When Carlos left work on Wednesday, all he wanted was a very strong
drink. His day had been full of minor disasters: a patient's dad had
yelled first at the patient, then at Carlos; he'd called a patient by the
wrong name, and then had called her by a different wrong name when
he tried to apologize; a nurse had dropped a tray of urine samples on
his shoes. Thank God he'd had an extra pair of shoes in his office.
Well, there was one other thing than just a strong drink that would
put him in a better mood . . .
"Oh hell, why not?" he said to himself and scrolled to Nik's name in
his phone.
Hey, you in the mood for that drink?
They'd been texting on and off since they'd seen each other last, but
until now neither of them had mentioned getting together again. He
kept almost bringing it up, but each time it was either so early in the
day that it would look too premeditated or so late in the evening that it
would look like a booty call. Now seemed like just the right time, but
with his luck today, she'd be out with another guy already.
He drove toward the grocery store while waiting to see if she'd
answer. He could stop for gas at the station next door. And if she said
no, or even worse, didn't answer, at least he could splurge on some
good bourbon.
Just as he pulled into the grocery store parking lot, his phone
buzzed.
I am absolutely in the mood for that drink, but I can't tonight. Courtney's in the
midst of a cupcake crisis; we have to deliver a zillion cupcakes up into the hills, her
help bailed on her and her car broke down so we have to do it all in mine.
Apparently, Courtney was having a day like he was.
Oh, the hell with it. He had no other plans tonight but to sit on the
couch and yell at his TV screen.Do you need help? I'm not far away, and my car is 100% functional.
He got her text back within seconds.
Are you sure? That would be a lifesaver, but seriously, if you're busy, it's no
problem.
Did he really want to spend his evening driving cupcakes around?
No, of course not. Did he have an ulterior motive for volunteering to
help? Obviously.
On my way.
When he got to Cupcake Park, Nik was standing in front waiting for
him.
"You're our hero. Drive around the back into the alley, that's where
we can load up. Just FYI, Courtney is freaking out, so don't be
surprised when you see her."
He waved and drove on into a narrow alley around the corner. He
pulled up when he saw a rack full of cupcake boxes and parked behind
Nik's car.
"Carlos!" Courtney came running to the car, with many colors of
frosting all over her pink and white apron. "You're a hero and a saint,
and I'll find a way to thank you but I can't do that right now because
we're in a time crunch. Help us load up."
Carlos jumped out of the car.
"Aye aye, captain."
They very carefully loaded what felt like hundreds of boxes of
cupcakes into the two cars, while Courtney ran back and forth bringing
more boxes out.
"Only on the floor!" Courtney shouted. "No boxes on seats! They'll
fall off at the slightest hit of the brakes and disaster will strike."
He couldn't look at Nik, otherwise he knew he would laugh out
loud.
"See what I meant about her freaking out?" Nik said as soon as
Courtney went back inside.
He nodded.
"You weren't kidding about a cupcake crisis."They unceremoniously tossed all of the crap that had been in both
his and Nik's trunks into the back room at Cupcake Park to maximize
the space for the cupcakes. When they were all loaded up to Courtney's
specifications, she programmed the address of the place they were
going into Nik's phone, and took Nik's car key out of her hand.
"I'll take your car and meet you two there." She pointed her finger
at Carlos. "No crazy driving, do you hear me?"
He turned to Nik.
"Why would she say that to me? I'm an excellent driver."
Nik laughed at him and got in the passenger seat.
"You'd better drive like you're transporting a tiny baby. If a single
one of those cupcakes arrives with even slightly smashed frosting,
Courtney will murder you."
He pulled out of the alley and zoomed toward the freeway.
"I'm offended that you would even feel the need to tell me that. I've
been driving on L.A. freeways since I was practically a toddler. Those
cupcakes will arrive in perfect condition, mark my words." He revved
the motor at a stoplight, and Courtney, in the car next to his, looked
over at him in horror.
"You just woke up the baby in the back seat, and it's pissed," Nik
said.
He sped through the light when it turned green and laughed on his
way to the freeway entrance.
