Opposites Attract (6 page)

“
No
problem.” Brad hung up the phone reminding himself of that old
saying about nice guys—they finished last.

~

At
her desk the next morning, Alyssa put her hands-free phone headset
on, then dialed Jane’s work number.

She’d
actually gotten some decent sleep on Brad the Hot Geek’s couch.
Luckily she’d picked up her dry cleaning on the way over to his
place the night before so after pulling her hair into a ponytail and
taking a quick shower at his place, she threw on her favorite suit. A
quick application of the cover-up, mascara and lipstick she always
carried in her purse and she actually looked presentable.

Brad
was so sweet. He’d even provided a new toothbrush for her to
use and apologized profusely that he only had powdered creamer and
real sugar or “the blue stuff” for her coffee, not “the
yellow stuff” that she usually used. That had totally blown her
away. Brad actually knew how she took her coffee.

As
she listened to Jane’s work phone ring through her headset,
Alyssa unobtrusively sniffed herself. She had used Brad’s
deodorant after her shower and she was surprised at how ridiculously
happy the scent was making her.

Alyssa
looked up guiltily when she realized Brad was standing at the
entrance to her cube. When he saw she was on the phone he motioned
toward the kitchen and mouthed, “Do you want coffee?”

Nodding,
she realized she could get used to this. Alyssa watched Brad walk
away, his new curly hair looking all sexy this morning.

“
About
time you called me.” Jane’s voice in her ear startled
her.

“
Hi,
Jane. I’m sorry. I fell asleep and forgot to call you.”

“
That’s
okay. I’m glad you finally got some sleep.”

“
You’re
not going to believe this and I don’t have long before he comes
back, but I think I might have a crush on Brad the Geek. In fact,
he’s actually kind of hot. Do you think I’m crazy?”

“
No,
I think you’ve finally come to your senses. My grandmother
always told me it was just as easy to fall in love with a rich guy as
a poor guy. Not real politically correct of her, I know, but
whatever. Anyway, I think it’s just as easy to fall in love
with a nice guy as it is to fall for a jerk.”

Right
on cue, nice guy Brad returned with her coffee. She smiled. “Thanks
for the coffee, Brad.”

“
Whoa.
He brought you coffee to your desk?” Jane, never slow when it
came to intrigue, picked right up on what was happening.

“
Yup.”

“
Honey,
you better hold on to that geek with both hands because if you don’t,
I’m taking him.”

Alyssa
laughed. “Oh no, you’re not. I like your version of your
grandmother’s theory on men. I think I’m going to test it
out for myself.”

~

Brad
sat at his desk trying to concentrate on the latest case his boss had
assigned him, but he was finding it extremely difficult.

The
morning had been so surreal. It began with him waking the sleeping
and adorable, not to mention sexy, Alyssa. They shared coffee while
watching one of the morning talk shows at the breakfast bar in his
kitchen. She even showered at his place.
That
had nearly
driven him mad, knowing Alyssa was wet and naked just behind his
bathroom door. He drove in his own car and followed her in her car to
work. They parked next to each other in the lot and walked into the
lobby together. It was a little too real of a taste of what it would
be like to be a couple and he liked it too much.

Now,
at his desk while he tried desperately to concentrate, he glanced up
and saw her sneaking a look at him. Wow. They hadn’t even slept
together. Just imagine how hard it would be to get any work done if
that
actually happened. Yeah, in his dreams. Literally. All
night long. He was exhausted.

His
phone ringing brought him out of those memories before he embarrassed
himself. Good thing his shirt was, as usual, un-tucked.

“
Bradley
Morgan.”

“
Brad.
Hi. It’s Maria. We docked this morning in Puerto Rico. My cell
phone actually works again here. I don’t get why it won’t
work in my apartment but it works in Puerto Rico, but anyway, I just
spoke with my editor Amy. She absolutely loved the book. She’s
emailing out a contract to me immediately.”

“
That’s
great, Maria. I’m so happy for you.” Brad smiled. This
is why he liked this job, the personal interaction, knowing he was
really helping people.

“
Yeah,
but there’s one small problem.”

Uh,
oh. Here it comes. His sex scene sucked.

“
Oh
no. Maria, I’m so sorry. Did she hate what I wrote?” He
saw Alyssa glance up from her screen and look concerned.

“
Yeah,
that’s the problem. What exactly did you write?” Maria
asked.

Uh,
oh.
“I apologize. I could barely hear you yesterday. The
connection sucked and then you were gone. I tried to call you back
but you were out of service. It sounded like you said to rewrite the
scene and email it to your editor because the internet was down on
the ship. So that’s what I did. I meant to just fill in the
words that were missing in your sex scene, but I ended up having to
rewrite it. I’m so sorry, Maria—”

“
Wait
a minute, Brad. Calm down. I’m not angry. I had a feeling it
was something like that. What I asked you to do was send it
as is
to my editor, explain the situation and ask her to give me time to
rewrite it when I got back because the internet on ship was down,”
Maria explained.

“
Oh
my God. I am so sorry. I feel horrible, but I’m glad I didn’t
blow the deal for you.” Brad was feeling worse with every
passing moment.

He
heard Maria laugh. “No, Brad, you didn’t blow the deal.
In fact, you clinched it. Amy loved the first love scene, the one you
wrote. It’s the other ones that I wrote she didn’t like.
She wants me to rewrite them. Brad, I have to ask you a huge favor.
I’ll pay you, I’ll give you anything you want, but would
you consider being my critique and writing partner? It would just
mean that you help me edit the other sex scenes and make them as good
as the one you wrote.”

