How to Deal Read online

  “That’s a date. My answer is still no.”

  I hang up on him because he’s persuasive and the longer I talk to him, the more I want to give in.

  As soon as I slam the phone down, Zane rambles about how dreamy Tathan is, and I don’t know whether to gag or agree, especially when he starts talking about doing a reverse cowgirl on him. Not an image I wanted to think about, unless I’m doing the reverse cowgirl with Tathan. Why do I even know the names of these positions?

  Oh yeah, your neighbor is a stripper.

  I think about the reverse cowgirl and the deep-sea diver position with Tathan and me for a good hour.

  Zane has actual work to do today, so he stands, taking his coffee with him. “He’s such a nice guy.”

  “Yeah, sure he is.”

  The problem is, he is a nice guy.

  Sweet Cheeks comes into the office around nine, gloating about her night. I think she’s talking about Tathan, but that couldn’t be, I was with him, in the hot tub.

  Now I’m confused.

  Zane walks by and hands Paul a folder.

  “Zane!” I whisper and chuck my pen at him so he’ll turn and look. He’s watching the UPS guy outside and clearly not paying attention to me.

  “Who is she talking about?” I whisper harshly when he stops at my desk.

  Zane doesn’t look my direction for long—there’s another UPS guy outside now, and his attention is fully diverted. Not only is he shamelessly gawking at the men on the street, but he’s dancing around with one headphone in, the other hanging down as I’m sure he’s listening to a Britney Spears song.

  “Zane?” I yell, causing the entire office to prairie dog and look over at me. Thankfully, Zane gets the point and pulls his headphones off.

  “What’s up, muff?”

  I take my ruler out of my desk drawer and slap his forehead. “Don’t call me muff. It’s weird coming from you.”

  “Ow.” He rubs his forehead that’s turning red. “What do you want?”

  “What’s Sweet Cheeks saying over there?”

  “Who’s Sweet Cheeks?” he asks, scratching the side of his head.

  “Uh. . . her. . . .” I point to the tall blonde standing by the coffee bar. “I don’t know her name.”

  “Oh. . . that’s Lucy.” He puts his earbuds back in and shakes his ass at me, starting to walk away. I tackle him—inappropriate office etiquette, but I could give a flying fuck about any of that.

  “Is there a problem, Amalie?” Paul asks when he steps out of his office and sees Zane and me on the floor, wrestling.

  “Uh, yeah, actually there is.” I get off Zane and point my finger toward him, straightening out my dress with the other one. “Did you tell Tathan I was free this afternoon?”

  I’m going to get myself fired.

  “Come into my office.” He turns to Zane who’s on the floor still. “Zane, buddy, get off the floor.”

  Zane trips me when I stand up. Turning to glare, I give him an inappropriate gesture to cement this clusterfuck of a day before walking into Paul’s office.

  I walk in and sit in the chair next to the door, ready for some answers. “Spill the beans.”

  “What do you want to know?” He takes a seat behind his desk, and the smirk on his face tells me right then he told Tathan I was free and might have possibly been telling him other details.

  “What’s with your son? Why is he all up in my business all the time? Doesn’t he get enough play in the office that he doesn’t need to ask me out?”

  He shakes his head. “Tathan doesn’t get play around here if that’s what you’re implying. Far from it. . . but that’s something you need to talk to him about, not me. Give him a chance. He really likes you.”

  “So everyone keeps saying.” I’m being sarcastic, and he knows it. “Why me? When he can have any woman he wants, why me?”

  “Amalie, you know the type of person he is. He sees things in people they don’t even see in themselves.” Paul has a point. I have to learn to overlook the why of why he wants me in his life and focus on the moment, focus on Tathan and forget about the fact throngs of women are clamoring to have him worship their bodies with the camera. Yep, not going to go there at all.

  “Did you know that he’s twenty-six and has only had two girlfriends his entire life? Both were long-term too.”

