Just Say Yes Read online

  She was taken aback. This wasn’t what she’d expected at all. She could hardly go all righteous on him now if he was telling the truth. “Oh. Is she OK? I hope it’s not serious?”

  “No. It’s not serious. She’ll be fine. It turned out to be just a few cuts and bruises, in fact, but she’s still pretty shaken up. The paramedics were there when I arrived and they insisted she be checked out in the hospital. I spent until two this morning in the ER with her, surrounded by winos and druggies.”

  Lucy resisted the urge to sympathize just yet.

  “By the time I realized I’d left my cell phone in her car, it had been carted off to the garage and after that, well, I didn’t dare phone you in case I woke you up,” he went on. “I really do feel awful. I can only imagine what you were thinking about me.”

  Lucy didn’t bother telling him what she’d been thinking. She was too busy wondering if his story was true. It certainly seemed genuine, and it was a fairly major tale to make up. And one she could check up on, if she really wanted to. Besides, while the accident was awful for Nick’s sister, at least it meant that he hadn’t stood her up.

  “I don’t like being messed about by anyone, Nick, but it’s fine. I mean, not the bit about your sister crashing the car, but the not phoning,” she said at last.

  “Are you sure? Because I would have been completely pissed off if I were you. I bet you were thinking I was an unreliable, lying git of the first order.”

  She gave him a rueful smile. “Now why on earth would I think that?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Hmm. Come to think of it, you did seem less than welcoming when you opened the door…”

  “It is six thirty on a Sunday morning. I don’t do mornings that well or being stood up,” she said.

  His stomach rumbled like a mini train. “God. Sorry. What am I like?”

  He looked so embarrassed, Lucy bit back a smile. “I don’t suppose you’ve had breakfast?”

  “Nothing more than several gallons of disgusting hospital coffee and, now you come to mention it, I am fairly ravenous.”

  She hesitated before making her next offer, knowing what it might lead to. “Well, I could do you some toast, if you like. I’ve even got some marmalade somewhere.”

  “Thanks for the offer, but I don’t really fancy toast, and I’m, er, not a big fan of marmalade,” he said, pushing himself to his feet. He pulled her to her feet and rested his fingers lightly on her upper arms. “In fact, if I was forced to choose, I’d say I’d prefer something sweeter and more substantial.”

  “Then you should head back to the deli,” replied Lucy, removing his hands from her arms. His skin was warm under her touch and every sensible brain cell told her he was a presumptuous, cheeky sod who didn’t deserve a piece of toast, let alone anything else from her. The trouble was, other parts of her were saying she’d like to give him much more.

  He held his arms out, palms upward. “OK. Just say the word and I’ll be out of here for good. It’s your decision.”

  Lucy felt the heat rising to her face. All she had to do was show him the door and he’d be out of her life. But why should she? He’d made a couple of mistakes and there seemed to be perfectly reasonable explanations for both. Why should she push him away? Why should she throw out the best-looking guy she’d seen for years?

  “Of course, it’s the last thing I want,” he added.

  It was the last thing she wanted too. She was bored sick of being a good girl and was ready for some good old-fashioned fun.

  “I’m not sure if I’m making a big mistake here, Nick…”

  If he’d fed her a cheesy line, she’d have thrown him out on the spot, but he just replied softly, “Maybe it’s time we both took a chance?”

  She wasn’t sure who moved first but in a moment, they were both leaning forward and his hands were cradling her face. She was amazed by how thick his lashes were, how full his lips, the caramel-latte tone of his skin. He reminded her of some old movie star her grandmother used to have a crush on. Someone called Rock or Dirk, she thought, and she squashed down a giggle. The next thing she knew, he was sweeping her into his arms. Well, not sweeping, exactly, but he did manage to pick her up and he did a good job of hiding the grunt. Then they were lying on the sofa and Nick was sliding off her camisole.

  “Close your eyes,” he whispered.

  “Why?”

  “Just do it, Bagel Girl.”

  “Ohh…”

  She guessed the velvety sensation she could feel was the rose being drawn over her bare stomach and between her cleavage.