"I was in a terrible mood, but that look on Courtney's face just
cheered me right up. She might kill me, but it'll be worth it."
"Oh, she will definitely kill you, but she'll kill you after you get her
cupcakes to the event." Nik relaxed into his passenger seat. "Speaking
of babies, how's your cousin?"
He ran his hand through his hair and sighed.
"She's hanging in there, thanks for asking. Oh, she told me she tore
through that Jamestown book and loved it. I'm not sure if that's
because she was anxious or bored, but either way it helped, so thanks
for the recommendation.""My pleasure." He glanced back in her direction just to see her
smile. "It's always good to find people who seem nice and normal and
share my love for this genre. It makes me feel less evil to be so into
such terrible stories. Wait. Your cousin is nice and normal, isn't she?"
To be honest, he'd always kind of thought that Jessie's love of true
crime showed the evil side to her, but he probably shouldn't say that
out loud.
"I guess that depends what you're comparing 'nice and normal'
against," he said.
Nik laughed.
"Well, you and your sister both seem . . ." She looked sideways at
him. "Nah, I take that back. Your sister seems nice and normal, maybe.
You, I don't know."
He shook his head.
"See, this is what happens when you go out of your way to help
people—they spend the whole time insulting you."
Nik patted him on the thigh. He wished she would leave her hand
there, but no luck.
"But seriously," she asked, "did you have to go far out of your way to
come help? Where do you live, anyway?"
He pretended he was checking to change lanes just to look over at
her. He would have driven from clear across the city just to see the way
she looked in that tank top.
"Atwater Village, not too far from here. But I was even closer,
because I was at the Vons in Silver Lake when I got your text."
"Oh wow, Atwater Village is such a great neighborhood," she said.
"How long have you lived there?"
Her hair was back in one big ponytail. His fingers ached to pull it
out and run them through it.
"Let's see, it's the end of May? Almost six months. I bought it in
January, which is a terrible time to move, especially with a brand-new
job. But it was all kind of a fluke. I lucked into it. The seller had just
gotten a new job on the East Coast and had to sell fast, so I got a good
deal.""Congratulations, that's fantastic," she said.
"I still can't believe I'm a homeowner." Sometimes when he looked
at his house keys, it still blew him away that the place was all his. "It's
tiny, but it works for me."
He pulled onto the freeway exit.
"Oh look, there's Courtney in my car," Nik said, gesturing to the car
in front of them at the light.
"Have you been friends for a long time?" Carlos asked.
Nik nodded.
"We went to Stanford together. We lived next door to each other
junior year. One night she got locked out and knocked on my door, and
we've basically been friends ever since."
He and Courtney both turned to head up into the winding roads
into the hills. He hoped that none of the cupcake boxes moved while
they went around curves. As much as he'd teased both Nik and
Courtney on the way here, he really did want the cupcakes to arrive
looking perfect.
"Is that how you met Dana, too?"
She nodded.
"Yeah, but not in the dorms. I met Dana through a theater group on
campus. One night, the director hit on Dana in a pretty gross way, and
Courtney came with me to rescue Dana." She shook her head and
laughed. "Long story short, that guy woke up the next morning with
spray paint all over his beloved car. I'm not going to say how it
happened, because no one ever found out. I'll just say that Courtney is
a really good person to have on your side."
He'd be sure to keep that in mind. He loved his car too much not to.
"Did you move to L.A. together?"
She shook her head.
"No, Courtney moved here right after graduation and has been here
ever since. I moved to New York after graduation, but I couldn't stay
away from California too long."
He had always fantasized a little about moving to New York, but
both the weather and the distance from his family had always held him back.
"Do you think you're going to stay here?" he asked.
One of her curls had escaped from her ponytail. She tucked it back
in.
"Oh yeah. I've been in L.A. for six years, and it's home now. I can't
imagine living anywhere else."
He nodded.
"Granted, I've lived in L.A. most of my life, but I agree. Also, how
much farther?"
Nik looked at her phone for the directions.
"Only half a mile."
He grinned at her.
"How much do you think Courtney is freaking out now?"