  I want to ask if they’ve found their dead bodies or something, because why else would someone break up with Tathan Madsen unless they were deceased? It just doesn’t make any sense to me, but yet here I am, refusing to believe he’s any more than a guy collecting girls in a bucket.

  I know I’ve had a misconception about Tathan. I never really expected him to be that good guy. I didn’t want him to be. I was counting on him being a manwhore.

  “So what happened to those girls?” I finally ask, relaxing in the chair.

  “Ask him.” Paul folds his arms over his chest. “He’ll tell you. He’s the most honest person I’ve ever met.”

  “Okay.” I nod, though I have no intention of actually asking him. “Why is it that he’s so fucking drawn to me?”

  “Again, Amalie.” He leans forward to get his point across. “Ask him.”

  Growing frustrated with his cryptic answers, I stand and intend on going back to my desk. Only he stops me before I get to the door. “I haven’t seen him this happy in a long time. Give him a chance.”

  Ugh. Just ugh.

  Between Zane singing “Womanizer” on repeat and Sweet Cheeks not knowing a goddamn thing about filing paperwork, my morning sucks and I get nothing accomplished. On more than one occasion, I had to tell her that “N” came after “M,” not the other way around.

  Despite me wanting to avoid Tathan, I’m strangely determined to get some answers out of him now after talking to Paul. Between what happened today, and then last night when he said, “I see you,” I’m confused.

  Most of the time, well those last three times we’ve been in the hot tub, it’s been him with the prying questions or just us sitting in silence listening to Elvis Presley.

  I wasn’t sure he’d come down there, after all, I hung up on him today and refused to go to lunch with him, but I was only down there ten minutes, and here he came. Beer in hand.

  When he opens his beer, I waste no time in hurling into my questions. “When were you adopted? And what did you mean when you said, I see you?”

  He looks at me for a long moment before answering as he takes his time opening his beer. “I was adopted when I was eleven. And I see you because you’re giving in to me, even if you don’t want to. I see you because I’m a good guy and you know it. You see it. Even if you chose to ignore it.”

  Okay, well he has me pegged exactly. “So Paul is your adopted dad?” I’m avoiding everything else he just said.

  “He’s my uncle. He’s my dad’s younger brother.”

  “Oh.”

  He switches playlists on his phone to the Eagles. I smile as I never would have taken him for a guy who appreciates the classics.

  “You don’t want to go on a date with me, do you?” he finally asks, never looking at me.

  I won’t lie to him. “No, not really.”

  “I’ll tell you anything you want to know, just please, go out with me on one date.”

  “Okay.”

  He considers that and then adds, “I don’t have a bucket of sluts, as you call them.”

  “What do you have then?”

  “Nothing. I don’t sleep around like you think I do.”

  Deep down I know this. Paul also told me. “You don’t?”

  “No, I don’t.” I watch his lips intently as he takes a drink of his beer.

  Fuck. I want to be that bottle. It gives a whole new meaning to a tall drink of water.

  “What about Sweet Cheeks, Lizard Lips, Chatty Chubby. . . .”

  He groans. “Stop already.” Leaning forward, his hand rubs along his sharp defined jaw. “I didn’t sleep with any of them, Aldon did.” He wiggles his e
yebrows at me suggestively. “I introduced them.”

  “Who?”

  “Aldon Hernandez.”

  “The pro-football player?” I’m acting like I don’t know.

  “Yeah.” He gives me a smile like he knows I know exactly who Aldon is. If you’ve lived in Arizona for longer than a few months, you know who Aldon Hernandez is. “He’s my best friend. We grew up together.”

  “Why do you hook them up with Aldon?”

  He shrugs. “Once they find out we’re friends, they want to meet him. I guess it just goes there automatically.”

  That’s sad, and I’m never asking to meet Aldon. Not that I have any desire to, especially considering Aldon is handsome, but he’s not Tathan.

  “All right, so why do they hang all over you at work?”

  “They know I take photos.” Tathan leans back, spreading out his arms on the ledge. It makes him look inviting. I could just sneak over there and curl up next to him. “I took photos for Lizard Lips, as you call her. Her name is Jessica by the way. Her sister got married last month.”

