Seven Night Stand (9 page)

Chapter Nine

When Nate arrived at the Addington Hotel, he’d practiced his good-bye speech a million times in his head. It was something new for him. He didn’t usually do the good-bye-ing. Although, hadn’t Vivvy leaving Harrington this afternoon been her good-bye?

This was to tie up loose ends. This was just business. She’d made that perfectly clear.

He stepped into the lobby of the hotel and walked into the bar. What the hell was he doing? Vivvy sat at one of the stools. Her computer was on the bar, an almost empty glass of wine next to her.

Because he was an idiot, his heart kicked hard against his ribs. But this wasn’t about heart, it was about business. And his business was not doing her show.

“Vivvy.”

She looked up from her computer and her mouth curved into the most cursory of smiles. Her eyes didn’t meet his. Instead, she gestured to the seat next to her. “Please have a seat.”

“I’m not sure there’s much point to this meeting. I’m not doing your show. Nothing has changed my mind.”

“This will.” This time her eyes met his, and he saw that determination he’d recognized in her on that first day.

He took a seat because trying to argue with her and stand required way too much energy. “Vivvy—”

“I have an idea.”

“I’m not interested in any ideas. The bottom line is I don’t want my family on TV, and I’d think after seeing them you’d understand why I can’t possibly change my mind on that.”

“What if they weren’t a part of it?”

It didn’t compute. Not one word. “Excuse me?”

“What if your parents, your grandfather, weren’t a part of the show? I know I mentioned Ryan being involved, but what if the show was just you and Ryan and planes? No one else.” She said it carefully, as if she were laying it out for a kindergartner, but he was too confused and surprised to be offended.

“I don’t get it.”

“My idea,” she replied, folding her hands in her lap. “You and Ryan fix up celebrity planes. There are a lot of hooks there. Celebrities, obviously. You and Ryan are good-looking. We’ll get a small aviation contingent. Since your father is unreliable and seems like a small part of your operation, it’s easy to rule him out. Your mother only works part-time, and as I mentioned before, no one wants to exploit Millard’s illness. It seems easy enough to change the focus of the show from family to celebrity.”

She gestured to the bartender for a refill. For the first time Nate noticed the faintest hint of nerves on her. The lack of eye contact, a not-quite-steady hand on the glass.

“Think about it,” she said. “Talk to Ryan.”

Nate tried to make sense of it. A show that would be just him and Ryan. It would mean diversifying the way he’d been wanting to do. It would mean exposure for Harrington without advertising its less-than-stellar elements.

It could mean something really good. The businessman in him held onto the idea, turned it over and over in his mind. Without the risks, this could be all about reward. But… “Ryan’s a lawyer. He doesn’t even live here.”

“We could work around his schedule.”

“Vivvy—”

“I just wanted to tell you in person without anyone overhearing, to give you time to think about it. I’ll be back at Harrington tomorrow, but...I moved my flight up.” She took her newly filled glass and took a long drink. “I’ll be leaving Saturday morning. So, tomorrow will be my last day.” When she set the glass down, she kept her gaze on it, twisting her fingers around the stem.

“Are you saying I need to decide by tomorrow?”

“I’m saying I need you to decide as soon as possible. I have a meeting with my bosses Monday morning, and I’ll need your go-ahead to pitch this new idea. I can’t pitch a show about Harrington without a Harrington agreeing to it. I think it would be best if that Harrington was you. I need your cooperation.”

Nate frowned at the hint of desperation in her voice. If there was one thing he’d never associated with Vivvy it was desperation or any kind of weakness. Especially when it came to her job.

“So, think it over. Discuss it with Ryan. If you have any questions I can address them to the best of my ability tomorrow.”

“And that’s...it?” Yes, that was it. Why was he asking? To sound like a moron? A pathetic one at that.

She frowned at her glass, kept twisting it around. “What else would there be?”

“Right.” Nate refused to acknowledge the little stab of hurt. What did he expect? He’d known this was the eventual outcome. If his heart somehow got tangled into it, that was his own damn fault. “Wouldn’t want to have a discussion about feelings, now would we?”

“Nate,” she said on a sigh. “We can’t...do this anymore.” She looked up at him through her lashes. “We both know that.”

