Page 2 of The New York Nighthawks, Vol. 2

MARLEIGH

Sunlight was streaming through the slats of my blinds when my phone buzzing pulled me from a deep sleep. Snaking my hand out of my blanket cocoon, I slapped my palm against my bedside table a few times before finding my phone.

Staying in bed until one was a luxury I didn’t often have, but I’d stayed up until the wee hours of the morning bingeing my favorite reality television on the big screen in the living room.

My roommate—who also happened to be my best friend—would have complained about watching the absolute best season of the fashion design competition.

That was probably fair since I had already forced her to sit through it at least a dozen times.

And because she knew that I had watched it only a few weeks ago while she was out of town.

Wrenley had been gone for a whole month, and I had missed the crap out of her.

So I was surprised by how much I enjoyed having the apartment to myself again last night.

She had only been back for one day before her big date with the hot offensive lineman she’d been crushing on for the past four weeks.

I wasn’t surprised she hadn’t come back, not after the way Jordan had looked at Wrenley when he’d come to pick her up for the gala.

My lips curved into a huge smile when my brain finally started to shake off the fog and I realized that Wrenley’s name was on the screen.

Stabbing my finger against the green button to answer her call, I pressed the phone against my ear and mumbled, “Since you’re not back yet, I take it your date went well? ”

“Ah, yeah…you could definitely say that.” Her soft laughter drifted down the line.

I snuggled against my pillow, my smile widening to the point my cheeks hurt. “And you didn’t believe me when I said that your football player had an eye for you.”

“After last night, there’s no denying it.”

I noticed that she didn’t correct me over calling Jordan hers like she had the last time I used the term. Then again, considering what they had probably been up to all night long, it wasn’t as though she could argue over the description. “Mm-hmm.”

“I know what you’re thinking.”

I couldn’t resist teasing my best friend. “That I was right, and you were oh-so wrong?”

“Go ahead,” she sighed. “Get it all out.”

“You’re coming up on a full twenty-four hours for your fake date with Jordan. How real did it become?”

“It’s about to get longer,” she muttered.

My eyes widened. “Did he do such a good job deflowering you that you’re spending another night with him?”

“Deflowering?” she sputtered on a laugh. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”

“Would you prefer me to say he punched your V-card? Popped your cherry? Visited your flower shop?” I ran through all the synonyms I could come up with off the top of my head.

“Are you done now?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On if you’re going to pick which one you want me to go with when you spill all the deets about your date,” I quipped.

“Fine,” she huffed. “Let’s go with punching my V-card for me, and we’ll save popping your cherry for when you finally fall for someone.”

I rubbed the back of my neck with a frown.

Wrenley had been the only person in my life who didn’t question my lack of a dating life.

Then again, she couldn’t really judge me since she hadn’t met a guy who could talk her into giving him a chance until Jordan showed up at Daniel, the Michelin-starred French restaurant where my best friend worked as a hostess.

“Hey, it’s not as though hot professional football players who want to shower you in fabulous clothes, shoes, and jewelry grow on trees.

Especially not ones who practically devour you with their eyes. ”

Her voice turned dreamy as she asked, “Did he really look at me like that?”

“Don’t be silly. Of course, he did. His jaw literally dropped when you answered the door.

” I didn’t want us to get too sappy. I had a feeling if Jordan saw her sniffling, he would be pissed, even if I hadn’t upset her.

“If I hadn’t been here, I’d be willing to bet good money that you never would have made it to that gala because you would’ve been too busy getting your V-card punched on our living room couch. ”

“You know how much I normally love your twisted sense of humor—”

“Yeah, because it’s awesome.”

“And you’re going to want to hold on to it when I tell you why I’m calling,” she warned.

I shot up to a sitting position, the blankets pooling around my waist. “Why would I need to do that? Was the sex bad? Because I’ll lose all hope if you tell me that your date only lasted this long so Jordan could make it up to you.”

“What? No, that’s not what I’m saying at all,” she cried. “He didn’t have anything to make up to me. It was…mind-blowing. Several times over, and that didn’t stop him from giving me a repeat performance last night. Three of them.”

