Nailed - Opal Carew Page 0,21

Kickstarter, but was part of the next collection she planned to release.

“Okay.” Tia sipped her drink. “Now you were saying … He was the rich hottie and you were the crazy girl. Go.”

River laughed. “I’d argue the crazy, but with what happened…” She shrugged. “He just asked me out one day. Right out of the blue.”

“Don’t tell me. You’d been mooning over him for months and then suddenly, like in a fairy tale, he asked you to the prom and you were swept away.”

“You are a nutcase, you know that? It was during exams and he asked me to study.”

“Because you were the smart chick?”

“Am I telling this story or are you just going to make stuff up?”

Tia grinned. “We could do both.”

River sighed. When Tia had a couple of drinks, she got playful.

“In fact, he was the smart one,” River clarified. “At least in chemistry.”

“Yeah, chemistry.” Tia winked and nudged River’s shoulder.

“Tia, do you want to hear, or not?” But River couldn’t help the smile curling her lips.

Tia sipped her drink. “Okay, I’ll be good.” She rested her chin on her hands and put on her listening face.

“He asked me to study, then after the exam he invited me to a party. I felt really out of place.”

“And he dumped you because his friends didn’t like you?”

River shot her a glance.

“Sorry.” Tia sipped her drink.

“No, actually he introduced me to his best friend, who seemed to like me, and both of them stood up for me when guys were rude to me.”

“A He sounds great. What happened after the party?”

“I…” River stared at her drink. “I went back to his place. And we…” She hesitated, and then shrugged.

“You did it. Then he dumped you the next day?”

“It’s not like that. He … That time was my first.”

“Ohhh. Did he take advantage of you? Was he really bad and made you never want to have sex again?”

“No,” River said in exasperation. “He was perfect, okay? Right from the beginning, he was sensitive and caring. He made me feel wanted. He didn’t want to push me into anything. And when he found out I was a virgin … well, it was too late then … but he was unhappy I hadn’t told him.” She stared into Tia’s wide eyes. “He did everything right. He was perfect.”

Tia blinked, looking perplexed. “So what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that it was all an act.”

They sat in silence for a moment and River realized her hands were clenched tightly in her lap. She relaxed them and took another sip of her almost empty drink.

“Excuse me, ladies?”

River glanced up to see the waitress with a bottle of champagne in her hand.

“A gentleman sent this.”

Another waiter placed an ice bucket on a stand beside the table as the waitress popped the cork, then filled two tall flutes and set them on the table.

“We should refuse this,” River said.

“Don’t be a spoilsport,” Tia said.

Then River noticed the waitress had poured a third glass.

“No, wait. There’s just the two of us,” River protested.

“That one’s for me.”

She glanced up at Kane’s voice. “What are you doing here?”

He sat down in the chair beside her. “When you didn’t come to me at Hades, I decided to come to you.”

“This is Kane?” Tia asked, a smile creeping across her face.

Kane smiled that charming smile of his and shook Tia’s hand. “Pleased to meet you.”

“I’m Tia,” she said, a bit breathlessly, obviously captivated.

Of course, River couldn’t really blame her. He was devastatingly handsome in his dark gray suit, his wavy hair immaculate, his indigo eyes glittering with sincerity. And the delightfully masculine scent of his musky aftershave made a girl feel all feminine and needy.

“How did you know I was here?” River demanded.

“Well, I assumed you might decide not to show up so I had a backup plan.”

“And that was to stalk me?”

“Just because I used Will’s hacking skills to track your cell phone, doesn’t mean I’m a stalker.”

“I think that’s exactly what it means.”

As River glared at him, Tia sipped her champagne, her gaze shifting from River to Kane. Then it held on Kane and her eyes grew dreamy.

“Thank you for the champagne,” Tia said. “Are we celebrating something?”

He gazed at River, his eyes searching hers. “I had hoped we’d be celebrating our new partnership.”

“I already told you,” River said. “It’s never going to happen.”

“That’s unfortunate.” He sipped his champagne and settled back in the chair. “So Tia, what do you do?”

River sat watching as Kane chatted with Tia. Asking about her