  “Nick…”

  “Hmmm.”

  She wriggled beneath him as the petals tickled her. “Ouch!”

  “Thorns. Sorry.”

  His fingers slipped inside her pajama shorts and began to slide them down. By then she’d forgotten what she was going to say and, besides, Nick was doing something utterly delicious to her nipples with his tongue.

  By the time they surfaced, the aroma of roast beef was drifting into her bedroom from Charlie’s flat. Outside, she could hear laughter and chat ringing out from the pub beer garden down the street. Rumpled and crumpled, sated and sheened in the afterglow of a marathon sex session, Lucy fumbled on the bedside table for her watch.

  “Whattimeisit?” Nick’s voice was muffled by the duvet.

  “Just after two.”

  There was a pause, then the duvet was thrown off and Nick jumped out of bed, stark naked and waggling.

  Lucy giggled. “What’s the matter?”

  “I’m late! Where are my bloody boxers?”

  The expression on his face was so different to the laid-back, slightly mad guy who’d sent her to heaven with a rose and his tongue that Lucy was taken aback.

  “Jesus!”

  In the middle of pulling on his jeans, he’d tripped over Lucy’s exercise bike and got tangled up in a pile of shoes and handbags on the floor. “Christ, I’m going to be late. Where’s my T-shirt, for fuck’s sake?” he shouted, trying to unwind a beaded bag from his ankle.

  “Hey! Chill out.”

  “Chill out? I should’ve been out of here half an hour ago.”

  Lucy grabbed her robe. Suddenly, being naked in front of Nick didn’t seem like so much fun. He hadn’t seemed like he was in a hurry when he was making love to her. Not after the first time, anyway, she thought with a blush.

  “Here’s your top,” she said, rescuing it from the carpet and holding it out. Snatching it from her hand, he pulled it over his head.

  “That’s OK, it’s a pleasure,” said Lucy sarcastically.

  Nick snapped round and for a moment, she could hardly believe the fury in his eyes. Then the anger disappeared and he raked his fingers through his hair in exasperation. He shot her a little-boy-lost look and said: “Sorry, I’m a real control freak, aren’t I? I’ve no right to be acting like this.”

  “Your trainers are in the sitting room,” she replied coldly, still reeling from his scary outburst.

  He kissed her nose. “I’m a total bastard. Really.”

  She flinched away but the way he’d said it managed to make being a bastard sound almost sexy. Almost, but not quite. Planting a hasty kiss on her mouth, he grabbed his trainers and pulled them on. Lucy waited, trying to stay calm, hoping there would be a further explanation for his weird behavior, but Nick was intent on gathering up his belongings from a variety of locations around the flat.

  “Have you seen my wallet?” he asked.

  Lucy spotted it under a half-empty packet of condoms and her pajama shorts, both tossed carelessly onto the sofa.

  “I think it’s here,” she said, holding it out.

  Grabbing the wallet, he shoved it into his jeans pocket. “Sorry, but I have to go. I’ve got an appointment.”

  “On a Sunday?”

  “It’s an—oh, I may as well tell you the truth.” He grabbed her shoulders, his eyes bright. “You’ll have to know sometime, if we’re going to carry on seeing each other.”

>   Lucy’s heart started racing. Here it comes, she thought. He’s married. Or a member of a cult. She could feel his fingers digging into her flesh, almost hurting but not quite.

  “I, Nick Laurentis, am going to be rich and famous!”

  So. Not a cult. Not married. Just delusional. Delusional, she could live with. He could be cured and gently helped to see that ordinary mortals, even expert sandwich wranglers, did not become superstars in their Sunday lunchtimes. Not unless they managed to be snapped handing Victoria Beckham a large baguette.

  “Right. Sorry to be dim, but can you run that one by me again? Did you just say you were rushing off to be rich and famous?”

  His expression, as he pulled open the door to the landing, was one of total determination. “Yeah. That’s what I said. Rich and famous. I’ll see you this evening. I’ll explain everything then.”

