Read Online Flirting with Boys by Hailey Abbott - Free Book Online Page B

matters.”

Chapter Nine
    C eleste sat at one of the desks in the main office a few days later, trying to figure out how many flower arrangements she needed to order for the wedding shower Mrs. Anderson was hosting for Taylor Hargrove, the daughter of one of the biggest restaurant entrepreneurs in L.A. Celeste stared down at the diagram of the Silver Room spread out in front of her and erased the little table sketch she’d just drawn. She took a swig of her caramel latte and glanced at her watch. Travis was supposed to come by once he was done mowing down by the main gates. Celeste erased another table and blew the dust off the desk, wondering idly how Travis could stand sitting on that smelly mower all day in the hot sun.
    At least the office was quiet and cool. Her mom and dad were in town, meeting with their accountants. Even the secretaries were gone. The computer system had gone down this morning, so Dad had given everyone a few hours off until the guy from IBM came.
    As Celeste bent close to the sketch and carefully drew in another table by the wall, the door clicked open behind her. She smiled to herself and pretended to concentrate. Footsteps crept across the carpet behind her and stopped. Celeste could sense someone standing right behind her chair. A pad of paper landed on the desk next to her. Celeste dropped her pencil and, without looking around, stretched her arms up and back, grabbing the person around the waist. “Hey, baby,” she said.
    â€œWow, this is a nice change,” a voice said. Celeste suddenly realized that the person she was grabbing was much skinnier than Travis, and the voice wasn’t as gravelly. She jumped and her knee jarred the desk, spilling her cardboard cup of coffee—all over Mrs. Anderson’s seating plan. “Damn it!” she yelled, and leaped up.
    â€œOops! Sorry,” Nick said.
    â€œWhat the hell are you doing? Quick, get something to wipe this off.” Celeste held up the thin white sheet of drafting paper on which the brown coffee stains were rapidly soaking in. Little drips of coffee ran off the sheet onto the desk. Nick looked around wildly for somepaper towels or napkins, but there wasn’t anything in reach. Suddenly, he held up a hand. “I got it,” he said. With one quick movement, he pulled his T-shirt off over his head, revealing his golden-tanned torso, and laid the drafting paper down on another desk, pressing the shirt against it at the same time. The coffee soaked rapidly into the soft cotton, spreading through the fabric and lifting off the paper. Celeste stared. Nick Saunders standing half naked in the Pinyon office cleaning up a spill had to be the very last thing she’d expected to see today. She realized her mouth was hanging open a little and shut it quickly.
    After a minute, Nick held up the paper. “There,” he said, surveying it critically. “That looks a little better.” It was brown and wrinkly in spots, but all of the writing was legible.
    There was a little silence. Nick grinned at Celeste as if he was waiting for her to say something. She looked down at the stained sketch. “Uh, thanks.” More silence. “I, um, thought you were Travis.”
    â€œNo, thank God.” The muscles in his chest flexed as he perched on the edge of the desk. Celeste noticed that he had a smattering of golden freckles across his shoulders. “But you can pretend I’m Travis if it means I get more of that,” he said.
    â€œDon’t start, Nick,” she warned.
    He widened his eyes innocently. “I just came downhere to get some work done, and now I’m being accused of something I haven’t even done? Is this how you treat all your special Pinyon guests?”
    Celeste started to respond and then paused. “Wait—what do you mean, get some work done?” She turned and eyed the pad of paper, untouched by spilled coffee. Scribbling in blue ink covered the first