  “And the rest of them, you take their photos?” I deduce, feeling like a dumbass. “That’s why they sweet-talk you.”

  He nods. “You’re perceptive. . . though I’d wished you’d figured that out a while ago.”

  “A while ago?”

  “The first time I asked you out.”

  “And that was?” Something seems off with the way he says first time.

  “Four months ago when I met you at Madsen Construction’s Halloween party.” He winks.

  Are you fucking kidding me?

  I can feel my heart beating in my ears, blood rushing to my cheeks.

  Well. Fuck me—actually, he might have already—I was pretty drunk that night.

  “What’s your name?”

  I claw at him, biting my lip and holding the bottle of gin close to my side. “Catwoman. What’s your name?”

  He holds out his hand, brown eyes traveling over my body. “Batman, and we’re meant to be.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “I’m Batman and you’re Catwoman. Meant to be if you ask me.”

  Shit. Motherfucker.

  Tathan says nothing more when his cell phone rings, snapping out of my flashback. It must be something he needs to take, because he shakes his head and then stands. A small smile tugs at his lips before he says, “Night, Amalie.”

  I nod, then wait for him to be completely out of sight before I leave.

  When I get back inside my apartment, Oliver is jumping all over, but I’m on a mission. I need to ask Jade what happened. Besides Tathan, she’s the only one who knows what went on that night.

  If I actually had sex with him and didn’t remember, how much of an asshole do I look like?

  Jade is practicing her new routine for her dance to Lollipop. I don’t even know Jade’s last name or even if Jade is her real name, but she’s great to talk to and makes killer nachos.

  I’m lying on the floor, watching her rehearse. She has mad moves, and I’m captivated. Even Oliver is entertained by it and watches her intently. It’s way past his bedtime, but he’s mesmerized.

  “You don’t remember?” she finally asks, a little winded. I’d been discussing the recent turn of events with her and waiting for her to reply. “That sucks.”

  “I wasn’t exactly in my ‘right mind’ that night.” I roll over on her wooden floor, propping myself up on my elbows.

  “Well, from what I remember, you left shortly before I left with the football player. What was his name?”

  I gasp. “You left with Aldon?”

  “Not really the point here. You left with that Batman guy.” Her eyes widen that she remembers—Jade doesn’t remember shit. Last week I had to remind her which apartment was hers when she tried to unlock my door and started throwing a hissy fit when her key wouldn’t work.

  “Do you remember what he looked like?”

  “Not really, but Aldon said something about it being his best friend.” Then she tips her head. “He had brown eyes. I remember that.”

  Holy shit! I did sleep with him.

  With Oliver in tow, I run out of Jade’s apartment and into my own. I remember bits and pieces of that night. I practically raped poor Batman in the hallway. The only reason we made it in my apartment was because he stopped us and pushed me inside.

  Too bad I don’t remember if it was good or not. Who am I kidding? It was probably fantastic.

  When you think about it, I’m the whore, not him! I raped Batman!

  “What do I do now?” I ask, looking down at Oliver.

  He doesn’t answer me as he’s now fast asleep on my lap.

  I smell like chlorine, so I take a shower before bed. When I’m out of the shower, I hear a commotion outside my door, so I open it. There is no one there, but when I look down to get Oliver back inside, fresh off a midnight nap, there’s a single red rose with a note attached to it.

  Tathan isn’t in the hall, which throws me a wicked curveball of amazement. Oliver takes off with the rose and leaves me standing at the door with the note in my hand.

  “I am a whore,” I tell Oliver, who sits next to me against the door, eating his rose.

  He doesn’t answer me.

  Why do I find the fact that Tathan wrote me a note so incredibly endearing and heartfelt? I hate to even say those words associated with Tathan in the same sentence, but I do.

  Damn him and his note. It’s my breaking point, because how can I throw office supplies at a man who writes notes and gives me roses?

  It’s two in the morning on Friday, but I call in the Crisis Campers, Casey and Zane. Though this is essentially a bad idea, I need someone to talk to who answers back.

