“Don’t make me regret this, Demetri.”
A smile spread across his face. “Really?”
I nodded.
“Do you want breakfast?” He pushed away from the bed.
“I’m starving.”
Demetri chuckled and pushed the covers back, lifting me into his arms. “I bet you are. Though a little bird told me you ate quite a bit of Swedish fish last night.”
“I’m going to kill Alec!” I yelled.
Demetri threw his head back and laughed. “I should have warned you how he plays Go Fish.”
“He’s an animal!” I yelled as Demetri carried me down the stairs. I rolled my eyes towards the ceiling. Really, it wasn’t as if I was on my death bed or something, but I had to admit, it was kind of nice to be in his arms.
Though my treacherous body couldn’t help but remind me that it was Alec’s arms that had rescued me last night. I gulped.
“Heard that!” Alec fired back from the kitchen.
I smiled, and then my heart dropped to my knees. What was I doing? I looked at Demetri, his blinding smile was for me, only me. But what about Alec? Was I imagining a connection with us?
Demetri placed me on my feet. I walked timidly into the kitchen. Alec was cooking eggs and bacon. Orange juice and coffee were already laid out on the counter.
“Morning, sleepy head. Did you know you snore?” Alec said, not looking a way from the skillet.
“I do not!”
“Do to,” the boys said in unison.
“You were drunk!” I punched Demetri.
“Drunk, sweetheart, not deaf.”
I glared.
“She’s crazy when she’s hungry,” Demetri said under his breath as he quickly grabbed a plate and began piling it with food.
I willed Alec to turn around. But he didn’t.
Finally, after a few minutes in which I’m sure I lost brain cells trying to use telepathy to get the man to look at me, he turned.
Everything seemed normal.
He gave a small smile and went to the fridge. “I’m gonna go for a run. I’ll see you guys later.”
And just like that he was gone.
“Is he okay?” I nudged Demetri who was eating like he hadn’t seen food in days.
“Who? Alec? Of course, he’s fine. Why wouldn’t he be okay?”
“I don’t know.” I nibbled my lower lip. “Did you guys talk this morning?”
“Yeah.” Demetri stopped shoveling food into his mouth and took a drink of orange juice. “He told me I was an ass, and that I was going to lose the best girl in the world if I didn’t get up to the room and grovel. Naturally, I knew all that before he mentioned it, but still.”
Breakfast sat like a stone in my belly. So Alec had encouraged me and Demetri? Clearly I had read every signal wrong. All the protective gestures and weird sensually charged moments. It was all in my head. Alec didn’t want me. Demetri did.
Foolishly, I thought if I lingered a bit that Alec would return from his run. An hour later he still wasn’t back.
“I should go,” I said to Demetri as he finished up the last of the breakfast dishes.
“Stay.” He placed the wet dish on the counter and walked around to pull me into his arms. His kiss was gentle. I liked this side of him so much better than last night. I could almost believe he was the good guy, the white knight. The guy he said he wanted to be.
“I can’t.” I shook my head even as he kissed my cheek and my nose.
“Why?”
“Because!” I pushed away a grin spreading across my face at his confusion. He really was used to getting everything he wanted. “I have a ton of homework and some of us have to work for a living.”
“I work.”
I tilted my head to the side. “According to you, you’re taking a much needed break right now.”
“True, but I still work.”
“Fine, you work, but that doesn’t change anything. I still have to go to my part-time job, and I have to fit in a run sometime today and do homework.” I huffed and crossed my arms. The thought of everything I needed to accomplish that day actually stressed me out a bit. My eyes flickered to the clock. It was already ten. I had to be at the taffy store in two hours.
“Fine,” Demetri grumbled. “Where do you work?”
“Seaside Taffy.”
Demetri smirked. “Do you wear cute little outfits and give out free samples?”
I rolled my eyes. “This conversation is going downhill fast.”
“Always.” He chuckled. “Sorry, no more sexual innuendos. Okay, go get ready for work, do your run, and we can hang out later.”
I nodded. “Aw, you’re learning so fast.”
“Do I get rewarded for good behavior?”
“And then he defaults.”
“Crap.” Demetri crossed his arms and pouted. He looked so innocent and sexy that I gave in. I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed him firmly across the mouth.
Immediately he parted his lips, his mouth tasted like oranges. Shockingly he kept his hands at his sides.
He pulled back. “You taste good.”
“So do you.”
We stared at each other for a while. His eyes glanced at my mouth. With a sigh I stepped back. “I’ll text you, ‘kay?”
He nodded as I gave him a wave and ran out the door.
Weird how much things could change in twenty-four hours.
I looked in vain down the path. Alec was nowhere to be found. He probably took another route.
****
I cursed Alec for making such a good breakfast. My run was not going as planned. I kept getting side-aches. The food was like a giant boulder in my stomach.
I got to mile three and turned around. The stretch ahead of me might as well have been Everest for how ready my body felt to run it.
I grabbed my iPod and switched to a different mix.
The list that said Crush.
It brought a smile to my face when the techno beat of AD2 started playing in my ears. Before, when I listened to their music I could never tell which brother was singing. Now, it was impossible not to tell. Alec had the deeper voice of the two, he usually sang the melody — he carried the song.
