The Neighbor Favor(31)
“But your friend likes her,” Lily whispered, gasping. “That sweet man. You gave him that big pep talk about asking her out and everything.”
“I sleep naked,” Nick suddenly whispered back, looking pained. “I got drunk, fell asleep at her apartment and took off my clothes in the middle of the night. That’s why she had my boxers. She wasn’t even there. She was downstairs with Henry.”
“Oh,” Lily said. Her skin prickled with heat at the mention of him sleeping naked. Nick was looking everywhere but her face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. Not that you need to care what I think.”
He looked at her then, and his gaze roamed over her face in a quick, utterly absorbed manner. It was almost as if he was carefully cataloging her features. He blinked and shook his head.
“I’m really sorry,” he blurted. “I have to go to IKEA.”
And then, like a phantom, he rushed down the hallway, pushed open the stairwell doors and disappeared.
What in the world . . . ? Lily stood alone in the hallway, trying to figure out what had changed between her and Nick so quickly. One minute he’d been caressing her and the next he’d treated her like she had an infectious disease! What was it about her that made him realize he actually didn’t want to get involved with anyone? Was he turned off by the fact that she was a cat owner? Or maybe it was something about her feet? It was true that she’d kissed him first, but he’d kissed her back. She hadn’t imagined that. Either way, she’d thought Nick was a for sure wedding date candidate, but she’d been wrong. She’d followed her instincts to pursue Nick, but her instincts had led her astray. Imagine what Iris and Violet would think if they found out about this. It would just be more proof that she wasn’t a good judge of men and needed them to keep intervening.
Maybe she was in a little over her head with trying to find a date in such a short time span. She had no idea how to flirt properly. The issue was that she didn’t have anyone to turn to for advice. She had very few friends in New York City, and she was closest with her sisters, but she couldn’t ask them for help. She needed to win this bet on her own so that her sisters would stop meddling with her life. And more important, she needed to prove to them that she could do this one thing right.
The elevator doors opened again, and Lily turned, foolishly hoping to see Nick. Maybe he’d realized how weird he’d been acting and was coming to tell Lily that he’d actually love to be her date to Violet’s wedding.
But it wasn’t Nick that stepped out of the elevator. It was Yolanda and Henry. They were holding hands and laughing, gazing into each other’s eyes as they walked down the hall. Yolanda looked up and noticed Lily standing there.
“Hi, honey,” she said, then she glanced around. “Where’s Nick? Henry and I were on our way to dinner and thought we should come back and invite the two of you.”
“Oh.” Lily blinked. “He, um, he just left, actually.”
“That’s too bad,” Yolanda said. “Next time then. Your name is Lily, right? This is my boyfriend, Henry. We’re friends of Nick’s.”
“Nice to formally meet you,” Henry said, extending his hand, smiling.
“Nice to meet you too,” Lily replied, taking in his bright aura. Henry was positively beaming. He was nothing like the timid, unsure man whom she saw in the elevator only a few days ago.
Henry and Yolanda said goodbye and walked back toward the elevator. When the elevator arrived, they stepped inside, and Yolanda leaned her head against Henry’s shoulder. When Henry noticed that Lily was still watching them, he gave her a secret wink before the doors closed.
That pep talk that Nick gave Henry clearly did something to boost his confidence. Just look at how things turned about between him and Yolanda. Lily needed someone to give her pep talks and advice, to help her the way Nick helped Henry . . .
The sensible choice would be for Lily to go back inside of Violet’s apartment and lick her wounds after being rejected. But Lily wasn’t thinking sensibly. She was desperate.
She ran into the stairwell and hurried to catch up with Nick.
Nick raced down the stairs to the lobby, quite possibly on the verge of losing his mind. The book, the cat, hell, even the fact that she used to work at a bookstore could all be coincidental. But the tattoo on her foot confirmed it.
Lily from across the hall was Lily G. from his emails.
But how? How was that fucking possible?
Nick was rushing down the stairs so quickly he could hardly catch his breath. If he wasn’t more careful, he might slip and hurt himself. But he was too frantic to focus on his safety. He thought back and tried to remember the first time he’d seen Lily. It had been sometime last month. She’d been carrying a large stack of books as she’d stepped onto the elevator, and she’d peeked around the stack to ask if he could press 14. He’d glanced at her to say he’d already done so, but then he did a double take when he’d noticed her beautiful face behind all of those books. Her warm brown eyes and soft smile. Dumbstruck, he’d stared at her. That was the first moment he’d felt overcome with an inexplicable feeling in her presence, like a bolt of lightning had zapped him directly in the chest. Immediately, he’d thought, Who is she? How can I get to know her?
Well, the fucking joke was on him, because he did know her. She’d spent most of last year living in his inbox.