Nate expelled a breath. She was right. So why couldn’t he accept that? Nate studied her profile—she actually looked a little sad. It soothed his bruised ego.

“It was fun,” she said with a nod. “A lot of fun. We both knew it would end. I’m just upping the expiration date a few days.”

“Yeah. About that. Why?”

She blinked, and still refused to look at him. He was a glutton for punishment, because he reached out and covered her hand with his. She looked at their hands and didn’t pull hers away.

Well, that was something.

Nate scooted his stool closer, so that his leg was pressed against hers. “It could just be a good-bye.” Since she didn’t back away or refute his words, he leaned closer. “What could be the harm in good-bye?”

This time she did look at him. He didn’t see her usual confidence or ease. Instead he saw an expression he couldn’t read, and maybe it was best if he didn’t. So, instead of trying to read it, he pressed his mouth to hers.

She kissed him back, a silent agreement. They might not be talking about feelings, yet, but he knew this was no good-bye.

…

“Are you okay?”

Vivvy pulled the covers to her chin. Somehow everything she’d set out to do tonight had unraveled with one kiss from Nate. Now instead of business and business only, she’d ended up in bed with him.

Was she okay? Sure. If okay meant she couldn’t even get good-bye sex right. Nothing about being in bed with him, his arms around her, was okay. It was perfect. Which was a disaster of complication she couldn’t wrap her mind, or her heart, around.

Vivvy cleared her throat, realizing she needed to answer. “Yes. I’m okay.” He was probably thinking about this afternoon, and Vivvy felt a strange warm feeling in her cheeks. Was she blushing? She never blushed.

His fingers trailed through her hair. “Why are your eyes closed?”

Vivvy swallowed, worked on the courage to open them. When she did, she kept them focused on his mouth. If she looked in his eyes, she might say something foolish. Like whatever she was feeling scared her to death.

“Just...” No lie came out.

“Look at me, Vivvy.”

“I am looking at you,” she replied, frowning at his mouth. Why did she need to look him in the eyes? So he could see all the confusion and fear there? No, thank you.

Nate sighed, his breath fluttering her hair. “You never talk about how you feel, do you? Everything is about what you want or don’t want. Vivvy, don’t you feel anything?”

“No.” She hadn’t let herself. Until Nate.

“That’s bullshit.”

Vivvy tried to wiggle away, but Nate held firm. His mouth had turned to an irritated hard line, and for the first time she lifted her eyes to his. With anger behind her, she could fight the lure of those green depths. “Let me go.”

He held on tighter. “Tell me I’m not crazy in being scared shitless by what’s happening between us.”

His words froze her and she no longer tried to escape. “You’re scared?”

“Are you kidding? Four days and I feel more strongly about you than I’ve ever felt about any woman. That’s scary. Everything about this—about us—is nuts, and here I am in bed with you again. Already thinking about being in bed with you again...and again.”

She blinked. She’d been so sure she’d been alone in her feelings. So sure her feelings were strange, would be ridiculed. But… He was admitting to the same things. So easily.

He released her. “And I see I am officially nuts. I’ll be go—”

He started to roll off the bed, but she grabbed his arm. “No! Don’t.” He looked back, his expression miserable and embarrassed. He’d seen her fall apart that afternoon and he was embarrassed? “I’m scared too,” she said on a quick exhale. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.” Oh, God, she’d said it. Expressed it. Now it was out there.

“You never show it.”

“What the hell do you think this afternoon was?” she demanded, not releasing her tight grip on his arm. She couldn’t let go, not now that she’d admitted something real.

“You said it was claustrophobia.”

“You’re no idiot.” Looking him in the eyes wasn’t hard now, knowing he had some of the same fears as her. “Everything about this is overwhelming. New. I’ve never…” Vivvy struggled for words to express it.

His family may be nuts, but they expressed their feelings without filter. He had the same knack for that. She’d spent so long fighting any impulse to share or express, she felt as if she were in the middle of an ocean on a boat without knowing how to get to shore.

“It’s scary,” Vivvy finally said. Saying it, knowing it wouldn’t be met with a negative reaction, knowing he’d return her feelings with his own, wasn’t so hard.

His hands were on her again, rubbing up and down her bare arms. “What are we going to do about it?”

He seemed as much at a loss as she, and in a weird way that was comforting, too. “I have no idea.”

