She chuckled, and her phone in her purse began to ring. She pulled it out and looked at it. “Oh my gosh. It’s the producer from Wake Up Wake County.”
I looked at my watch. It was almost eight at night. “Well, answer it. It’s got to be important if they’re calling this late.”
She was visibly shaking as she put the phone to her ear. “Hello?”
Leaning back against my truck, I watched her face melt from excitement to devastation. My heart began to thump harder in my chest. We’d had a nice date, but I felt an emotionally supportive obligation coming on. And I’m pretty good at a lot of things, but emotional support isn’t one of them.
Slowly, she pulled her phone down and pressed the red button to end the call. She stared at it for a moment. “They decided to go with someone else.”
Damn.
I reached out and pulled her into my arms. “I’m sorry, Shannon.”
She laid her head on my chest and sniffed. I was startled by how good it felt when she put her arms around my waist. For a moment, I stroked her golden hair. Pulling back a tad, I looked down at her. “You OK?”
Mascara had streaked her cheeks, and without a thought in my thick skull, I swiped it away with my thumbs. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
My eyebrows scrunched together. “Sorry? For what?”
She gestured to her face. “I’m a mess.”
I laughed. “No, the morning we woke up in bed together you were a mess. A few tears is nothing!”
She laughed and buried her face in my chest again. “Oh god,” she groaned with embarrassment.
I slid my hands down her arms and took her hands. “I have an idea. Get back in my truck.”
She pulled back. Her face was pitiful. “Nathan, you really don’t have to try and cheer me up—”
I cut her off. “Shannon, get in the truck.”
She smiled and wiped her nose on the back of her hand. “OK.”
Twenty minutes later, we were back at my apartment. “Follow me,” I instructed, walking down the hallway toward my room.
She hesitated at the front door. “Not to sound rude or anything, but if you’re trying to be seductive, it isn’t working.”
I laughed and turned back around. “Come on.”
Obediently, she followed me to my room. I pulled open a dresser drawer and found a black and red NC State University sweatshirt and a pair of drawstring pants. I held them out for her.
“What is this?” She was eyeing me with clear skepticism.
“You don’t have anywhere to be tonight, do you?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Well, no—”
I pushed the sweats against her chest. “Change.”
Before leaving my room for her to change clothes, I grabbed my comforter and pillows off my bed. Puzzled, she watched me without saying a word. When I left the room, I closed the door behind me.
In the living room, I moved the recliner out of the way and arranged the bedding on the floor. “I’ve got to buy a damn couch,” I muttered as I walked to the kitchen. I grabbed the carton of ice cream in my freezer and two spoons before walking back to the living room. My feet froze before the rest of my body when I saw Shannon standing in the center of the room wearing my clothes. I nearly toppled over. She giggled and looked down at her outfit. “It’s a little big,” she said.
“I think it’s perfect” slipped out before I could stop myself.
“What are you doing, Nathan?” She looked down at the pallet I’d made on the floor.
I stepped toward the entertainment center and searched my movie shelves. “I couldn’t exactly send you off to a hotel all depressed about the job.” I peeked back over my shoulder at her. “I don’t know you that well. You could jump out the window for all I know.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes.
Turning back to my DVD collection, I kept looking till I found what I was searching for. I turned back around with the ice cream in one hand and Legends of the Fall in the other. “Well, I can’t make them hire you,” I said. “But I do have Brad Pitt and Moose Tracks.”
Without a word, she flung her arms around my neck and buried her face in my shoulder. “Thank you, Nathan.”
I hooked my arm around her waist and pulled her close. Unable to resist, I kissed the bend of her neck. “You’re welcome.”
Once again, I woke up with Shannon Green. Only this time, we were on the floor of my living room and both fully dressed. She didn’t look like something out of a horror movie and I didn’t have a hangover. It was kinda nice. My back, however, reminded me that I was no longer sixteen and that sleeping on floors probably wasn’t the best idea. I groaned and arched my back off the floor to stretch the angry muscles.