Ex Files by McClymer Kelly

Author:McClymer, Kelly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Book View Cafe
Published: 2012-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

This One's Going to Hurt

Nick was excited about this assignment, unlike the one with Henry. He showed up without his usual semi-scowl. I’m sure it had something to do with a desperate hope for a sample of Ryan’s world-class paté. But since my plan involved no opportunity for Ryan to slip on his apron, Nick was going to be one disappointed camera man/gourmand.

“Where to?” he asked as we got into the town car Olivia had sent.

“Straight to Ryan’s.”

“Will he be awake?”

“The sleepier the better,” I confessed. Chefs are notoriously late-night folks, like theatre people. “He’ll be too tired to object until it’s too late.”

“Object?” Nick started to look worried. “To what?”

I smiled. I did like the sense of power that came with my magazine connections. “You’ll see when he does.”

<<>>

Ryan answered his door in a loose pair of sweatpants. He looked like he had just stumbled out of bed. Perfect. I suddenly remembered why I had kept dating him for a good month past the time when I knew he wasn’t the man for me. He could take my breath away without even trying. The man took good care of himself, and didn’t overindulge in his own treats.

“Grab your toothbrush and let’s go,” I said cheerfully. Maybe my voice was a little on the loud side, because he winced.

“Go where?”

“You agreed to be mine for two days, remember? You do want the feature and cover, right?”

Nick snapped a picture, perfectly capturing Ryan’s dawning realization that he may just have made a mistake by not asking more questions about the actual “date” instead of the restaurant feature.

“I thought we could just hang out at my place.” He was rapidly waking up. “In fact, come in. I can cook up some Eggs Benedict–”

I held up my hand to cut him off before my weakness for his cooking could get the better of me. I knew how that story ended – with me well fed, but lonely.

“My readers are looking for something a little more romantic,” I said without blinking. My readers. It had a nice sound, but I only knew of three so far – Nick, Emily and my mother.

Nick snapped a few pictures of Ryan grabbing his toothbrush and tossing a pair of jeans, some shirts and a sweater in his backpack. He got a few of me grinning, too. I looked like I was the one in charge. Being the only one who knows what’s about to happen does that to a person, I guess.

When we all three piled into the limo, Nick on one side and Ryan and I next to each other on the other, I slipped the driver a piece of paper with an address. It was folded, so even Nick’s nosy glance couldn’t see where we were going.

As we approached, I took out my phone and pretended to be sending a text. When the driver stopped and opened the door for us, I got a perfect shot of Nick’s face. He got a perfect – and much better – shot of Ryan’s face.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.