  Chapter 4

  Later, the Heart FM chart show had just finished and Lucy was seriously wondering whether to accept Charlie’s invitation to a read-through for an all-male production of The Sound of Music when the door to the flat buzzed. She hesitated for a nanosecond, grinned, and then pressed talk. “If that’s someone wanting to throw bricks at my window and ravish me, I’m sorry, but I’ve already been ravished very thoroughly today.”

  There was a pause. “Have you been at the hookah pipe again, Lucy?”

  “Charlie! Sorry, I didn’t think…”

  “It was me? Clearly. Are you coming to this SoM bash, or do I have to put my nun’s outfit back in the wardrobe?”

  “Oh, Charlie, I’m sorry. I thought I’d wait a bit longer, just in case… a friend turns up.”

  “A friend? Lucy, I think I detect the fragrant odor of a teeny weeny fib here.”

  “There’s no odor and I am expecting a friend. Hopefully.”

  “You don’t sound terribly sure to me. I’d go out if I were you, and play hard to get.”

  “And that strategy has worked for you so far?” said Lucy, thinking of the times she’d had to salvage the wreckage that was Charlie after a failed love affair.

  “Hmm. I suppose you do have a point. I hope this friend puts in an appearance soon but I’d advise you not to make a ‘habit’ of waiting in for people.”

  “Ha ha,” said Lucy. “You will still go to the show?”

  “Well, I’m all dressed up now and one doesn’t get to wear a wimple every day, so I’m bloody well going.”

  When Charlie had gone with an audible kiss and another warning, Lucy flopped down on the sofa, her heart sinking. So far, Nick had her waiting by the phone, outside the cinema, and by her own intercom. Her neighbor, her sort-of-boss, and her best friend had all told her to steer clear of him which, naturally, had only made her want him more. She thought she knew why too. Nick offered a roller-coaster ride and while she knew it might be scary and uncomfortable, it promised to be exciting.

  “Lucy!”

  She shot off the sofa and pulled open the door to find Nick there, dressed in a suit and tie. His hair was slicked back like a merchant banker and he was carrying a laptop case.

  “Who let you in downstairs?” she asked.

  “Would you believe me if I said a nun with a beard?”

  “Of course. Who else?”

  Five minutes later, he’d abandoned the suit and they were in bed. Yes, the sex was definitely the high point of the roller-coaster ride, she thought later. Making love to Nick was pure unadulterated pleasure. It was like being able to eat a huge plate of profiteroles without worrying about the calories. Or spending a whole month’s salary on shoes without the cost ever appearing on your credit card statement.

  “So?” asked Lucy, playfully pinning Nick down on her bed. “You can’t get away now. Where have you been?” she said, laughing.

  “Converting sinners,” he said, with a grin and a waggle.

  “Tell the truth!” she cried, laughing, yet feeling an uneasy stir in the pit of her stomach again. Freeing himself, he shuffled up the bed and touched her cheek gently. “I’ve been to an audition. No, let’s qualify that: a final audition.”

  “For a job?”

  “You’re getting warm.”

  “A part in a film?” she asked slightly sarcastically.

  “Warmer, but still not red hot.”

  She frowned. “Now you’re teasing me.”

  His expression became more serious and he wasn’t waggling anymore, which Lucy thought was rather a shame.

  “I’ve just been to the final round of auditions for Hot Shots. It’s a new reality series for wannabe entrepreneurs made by an independent company. There are ten of us in contention and every week we have to complete a series of arduous tasks.”

  Lucy had a vision of Nick crawling through a pit of scorpions and shuddered.

  “You don’t have to catch and kill your own python or anything?”

  He laughed out loud. “Much harder than that, I suspect. We have business tasks to complete—it’s all top secret at the moment, but I guess we’ll be setting up mock companies, cold calling, selling things, and all kinds of weird stuff. There are no snakes involved except Denby Sweetman. He’s the judge.”

  Lucy’s eyes widened. Sir Denby was rarely out of the newspapers and not just the business pages. He had a reputation for being tough as old boots and very outspoken. Lucy had always wondered if this was a front and that, in reality, he liked doing the dusting while his Amazonian wife stood over him with a carpet beater.

