“It’s not about the money, Nicole. And you, of all people, should know better than to make it into that.”
“I’m sorry. I just can’t figure out what happened. When I left, you wanted nothing to do with the guy. And then—“
“Then I spent some time with him,” Danielle said. “And I don’t really feel like justifying myself to you right now. Excuse me, I should put all this stuff in my room and then I need to get some rest. Kane’s coming to pick me up later on for dinner.”
Danielle collected her bags—although she could only barely carry them all at once—and walked into her room, slamming the door shut behind her.
Red looked at Nicole. “Did that really just happen?”
Nicole sighed. “Shit.”
“Well, as long as she’s happy, right?”
“Yeah.” Nicole didn’t know what to say or think. She was conflicted. On the one hand, she was judging Danielle in much the same way others had judged her about Red. On the other hand, she actually knew Kane Wright, she knew him enough to be fairly certain he wasn’t a good person. And regardless, he’d done too much to hurt the father of her child.
“Do you want to get out of here, come home with me tonight?” Red asked her.
“I don’t know. I’m worried about her. I still want to make sure she’s really okay.”
“Babe, she’s okay. Liking a jerky guy isn’t a federal offense, last I checked.”
“The thing is, I feel totally responsible. If it wasn’t for me—“
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Nicole.” He came over and wrapped his arms around her. Then he kissed her full on the lips.
Instantly, she felt better. Her entire body relaxed. She rested her head against his chest. “What about that money you wired? Is he just going to keep it?”
Red sighed. “I have no idea, but we can deal with it later. Come home with me.”
Nicole shook her head. “I need to talk to Danielle a little more and try and make sure she’s really okay. And I should probably apologize for treating her the way I did.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“Also…I want to get up early and head into work. I’m giving my notice tomorrow.”
Red pulled back and looked her in the eye. “Why are you giving notice?”
“Well, you said we’re starting that new company. I don’t want to work for your chief rival.”
He smiled. “I’d love to have you come and work with me. My first employee!”
Red picked her up and twirled her around, making sure to put her down gently, so as not to hurt her sore ankle.
“I love you,” she told him, kissing him.
Their mouths molded around each other, their tongues intertwined. She put a hand up and felt his rugged, bristly new whiskers. Even now she was horny for him. She wanted him to pick her up and fuck her against the wall.
But then they broke off their kiss. “I should go home,” he said, checking his phone. “You and Danielle won’t resolve anything with me lounging around here, and I need to get back and do some paperwork.”
“Okay,” Nicole said, missing him already. “Drive safe, though. Seriously, don’t drive above the speed limit.”
“When you’ve handed in your notice tomorrow, call me. I’ll meet you in the city,” he told her, heading toward the door.
“Okay.” She smiled, tugging on his shirt as he left. “You know how amazing you are, right?” she asked.
Red grinned, stopping and looking at her. “Baby, I got nothing on you.”
***
“Knock, knock,” Nicole said, standing outside Danielle’s door.
“Come in,” she called back.
Nicole opened the door and put a smile on her face. Danielle was lying in bed on her laptop, typing rapid-fire. She looked up at Nicole and tried to smile in return, but it was obvious her heart wasn’t in it.
“Listen, I want to apologize to you for how I reacted when you first came in,” Nicole said, holding the doorknob and twisting it in her hand nervously. “I just was so worried about you these last two days when I couldn’t get in touch with you…”
Danielle put her laptop to the side. “I’m sorry that I didn’t think to leave you a message. It just all happened so fast and you kind of disappeared yourself.”
Nicole laughed. “Talk about pot meeting kettle. I did the same thing as what I was frustrated with you about, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, kinda sorta.”
laughed too. “And it’s like the tenth time you disappeared on me without telling me what was going on.”
“Shit. I’m really a big dummy,” Nicole said. “Forgive me?”
“Of course.”
“So…it went well with Kane?” Nicole said.
“I feel weird telling you about it. I mean, I want to shout it from the rooftops, but with all the baggage between you guys and Kane, I don’t know if you want to hear me gush about him.”
“Gush away,” Nicole said, forcing levity to her voice that she totally didn’t feel in reality.
“Seriously?” Danielle said.