Opposites Attract (13 page)

Chapter 5

Troy
was sprawled on his couch munching on pretzels and watching TV when
his doorbell sounded. His heart skipped a beat as he considered that
it could very well be Amy. After spending a restless night trying to
not think about her or that kiss, he didn’t need the temptation
of her standing in his doorway.

He
breathed a sigh of relief when he opened the door to find Antonio
Sanchez standing there, a six-pack of beer in his hand. He must have
looked surprised because Antonio stopped in the doorway.

Antonio
glanced around the apartment. “Is this all right? My wife has
her book club at my house today. You told me I could come over to
watch the basketball game. You’re not entertaining a girl or
anything, are you?”

Troy
laughed at that. “No, I’m not entertaining. I just forgot
what day it was. Hard to keep track when I’m off. Come on in.”

Antonio
popped open two longneck bottles and stowed the rest in the fridge.
He handed one off to Troy and had just made himself comfortable in
the recliner when the doorbell rang again. Antonio raised a brow.
“You expecting someone else?”

“
No.”
Troy got up again, but he knew there was pretty much only one other
person it could be. His suspicion was confirmed as he opened the door
and Amy stood there, his clean and empty pot in one hand and a
plastic container filled with chili in the other.

“
Hey,
Amy.” His heart rate kicked into double time at just seeing
her.

“
Hey.”
She seemed shyer than her usual cheerful self. Troy figured from her
reaction to him that she was regretting what happened too. It made
him feel even firmer about his decision to make sure it never
happened again.

“
I
brought back your chili pot and the leftovers. You…um…forgot
them last night.” She raised her gaze to search his face.

“
Thanks.”
He took the things from her and pointedly avoided eye contact. Just
when the lack of further conversation could have gotten really
uncomfortable, Antonio jumped up from the chair.

“
Is
that Troy’s world famous firehouse chili? I’ll take that
off your hands. I’m Antonio Sanchez, by the way.” Antonio
shook hands with Amy.

“
Yeah,
it is. I’m Amy.”

“
Nice
to meet you.” Antonio wasted no time grabbing the chili from
Troy and headed for the microwave. Thank God for Antonio, hungry grub
that he was. At least it was a distraction from the obvious tension
in the room.

“
That’s
my friend Antonio from the firehouse.” Troy hooked a thumb in
the direction of the kitchen.

Amy
laughed. “Yeah, I gathered that.”

“
Thanks
for washing the pot for me. I didn’t mean to leave it for you
to do…” He let the sentence trail off. What could he
say? I was just running away from you so fast I forgot it?

She
jumped in. “It’s fine. I owed you for the laundry and for
rescuing Henri and helping me with the locks and saving the cat—”

He
held up a hand. “I told you, you don’t owe me anything,
but thanks anyway. I hope you kept some chili for yourself.”

She
smiled. “Yeah, luckily there was about a bowlful that didn’t
fit into the container.”

Her
eyes darted from the game on the TV to the open beers and pretzels on
the coffee table. “Well, I’m going to go and let you guys
get back to your male bonding. Nice to meet you, Antonio.”

“
You
too,” Antonio called back while noisily searching through the
kitchen drawers.

“
Bye,
Troy.” Her eyes rose to his again.

“
Bye,
Amy. Thanks again.”

She
nodded and turned back toward her apartment across the hall. Troy
closed the door behind her with a strange mixture of regret and
relief.

“
Okay,
spill. What’s going on there?” Antonio stood in the
kitchen, spoon in hand.

“
Nothing.”
Nothing at all, sadly.

Antonio
didn’t look convinced. “Come on. You could have cut the
tension in here with a knife.”

Troy
grabbed his beer and dropped back onto the sofa. “You’re
imagining things.”

“
At
least tell me who she is and why she had your chili. Which, by the
way, do you want any of?” Apparently Antonio wasn’t about
to have his questions put off so easily.

“
No
thanks.” He didn’t seem to have an appetite, especially
not for the same food he’d shared just yesterday with Amy
before he’d made the huge mistake of kissing her. “Amy’s
watching the apartment for Maria across the hall.”

“
And?”
Antonio plopped himself down in the chair and dug into the chili.

“
And
nothing. She’s a lesbian, so that’s it. There’s
nothing going on, so can we stop talking about it and watch the
game?” Troy scowled at himself. Now he was sniping at his
closest friend. See, women just plain made you lose your head, didn’t
matter whether they were lesbians or not.

Antonio
put his bowl down on the table and leaned forward, elbows braced on
his knees. “Troy. You saved my life, man. We’re like
brothers. You know you can tell me anything and it goes in the vault.
Now, I’ve known you for years and never in that time have I
seen you react this way over a chick. So yeah, I think something’s
going on. So why don’t you tell me what it is?”

Troy
hung his head and closed his eyes. Antonio was a good friend and was
showing him much more patience than he deserved at the moment. He
finally raised his head and looked up at him. “We ate, had too
much wine. We started talking about some serious stuff. She got all
teary eyed and before I know what’s happening, my tongue’s
down her throat and we’re making out on the couch.”

Antonio
let out a breath and absorbed the information in silence for a
moment. “Okay. So given what happened, what makes you think
she’s a lesbian? Because I gotta tell ya, I didn’t get
that vibe. And the way she looked at you…phew, I think you’re
way off there.”

“
She
met Maria through her lesbian girlfriend Elena, she brought me to a
gay bar where she knew the bartender by name, the last person she
dated was named Whitney, like in Houston and she’s been to a
sperm bank to research having a baby.” Troy ticked off what he
deemed as his indisputable proof on his fingers, one by one.

