Page 19 of Sweet as Sin (Bad Habit 1)
Chloe’s enthusiasm was met with another death glare from Grace. I sat for a moment, nursing a minor nervous breakdown, trying to decide.
“Okay. I’ll be right back.”
“Kat!”
I slid from the booth and walked quickly to the restroom before Grace could tackle me and wrestle the phone from my hand. Once inside, I hid in a stall and sat on the toilet. I put the phone against my ear, waiting.
“I can hear you breathin’.”
“It’s something people normally do.”
“Yeah,” said Nico, “except you seem to be doin’ it pretty loud. Were you runnin’? Like you ran away from me earlier?”
“How did you get this number?”
The silence that followed was deafening. Then: “You’re not happy I called.”
“I had a stalker once. I didn’t like it.”
“Did you call the police?”
“I shot him.”
There was a longer, even more deafening pause.
“I’m kidding. I just had to move, and change my phone number.”
“Just? That’s more than a just.”
“Well, yeah. Which brings me back to my original question.”
There was some rustling on the other end of the phone. It sounded like he was sitting up, or lying down. I pictured him reclining in bed, and resisted asking him what he was wearing.
“Hungry Man.”
That was the production company that hired Chloe for the job, who in turn recommended me. This meant Nico had probably only had to make one or two calls to get my number. That wasn’t very stalkerish.
Only it sort of was considering I’d told him I had a boyfriend when he asked for my number at the end of the shoot. Grace would have a field day with that little tidbit.
“You’re not sayin’ anything.”
“I’m trying to decide if this relationship is going to end with me calling the police on you.”
I felt his grin through the phone. “So we’re in a relationship now.”
Rubbing my forehead, I closed my eyes. “Remember earlier today, when I said I had a boyfriend?”
“Yeah, I do. And remember before that, when I said you were a liar?”
“Do you think you’re being cute?”
“I’m a lot of things, Kat, but cute isn’t one of ’em.”
He said the word “cute” as if it tasted really bad coming out of his mouth. I had to smile at how much that irritated him.
“Well, my friend Grace would agree with you there. She thinks you have a huge ego, you never hear the word ‘no,’ and you’re only interested in me because you hate not getting your way.”
The pauses in this conversation were growing longer and longer.
