Part 7 (2/2)
”If Lady Love were interested, you'd have half the guys in Baltimore at your door. But from that moony look you get on your face whenever you start talking about this guy who lives downstairs, I guess Lady Love's not available.”
Kelsey grimaced and wiped her sticky fingers on a napkin.
”I'm not moony,” she said. She hadn't realized her feelings for Mitch had been so obvious. Of course, Brian was very perceptive.
”No, of course you're not, sweetie,” Brian said with a grin, as if humoring her mood.
Her mood stank. After Mitch's rejection earlier that afternoon, she hadn't known whether to laugh or cry. She'd done a little of both, then sat quietly and calmly and thought about her relations.h.i.+p with Mitch.
It was done. Whatever fantasies she had about him were finished, and good riddance to them. Well, she had to admit, maybe her fantasies themselves weren't done. After that kiss, that embrace, that flash of absolute electricity they'd shared, she imagined her fantasies were going to get a lot more intense! But her slight belief that maybe something would come of those fantasies...that was gone. Mitch had rejected her for the last time. Right now, he was probably feeling so embarra.s.sed he wouldn't come near her again. And that suited her just fine.
MITCH WASN'T THINKING totally clearly, but he knocked on her door anyway, muttering, ”I owe you one, Kelsey Logan. You've got this coming.” totally clearly, but he knocked on her door anyway, muttering, ”I owe you one, Kelsey Logan. You've got this coming.”
He s.h.i.+vered slightly as a draft swept up from downstairs, blowing under the towel he wore around his hips. Curling his toes on the cool wood floor, he wished she'd hurry up and answer. Every second she delayed made him think about heading back downstairs. But his reflexes were perhaps the tiniest bit slower because of his mood...and, possibly, the scotch. Before he had time to forget the whole stupid idea, Kelsey's apartment door opened.
Kelsey had really expected Celia to be standing in her doorway with a plateful of cookies. Instead, a six-foot-tall, nearly naked, rock-hard, golden, lean man stood there.
”h.e.l.lo, Kelsey,” Mitch said with a slow smile as he sauntered into her apartment. ”Gee, seems I'm all out of soap. Got some I could borrow?”
Kelsey stared as Mitch moved past her. He was naked. Well, not entirely, she supposed. He wore a white towel around his waist, but otherwise, nothing. His dark hair was mussed, damp, as if he had just jumped in the shower, then jumped back out. A drop of water fell from one lock of hair and landed on his sculpted bronzed shoulder, slowly gliding a glistening path down the crisp, dark hair on his chest. She followed the droplet's descent, and then allowed her eyes to travel farther down his body. A quivering sigh was the only sound she could manage.
Kelsey had a pretty good idea what men were supposed to look like. She'd been raised with two brothers, after all, and had enjoyed her fair share of male attention. But Mitch, well, she'd never seen a man who made her forget to breathe.
He was beautiful. His body was hard but not bulky. Lean, toned, with sinewy muscles that rippled along his chest and upper arms. His flesh was smooth, unmarred, a delicious light tan color. Her mouth suddenly felt very dry. The dark hair on his chest was spa.r.s.e and tapered to a thin line down his flat stomach. The white towel interrupted her gaze, but she skimmed it and studied his firm legs. Even his feet were s.e.xy.
Kelsey felt like one of those gaping, foolish men so often seen in comedy movies, ogling a gorgeous woman in a bikini. She quickly glanced up to see if Mitch had noticed.
He smirked.
”Ah-hem,” a voice intruded. Mitch glanced nonchalantly over his shoulder to the dark-haired man standing near the sofa. ”Oh, I'm sorry, do you have company?” he drawled.
”I was just leaving,” the other man said. He eyed Mitch from head to toe, then glanced at Kelsey and gave her a huge grin and a wink. Mitch couldn't understand why Kelsey's date would be so amused at another man, nearly naked, bursting in on them, and why he would cut and run at the sight of the compet.i.tion. But he really didn't care. The guy was leaving. More important, he and Kelsey had both been fully clothed, sitting in the living room, when Mitch arrived!
