enjoy it.”

“Good spot here?” he turned to ask her as they neared the
high-tide mark. “Want to swim to the point there, and back?” At her nod, he
kicked off his flip-flops and pulled his hoodie and shirt over his head,
dropping them with his towel onto the beach.