  “Isn’t he a real bastard?”

  “A hard-nosed git? Yeah, but I like a challenge.” Nick grinned. “And I’m going to get one. Sir Denby recommends one person to be booted out every week. The winner—get this—gets a quarter of a million to invest in the enterprise of his choice plus the full backing of Sir Denby for a year.”

  “Or her choice,” said Lucy, in the interests of equality.

  Nick pulled a face, “No, his choice. Because it’s going to be me.”

  Lucy could feel the excitement fizzing through him; he was almost trembling with adrenaline. He took her hand. “I also have a confession to make that I’m not proud of.”

  Lucy had the strangest feeling she was about to plunge down to Earth very quickly. “Go on,” she said, pulling her hand out of his.

  He took a deep breath. “Don’t hate me for this, but… I didn’t get the wrong cinema last week. I got a recall for the program at the last minute. You see, I was the last to be chosen and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I was on my way out of the house when they called. After that, they took my cell phone, and by the time I got home, it was three in the morning.”

  She blew out a breath. “Why didn’t you tell me all of this at the time?”

  “I thought you’d think I was mad or making up the whole story. The mix-up over cinemas seemed more plausible.”

  Actually, Nick, the truth is always more plausible, she thought as he began to open his mouth, but she shook her head. “Please. Don’t say you’re sorry. I’ve heard that one. Just tell me this. Were you with your sister? Did the accident actually happen, or did you make that one up too?”

  “Sadly, the accident is all too true.”

  “I don’t like being lied to, not even a little white lie.”

  “I know and it won’t happen again. I promise,” he said as she still hesitated, but he couldn’t disguise the little-boy excitement in his eyes. “So, what do you think about the TV show? I haven’t even been home and told my family yet.”

  Lucy couldn’t help but be carried along by his enthusiasm. She’d have to have a heart of stone not to be pleased for him and it might even be a whole lot of fun to be part of it. “It’s a lot to take in, Nick; I’m gobsmacked, in fact. If you win, it means you could set up your catering business, make a fortune, change your life, save the world…” she teased.

  “I know. I can be king of the world,” he declared, but his eyes were still gleaming with happiness. “How do you fancy going down the pub to celebrate?”

  Still reeli
ng from his announcements, Lucy managed a smile. Inside she was fizzing almost as much as he was. Nick a reality TV star. Her boyfriend: famous. Except, he wasn’t her boyfriend. They hadn’t even been out on a date yet, technically speaking. He was just a guy from a deli she had slept with.

  “Why not? It’s not every day you get the chance to be rich and famous and humiliated in public.”

  “I hope it won’t come to that too often,” he said with a wink. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  Later, as they lay in bed after returning from the pub, he kissed her and whispered, “From now on there will be no secrets. I’m determined to make it all up to you.”

  ***

  Over the next few weeks, she had to admit, he was as good as his word. Despite frequent trips to the studios, he still managed to find time to take her out. Nothing fancy, of course, which was how she liked it. Just fun stuff. A picnic in the park complete with bubbly and what seemed to be the entire stock of Marvin’s deli. A visit to some obscure cinema in the sticks just to track down the film she’d missed. A night at a club where Nick had managed to get VIP tickets from “a bloke” at the studios. Then one night, as she lay in his arms in bed, he’d stroked her hair and whispered. “Lucy…”

  “Yes, Nick?”

  “I know we haven’t known each other long but I want you to be part of this adventure. Support me, help me through it, have mad passionate sex with me when I get chucked out in the first round.”

  “You won’t,” declared Lucy, and she meant it. She had a funny feeling that Nick was going to achieve everything he’d said he would—and more.

  Chapter 5

  A month later, Nick had resigned his job in the sandwich bar and moved into a massive mansion in Notting Hill which had been rented by the TV studio. During the week, he was locked away preparing and carrying out the tasks set by the program makers. Then, each Friday night, the candidates would gather in Sir Denby’s study and have their performances analyzed, ridiculed, and derided. Then one of them would be “let go.”