The day just kept getting better and better, and it wasn’t even nine o’clock yet. “Nicki, what else did you tell her?”
She winked. “Just that every girl has her favorite flower, which is why you have a frequent flyer card at the local florist.” She laughed at his sigh of exasperation. “You should really be more original, Michael.”
“You’re right. I should be.” He winked at her and turned away, opened the spigot in the big coffee urn and filled up his cup while Nicole stood there, waiting for him to say something more. When he didn’t, she clucked at him. “Don’t be like that Michael,” she purred. “It’s not like I care if you are seeing her. Do whatever you want, I don’t care.”
He picked up his cup, took a sip, smiled charmingly at Nicole, and touched her flower before lifting his gaze to hers. “While I appreciate your permission, I am not seeing her.” And he walked away.
He could almost feel the daggers from Nicole’s eyes in his back.
He walked out of the tent, back to the little office, and groaned when he saw that all of T.A. was fully present and accounted for.
Jack started chuckling the moment Michael entered, which made Cooper and Eli look up and around. “What’s so funny?” Cooper asked.
“Mikey is having some issues,” Jack offered.
“Oh yeah?” Eli asked, looking at Michael curiously. “Not more budget issues, I hope.”
“Oh hell no, not budget,” Jack said, swiveling around in his squeaky seat again. “Mikey’s having issues of a more feminine nature.”
That certainly garnered Eli and Cooper’s attention—simultaneously, they broke into wide, gleeful grins.
“Say it ain’t so!” Cooper laughed. “Not Mikey. Not our golden boy, who’s never had a feminine issue in his whole sorry life.”
“Now Coop, go easy,” Eli said, grinning just as broadly as the other two bastards. “Every dog has his day.”
In response, Michael slapped Cooper’s boots down from the only empty chair in the room so he could sit down.
“So who is it this time?” Eli asked. “The brunette with the big sunglasses?”
“Who, Yin?” Cooper asked, and wrinkled his nose. “That one has as a mouth on her. But I’ll give you credit for having picked a looker.”
“Actually,” Jack said, leaning forward between Eli and Cooper. “It’s Yang.”
“Yang!” Eli whistled at that. “Now that is one fine-looking woman. I’ll tell you what, if I weren’t otherwise attached, that gal is the one I’d be following around like a hound dog,” he said, nodding enthusiastically. “And she’s a little more coordinated than the others. That’s a plus.”
Michael had to wonder about a guy who thought coordination on an obstacle course was actually a plus.
“So what’s the deal?” Cooper asked, and leaned forward to clap Michael on the shoulder. “Something we can help you with? A few bedroom tips? New moves?”
Michael couldn’t help but laugh wryly at that. “The day I need tips from you is the day I shoot myself.” That earned a round of guffaws.
“Come on, Mikey, tell us,” Jack urged him. “We’re your partners. We’re here to help.”
“Like hell you are. And besides, there’s nothing to tell.”
“Who are you kidding? You forget I saw you do that weird little jump in New York when you saw her,” Jack reminded him.
“New York?” Cooper asked, squinting at Michael.
“He saw her in a commercial and almost came out of his shorts,” Jack happily explained.
Cooper, Eli, and Jack looked to Michael for confirmation. He shrugged his answer, which prompted a round of very loud howls.
“A commercial?” Eli gasped through his laughter.
“A laxative commercial!” Jack squealed, and the three of them doubled over with laughter again.
Fortunately, Michael had a healthy sense of self. Otherwise, he might have been highly offended. But he knew these jokers and just sipped his coffee until they’d laughed themselves dry.
“Okay, okay,” Cooper said, wiping a tear from beneath his eye. “Since when do you fall for the chick in a laxative commercial?”
“I didn’t fall for the chick in a laxative commercial,” Michael said evenly. “I knew her a long time ago. And I . . .” He what? He swallowed hard, but couldn’t seem to force the words.
“And you . . . what?” Jack asked, still smiling.
“I ah . . . I . . . ahem . . . I guess I had a . . .” He gestured lamely. “Had a thing for her,” he muttered.
That was met with silence all around—all three men were staring at him as if he’d suddenly sprouted a couple of extra noses.
Cooper was the first to speak. “You had a thing for a woman? Like a real thing? Like Eli-has-for-Marnie thing?”
With a sigh, Michael nodded. “You could say that.”
“I’ll be damned,” Jack said, leaning back in his seat as Michael took another sip of coffee. “I’ll be damned.”