Page 9 of Nailed

He was abandoning me.

Jamie trudged around to the driver’s side of his truck. “Get in the truck, Cooper.”

“No.” My heart thudded.

“No?”

I was being obstinate. But I didn’t care. “Not without Sam. You can get him into the conference.”

Jamie twitched slightly. He glanced at Sam.

“Even if you weren’t on the committee,” I said, “you’re the keynote speaker. The belle of the ball, really. They’ll do whatever you ask.”

I was being petulant now. It was unlike me. I was normally nice. Sweet. Agreeable. But I was sick of Jamie’s shit. And I didn’t have to put up with him anymore.

My words had made Jamie scowl so hard I was surprised the clouds overhead didn’t coalesce over his head.

“Come on, Sam.”

“Sarah, that’s really nice of you, but I’m fine—”

“No,” I said. “Don’t worry. Jamie’s a nice guy.”

Jamie blinked, his sea-blue eyes hard now.

He knew as well as I did that he’d been nothing but a dick to me for months. But I also knew that if I wasn’t around, Jamie probably would have offered to drive Sam, anyway. Hewasa nice guy to everyone else. He liked doing nice things, even if he acted like he didn’t. The only reason he wasn’t volunteering now was because he didn’t want me to get my way.

Jamie’s temple pulsed. Finally, he let out something that sounded like the noise a bear might make if you interrupted its lunch.

Then he looked over at Sam. “I can’t get you into the hotel.”

Sam nodded. “Of course.”

“Get your bags,” he barked.

Sam grinned at me, and I knew I’d made the right choice. I could get through anything so long as I didn’t have to be alone with Jamie Reilly.

CHAPTER5

Sarah

When I climbed up into Jamie’s truck, I had every intention of sticking my earbuds into my ears and ignoring him for the duration of the ride. I may have lost my opportunity to practice my talk and pitches, but I still had my podcast and a travel pillow for the six-hour trip. As I pulled these out, Sam clamored in behind me, while Jamie dealt with his bag in the back. He’d clearly been ready to go to this conference whether or not he’d run into me. I admired his drive.

“Hey, I’m sorry for…” Sam began, but trailed off. The poor guy didn’t know what he was apologizing for. He just knew things were uncomfortable.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” I said, my eyes on the rearview, where Jamie was re-latching the box. I couldn’t see his face well, but I could tell he was pissed. Good.

“Things haven’t been great between Jamie and me for a while.”

“Oh.”

I sensed Sam wanted to ask more or provide some kind of comfort, but Jamie appeared, the whole truck swaying as he filled the space next to me. He leaned over the console and stuffed his coat under my seat without so much as anexcuse me. I angled my knees out of his way, holding in a breath as the scent of his soap hit me again. That, along with the broad expanse of his back within inches of me, sent a tingling over my skin, reminding me of that moment outside my car.

I told my stupid hormones to remember whose side they were on.

“Everything fit?” I asked, plastering on the cheer.

Jamie just grunted as he sat up and cranked on the radio as he pulled into the road. A chipper pop Christmas song filled the cab.

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