Too Nerdy to Handle Read online

  Too Nerdy to Handle

  Maggie Dallen

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Audible Love

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Jamie

  The penthouse suite of my father’s apartment building looked like an elf had gone rogue.

  “That is a lot of mistletoe,” my friend Oliver pointed out as we stood on the sidelines of my father’s annual holiday party.

  Oliver might have been a bona fide tech genius, but he had a penchant for pointing out the obvious.

  “It’s an obscene amount of mistletoe,” I agreed. “My stepmother went a little overboard.” I winced as I watched as one of my father’s older divorcée friends ensnared my brother under one of the bundles of mistletoe and dragged him into a kiss.

  “Well,” Oliver said, his own brows drawn together in concern as he watched my brother’s plight. “Your stepmother certainly knows how to throw a great holiday party.”

  Was it great? I arched a brow as I scanned the room around me. It was packed with partygoers nibbling on canapés and sipping champagne. I didn’t recognize most of the people around me, but that wasn’t a surprise. As the country’s most successful media mogul, my father had a tendency to gather large crowds wherever he went, most of whom were searching for something—a job, a handout, publicity, or just the joy of being close to the rich and famous.

  Ugh. I took a sip of my sparkling cider. Call me jaded, but I’d had more than my share of the rich and famous over the years, and parties like this had become the bane of my existence. “I’m not sure I’d classify this as a great party,” I said.

  Oliver pointed toward his girlfriend, who was currently dancing with one of my younger cousins on the dance floor, where a quartet was playing tasteful holiday tunes. Despite the music choice, Liv appeared to be doing the running man.

  I laughed as my ten-year-old cousin tried to mimic Liv’s ridiculous dance moves. I snuck a peek up at Oliver to see how he was reacting to his girlfriend’s antics.

  Yup. There it was. That look. I’d describe his grin as dopey if he wasn’t a veritable genius. The look that made me sick with envy. Not because I wanted Oliver to look at me like that, but because I wanted anyone to look at me like that.

  Well, maybe not anyone. One person in particular.

  The thought brought with it a flurry of butterflies in my belly, and I did another scan of the crowd. Nope. My best friend Tieg hadn’t shown up yet. I took a deep, steadying breath. He’d be here. He’d promised. As the front man for a wildly popular rock band, he had a crazy schedule, but when he said he’d be somewhere he made it. One of the perks of private jets, he liked to joke.

  “Are you looking for someone?” Oliver asked me as Liv joined us, out of breath and flushed from dancing.

  “Of course she’s looking for someone,” Liv said, playfully slapping Oliver’s arm. “She’s waiting for her lov-uh.” Liv wagged her eyebrows as she drawled out the word.

  My cheeks caught fire, but Oliver frowned in confusion. “Who’s her lover?”

  “No one,” I said quickly.

  “Tieg.” Liv said his name blithely, casually, like she wasn’t just announcing my deepest darkest secret to the world.

  Oliver nodded. “Ah.”

  Okay fine, maybe Liv hadn’t revealed my secret to the world. In fact, Oliver was already well aware of said secret. But the two of them were the only ones who knew, and just hearing it said aloud was enough to make my insides writhe with embarrassment.

  So stupid. Who had a crush on their very platonic best friend? There was no hope for it. No future in it. It was such a terrible idea to fall in love with your BFF.

  I watched Oliver wrap an arm around Liv and drop a kiss on the top of her head, his expression filled with that sappy affection that made me want to howl with jealousy. Okay fine, maybe the whole falling in love with your best friend thing had worked for them. But they were the exception to the rule.

  Liv took a water glass from the same young cousin who she’d been dancing with and then my cousin was off.

  I arched my brows. “You have them fetching you water now?”

  Liv waved aside her comment. “He owes me. Now he can impress all the grade school girls with those sick moves.”

  I snorted with amusement. After years of socializing with debutantes and heiresses, Oliver and Liv were a breath of fresh air in my life.

  “So where is the pop star hottie?” Liv asked.

  I did another scan of the crowd automatically. “He’ll be here.”

  Liv reached out and squeezed my arm. “Of course he will.” From anyone else it might have sounded patronizing, but Liv looked so certain. “He’ll be here and then you’re going to tell him exactly how you feel.”

  “Wait, what?” My voice got all high-pitched and weird. “Um, no…no, I didn’t say that I would—”

  “Jamie Maxwell.” Liv planted a hand on her hip as she leveled me with a firm stare. “Don’t you dare chicken out on me.”

  I licked my lips and made a noncommittal sound that came out like a low hum. I didn’t actually recall making any promises to Liv, but I knew what she meant.

  “He’s going to be back in New York for your whole winter break, right?” Liv said. “You guys will have tons of time to hang out.”

  “Um…” This wasn’t exactly true. Yes, Oliver and I were on break from Emory Prep, but my father didn’t believe in breaks. Or vacations, for that matter. From the time I’d turned twelve, my father had put me to work at his company during each and every one of my school breaks.

