Nickels (6 page)

His palms grew sweaty and swallowing became more difficult. 
He wiped his hand on his pants before shaking the hand of the next person
Russell introduced.  Gaze flirting with the back of Niki’s head, he barely registered
the names of the consultants.  All he could do was think about her.

He waited so long for this moment.  Even if it was less than
he hoped, the time finally came.  Would she be as glad to see him as he was to
see her?

Chapter 6

Niki swallowed hard and turned away from the man in the
doorway before he could recognize her.  She needed a minute—maybe an hour or a
lifetime—before she faced him again.  Her heart pounded in her ears.  She
reached for the pitcher of water and cup in front of her.  With shaky hands she
managed to fill the cup without spilling water all over the table.  She took a
few sips.  When she glanced up, Doug, sitting on the opposite side of the
table, quirked an eyebrow Spock style.

Russell stood to make the introductions as Niki set her cup
down.  She turned toward him, hoping to catch Kyle off guard.  She needed to
have the advantage.  As Russell started to speak, Niki looked Kyle in the eye.

“Kyle Jacobs.”  His name forced its way through her
unwilling lips.  She crossed her arms, refusing to shake his hand.  Eight years
had done little to dim her memory of being humiliated over and over again.

She heard Brian take in a sharp breath while Doug coughed. 
Russell stood there looking from Niki to Kyle to Niki again.  Slowly, Kyle’s
face went from shock to confusion to—delight?  That can’t be right.  He actually
looked pleased to see her.  What, was he all out of people to torture?

When he spoke, his voice was incredulous.  “Niki?  Niki
Turner?”

He smiled a warm, charming smile that probably melted many a
woman’s heart.  Not hers.  No way.  Not a chance she was going to fall prey to
his charm.

She kept her arms crossed even when he extended his hand for
a greeting.  She made a point of looking down at it, then back to his now
fading smile, making sure her features remained as stoic as possible.

Russell stammered, “Ah, guess you already know the flight
consultant.”  Turning towards Brian, Russell made the formal introduction. 
Brian heartily shook Kyle’s hand making a show of it, probably to counteract
her standoffish behavior.

As Kyle walked around the table shaking hands, Brian
whispered in her ear, “You owe me an explanation.”

She gave a slight nod and took her seat.  She never wished
for a projector and presentation more than now.

Kyle took a seat, directly across from her, next to Doug. 
Then he flashed another smile her direction. 
Did he just wink at me?
 
She thought she was going to be sick.

Todd called the meeting back to order outlining the schedule
and details of the project.  Niki tried to pay attention, especially since this
was such an important meeting, but when she glanced at Kyle her focus
evaporated.

He looked different than he had in high school.  His chest
and arms had filled out nicely since she’d last seen him in her sophomore
year.  His cockiness seemed to have matured into self-confidence—less overt and
overbearing than in high school.  At least that’s how it appeared so far.  She
would know for sure once he opened his mouth.

Funny how Marcy forgot to mention her brother was in town. 
And at her dream client of all places!

She tamped down her irritation and studied him some more. 
His light blue eyes sparkled with an iridescent light.  She never remembered
them shining so much.  His light brown hair was cut close to his head—not quite
a military cut, but almost.  She looked back at his eyes, mesmerized until he
looked directly into hers.  She glanced down at the keyboard on her laptop,
feeling the heat rise to her cheeks.

Of all the people in the entire universe, why did the pilot
have to be Kyle?  She could have sworn that he was on active duty, deployed to
Iraq.  Why was he here?

And why now? This was her dream project, the big boost to
the next level of her career.  She did not need any complications.

An instant message window popped up on her screen.  Doug.

What’s wrong with u?
  He IM’d.

Nuthin.
She shot back.

Not buyin it.
He sent back.

The cursor blinked its steady rhythm.

Who is this guy, anyway?  You’ve been staring at him for
the last 10 min.

Long story.

Old boyfriend?

Niki frowned. 
Absolutely not.

Brian looks ticked…

She right-clicked on the IM window and logged out, since she
needed her laptop to take notes.

Notes.  Right.  She was supposed to be paying attention to
Todd and the project.  Her first big project.

“What do you think, Niki?” Kyle asked with a half-smile
playing on his handsome lips.

Shoot.  Not only had she not been paying attention, but Kyle
was the one to call her out.  And for some strange reason she had to notice
just how incredibly good he looked.  Too bad she logged out of IM.  At least
then she could have asked Doug what they were talking about.

“I’m sure,” Doug piped up, “Niki would say the Cardinals. 
Me, I’m partial to the Chargers.”

Football?  When had the discussion digressed to football? 
They should be talking about the project.  Or, if they were shooting the breeze
about sports, basketball would make more sense, especially since it was March
Madness.  Oh, well.  She preferred football over basketball, and more
importantly, over her embarrassment.