Nik leaned back against her seat and considered.
"Well, she'll definitely be calmer now that we've got your help, but
she's always hyped up before she does an event. She'll be in drill
sergeant mode when we get out of the car; I'm going to prepare you for
that now."
Just then, the GPS told them that their location was up ahead on
the right. Courtney was already there. She jumped out of the car right
when they pulled up and came straight over to his car, already talking.
"Listen to me very carefully. Do not take a single box out of this car
without my supervision. Open the trunk and all of the doors, but don't
touch anything yet. I'll go inside to see where we should unload, I'll be
right back."
She pulled her apron off to reveal an identical clean apron
underneath, flipped her head upside down and redid her ponytail, and
walked up to the house. Carlos got out of the car and obediently
opened his back two doors and the trunk. He and Nik leaned against
the car, almost, but not quite, touching.
He looked down at her. That rogue curl had escaped her ponytail
again. He couldn't resist tucking it back in. She smiled her thanks at
him. "Hey." She put her hand on his arm. "Thank you so much for
helping us. We could have done this ourselves; it just would have been
much more stressful for both of us, especially Courtney."
He slung his arm around her shoulders.
"Does this mean that I get free Cupcake Park cupcakes for life?
Because I think that would be an appropriate token of gratitude."
Nik relaxed against him.
"I don't know about for life, but I'm pretty sure you're going to get
quite a few free cupcakes out of this. Just make sure to say—"
Courtney came racing out of the door, flanked by two waiters.
"We have reinforcements! Okay, everyone. I'm going to hand the
boxes out of the cars to each of you, and we'll all walk inside carrying a
box and put them on the designated table in the kitchen. Nik and
Carlos, follow Andre and Kevin here once you have your cupcakes.
We'll do this until we get them all unloaded."
• • •
As the five of them went back and forth from the cars to the kitchen,
Nik shook her head at herself. Most people who had the hots for the
sexy doctor nearby would ask him to get a drink, or would text him
increasingly suggestive jokes until he got the hint, or would "injure"
themselves and call him in a panic, preferably while wearing a casually
elegant sundress and a sexy bra. No, she'd asked him to come help her
and her panicked friend drive dozens of cupcakes up into the hills and
then carry them as gently as they would bombs about to detonate. And
she was wearing an old tank top and torn jeans. And not the artfully
torn kind.
Courtney owed her big for this one.
"Okay." Courtney glanced at the clock after the four of them had
stacked all twenty boxes on the table. "I need to set up my trays and
arrange the cupcakes, but I don't need help for that; I have plenty of
time. Thanks to you two. You can go."
Nik turned to Carlos and hugged him.
"Thank you so much. Go and have your relaxing evening." She
turned back to Courtney. "Where should I wait for you?"Courtney looked at her like she was an idiot.
"You don't have to wait; you can go, too."
Nik returned her look.
"You don't have a car, remember? I have to drive you home."
Courtney pointed at Carlos.
"He can drive you home. I'll bring you back your car tomorrow. If
you're waiting around for me, it'll stress me out."
Nik looked at Courtney. She saw the glimmer in Courtney's eyes.
Ohhhhh. Courtney was trying to throw the two of them together. Nik
looked away.
"I can drive you home, no problem," Carlos said.
Courtney looked victorious. No one ever called her subtle.
"Are you sure? I'm not really on your way, am I?" Nik asked him.
Why was she asking him that; what the hell was wrong with her? Just
get in the damn sports car with the hot man, Nikole.
He shrugged.
"No, but you're not that far out of my way."
Courtney winked at her and turned to open the cupcake boxes.
"Thanks for your help, Carlos. Your next dozen cupcakes are on
me."
"Are you sure she doesn't need us to stay and help?" Carlos asked as
Nik got back into the passenger seat of his car.
Nik shook her head and put her seat belt on. Okay, this was it,
right? She didn't remember how to do this kind of thing. She hadn't
been at all interested in the past few guys she'd dated until well after
they'd asked her out . . . and sometimes, not even then. Should she ask
him if he wanted to get that drink after all, on her? Should she just
invite him up to her apartment when they got to her place and pounce
on him? Or should she just wait to see if he made a move?
