Mr. Imperfect

chapter 48



Nothing was going according to plan. Before Fredrik had beat her to the punch Rori had planned on taking Mike to dinner, getting a little alcohol in their systems, and taking him home. Instead they spent the evening in a room full of gay men. And when they’d gone back to her place it had been past midnight and Mike had focused on unpacking.

Mike had been in New York over eight hours and she hadn’t even gotten a hug.

The next morning he had been out the door before she even woke up. As it was, the smell of freshly brewed coffee woke her about ten minutes before her alarm was supposed to go off. When she got up there was half a pot of fresh coffee and a note pointing her to an omelet under the lid of a pan on the stove.

That was the only evidence she had of his presence until later that night.

When she came back to her place that night and found Mike editing some footage and interviews he had picked up that day. She’d been about to invite him to dinner again when she saw tamales steaming on the stove.

Between disappearing all day, taking care of the cooking, and staying behind his computer when they were in the same room, the guy wasn’t making it very easy to seduce him. Not unless she was supposed to just take off her clothes and straddle him in his computer chair.

Even worse? She needed to arm him with some mood-killing updates.

“My parents will be here tomorrow night,” she said, checking on the tamales. “I would invite you to dinner with us, but it will already be psychotically uncomfortable.”

“Yeah? Your mom and your dad?”

“Apparently. I just heard from my biological father today. He says he’s coming, but that doesn’t mean much. I’ll believe it when I see it. But my mom and step-dad are coming for sure, and it looks like Anton might be making it to the opening as well. I guess that’s what I get for serving his wine at the event. Now he feels like he needs to be a brand ambassador.”

“Makes sense,” he said, appearing from head to toe as if the news didn’t bother him. Well, it bothered Rori. How in the world was she supposed to get together with Mike if Anton showed up? “How long has it been since you’ve seen your mom?”

Rori blinked herself back to the present. “April, I think.”

“Wow. That’s a long time.”

Rori shrugged. “It’s not like with your family. My family is good with distance. You’ll get a better feel for the dynamic tomorrow, but the point is that I do want to take you out at some point. You deserve to eat at a nice restaurant while you’re here.”

“Yeah, Chloe was mentioning a few places—”

“Chloe?” Rori snapped.

“Yeah. She works in the museum. Short, spiky, blonde hair?”

“I know who she is.” I just don’t know why you’re talking about restaurants with her.

Mike grinned. “I like her vibe. She’s all rough on the outside and gooey in the middle. Is that a New York thing?”

“Yep,” Rori said, not trusting herself to say more. How was it possible that she was the person spending the least amount of time with Mike now that he was in town? And how had she still not gotten so much as a hug? If she didn’t know any better she would say that Mike was avoiding her.

Just then Rori’s phone rang, showing Fredrik’s name. She didn’t want to answer, for once, but duty had her picking up anyway. “Hi, boss.”

“We have a problem,” he said. “Your shipment just came in for the show from your agent and as far as I can tell six pieces are missing.”

“What?”

“I know. I triple checked, hon. I have no idea where they might be. Could you come down here and get your agent on the phone?”

“I’ll be right there,” she said and hung up.

Mike glanced up. “Emergency?”

“Isn’t that how it always turns out?” she said. “Will you be okay? I’m not sure how long I’ll be.”

“I’m good,” he said. “Go do what you need to do.”

Rori did, and by the time she got back Mike was in bed and the tamales were in the fridge. She didn’t see him again until the next night.

No, things were not going remotely as planned.