Demetri’s voice was slightly higher. It sounded almost too perfect, kind of like the guy from Rascal Flatts. He usually did the bridges and verses.
But when they sang together, their harmony was perfect. Their music was the kind that any age liked. Their concerts were filled with girls between the ages of eight and eighty.
The fourth mile back went fast. The fifth was even faster, and I was already on my sixth AD2 song when I stumbled.
I looked down. Ugh, stupid shoelaces. I really needed to double knot them, but I was in such a hurry to get my run in before work that I forgot.
“Nat, you should really invest in lessons on how not to trip,” Alec’s voice called from behind me.
I tugged my earphones out and turned around.
Sweat poured down his body. He had taken off his shirt at some point, and it was clenched in his right hand, leaving his ridiculous six-pack bare. It didn’t help that his sweat seemed to glisten on his chest in the sun.
“What, did you just run a marathon or something?” I joked.
“Nah.”
I nodded.
“A half marathon.”
“I feel very inadequate,” I mumbled, kicking a rock from my shoe.
“As you should.” Alec knelt down and tied my shoe very tight, as if I was in kindergarten and had a habit of tripping over shoelaces. Well, I guess the tripping part was fairly accurate.
“So, things are good?” Alec asked, not meeting my eyes but looking at the beach instead.
“I guess.” I shrugged. “Demetri said you talked to him.”
“He did?” Alec turned to me, he looked surprised.
“Yeah.” This was the part where he’s supposed to get the hint and expand on the topic. But of course, he was a guy so he just shrugged.
“So…” I gulped. “I have to work today, but I think we’re hanging out tonight if you want to join us.”
“Did you just invite me out on your date?”
“It’s not a date,” I said quickly.
“Trust me.” He grinned bitterly. “It’s a date. But yeah, I actually have some stuff going on tonight. You guys have fun though, okay?”
“Okay.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. Rejection did not feel good, not when it came from Alec.
“Nat?”
My head snapped up.
“I’m happy for you.”
Tears welled in my eyes. “Thanks, Alec. That means a lot.”
He nodded and put his earphones back in. “Try not to trip on the last mile home.”
“Very funny,” I grumbled and took off like a crazy person back toward the house. I only had forty five minutes to get ready for work.
I hated that the only thing I could conjure up in my mind was the look on Alec’s face when we talked.
We were back where we started. The casual friends who joked around but shared nothing. It shouldn’t matter. After all, I wasn’t anything to him. I was just his friend. His brother’s girlfriend.
Chapter Eleven
Work was busy.
It seemed like everyone and their mom had decided to come into Seaside for the weekend. I was handling the crowds fine until a mom with three screaming kids walked in. The children began running in circles and testing every flavor of salt water taffy as if it was free.
“Evan.” I elbowed him. He still looked hung over from the night before. He was holding his head in his hands and moaning.
“Why. Do. Children. Exist?” His teeth were clenched.
I would have laughed if I didn’t feel so bad for him. He said his head hurt so bad he wanted to die this morning. That’s what he gets for underage drinking. I took it upon myself to slam the doors more often during our shift.
But the little kids were making my job easy — he was miserable.
“Make it stop, please make it stop.” Evan drank from his bottled water and glared at the mother.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she disappeared on the spot.
“Evan, here.” I gave him some more aspirin and set about cleaning the counter. Seaside Taffy was one of the largest taffy stores in the city. It had every flavor you could possibly think of, including some that didn’t seem like they should be edible. Who wants to eat a grass flavored taffy? Or buttered popcorn?
We also served ice cream and caramel apples. Evan was usually in charge of the candy while I helped serve the other food. But today he just sat like a bump on the log.
“Seriously, Evan, I need help.” I seethed two hours later when the line grew so long, it reached out the door and down the sidewalk.
Evan said something under his breath, but finally moved to the register and began taking people’s money.
“Is it true?” A girl gushed to Evan.
“That your voice is very high pitched?” Evan offered. “I’m afraid so.”
“Evan.” I nudged him. “Sorry, sweetie, is what true?”
“That like, the band AD2 is staying here in Seaside and going to school?”
“Yup,” Evan answered quickly. “Now what can we get you girls?”
They were in middle school and knew the art of distraction too well to allow us to manipulate them.
“So,” the girl in pigtails said, jutting out her hip. “You guys look old.”
Evan’s grip tightened on the register. “Listen, you—”
“Yup, we’re old! You’re right!” I smiled wildly. “But girls, there’s a line, we need to grab your order, okay?”
“Fine,” they grumbled in unison.
When I handed them their caramel apples, the pig-tailed girl whipped around. “Since you’re old and in high school, do you like know the guys?”
“Do I look like the type of girl a rock star would talk to?” I countered.
They tilted their heads, taking in my candy-stripped uniform complete with white visor and shook their heads.
Awesome.
“Oh, I don’t know. I’d talk to you, you know, if I was a rock star,” a voice said to my left. I turned and immediately wanted to die.
Demetri was leaning against the ice cream counter. His muscled arms protruding out of a tight gray T-shirt that was half-tucked into low-slung designer jeans.