"Oh, she definitely doesn't need us. Courtney is the ultimate
micromanager when it comes to her cupcakes. She only let us carry the
boxes tonight out of sheer necessity."
Carlos nodded and turned the car on."Well, she's done a great job so far doing it all herself," he said. "I
get the impulse."
She could put her hand on his leg or something? Why was she so
bad at this? She was usually great at flirting with men. Had she lost
her mojo?
"I do, too, but I wish she had more reliable help. Thank goodness I
live close by and could race down to the store today."
Carlos touched her hand.
"You're a good friend. She's lucky to have you."
Nik felt her cheeks get warm.
"Oh, well—"
His phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket.
"Oh shit. I'm going to have to take this. Sorry about that." He pulled
over under a clump of trees and turned the car off.
"Hey," he answered the phone. "Is something wrong? What's your
blood pressure?"
Really? His cousin, right now? She tried not to let out a frustrated
sigh. She was pretty sure this meant the universe was against this
whole rebound idea.
She sat there silently, trying not to listen. Which was impossible
because he was two feet away from her. She pulled out her phone to
text Dana so she wasn't too obviously eavesdropping.
Sitting here, next to Carlos, I think I've forgotten what to do with men, all I can talk
about are cupcakes and I keep laughing too loud, help—erase erase erase erase.
Just because he was facing out his window didn't mean he wouldn't
turn around at any moment and be able to see everything she was
typing.
"Don't give me this 'I just wanted to talk to my cousin' bullshit—you
know I'm going to worry whenever you call me from here on out. And I
already told you that engagement party was fun, and that I think two of
Alexa's friends secretly have the hots for each other. Did you forget
that phone call? Oh! I get it! You're bored stiff. You're used to talking
to people at work all day and now you're stuck at home. I get it, bed
rest would bore me to tears, too. We have to find more ways to
entertain you. What about those books I got you?"Carlos turned to her and smiled, and she smiled back. He reached
up and tucked that annoying curl that kept falling out of her ponytail
behind her ear. God, she loved it when he touched her like that.
He moved his hand down from her head to her shoulder. His
fingers moved gently, up and down her bare shoulder. She sighed.
Suddenly he let out a bark of laughter. It made her want to laugh
along with it.
"You've read how many?" He looked down at Nik with a huge smile
on his face. "Which was your favorite?"
Oh good, she could stop pretending she wasn't listening.
"You loved them all?" He held eye contact with Nik, and his smile
got even bigger. She could feel a matching smile spread across her own
face. "I'll be sure to tell my friend who recommended them how you
felt about them.
"I guess I'd better buy you some more. In the meantime, I've heard
there's this thing called Netflix. You should look into it."
He kept smiling at Nik. It took all she could to resist leaning against
him. His eyes crinkled with the laughter she could tell he was holding
in.
"As a matter of fact, people do tell me that I'm funny. I'll bring more
books on Saturday, okay?"
He hung up the phone and tucked it back into his pocket. He
pushed his hand through his hair and smiled at her.
"As you heard, Jessie loved the books."
She bit her bottom lip. Good Lord, this man was more attractive by
the second.
"I'm glad." She leaned toward him and willed him to start playing
with her hair again.
A car shot past them on its way up the hill, and they moved away
from each other.
"We should get you home."
He turned the key and gunned the motor to get them back onto the
roadway. The engine sputtered and stopped."Uh-oh." Carlos turned the key again, and nothing happened.
"Shit."
"Did you run out of gas?" she asked him.
"What? No, that's impossible. I never run out of gas. I went to the
gas station tonight, right after I went to the grocery store . . ." He
trailed off, then looked at her in horror. "I didn't go to the grocery
store. I didn't go to the gas station! I was on my way to the grocery
store when I got your text. Shit. I did run out of gas."
She patted him on the shoulder.
"It's okay; it's no big deal. We can call Triple A. You do have Triple
A, right?"
He nodded, but made no move toward his phone or wallet.