“
Maria,
you don’t even know me.”

“
I
know enough, Brad. I know you drove over at 2:30 in the morning dead
on your feet just to help me out. I know you’ve gone above and
beyond your job for me. And I know you can write.”

He
blushed at the compliments. “I’m not a writer.”

“
Obviously
you are. At least my editor thinks so. Besides that, Brad, you’re
a man. She says she loved how the first love scene got into the male
character’s head. That was my first clue something was up. I
deliberately didn’t have the love scenes from the male’s
point of view, but that’s exactly what she liked about it. And
she said you did a great job with the female perspective too.”

He
glanced at Alyssa, who’d moved over and was perching on the
edge of his desk. “Well, I had a little help from a friend with
the female perspective.” Alyssa smiled at him. “But won’t
your editor mind that I’m helping you write this?”

“
Not
at all. People use critique and writing partners all the time.
Besides, after you rework the scenes, you’ll be sending it back
to me this time, not my editor, so there’s really nothing for
you to worry about. I’ll change anything I don’t like
before sending it on to her. Brad, I’m really at a loss here.
I’m not sure I can write the male point of view alone. I never
got around to telling you this before but the cruise I’m on,
it’s a cruise for alternative lifestyles…” Maria
began. “Do you know what that means?”

“
Um,
no, not really.”

“
I’m
a lesbian, Brad.”

“
Oh.
Uh, okay.” He wasn’t sure what the appropriate response
was when someone came right out and said that. Especially someone he
barely knew.

“
So
now you know why I need help from the male point of view. Brad,
please. I’m begging you. Can you rework the scenes for me?”

He
let out a big breath and glanced at Alyssa. It would give him an
excuse to enlist her help. They could work together after work or
maybe over the weekend. It would keep her away from her own apartment
for a while and away from that idiot Jake. Yeah, like
that
was
the only reason he wanted her in his apartment.

“
All
right, Maria. I’ll take care of it.”

“
Oh,
Brad. I love you. If I were straight, you’d be in big trouble.”

Brad
laughed. “Okay. You enjoy the rest of your cruise. I’ll
take care of the book.”

He
hung up, leaned back in his chair and watched with amusement as
Alyssa practically wiggling out of her skin with anticipation. “Well?
What did she say?”

“
The
editor loved our scene.” He couldn’t help laughing as she
leaned down and flung her arms around his neck while jumping up and
down.

It
took him a second to process that Alyssa his dream girl had her arms
wrapped around his neck. He got a hold on his libido and reminded
himself Alyssa was in love with the idea of writing this book, not in
love with him.

Oh,
yeah, the book. He’d forgotten about that for a second. “She
needs us to rewrite the other love scenes. So will you help me?”

“
Of
course I’ll help you. We should get started tonight right after
work.”

His
plan exactly. A sudden thought struck him. Here was his opportunity.
“You know. I was thinking, I don’t like the idea of you
driving home so late at night alone. Maybe you should just stay at my
place again tonight. You seemed to sleep well on the futon.”

She
smiled and leaned down to kiss his cheek. “You’re very
sweet to worry about me. I’ll run home during lunch and pack a
bag.”

He
couldn’t think. He couldn’t even breathe. Alyssa had
kissed him. So it was only on the cheek, it was still a kiss, and now
she was going home to pack a bag to spend the night at his place.
Even the fact she’d called him sweet didn’t bother him
right now. He glanced at the clock. This day couldn’t go fast
enough for his liking.

Chapter 6

Brad
sat next to Alyssa on the carpet as they leaned back against his
futon and devoured an order of Chinese take-out while watching TV.
They’d worked on the book for an hour and then decided to take
a meal break. It wasn’t that tough to edit Maria’s scenes
at all. All they really did was add in the male point of view. The
difficult part had been trying not to get a hard-on as Alyssa and he
sat side by side at the laptop discussing such intimate things,
fictional or not.

He
was about to go in for his second eggroll when Alyssa’s cell
phone rang in her purse. After jumping to answer it, she looked down
at the Caller ID and got a look of sheer panic on her face. She put
the phone down on the table and watched it ring.

Finally,
the annoying sound stopped and the phone was quiet. Brad didn’t
need to ask who it was. He assumed it was Jake just by the expression
on her face. Almost immediately, the phone began to ring again.
Alyssa, visibly tense now, jumped.

Brad
glanced at the phone, then back at Alyssa. “Maybe you should
get that. He’s just going to keep bothering you”

Her
dread was apparent as she nodded and picked up her cell. “Hello,
Jake.”

Brad
knew he should give her privacy, but he’d be damned if he would
leave her alone, even on the phone, with that asshole. She needed a
friend near.

“
How
dare you call me a whore after what you did to me. It’s no
longer any of your business where I spend my nights or who I leave
the office with, you son of a bitch.” Her face turned red at
whatever Jake the Jerk was saying. “Perhaps the only reason I
was so cold in bed, as you put it, was because you suck as a lover.”

With
that she flipped the phone shut, ending the call with trembling
hands. She glanced at Brad. “I’m sorry you had to hear
that.”

Brad’s
eyes opened wide at what he had just witnessed. That was a lot of
information he was privy to. Perhaps she shouldn’t have
answered the phone. “Don’t apologize. He’s the
idiot.”

“
Can
you believe he was watching my apartment last night and waiting
outside work this afternoon? He saw us leave together and freaked
out. I broke up with him. I even had the locks changed. It’s
over. I couldn’t make it any clearer to him if I tried. You’re
a guy. Why is he still acting like this?”