“Nice visor.” This from the guy who has more female admirers than most movie stars.
I nodded.
The girls who had just been rapidly firing questions at me and Evan were shocked into silence.
“To answer your question,” Demetri said, looking between the two of them, “This girl is the exact type of girl I would hang out with. I may even kiss her today. That is, if she lets me.” He winked at the two girls.
I was convinced I would have to do CPR. Were they even breathing?
Finally the one vocal girl piped up, “Can we have your autograph?”
“Sure.” Demetri pulled a marker out of his pocket and signed a few napkins for the girls before sending them on their way. My, he’s prepared.
“Thank God.” Evan looked at Demetri. “I couldn’t handle any more of their shrieking or questions.”
“Anytime.” Demetri nodded at Evan than looked at me. “So, you’re off in an hour right?”
“Yup.” I ignored the weird looks from customers as well as the shrieks from other girls who had just discovered that the D from AD2 was currently having a conversation in Seaside Taffy with the shop girl.
“Cool. I have plans for you, Nat.” His eyes did that thing were they magically get darker and close just slightly, making him look sexier than should be legal.
“Okay.” It was the only thing I could say. The crowds were getting ridiculous. “Hey, Demetri?”
He turned around.
“Take care of some of this for us?” I pleaded.
He threw his head back and laughed. “Fine, but you owe me!”
“I love him,” Evan announced. “I’m not gay, but right now I love him. If he can take all the females and loud people away from here, I may just kiss him.”
I rolled my eyes at Evan and laughed as Demetri left the store and signed autographs on his way. Just as I expected, once people noticed he was signing autographs, the crowds dwindled.
Evan looked around the empty store. “He’s a god among men.”
“Don’t tell him that, he’s cocky enough.”
“I’d be cocky too if women threw their panties at me.”
“Are you still drunk?”
A few seconds went by and then. “Maybe.”
By the time my shift was over, my feet hurt, and I could feel a headache coming on, probably from all the stress.
I waved goodbye at Evan and grabbed my purse. I probably smelled like taffy and germy little kids, but I didn’t care. I was just so excited that my shift was over. The bell chimed as I went out into the breeze.
And there was Demetri, leaning against a killer Mercedes CL 600. It was black. Figures.
“Nice ride.” I suddenly felt very, very inadequate. Why the heck were these two guys paying me any attention?
He shrugged. “It gets me from A to B.”
I’ll bet it gets him to C too, but I kept my mouth shut. He was obviously proud of his car. I liked it. I mean, it cost more than most people’s houses, but my mind flashed to Alec’s car. It seemed less… I don’t know, maybe less of a status thing? It was probably my imagination and I was tired.
“Your carriage awaits.” Demetri opened the door and ushered me in.
“But my truck.” I pointed at my sad cheap truck and again wanted to disappear.
“I’ve already taken care of it. Keys.” He held out his hand. I dug through my purse and handed them over.
He walked over to the truck and put the keys under the floor mat. “Alec said he’d take a run into town and drive it back to your place.”
“Oh.” Why did the brother who h
as no interest in me have to be so nice again? It confused me.
“Hop in.”
The car smelled heavenly. A mixture of vanilla and leather. Wood paneling covered most of the dash. I’ve never sat in anything like it. I mean, my parents were well off, but we weren’t loaded like this. This was beyond anything I’d ever seen.
I was so horribly out of my league it was almost depressing.
“So, dinner?” Demetri asked once he started the car and drove away from the curb.
“You don’t mind that I’m dressed like this?” I pointed down to my clothes.
“It’s kind of hot,” he admitted. “Put the visor back on, Nat.”
I laughed and crossed my arms. “Jerk.”
“Aw, come on, babe, I’m kidding. I like the visor. Put it on one more time, just once.”
I stuck out my tongue but put it on anyways.
He laughed and parked in front of Owen’s, one of the nicer restaurants in Seaside.
I threw off my visor and tried to fluff my hair. At least I didn’t have my apron on, but it didn’t help that my outfit looked like something a person would wear for Halloween. I really was dressed as a candy-striper. The owner of the taffy shop thought it was funny and cute.
This was me not amused.
Demetri opened the door for me and ushered me in. The restaurant wasn’t very crowded.
The hostess gave me a once over then smirked and looked back down at her table.
“Excuse me,” Demetri said smoothly. “My girlfriend and I have reservations.”
The lady didn’t look up. “What name?”
“Demetri Daniels.”
The hostess’s hand began to shake. She gulped, then slowly looked up to meet Demetri’s gaze.
“R-right away, Mr. Daniels.” Her face flushed red and I was instantly pleased that he stood up for me. At least I think that’s what he was doing.
The hostess led us to a far corner of the restaurant.
“If there is anything, anything at all, I can get for you two—”
“Wine,” Demetri interrupted. “A house red, perhaps a Malbec?”
“Right away.” The girl practically tripped over herself.
“Demetri, we’re underage.”
He shrugged. “I’m famous. They never card me. Trust me. They’ll do anything for my business, including serving alcohol to minors. I mean, look at this place. It’s kinda dead right now. Give it an hour.”