“Of course you’d say the Chargers.”  She rolled her eyes for
affect, tremendously relieved to be out of the spotlight.

The rest of the meeting flew by capturing her undivided
attention.  When they announced the lunch break, she stood and walked to the
door, eager to get out of the building without incident.

As she made her way down the hall towards the entrance, she
remembered that she rode with Brian and was at his mercy.  When she turned to
see if he was coming, Kyle stepped into her view.  She tried to pretend she
didn’t see him, looking with great interest at the metal detector in the lobby,
but he called her name as he approached.

“Niki, how are you?  It’s been ages,” he said stopping a
foot from her, looking down from his taller vantage point.

“Fine.”

“How is Jack?”

Niki’s head snapped up as every sense in her body propelled
her to slap the man.  How dare he joke about that?  Barely restraining her arm,
she glared at him.  “Dead.  Jack is dead.”

All the light fell from Kyle’s face, just as Brian motioned
he was ready.  She called Kyle a jerk under her breath, wanting to use much
stronger language, but remembering she was at a client’s office.  Turning on
her heel, she started toward the entrance, thinking evil thoughts in his
direction.

Kyle grabbed her arm, stopping her cold.  His voice was
soft, nearly a whisper, when he spoke.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t know.”

“Take your hand off me.”  She forced the words through
clenched teeth still avoiding his eyes.  If she looked into them, she thought
she might lose her composure all together.

“Niki, look at me.”

When she did he released his grip.

“I’m truly sorry.  I had no idea.”

“No.  Idea.”  Her voice rose with each word.  “No idea!  For
goodness sake your sister is my roommate!”

By now, the entire group of meeting attendees was in the
lobby witnessing the entire exchange.

“How could you
NOT
know that Jack was killed eight
years ago?  Eight, Kyle.  Eight years.”

She poked him in the chest with her finger.  She was losing
it.  At work.  In front of her boss.  In front of her dream client.

She took a shaky breath, lowering her voice, but kept the
anger firmly rooted in place.  “Why do you think I lived with your family for
all that time?  Why do you think your dad came here to get me settled?  How
could you
not
know?”

The tears were threatening.  Great.  Now she was going to
cry, adding humiliation to her tab of emotional behavior.

“I really didn’t know.”

His words bounced off her retreating back as she burst out
the entrance.

Niki walked with determination towards Brian’s car. 
Unbelievable!  She knew Kyle was a jerk, but this was pretty low even for him. 
Her conscience tried to remind her that his apology seemed sincere.  That was
impossible.  There was not an ounce of kindness in Kyle Jacobs.  He’d almost
killed her in the pool when she was a high school sophomore with a stupid prank.

Impatient to flee the embarrassing situation, she looked
towards the entrance to find Brian.  He stood just outside the building deep in
conversation with Kyle, probably apologizing for her outburst—the one that
probably just cost her this project.  She paced back and forth in front of
Brian’s car, one arm across her waist, the other flailing at her side.

She could have dealt with anything on this
project—suspicious Todd, nervous Alan, high-strung Scott.  She could have dealt
with long hours and male chauvinists.  Maybe she could even have dealt with
Kyle Jacobs.  The one thing she could not deal with was his extreme
insensitivity regarding the most painful subject of her life.  She turned her
back towards the entrance as a tear slid down her cheek.

Kyle stood stunned.  He had no idea Jack died.  Marcy never
mentioned it—at least not that he could remember.  A distant memory of a letter
from his mom came to mind.  She said something about Niki living with them for
awhile.  He didn’t remember it saying that it was because Jack died.

This was not how he pictured their first meeting.  It
couldn’t be further from it.

Her rigid stance in the conference room earlier told him he
had been very wrong to hope that she would be happy to see him.  She wasn’t.

And now he made this huge blunder by mentioning her dead
brother.  It was obviously still very painful for her, despite that it happened
eight years ago.

He had to do something to make this right.

Brian walked passed him, headed towards the entrance.  Kyle
quickly caught up to him outside.

“Brian!”

As Brian turned to face him, he explained, “Look, I didn’t
know Niki’s brother passed.  Please don’t ream her out for her reaction.  I
know they were really close.  I don’t blame her for being angry.”

“How do you know her, anyway?”

“From high school.  Her brother and my dad were stationed at
the same base in Germany.  I knew her the last two years of school.  She’s best
friends with my sister.”

Brian snorted.  “I can see why she thought you should know.”

Heat pushed to the flesh of his cheeks.  “I should have,”
Kyle admitted, despite his embarrassment.

“See you at the restaurant.”  Brian cut off any further
conversation as he walked away.

Hopefully, he could repair the damage he just caused.  If
not, it was going to be a long, very unpleasant six months.

Chapter 7