  We sneak over to the gas station across the street for ice cream, and return to my apartment just a few minutes later. I’m getting a piggyback ride from Zane through the lobby of my apartment complex. I’d convinced him my feet hurt from pole dancing with Jade and he needed to carry me.

  “You fucked him?” Zane asks, snickering. “You lucky bitch, muff!”

  I bite his ear. “Can you not act like a twelve-year-old for like five minutes? This is serious.”

  “Not likely. Hey, look.” He points to a vending machine. “Do you have a dollar? And I’m staying up all night for you. Don’t bite me.”

  Reaching into the pocket of my shorts, I retrieve a dollar and hand it to him over his shoulder. He takes the dollar where he inserts it into the machine as I lay my head on his back. He gets his peanut M&M’s and starts walking toward the elevators.

  “I don’t see what the big deal is. So muff got some action and doesn’t remember. . .” He shrugs. “What’s the problem?”

  Casey catches up with us after getting her own bag of M&M’s. “The problem is—” She opens her bag and pops two green ones in her mouth. “—she doesn’t want him to know that she doesn’t remember. Is that right?”

  I nod. “Can you nosy nellies focus? What am I going to do? He wrote a note?”

  Zane sets me down in front of my door so I can unlock it.

  “Go out with him!” they both scream.

  With the sound, Tathan’s door opens. It’s like two in the morning so his hair is all messy and he’s wearing just a pair of shorts.

  I want to attack him. Which is not good for me.

  “What’s going on out here?” he asks, rubbing his beautiful eyes. His hair is all over the place, sticking up on one side as he lazily rubs his stomach. My eyes automatically dip south, and I think that’s by design. He wants my eyes down there.

  All three of us are gawking at him, me more so, actually scratch that. . . I’d say Zane is giving him the biggest once-over, judging by the fact that he now has drool dripping from the corner of his mouth.

  “Oh, hey, Amalie.” Tathan smirks and steps outside his apartment.

  Zane and Casey push me forward and into him.

  I, in turn, push Tathan inside his apartment and follow him. I’m sure C
asey and Zane are on the other side of the door, listening.

  We stare at each other for a few moments before he smiles. “Did you get my note?”

  “Yes. Oliver liked the rose.”

  His hand rises, and he scratches the back of his head, his eyes closing slowly and then reopening like he’s trying to stay awake. “I guess that’s a good thing then?”

  I want to shake him and scream in his face, why are you so adorable?

  “Oh, yes, flowers are good for his diet,” I tell him and lean back against the wall of his living room. I feel safe in here, and it makes me want to run away. “Keeps him regular and happy.”

  His eyes are on the floor, but then he looks up at me and asks what I know he wants to know. “You didn’t know it was me that night, did you?”

  “No,” I answer truthfully, and he nods once, his eyes sad. “I barely remember that night.”

  Way to go. You made Tathan sad, you jerk.

  “But it happened.”

  “Spill the details then,” I tell him eventually, not wanting to waste any more time.

  “What do you want to know?” He shifts his stance, crossing his arms over his chest, and yawns.

  “We left together that night?”

  “Yes.” He gives a nod. “I asked you out. You said no, but took me back to your apartment where you attacked me.”

  “I’m sure.” He senses the sarcasm and gives a chuckle. “So when you moved in, you knew then?”

  “Yes. . . but let me finish. You kicked me out after we had sex that night.” Tathan continues and takes a step toward me. “I didn’t see you again until I started with Madsen Construction. Imagine my surprise when I saw that you sat right next to me.”

  “I’m sure.” My sarcasm is even thicker. “Now, why do you come into the office? Clearly, you don’t need to.”

  “I told you. Because I get to see you every day that way.” His tongue darts out and licks his lower lip, shrugging. “You’re sexy.”

  I ignore the sexy remark. “Why me?” I ask, watching the way he’s watching me. It makes me nervous. “You could have anyone.”

  “I don’t want just anyone.”