Page 126 of Thrown for a Loop
“If I see him,” I agree, and he walks off shaking his head.
Great.If Sharp doesn’t give me a contract, I can only blame myself. I obviously have the poker face of a Doberman watching someone unwrap a sandwich.
I knock on 1010, and Chase opens the door immediately. “Why, look who it is!”
You’d think I’d be used to seeing him by now, but I light up inside every time. “Hi, handsome.”
He winks. “Bess is here,” he says as he ushers me in.
“Oh.”Oops.I give her a quick wave. “Hey, Bess. I was just stopping by with, um, some costume choices. Should I come back later?”
She rolls her eyes in much the same way that DeLuca did a minute ago. “Sure, buddy. If you want. But if you’re trying to keep your thing with Chase a secret, better ask him to tone down the joy a little. Anyone can track to the hour when you guys started dating again. Anyone with eyes.”
I sigh.
Chase shrugs, then kisses me on the cheekbone. “Sit down. Bess was just telling me about Sharp’s latest offer.”
I tense immediately. “Is it bad?”
“It’s notbad,” she says thoughtfully. “But I thought he would’ve come up more than this already. And I’m starting to think this might be his real price point.”
Chase rubs his chin. “We know of at least two other players in negotiations. And it’s a zero-sum game. Any dollar he gives me, he can’t spend on someone else.”
“He should spend them all on you,” I say grumpily.
Bess grins. “Agreed, except we don’t want Merritt out there playing the whole game by himself. So he’ll have to think hard about what he wants.” She gets up and squeezes him on the shoulder. “Money. Lifestyle. Stability. You mull it over, and it probably makes sense to see what Montreal offers this summer.”
“Got it, Bess,” he says, not looking too worried. “Now let’s see these costumes.”
“Ooh, text me with the winner?” she says. “I’m on my way out to dinner with one of my Vancouver clients, where I will casually suggest that trash-talking referees on Xitter is not a great life strategy.”
“Ouch.” Chase winces. “Bye, Bessie!”
“Bye, kids! Make good choices!”
The moment the door closes on Bess, Chase tackles me to the bed, and I let out a little shriek. “God, warn a girl.”
“But I missed you!” he says, kissing my neck. “Did you see me eat it in the third period?”
“Yes, but it didn’t look like a hard fall. Was I wrong?”
“No, but my first thought wasI hope Zoe didn’t see that.” He rolls on top of me and grins down with playful eyes. “It’s embarrassing to go down on your knees when you’re dating the skating coach. Unless, of course, I’ve got a goodreasonto be on my knees.” Then he makes a meow sound that causes me to snort-laugh.
Someday I might be cool. Today is not that day.
I push him off me. “Let’s look at costumes. I’m nervous that you’ll hate all my ideas, and we’re running out of time.” The jamboree is two weeks away.
“All right.” He sits up. “Let’s do this. Am I trying stuff on?”
“Of course. Drop those pants.”
“Oh, baby.” He reaches for his belt.
I pull a pair of stretchy, skinny black jeans out of my bag. “These are from a discount store, and the fabric is super cheap and thin. But they’ll move with you. And, well…” I hesitate.
“What?” he says, taking them from me.
“They’ll stick to you like a bad tattoo. The women of New York will enjoy them.”
