Rom-Com Collection. Kristan Higgins
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was going to climb out the bathroom window. Not this time.
But she could fix her hair. And borrow some of Colleen’s makeup.
* * *
AT FIVE-THIRTY THAT EVENING, Levi had been struggling through some paperwork that was endless, repetitious and irritating when the station door opened, and in came Nina Rodriguez, who not so long ago had been Nina Rodriguez-Cooper.
“Hey, stranger,” she said with a big smile.
Gorgeous. That was his first thought. Clad in the same skin-tight clothes she always wore if she wasn’t in uniform...and why not? She had a killer body.
His second thought was What the hell? because really, a little warning might’ve been nice.
“Do you have a complaint you’d like to register?” Emmaline said, not bothering to keep the bitchery from her voice. She might be a pain in the ass, but she was loyal.
Nina ignored her. She was good at that. “You gonna stop staring and say hi?” she asked Levi, raising a perfect eyebrow and leaning against Everett’s desk. Ev, too, had frozen, his eyes on Nina’s ass, which, granted, was one of the seven wonders of the natural world, right up there with Faith’s rack.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” Everett echoed.
Nina smiled and pulled up a chair. “I was in the area. Figured I’d stop in and see my favorite cop.”
He caught a whiff of the stuff she used in the shower, a musky, flowery scent, and waited for the surge of anger. This was, after all, the woman who’d left him with a hug and a cheery wave after three months of marriage, making him look like an idiot, for one, and breaking his heart for another. Two things he hated.
The anger didn’t come. “How’ve you been?” he asked.
She tipped her head. “I’ve been fine,” she said.
“Glad to hear it,” Everett said, his voice faint.
Nina glanced at Ev with that beautiful-woman smile, the kind that said In your dreams, mister. Everett only closed his mouth to swallow.
“So we gonna air our dirty laundry here?” Nina asked. “Or are you gonna buy a girl a drink? The best thing about this town was that little bar, as I recall.”
And so Levi stood up, Everett watching in a trance, Emmaline hissing, and took his ex-wife across the square to O’Rourke’s. Ignored Colleen’s look, as well as the fact that three members of the town council fell silent upon his arrival. Victor Iskin waved, his latest taxidermied cat on the bar in front of him, poised as if to leap while Lorena Creech admired it.
“Town hasn’t changed much,” Nina observed.
“Nope.” He took her to the farthest booth in the back and sat down.
He was flustered. Shitty feeling, that.
They ordered a couple of beers and the nachos grande, which Nina recalled with great enthusiasm. Colleen took their order with another pointed look, kicking Levi’s ankle. Nina talked about generic things—the traffic in Scranton, the cow in the road in Sayre. The nachos and beers came, delivered with another kick from Colleen.
And then Nina started with the war talk, which was what soldiers did when they reunited. Levi waited for her to get to whatever point she was here to make. He knew from experience there was no changing of the subject with Nina; she had an agenda, and trying to rush her only drew things out.
Then, finally, after reminding him of their common past in as entertaining a way as possible, she got personal.
“So how’s Sarah?”
“She’s good,” Levi said. Didn’t mention the fact that she could’ve used a sister-in-law this past year or so.
“Is she in college?”
He nodded. “Over at Hobart.”
“Good for her! And your mom? Still hates me, I’m sure.”
“My mom died a couple months after you left.”
Nina’s face changed. “Oh, Levi, you ass. Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve come for the funeral!” She reached across the table and gripped his hand.
“I didn’t really see the point,” he said, extracting his hand.
She sat back in her seat, her big brown eyes growing hot. “The point, idiot, is that just because our timing was off doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. Or Sarah.”
“Gee. Thanks.”
She shook her head. “Man. You are totally furious, aren’t you?”
He declined to answer. Looked at her instead. It always made Faith irritable when he stared at her; hopefully it would work on Nina, too.
It didn’t. She took a sip of her beer, smiling a little, her eyes still on his.
She was the type of woman who could seduce in seconds. A regular...what was that Greek chick’s name? The one who caused the slaughter of an entire city? That one.
Levi took a careful breath. “So why the visit?”
“Never could fool you, could I?” she said.
“Actually, I’d say you fooled me pretty good,” he answered calmly.
“Okay. Fine. Let’s put it on the table.” She leaned forward, boobs practically tumbling out of her skimpy shirt onto the nachos. “This last tour was it for me. I was thinking about you. Thought maybe we could give it another shot.”
He waited until Nina huffed and rolled her eyes.
“Look, moron,” she said, and he felt an unwilling tug of affection for her total lack of sentimentality. “We were good together. It was the timing that sucked. I wasn’t ready to settle down two years ago. I am now. Simple as that.”
“Seems like you’re leaving a lot out of that equation.”
“So why don’t you fill me in?” she said with another sex goddess smile.
I loved you. You left me. You left me when I wanted to have a family with you, when I thought we were happy, and you walked away like I was nothing.
But the feelings behind those words were old and tired, and not worth putting into words.
“Hi.”
It was Faith. She looked at both of them, then stuck out her hand. “Faith Holland.”
“Hi.” Nina took her hand. “Wait a sec, Faith Holland? Holy shit! Jeremy’s ex, right?”
“That’s right.” She looked at Levi, her cheeks flushing. Otherwise, her expression was calm.
“Faith,” Levi said, “This is my ex-wife, Nina. Nina, Faith is my...” He looked at Faith, hoping she’d supply the appropriate word.
“Neighbor,” Faith said.
Women. You never knew what they were up to.
“Holy crap!” came another voice. “Nina?”
“Jeremy!” Nina jumped up and hugged him hard, like they were old pals. “It’s so great so see you!”
Jeremy, Levi was pleased to note, did not hug her back, just gave Levi a look as Nina babbled and grinned.
There’d been one night after Nina had re-upped when Jeremy had invited him up to the house, broke out the twenty-four-year-old single malt scotch and had very thoughtfully gotten drunk with Levi, and Levi had been able to be a normal person, to act not like a cop or a soldier or a big brother or the man of the house, but like a poor slob whose wife had left him.
Levi caught Faith’s hand and tugged her into the seat next to him. “Stay,” he ordered.
“I’m