"I never run out of gas! I can't believe I let this happen to my car. I
never even get down below a quarter tank, but this week has been so
busy and I let it go way longer than usual."
Nik narrowed her eyes at his steering wheel.
"Didn't you notice your gas light go on?"
He refused to make eye contact.
"The thing is . . . I always keep my gas tank at least a quarter full, so
the gas light in this car has never gone on before. So . . . yes, it went on,
but I was preoccupied, and I'd never seen it before so I didn't . . ." She
held her laughter in so well, even when he finally turned to look at her,
but something in her eyes must have betrayed her. He frowned at her.
"The gas light in this car is in a weird place, okay? Are you laughing at
me?"
She shook her head and rubbed her hand up and down his arm.
"No, I'm not laughing at you. I'm desperately trying not to laugh at
you, here."
She knew how touchy men were about their cars. He would
probably get mad at her for that, but she couldn't help making fun of
him.
But he grinned at her.
"Okay, fine, I will admit that this is a little funny." He put his arm
around her shoulders and lowered his voice. "You have to promise to never tell anyone about this, though. I have a reputation to uphold."
She nodded and turned so her lips were almost touching his ear.
"Cross my heart; it's our secret. Just one question: do you think you
maybe want to call Triple A to get us out of here?"
He pulled his wallet and phone both out of his pocket.
"Right, of course."
He made a face at her when he got off the phone.
"They're on their way, but it'll be a while. Apparently, 'out of gas in
a safe spot in the hills' is low priority."
Nik took off her seatbelt and leaned toward him.
"We might as well get comfortable while we wait for them." She
looked around the car. "How long have you had this car, anyway?"
He closed his eyes for a moment before answering her.
"Almost five years."
His car had confused her, ever since she'd gotten to know him a
little bit. He didn't seem like the kind of guy to be obsessed with his
bright red sports car, but from his reaction when the car had run out of
gas, that seemed like exactly what he was. Granted, people in L.A.
tended to care about their cars more than anywhere else she'd ever
been, so maybe it was just that.
"Why did you buy it?" she asked. "A celebration of a new job or
something?"
He shook his head, but didn't say anything. He ran his fingers down
the steering wheel. The silence went on so long that she didn't think he
was going to answer her at all. She opened her mouth to ask him
another question when he finally spoke.
"My dad died. Almost five years ago, my dad died."
Oh God. Leave it to her to ask the asshole question.
"Oh Carlos, I'm so sorry. You don't have to . . ."
He shook his head and kept talking.
"My parents didn't have lots of money—they always managed to
give us all of the important stuff, but they were both school teachers for thirty years; they were never flush. But it turned out that he had a ton
of life insurance. Some in my mom's name, of course. But some in
mine, and some in my sister's. After he died and I got this enormous—
to me, at least—check . . ." He paused for a second before continuing.
"Well, I didn't know what to do with it. I deposited it in my savings
account, and just let it sit there for a while. I was going to use it to pay
off some of my med school loans. I probably should have used it to pay
off some of my med school loans. But then one day, I took a different
way home from work. I saw the sun gleaming off of a bright red sports
car with a big price tag on the windshield. I turned straight into the lot
and bought that car an hour later. My dad always liked flashy things.
Sometimes I feel like that was a stupid way to use his legacy, but . . . I
think he'd like this car a lot."
She pulled him into a hug. His head dropped down on her shoulder,
and they sat there together for a few minutes, breathing with each
other.
"Thanks for telling me," she said.
"Thanks for listening," he said.
His hands moved up and down her back, and then gently through
her hair.
She turned her head and kissed his jaw. His cheek.
He pulled back to look at her. She looked back at him: his kind big
dark-brown eyes; his thick almost-black hair that she was dying to
touch; his warm skin, with stubble already visible along his jawline;
that hint of a dimple in his cheek; his lips, a dusky pink, not quite
smiling, but looking like they would smile at any minute.
He lifted his hand from her shoulder and stroked her cheek, and she
smiled.