“
Whoa.
First, let me get over the image of you in a gay bar. Then, let me
remind you that she was sucking face, I’ll assume willingly,
with you last night. If I were a lawyer, I’d tell you that all
your evidence that she’s gay is circumstantial.”

Troy
shook his head adamantly. “No, way. I’m not wrong about
this.” He sighed. “Believe me, I wish I was.”

“
Do
you really? I don’t think so. I think you avoid getting serious
with women, all women all the time, and this is just another excuse.”

Troy
frowned. “When did this become a therapy session? And what do
you know about women anyway? You’re married.”

Antonio
laughed. “That’s a statement that could only come from a
single guy. Believe me, buddy, you think you know women until you
have to actually live with one. Then a whole strange new world opens
up. A world filled with hormones and bikini waxes.”

Troy
laughed, but then asked his friend, more serious than he’d ever
been, “And? Is it all worth it?”

Antonio
smiled. “Yeah, every moment.”

In
Maria’s apartment, Amy paced restlessly. What had happened? Why
was Troy kissing her like there was no tomorrow one moment and
literally running out the door and acting all cold the next? It was
definitely possible that he did have a girlfriend and that thought
sucked big time. But what would suck even more would be if he just
plain didn’t like her.

The
ringing of the phone jolted her out of her brooding. She answered it
with the irrational hope it might be Troy.

“
Hey,
Amy. We’re finally docked after a day at sea and I just wanted
to check on how you and Taz were doing.” Maria sounded cheerful
and relaxed even as Amy’s world was being turned upside down by
the fireman next door.

“
Taz?”
Amy searched her brain. Who the hell was Taz?

“
Yeah.
That cat of mine hasn’t spilled any coffee in your laptop yet,
has he? Keep an eye on him. You know Taz has a habit of doing that.”
Maria laughed.

“
Oh,
yeah. No. He and I have an understanding. He stays away from my
things, I stay away from his.” Amy glanced over and noticed the
empty cat bowl. She scurried over to fill it with dry food before
Maria somehow sensed she was neglecting her pet sitting duties.

“
Listen,
before I lose you. I totally forgot before I left to mail in the RSVP
for Brad and Alyssa’s wedding. You remember Brad, right? He’s
the guy that rescued my manuscript from my laptop after the coffee
incident last year. The invite should be right on the desk next to my
computer. Could you just fill in that I’ll be attending with
Elena and pop it in the mail for me?”

Amy
walked over to the desk and picked up the embossed large white
invitation. She ran her finger lightly over the words. “
Today
I Marry My Friend. Bradley
Montgomery Morgan and Alyssa Marie
Jones request the honor of your presence…”

“
Amy?”

“
Yeah,
I’m here. Sorry, I was just looking for it on the desk. I found
it. I’ll mail it for you.” Amy wiped her eyes.

“
Great.
Thanks.”

“
Um,
Maria. Can I ask you a quick question?”

“
Shoot.”

“
What’s
up with your neighbor Troy? Does he have a girlfriend or anything?”

“
Ha!
I told Elena he was your type. I wanted to introduce you two and she
said you wouldn’t be interested. And no, no girlfriend that I
know of. I’ve never even seen a girl in that apartment. And he
is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. So go for it.”

That
was her intention, if Troy was willing. That was the big question.
Was he? “I will definitely think about it. Thanks, Maria.”

It
took all afternoon to gather the courage, but Amy finally stood at
Troy’s door and raised her hand almost to the bell. Then she
chickened out and ran back to Maria’s apartment, closing the
door quietly behind her. She didn’t know why she was being such
a sissy.

She
knew Troy was alone because she’d heard his door open and close
about an hour ago. She’d heard him and Antonio say goodbye and
heard male-sounding footsteps walk down the hall. She hadn’t
been listening, really. The walls here were just really thin.

Damn
it. The guy had given her the most mind-blowing kiss she’d ever
had and she was afraid to go over and talk? Her little lecture to
herself carried her all the way across the hall again where she
actually rang the bell this time and then it was too late to run
away. But when the door opened, it wasn’t Troy who answered.

“
Antonio.
Um, hi.” She frowned. “Is Troy home?”

Antonio’s
face broke into a huge smile. “Well hello again, Amy. I’m
sorry, Troy had to go back into work.”

“
Oh.
I thought he had until tomorrow morning off.” She tried to
sound casual and not like a stalker who’d memorized Troy’s
schedule, even though she kind of had.

Antonio
raised an eyebrow. “You’re right, he did. But one of the
guys came down with the flu and went home early and Troy was top of
the list to be called back.”

“
Oh.”
She hoped he didn’t see her disappointment. She was counting on
having one more night with Troy before he had to go back to the
firehouse for another shift.

“
I’ll
tell him you stopped by though.”

“
No.
Really, that’s fine. No need.” She fought the
disappointment that he hadn’t come over to tell her he was
going back to work early, not that he had any reason to inform her of
anything, but she definitely did not want him to know she stopped by.

“
Are
you sure? Because I really think he’d be happy to know that you
stopped by and I’m sure he’ll be very sorry he missed
you.”

Was
Antonio trying to tell her something? Had Troy told him that he liked
her? Amy stopped those thoughts dead in their tracks and nearly
laughed at her ridiculousness. She felt like a middle-school girl.
Maybe she could give Antonio a note and he could give it to Troy in
study hall.