Kelsey found her vocal cords and managed to say, ”Uh, yeah, thanks, Brian.”
Brian surrept.i.tiously gave her a thumbs-up as Kelsey returned his quick kiss on the cheek. Her producer looked highly amused, and she imagined she'd have a lot of explaining to do Monday night.
”Gee, don't run off on my account. I really didn't mean to interrupt your date,” Mitch said with an absolute lack of sincerity.
”No problem,” Brian responded as he stood by the open door. ”Kelsey's not my type, anyway.”
Mitch shrugged as the other man gave him another long glance, then sighed and slipped out the door. Suddenly he noticed Kelsey beginning to chuckle. He turned to face her as her chuckles turned to uproarious, gut-clenching laughter, and she fell to the couch.
”What's so funny?” he asked indignantly.
Kelsey couldn't answer him. Oh, it was too much! Mitch was paying her back for the trick she'd played on him with that blond witch. He thought Brian was her date, and he'd come up here to give her a little taste of her own medicine.
Finally, she calmed down and looked over to where Mitch stood, looking at her as if she were insane.
”I'm sorry,” she said between giggles. ”It's just...well, if Brian were to come to the brownstone for a date, I imagine he'd be knocking on your door...or Fred's.”
Mitch didn't understand for a moment. Then it sank in. Kelsey's ”date” was gay. Mitch tried for self-righteous indignation. He tried to be offended. He tried to feel stupid that his plan had blown up in his slightly drunk face. But he couldn't. He started laughing and fell to the couch to sit beside Kelsey, who once again erupted in chuckles.
When they'd both calmed down, Kelsey said, ”Oh, Mitch, what were you thinking? What would possess you to come up here like this?”
”Like this?” Mitch asked as he playfully stood and posed in the towel.
She grinned at his impersonation of a muscle-man, not that he couldn't pull it off, but because she knew him so well. Mitch had never flaunted his looks. His personality and brains had taken him anywhere he ever wanted to go. But, oh, if ever a man was born who could have coasted a little on an absolutely mouthwatering physique, this was he.
”Well,” he continued, ”I suppose I could have come like...this.”
Mitch grabbed the knot at his hip and loosened it, giving her an evil leer. Kelsey gasped and threw her hands over her eyes, but peeked through her fingers as the towel dropped to the floor.
”You cheater,” she exclaimed when she saw the running shorts he was wearing.
He grinned wickedly. ”Did you think I'd be crazy enough to come up here totally naked under that towel?”
”I don't know,” she replied. ”When you were a kid you might have. But the Mitch Wymore I've been sharing this house with for the past few weeks...he's so uptight, I'm surprised he didn't show up in a three-piece suit.”
”Uptight?” he exclaimed with mock offense. ”I am the least uptight person on the planet. Unless, of course, you happen to be Lady Love, the s.e.x queen of Baltimore.”
Kelsey searched his face for any bitterness but saw only his teasing laughter. ”I miss you, Mitch. I miss this. I miss my friend.”
”Kels, we've never really been friends. You were a royal pain in the b.u.t.t.”
”Speak for yourself,” she said as she swatted at him with a pillow. ”Seriously, do you think we could manage friends.h.i.+p? I mean, acquaintances, that's absolutely out. And you've made it perfectly clear you don't want anything more...intimate. Can we just be friends?”
Kelsey sounded uncertain, her voice quivered. Could it be she didn't know how much he desired her? Could she really not tell that this whole fiasco tonight had been prompted by pure jealousy?
Mitch didn't question her. Kelsey was giving him exactly what he wanted, what was right. Friends.h.i.+p with no strings. Perfect. He would forget about desire. He hoped.
”Being friends sounds great, Kelsey.”
AT TEN O'CLOCK THE NEXT MORNING, Kelsey stood outside the door to Mitch's apartment and knocked sharply. He'd asked her to come down and help him sort some paperwork in the spirit of their new friends.h.i.+p.
”Reporting for duty, sir,” she said as Mitch answered his door.
”Come on in,” he replied.
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