Derek looked away, shoved a hand into his hair. “No. Yes. I sound like a spoiled idiot.”
“Yes, you do.” She kissed hisjaw. “Are you mad because Nate and I went out together?”
“That too.”
“We just went for a bike ride.”
“I know. I’m a jerk. You two can go have fun if you want. Although…when do you ever get any work done these days?”
She sighed. “I’ll do some work tonight for a few hours.”
Nate held in a groan. She’d been doing so well there. “Is that what you’d planned to do Krissa?”
She turned to him. She studied him. “Yes. That’s what I’d planned. I need to get the proposal done.”
“Okay.” He didn’t want her doing it just because Derek thought she should. He wanted her to tell him she’d manage her work herself, but then, Nate was the one who’d gotten her into this, so maybe expecting her to stand up to Derek wasn’t fair.
“I dragged her with me, Derek. She didn’t want to come. I thought it would be good for her—for both of us—to get out and get our minds off…you know.”
Derek nodded. He kissed Krissa’s forehead. “You’re right, Nate. I’m sorry. I guess I just felt left out. I was sitting in meetings all afternoon while you two were out having fun. But I’m glad you did.”
Nate saw Krissa inhale a deep breath, then let it out slowly. She gave them both a quick smile. “Okay,nowI’m going to get changed.”
He was sorry he’d pushed her. But then, not really so sorry.
Chapter 24
Krissa’d convinced him to go to the gallery showing in L.A. He’d rented a car, which gave him much more freedom to come and go as he wanted. Not that he had much to do. Driving during the day wasn’t a problem, but at night his eyes were still too sensitive to the oncoming headlights of cars and he obviously couldn’t wear dark glasses at night.
He’d gotten out and around town, visited some old friends and some old haunts, checked out some photography stores and galleries.
But the day before he was to leave for L.A., Krissa came to find him in the basement work-out room, where he bench-pressed ever increasing weights. He’d put on weight from eating Krissa’s cooking, and felt more like his old self physically. He’d fully recovered from the botulism, other than his goddamn eyes.
“I just did the ovulation test.” Her eyebrows drew together over her small nose. “I’m supposed to ovulate in the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours.”
“Oh. Great.”
“No, it’s not great. You’re going away. Just when we need to…uh…”
“Oh, yeah. Damn.” He lowered the weight and stared at her. “Well, I wasn’t that enthusiastic about going anyway.”
“But you should go. I said that before.” Her pretty mouth pouted and he could see her thinking.
“Well, then, the other option is you come with me.”
She tilted her head to one side. “I guess I could. I don’t have client meetings or anything until Monday next week. But what about Derek?”
“He should come too.”
“If we’re going to…”
He nodded. “Check with him, then.”
“We can talk about it tonight when he’s home.”
But Derek said he couldn’t take off for two days to go to L.A. “I’ve got things scheduled that I can’t move. I’m about to close a huge sale. I need to be here.”
“Oh.” Nate read the disappointment on Krissa’s expressive face, her eyes cast down, mouth dipping at the corners.
