it had to be Nicollò who offered to grab the mop.
The mop. Blaring alarms went off in my head. The mop’s was in here.
Rudy’s office door squeaked open, and I rolled toward the others momentarily, then scrambled to my feet.
Seconds later, the janitor’s closet door burst open, and in walked the sexiest guy I had ever seen. Dark hair, dark eyes and the body of a Greek statue. Or, an Italian statue as the case may be. Either way, in his Armani suit—and one gold chain—I could see the man was built.
He stared at the four of us critically.
We all stood frozen.
Then, the Italian God made eye contact with me. My knees weakened, and I pressed a hand to the wall for balance, unable to speak. If this guy was surprised to see us, he hid it well.
His mouth twitched, and a dimple formed in his left cheek. “Hello.”
Words failed me, but I had to do something so I scampered across the small room, removed the mop from the hook on the opposite wall, and handed it to him.
“Thanks.” His dimple deepened and his brown eyes pierced mine as he grasped the mop handle. “I’m Nick.”
Nick. Out of habit, I glanced down at his ring finger. Bare. He was single. My heart drummed a mile a minute and I breathed in deeply to calmly introduce myself. “I’m aaaahchooo!”
Both hands flew to my nose, and I squeezed my eyes shut. What. Just. Happened? The dust from the vent. This was Rudy’s fault for canceling the janitor!
I sniffed several times, rubbed my nose, then tilted my head up and opened my eyes.
Nick’s gaze seemed transfixed on mine as he reached into his breast pocket, removed a white handkerchief and held it out for me.
My heart melted. What a gentleman. I accepted the handkerchief and dabbed my nose.
Suddenly, Erica appeared at my side—a hair in front of me actually, holding her hand out to Nick. “I’m Erica Conner, and may I just say how thrilling it is to have such an authoritative man in charge around here.”
It annoyed me that Erica had stepped up when I’d been here first. Still, it didn’t grate on my nerves the way it did when she flirted with Matt. Weird. But my competitive side wouldn’t let her get away with upstaging me.
I rolled my shoulder so it was slightly in front of Erica’s, and broke their handshake. It may have been childish, but it sure felt good.
She narrowed her eyes at me, then turned back to Nick. “I’m not scheduled to work for another hour so I’d be happy to assist if you need help with . . . anything.”
Nick turned back to me—ha!—gave a small smile, then held up the mop. “Actually, I’d better get this to Rudy before he has a coronary. Nice to meet you all.”
“The pleasure was mine.” Erica gushed. “Welcome to Totally Fit.”
“Thanks,” he said, then stepped out of the closet leaving the door open.
Erica spun toward the three of us and clapped her hands. “Things around here are about to get interesting.”
“Yes, they are,” I said, watching her bounce out of the closet. She’d totally made a move on Nick when he’d clearly noticed me first. Wasn’t there a girl friend code on first dibs?
Not that I wanted dibs, necessarily—let’s face it, I couldn’t make a move in any dating direction without authorization from Patti—but, it just wasn’t right how Erica had jumped in front of me.
“Back to work, people.” Steve clapped his hands. “Especially me.”
I stood motionless, watching Steve lift his head high as he strode out.
Matt came up beside me. “You okay?”
I turned toward him. “I’ve been better.”
“That’s right,” he said. “I’m sorry your date didn’t go the way you wanted.”
“It’s okay.” I shrugged, and meant it.
Surprisingly, I didn’t miss Brad at all. Guess I really hadn’t been that into him. Wow. I pictured the figurative bright yellow light bulb flashing above my head. I’d been so excited to find love that I’d imagined I had it. What a confusing revelation.
He
Justine Dare Justine Davis