  I’d literally started in the Maxwell Company mailroom, which was probably entirely illegal, come to think of it, and worked my way up. This whole past year I’d found my home at the company by working for their nonprofit sector, a small branch of the company that created tax loopholes for my father while doing good deeds for the rest of the world. I’d be working the equivalent of a full-time job there over the break, while also devoting as many hours as I could spare to my own nonprofit organization I’d started up a few months earlier.

  I started to explain all this to my friends, but Liv was already continuing with her pep talk. “This is the perfect timing you’ve been waiting for,” she said. “You’ll have tons of time to talk and reconnect—” Liv bit her lip and did a silly, pseudo-seductive hip shake. “If you know what I mean.”

  Oliver laughed. “I think she understands you, Liv.”

  I groaned and slapped a hand over my mouth to stifle a laugh at the looks Liv was getting from the stodgy old ladies standing beside us. “I should never have told you guys about my stupid crush.”

  Liv straightened. “First of all, it’s not stupid. And second, who better to talk to about having a crush on your best friend?”

  This was true. I watched these two former-best-friends-turned-couple with another envious sigh. “You’re right. But you guys were a different story.”

  “How?” Oliver asked. He sounded honestly curious.

  “You two were so obviously into each other.”

  They exchanged smug little smiles that had me rolling my eyes. “It’s not like that with me and Tieg.” I shrugged. “With us, I’m pretty sure it’s totally one-sided.”

  They wore matching looks of sympathy that had me wiggling uncomfortably. I was the daughter of one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in New York. I was
definitely not used to being pitied.

  I didn’t like it.

  “You won’t know unless you tell him how you feel,” Oliver said. He was probably echoing my own words back to me, and I did not particularly appreciate it.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I mumbled.

  “Or you could make him jealous,” Liv said. She grinned at me. “I’m not sure I ever would have realized how in love I was with Oliver if it hadn’t been for you.”

  I shook my head with a laugh. “You’re nuts.”

  “Seriously,” Liv said, waving a hand toward my general direction. “Look at you. I’d have been an idiot to not be jealous.”

  “You are beautiful,” Oliver said. The way he said it—so empirically, and without even the slightest hint of attraction…it was like hearing it from my father or one of my brothers. “Thanks,” I said.

  “You are,” Liv added, all wide-eyed earnestness.

  I shifted uncomfortably again. It wasn’t like I had terrible self-esteem but it was odd to be the center of their scrutiny. I wasn’t sure I liked their compliments much more than their pity. I shifted again, trying to find a position that eased some of the pain in my feet, but no new stance was going to change the fact that I was wearing toe-pinching stilettos.

  My stepmother Vanessa had picked out the heels, and she’d also had her personal hairstylist do my blonde hair up in this updo that tugged at my scalp and had been giving me a low-grade headache for the last two hours. Vanessa was also responsible for the tight, shimmering gold dress that made me feel like an oversized Oscar from the Academy Awards. “I can’t breathe,” I said to no one in particular.

  “Well, when you swoon from lack of oxygen, be sure to fall into Tieg’s arms,” Liv said.

  I let out a surprised huff of laughter, but before I could respond, the atmosphere in the room shifted. It was subtle, but I knew this shift well. It was what always happened when my world-famous bestie walked into a room. The people around me stopped talking, laughter turned to hushed whispers, and it seemed that everyone was craning a neck or leaning ever so slightly to the side for a better view of the door. “He’s here.”

  Even to my own ears, I sounded…gushy. My voice was all breathy with excitement and I couldn’t hide my eagerness. Despite the nerves, and despite all the mixed feelings of being in love with my best friend—he was still my very best friend, and it had been ages since we’d had a chance to spend any real quality time together in person. The last two months had been spent texting and talking via Skype and FaceTime.

  And now he was here. Finally! Too bad the crowd around me was blocking my view. Stupid gawking fans. It was like they’d never seen a famous person before.

  “What are you waiting for?” Liv said, giving me a little nudge. “Go grab your man before one of these cougars beats you to it.”

  I nodded, unable to hide my eager excitement as I grinned. “Okay, I’ll be right back.” I maneuvered through the crowd, my smile growing along with my excitement. He’s here!

  I dodged a caterer with a tray laden with empty wine glasses, and found myself bursting out of the crowd in the foyer, and face to face with—someone who was not Tieg.

  My wide smile stayed frozen in place for a half-second as my brain registered that the cute dirty-blond guy towering in front of me was not Tieg. Grey eyes met mine and I felt it like a physical blow. His stare was…intense. It was enough to snap me out of my shock, and my face fell along with my hopes.

  This guy…whoever he was?

  He wasn’t Tieg.

  Chapter Two

  Alex

  Well, that was…interesting.

  I watched the gorgeous blonde with interest. Her smile—that smile—holy cow, that smile had stunned me stupid. My brain went blank at the sight of all that beauty and happiness aimed in my direction.

  She was Helen of Troy. She was an angel sent from above. She was…

  Staring at me like I’d just killed her cat.

  That epic smile vanished in an instant, and now she was staring at me with wide eyes filled with disappointment.