A knock sounded at the door, and Vivvy frowned. “Must be the wrong room.”

Nate’s face hardened as if he knew who was on the other side of that door. “Or…”

“Ms. Marsh?” The voice was muffled, but the knocking continued.

Nate pulled away from her in a quick, jerky motion. “Son of a bitch didn’t listen to me.”

Nate was out of the bed before Vivvy had time to process it all, but she quickly scurried behind him. He pulled on his clothes with a fierceness she didn’t understand.

He was downright furious. Over what she couldn’t pin down, but anger wouldn’t be the appropriate response here.

“How did he find me?”

“Privacy isn’t quite as respected here as it is in California.” Nate spoke through gritted teeth. “And you stick out. It’s not too hard to track you down.” He jammed a leg into his jeans, then another. “I can’t believe that rotten son of a bitch—”

“Nate, calm down.”

“I told him to stay away. I told him to go home. I told him I was handling this.” Nate laughed bitterly. “Why on earth did I think he’d listen to me? I must be losing my damned mind.”

Vivvy found her underwear and shimmied into it. “Well, he didn’t listen to you, but I don’t think you charging to the door like some kind of pissed-off grizzly bear is really the best answer here.”

“What do you suggest?” he demanded, his voice little more than a growl as he searched the room for his shirt.

“I suggest I answer the door.” Vivvy snapped her bra on, went over to her suitcase to find clean clothes. “I’ll tell him that I’ll be glad to talk to him. Tomorrow. At Harrington.”

“Vivvy, my father is… I should be the one to answer the door and tell him to get the hell out.”

“It’s my hotel room, Nate. And my job.” Vivvy pulled on a shirt and shrugged away from Nate’s hand. “Just stay out of sight and let me handle it.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t like—”

Now dressed, Vivvy pulled her hair into a band and began walking to the door. “I know you’re the big strong man and all, but you’ll be right there.” She pointed forcefully at the bed, which would keep him hidden from the doorway.

“He gets people to do what they wouldn’t normally do,” Nate muttered, moving out of sight.

Sympathy warred with reason. “Just stay out of sight. I’ll handle it.” She straightened her shirt and stomped toward the door.

Vivvy pulled the door open only about an inch. “Can I help you?”

The man smiled. He looked so much like Nate she had to be careful not to let her jaw drop. Same light brown hair almost too long, same dark green eyes on a handsome, chiseled face. Jed Harrington had some crow’s feet and some gray at the temples, but if Vivvy didn’t know he was Nate’s father, it would have been easy to mistake him for Nate and Ry’s older brother.

“Ms. March, so terribly sorry to disturb you.” He held out a hand. “Jed Harrington.”

Vivvy looked down at it but didn’t shake it. She’d heard a lot of nasty things about Jed, and after Nate’s angry reaction she wasn’t too happy with this introduction. “Mr. Harrington, this is my hotel room, and it’s late. Now is not the time or place to be doing business, especially after I spoke with you on the phone a number of occasions before making the trip out here and you are just now showing up.”

He faltered at that; whether it was the truth to the words or the cool way she said them, he wasn’t prepared. Still, he quickly regained the charming smile. “Of course, and like I said, I am so sorry to disturb you. My absence is inexcusable, though unavoidable. A nice woman like yourself, I’m sure, can understand how life can get in the way of plans sometimes.”

If she hadn’t heard Annie, Ry, or Nate’s disgusted words about Jed, she might be tempted to school some of the irritation, but knowing they didn’t trust him had her looking for all the bad in him. “I’m afraid I don’t understand that sentiment at all.” No, she wasn’t charmed by Nate’s dad. He was too shrewd, too smooth. Like those men who tried to get girls to get naked for an acting role.

“Ms. Marsh, I apologize and I will leave. I just want you to know how much this television show means—”

“I didn’t peg you as a slow man, Mr. Harrington. I asked you to leave. I suggest you do it.” The tiniest bit of guilt sneaked into her mind. She was letting what Nate and his family had said about Jed influence the way she felt about a man she’d only talked to on the phone. Maybe she wasn’t being fair. Maybe this TV show did mean something to him. Chastising herself for jumping to conclusions, Vivvy smoothed out her features and gentled her tone. “I’ll be happy to talk with you tomorrow morning at Harrington about any and all matters of the television show.”