Gold - Linde K. A. (версия книг .TXT) 📗

“Hello?” Trihn answered groggily.

“Hey. Were you still sleeping?”

“Why are you awake this early?” she asked through a yawn.

“It’s one in the afternoon.”

“Is it?”

“Yes,” Bryna confirmed.

“What’s up?”

“How did things go last night? You never came back to the party.”

“I know,” Trihn said. “I’m sorry. Neal apologized, and then we made up. He was frustrated because he didn’t get into the graphic design internship with Pixar that he had interviewed for last week. It was a huge disappointment, and now, all the other summer intern positions are full.”

“So, he took that out on you? And you’re okay with that?” Bryna was sure she didn’t hide the disdain in her voice.

Trihn sighed heavily. “I don’t know. It was a stressful week, is all.”

“As long as it doesn’t turn into a stressful week all the time.”

“You’re turning into Stacia over here. Stop mothering me.”

Bryna shook her head and laughed. “Hardly. I’m not mothering you. I’m letting you know that I’ll chop his balls off and feed them to a blender if he keeps this shit up.”

Trihn exploded with laughter. “I can’t believe you. Actually, I can. You’d totally do it. Thanks for caring, B.”

“Don’t keep confusing me for Stacia,” Bryna singsonged.

“Oh my God, I love you. I’m going back to bed.”

As she pulled into the valet station, Bryna hung up the phone. She handed over the keys to her car and took the elevator up to the spa. As promised, the afternoon had been cleared for her. And she spent the next couple of hours getting pressed, buffed, waxed, blown out, and all-around pampered. She felt like a new person by the end of it, and even though she knew she would still have to face Eric later, at least she could do it feeling refreshed.

As she was leaving, the woman at the front stopped her. “Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

“This package was left for you.” She passed over a small gift-wrapped box.

“Oh?”

“It arrived only a moment ago.”

“Thanks.”

Bryna unwrapped the package and opened the box. She gasped. Inside was a diamond-encrusted Hermes Paris watch in rose-gold and black. She removed it from the case and slid it onto her wrist. It fit perfectly when she slipped it on her wrist. Between this and her B necklace and bracelet, she was dripping in jewels. She shrugged and decided it suited her.

She shot off a shocked and excited text to Hugh about the watch. She couldn’t stop glancing at it. The gifts were extravagant and thoughtful—just the way she liked them.

Once she reached the ground level, she glanced out at the front door and sighed. Her stomach knotted. She wasn’t ready to see Eric yet. Her confidence had been rattled after last night. The anticipation of wondering what he was going to say ate at her, and she couldn’t get it to go away. She knew that going to talk to him would probably fix all of that, and she was stressing for nothing. But she never stressed over stuff like this. She hadn’t since a year ago when Jude had wanted to talk.

Maybe a drink to take the edge off would help. She backtracked to the bar and took an empty seat. Crossing her legs, she smiled at the bartender and ordered a dirty martini, her favorite.

Bryna felt eyes on her from the guy seated two seats down from her. She glanced over at him, and he didn’t look away when she made eye contact. She turned away, took another sip of her drink, and then looked back. He was still watching her rather intently. Weird.

“Anything I can help you with? Or are you just browsing?” she asked sarcastically.

The guy shrugged. “I figured you wanted to be admired.”

“Why is that?”

“Look at you,” he said as if that made perfect sense.

She looked down. Her clothes were nothing special. In fact, she was in sandals. The spa had perfected her hair, but she had gone for subtle makeup because she had no plans. The only thing that was impressive at all right now was her diamonds.

“And?”

“I see you.” He turned back to his beer.

Bryna narrowed her eyes in confusion. That was a strange introduction, but it did make her curious, especially since he was good-looking and only a couple of years older than her, at the most. He was blond with dark eyes, wearing casual jeans, a T-shirt, and flip-flops. He had shades dangling from the neck of his shirt and seemed very…laid-back. Definitely not my type.

“Sorry,” he said when he noticed her puzzled expression. “I’ve been out of the country for almost a year, and it’s more a cultural shock to come back than to be away.”

“What were you doing? Work?”

“Nah. I wanted to snowboard my way through the rest of the world. It turned into a bit more of an adventure than I’d bargained for. I’d love to tell you the story sometime,” he said, leaning into her.

Hmm. Smooth. She kind of liked his easygoing confidence. It was her biggest turn-on. “I’d love that, but I have to get back to campus.”

“Oh! Are you at LV State or UNLV?”

“State.”

“Cool. I start there in the fall. Thought I’d rejoin the world of the overworked,” he said with a smirk.

Bryna laughed. “All right. Maybe you can tell me your story next semester then.”

“Definitely. If you want to give me your number, I can call you when I move in. It would be nice to know someone here.”

Bryna shrugged. What do I have to lose? “Sure.” She added her number to his phone. “It’s Bryna, by the way.”

The guy offered his hand. “Cam.”

She smiled again and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“You, too.”

As she was walking away, back to her car, she couldn’t keep the giddy feeling from her stomach. It was nice to meet a guy who didn’t have a preconceived notion of her reputation. Actually, he knew nothing about her. And still, he had seen her when she didn’t even look her best. It was a compliment. Even if he never called, it had been nice to flirt with him for a bit.

She left the resort, feeling as if she had done a complete one-eighty since this morning. She was in a much better mood and was ready to talk to Eric. The drive was short, and she pulled into the empty driveway.

The door was unlocked when she arrived, and she let herself in without knocking.

No margaritas this time.

“Eric?” she called.

No answer.

She wandered outside and found it also empty. She decided to try upstairs, and she heard voices. Walking toward Eric’s workout room, she pushed open the door and found him lifting weights with Andrew.

Both guys were shirtless, sweaty, and hot as hell. Even though Andrew was ridiculously built, her eyes kept being drawn back to Eric. Andrew was spotting Eric on the bench press, the weights nearly resting on his chest. He heaved it back up into the air.

“Am I interrupting?” She leaned against the doorframe with a smirk on her face.

Eric glanced over at her, dropped his head again, and then put the weights back into their resting place. “What do you want, Bri?”

Andrew questioningly looked at Eric. She wondered if Eric had told Andrew anything about what had happened last night. She doubted it. They were friends, but Eric was a pretty private guy…all things considered.

“It’s Sunday afternoon,” she said as if that explained everything.

“Yeah?” Eric muttered.

“I’m predictable…like clockwork,” she reminded him.

“Did you just say you’re predictable?” Andrew asked. His eyes were wide in surprise.

Yeah, she wouldn’t normally say that about herself, but she did spend most Sunday afternoons here.

“Shut up, Holloway,” Bryna spat.

Andrew laughed and held his hands up in surrender. “I’m just saying…”

“Well, don’t.”

Eric didn’t engage them as he sat up and toweled off. Then, finally…finally, he looked up at her. “Did you need something?”

Bryna shifted under his scrutiny and took an uninvited seat. “I got back from my spa day and thought I’d come over.”