  What the… I glanced over my shoulder to see if there was someone behind me.

  “What did you do to that girl?” My agent Roger came to a stop beside me, one hand on my shoulder as he nudged me forward into the party.

  “I have no idea,” I said. The girl turned away, ducking her head as she headed toward a table filled with red and green treats. The whole room seemed to be decked out in red and green, and every corner held a huge Christmas tree. “We found Whoville.”

  Roger snorted. “Yeah, apparently the big man’s new wife is all about the parties.”

  “The big man? Really?”

  “The head honcho, the big cheese, the real McCoy, the—”

  “I got it,” I said. Sometimes Roger’s particular brand of humor came in handy…but not often. Right now, I assumed Roger was trying to lighten the mood and put me at ease. He knew that I hated parties. I glanced down at his bald spot. “You can just call him Linus Maxwell.”

  “Right, well, Maxwell’s new wife apparently loves to throw parties. And since he’s the reason we’re here, I suggest you pretend like you’re having a good time so you don’t offend his wife.”

  “Uh huh.”

  Roger gave me a sidelong look. “This isn’t for me, man. This is for you, for your family—”

  “I know,” I snapped. I lowered my voice. “I know.”

  Roger was older than me by about a decade but he was already a senior agent at a high-level sports agency. Stupid sense of humor or not, he knew what he was doing, and he was right. Well, he wasn’t totally right. I wasn’t naïve enough to believe that me and my family were Roger’s sole concern. His fifteen-percent cut of all my deals and sponsorships were far more important to him than my little brother’s schooling, but at this particular point in time we shared a mutual interest in me making as much money as possible.

  I might have been breaking records on the track this year, and odds were I’d qualify for the Olympics next year, but I knew better than anyone that an athlete’s career timeframe was limited. Anything could put an end to this winning streak—an injury, an illness, old age.

  Make hay while the sun shines. That was what my grandpa always said and I never forgot it. This wouldn’t last forever and I owed it to my family to take advantage of every opportunity while I had it.

  That was the only reason I was here, at the home of a billionaire media mogul who wanted to pry into every area of my life…all in the name of journalism.

  “I did the Sports Illustrated feature,” I said now, even though I knew it was a losing battle. “Do we seriously have to do an entertainment magazine?”

  Roger frowned, all traces of his levity gone in an instant. “We’ve been over this, Alex.”

  I sighed. We had. Multiple times. Interviews with the sports magazines and online sites hadn’t been all that bad. They kept the questions to the topic of running—the training, my diet, all that stuff. But this in-depth feature Roger wanted me to do for one of Linus Maxwell’s sites…this was different. They wanted an in-depth exposé, a behind-the-scenes look at the ‘teen running phenom,’ as I’d been dubbed in the media. They wanted the kind of interview I’d been avoiding like the plague.

  “The more exposure, the better right now,” Roger said. “We need to make you the next Michael Phelps if you want to secure your future.”

  I rubbed my forehead. It wasn’t just my future. It was my mom’s future. It was Bobby’s future. Focusing on them, I gave him a short nod. “Just don’t give me another speech on how there’s no such thing as bad publicity, okay?”

  He grinned, his good humor back in a heartbeat. “You don’t believe me? Ask any reality star. Honestly, kid, I don’t know what your hang-up is with the media. It’s not like they’re going to find out you killed a man, right?”

  I gave him a blank stare as he laughed at his own joke. He slapped a hand on my shoulder and steered me farther into the crowd. “Com
e on, man. Lighten up. Did you see the way this crowd was looking at you when you came in?”

  I stiffened. I’d seen the stares, heard the whispers.

  I hated it.

  Fame had never been what I was after—but unfortunately Roger had helped me to understand that being the fastest runner wasn’t enough. Not if I wanted the kind of sponsorship money and opportunities that would set me and my family up for life. Not if I wanted that kind of security—and I did. More than anything.

  Now was the time. This was my chance. I couldn’t afford to let anything get in the way of that.

  Even though he was shorter than me, Roger still tried to do a fatherly arm wrap around my shoulders and just settled for giving my neck a little squeeze. “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice the way the girls were looking at you.”

  I stopped moving forward. Girl. Singular. One girl.

  Oh, there were other women here, I could see a handful of them staring at me out of the corner of my eye. But there was only one I’d noticed. Only one who’d knocked the wind out of me with that brilliant smile, that gorgeous glow, those clear blue eyes dancing with excitement, brimming with life—

  “Tonight’s your night, buddy.”

  I hated when Roger called me ‘buddy.’ It made me feel like I was twelve instead of nineteen. It wasn’t the most annoying of all his nicknames, but it still made me cringe.

  Roger gave me a little shove toward the epicenter of the party. “You go. Have fun. I’ll track down the big cheese—”

  “Please stop calling him that.”

  “I’ll track you down later, but do me a favor.” He arched his brows and gave me a meaningful look. “Let loose a little. You finally have a break from training, your family isn’t here for you to take care of…do us all a favor and take a load off, kid. Give yourself a break.”