He slid his hand around to the back of her neck and pulled her
toward him. And finally, finally, he kissed her. Soft, at first. Not
tentative, but slow. Gentle. Tender. She hadn't realized just how much
she'd wanted him to kiss her until just this moment. She kissed him
back the same way, happy to let him take the lead, as long as he stayed
here in this car and kept kissing her.
Her hands went up into his hair, that hair she'd been wanting to
touch for so long, and she sighed with some combination of relief and lust.
That sigh seemed to signal something to him. He pulled her tighter
against him, and his hand ran down the side of her body. His lips, his
tongue, got stronger, and she met his urgency with her own. He pulled
away, and she almost moaned in frustration, but then he trailed his
mouth down her neck, kissing and biting and kissing again, until her
hands gripped his hair and she gasped.
He raised his head.
"You liked that?" he asked, as he nuzzled her ear.
"God, yes," she said.
"That's what I was hoping," he said. She turned her head and kissed
him again.
"I've been wanting to do this ever since I met you," he said.
"Oh my God, me, too," she said. She didn't realize how true that was
until she said it out loud.
They looked at each other and laughed. He brushed her hair back
from her face and smiled at her. That same smile that had made her
trust him at Dodger Stadium. She pulled his face to hers and kissed
him again and again.
She started to pull away to say something witty, but he ran his
tongue around her lips, so she had no choice but to open them and
meet his tongue with her own. His hands kept moving, this time up
and down her torso. He lingered beneath her breasts and then started
making long, slow, circles around them that got progressively smaller
and smaller.
"I like that, too," she said, breathing hard.
"Good. I hoped you did. Because I really like doing it," he said as he
reached her hard nipples. He leaned forward to keep kissing her as he
touched them. Why had she held off kissing this man for so long?
"Are we . . ." He touched her in a way that made her gasp and lose
her train of thought for a second. "Are we going to get in trouble if
someone finds us like this? We are up in the hills, after all. I don't
know if a lot of people who look like us live up here."
He pulled back, but his hands lingered on her breasts. "You're right. I definitely don't want some rich dude who lives up
here to call the cops on us. I haven't made out in a car since . . . my
God, since I was in high school, I think." His hands slid down to her
thighs. "The problem is, and the thing that I'd forgotten is . . . making
out in cars is really hot."
She glanced down and saw the clear evidence of how turned on he
was.
"Mmmm, it is, isn't it?" She put her hand on his knee. "Do you
know that this is the first time I've ever made out like this in a car?" He
watched her fingers trail up and down his thighs, never getting quite
where she knew he wanted them to be.
"Never? How is that possible?" he asked, not raising his eyes.
"I have no idea, but I was clearly missing out." Her fingers did little
loops on the insides of his thighs, and he let out a breath.
"Uh-huh. Is your first time everything you wanted it to be?" He
raised his eyes to hers.
"Everything and more." She leaned forward to kiss him and to move
her hand higher.
HONNNNNNNNK.
They sprang apart and looked up at the mechanic's truck parked in
front of them. Carlos's cheeks got red and he bent down to reach for his
wallet.
"You the one who called about running out of gas?" The guy was at
the window, a leer on his face that Nik wanted to smack off of it. Maybe
after a few more self-defense classes she could.
"That's me." Carlos got out of the car and handed him his driver's
license and AAA card.
Nik looked out the car window without seeing a thing. Holy shit,
this really seemed to be happening. Was she sure she wanted to do
this? She'd felt sure while Carlos was kissing her. But she still felt
hesitant. Something about Carlos seemed different than the guys she
usually went out with. She didn't know if it was different good or
different bad. The uncertainty made her nervous.
After far too much chatting, the mechanic poured a gallon of gas
into Carlos's tank and gave him a screen to sign. He winked at her before he got back in his van. She rolled her eyes.
"Oh my God." Carlos got back in the car and shook his head. "I
haven't gotten caught in a car making out with a girl since I was
seventeen. And then it wasn't even my car! I'm twice that age now; at
least the car is a lot better." He wrapped his arms around her. "And the
girl is, too."
Okay, hearing that was almost worth getting checked out by the
mechanic. She lifted her face to him, and he kissed her hard.