“Dang, girl. Now you’re just bragging.”

She giggled, and the sound of her happiness made my heart melt. “Can you blame me?”

Since I was still a virgin—and hadn’t even full-on French kissed a guy before—I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have sex that many times in one night. “Nope, not even a little.”

“And he isn’t done with me yet.”

I had a hunch Jordan would never be done with Wrenley.

I didn’t know him well, but he had the look of a man who’d fallen head over heels when he’d come to pick her up.

And it had sounded as though she wasn’t coming home anytime soon.

I just wasn’t sure why she thought I’d be bothered by that.

“So back to what you were saying…why will I need my super amazing sense of humor?”

“Well…um…you know how you wanted to know how real my date with Jordan was?”

“Uh-huh, and you confirmed you didn’t have to fake a single thing.” I paused for effect. “Multiple times over.”

“Mm-hmm. Multiples during the multiples, even.”

“You’re bragging again,” I teased.

“I just want you to fully understand how muddled my brain was when Jordan announced his grand plan.”

“His grand plan for what?” I asked.

“When I said that my date was about to get longer, what I really meant was that Jordan wants to move me into his place.”

My hand went to my throat as I squealed. “Wow, he works even faster than I thought.”

“Not as far as Jordan is concerned.” She let out a happy sigh.

“The way he looks at it, we’ve pretty much been together since that very first night when he asked me to go to the gala with him.

I spent all that time thinking that he just wanted me to go so that I could help keep his mom off his back, but he was trying to build something with me with all of the texts and calls while I was out of town. ”

“And the crap ton of gorgeous things he sent over that were very carefully selected for you, showing that he didn’t just throw some money at the personal shopper.

He told her exactly what to buy because he couldn’t get you out of his mind.

” He’d done an excellent job with his selections, too.

When I was going through everything he’d sent over, I suspected Wrenley had gotten it all wrong, and there wasn’t anything fake about their date. I was so happy to be proven right.

“He had her bring stuff over to his place, too,” she admitted softly.

“Is that why you think I’ll need my sense of humor?

Because I’ll need to deal with your mess or something while you’re not here?

” My brows drew together. “It’s not like you left piles of dirty laundry and dishes all over the place.

The living room was spotless until I left my dirty dishes on the coffee table after camping out on the couch for an epic binge watch. ”

“You might want to pick those up,” she suggested.

“How come? If you’re not around, I don’t see why I can’t indulge my messy side as much as I want. While you're snuggled up to Jordan, I’ll have the whole place to myself.”

“Except you won’t.”

“Won’t what?”

“Have the apartment all to yourself.”

I frowned. “I’m so confused.”

“Okay, I need to just spit this out.” She took a deep breath before blurting, “Jordan’s best friend is a wide receiver who was recently traded to the Nighthawks.

They were roommates back in college, so he moved in with Jordan when he came to town while he’s renovating his place. But now that I’m going to be there…”

“He needs somewhere else to stay,” I filled in the rest, finally understanding why she’d been nervous to tell me why she’d called.

“I know it’s a lot to ask, especially since you were doing me a favor by letting me stay there in the first place.”

Apartments in Hell’s Kitchen weren’t cheap, but my parents were happy to pay the rent while I was in design school.

And they were thrilled to lease a two-bedroom so Wrenley could live with me because it meant I wasn’t on my own.

“I don’t think you can call it a favor when having you here was as much for me as you. ”

“Yeah, well…hopefully, you’ll still love me after having Clay crash in my room for two weeks.”

“I’m sure it will be fine. Two weeks isn’t that long.” I did a horrible job sounding sincere, but it was tough to pretend I was looking forward to sharing a bedroom wall with a total stranger.

“He said he was cool with moving into a hotel instead, but I didn’t feel right making him pay to stay somewhere when my room was sitting empty. But if you’re not comfortable, I can tell Jordan that—”

I wasn’t about to let her sacrifice her happiness for me. “Seriously, Wrenley. It’s okay. If he’s Jordan’s best friend, then that’s good enough for me. I’ll go tidy up the mess I left in the living room. You go let him know it’s okay to come over whenever he’s ready.”