She opened the bag.
Flashes of reflected light splashed everywhere as she extracted the gift and held it up. He’d given her a pair of blue denim cutoff shorts, the same brand as her new jeans — very short and bedazzled all over the pockets and side seams with what looked like hundreds of sparkling rhinestones. No way. I refuse. And anyway, I didn’t agree to any dare. She stuffed the shorts back into the bag and threw it back onto her dresser.
She jammed her sandals into the top of the bag and set her black athletic shoes by the door, ready to put on. Toothbrush, she remembered, and grabbed it from the bathroom. All set. And she still had ten minutes until Eamonn had said to be ready.
Filling time was never a problem. She gave the cactus a bit of water, then tested out the stretch of her jeans with some kicks and a few segments of her form. Not bad. She laced on her shoes. When her phone buzzed to let her know that Eamonn had arrived, she picked up her backpack and purse and headed out the door.
Go knock Time Rock on its ass, Johnny had said.
Oh, ever-loving hell. Nell dashed back into her bedroom and grabbed the Bee Cute bag from her dresser. I’m still not wearing them, but I’ll take them with me for luck.
The limousine was enormous. Not a party bus, but the next thing to it, the kind that took ten or twelve people to proms and weddings.
Nell came to a dead stop on the front steps of her apartment building. Neighbors who’d never paid her the slightest bit of attention were staring — at the shining black vehicle, then at her, then at the doorway to the building as though maybe she’d just come out by random chance while the bride or prom queen was delayed.
The chauffeur got out and came around to open the door, and when Nell didn’t immediately rush over and hop in, Eamonn unfolded himself from the limo’s comfortable interior and got out. No, not Eamonn. This is Easy. The low profile was gone.
Biker boots, a black leather vest. His tight chocolate brown t-shirt had the sleeves rolled to show off his inked arms. Heavy silver rings gleamed on his fingers. He’d done something to his hair to enhance its natural blond waves into a sexy tousled bedhead style, and his weekend beard had been trimmed to a fine stubble. He looked expensive and dangerous.
He leaned against the side of the limo and grinned at her, arms crossed, pleased maybe that his giant form of transportation had brought her to a standstill. There was something challenging and unpredictable about him today, a wildfire energy she hadn’t seen in him before. They stared at each other. Would he come to her or would she go to him? She had a bad feeling that if he made that move, it would involve a public kiss, and there was already more attention on them than she felt comfortable with.
Take command of the situation. She closed the distance between them with confident strides and rose up on her tiptoes to plant a quick kiss on his stubbled jaw. Before he could react, she tossed her backpack into the vehicle, said a quick “thank you” to the chauffeur, and got in.
“I can put your bag in the trunk, ma’am,” the chauffeur said.
There’s lots of room in here, Nell wanted to say, but both men seemed to expect that bags would go in the trunk as a matter of course, so she handed it out for the chauffeur to take.
Through the limo door, she could see that more people were starting to gather, many of them taking pictures as Easy smiled and waved. A couple of women scuttled up and begged to take a selfie with him, and she could hear him say loudly enough for the rest of the crowd to hear, “Just this one, since you lucky ladies asked first, then I’ve got to go catch a plane with my girlfriend.”
In the next moment, he was climbing into the limo. There was a ridiculous amount of room, but he sat right beside her and put his arm around her shoulders, smiling out at the bystanders and waving once more as the chauffeur closed the door.
“What was that all about?” Nell asked, shrugging his arm away once there was no one to see.
He glanced at her in surprise but didn’t seem to realize there was a problem. “Oh, well, I’m not hiding anymore. I wanted to be recognized, so I got recognized.” The big car’s motor thrummed into life and pulled out into traffic, heading for the airport.
“No, I mean that performance. Being a cocky ass. Waiting for me to come to you. Telling those women they were lucky. Not thanking the driver.”
Eamonn laughed. “I’m a rock god, baby. I told you. It’s a different world.”
“No.” She pushed herself away from him to sit on the opposite bank of seats. “That’s crap. There is no world in which you’re excused from thanking people and being respectful and kind. Don’t fool yourself that it’s okay. And don’t think I can’t hear the difference when you call me baby like that, either.”
His brows lowered. He looked taken aback and pouty. “That’s quite a lecture. Are you going to hit me now?”
She seethed. It would be so easy to kick him, right from where she sat. But she knew she never would — her self-control was far too deeply ingrained to be broken by petty temptation. “I only ever defend myself. Are you planning to give me cause?”
That jolted him. “No! Look, I’m sorry I called you baby.”
“Don’t be obtuse. I’m used to your pet names by now. The problem is in the way you said it.”
He
