THESE TWO HEARTS/CH 2

He blinked for a second and watched her from behind very appreciatively as he approached slowly. Okay, she definitely had gotten even hotter than he remembered, he admitted. Of course, that didn't include the (perhaps far too many) times he had fantasized about her, usually, these fantasies or dreams involved them starting out yelling at each other and ended up in bed together. But, hey, that was pretty normal, right?

It had been quite a while since he had been in any kind of relationship and he was proud of himself for never returning to his "man-whore" days (yet another of the jibes he had a very difficult time forgiving Betty's magazine for using against him!)

"Betty?" His eyes widened as he saw her turn quickly and she hit him square in the crotch with her pool cue, "DANIEL?"

"AHHHH! SHIT! OUCH!" He doubled over in pain, as she recovered herself enough to drop the cue and run to his aid, "Daniel, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to…are you okay?"

"NO!"

She placed her hand on his back, then asked, "Should I get… um …do you need some…ice?"

He nodded, "Mmhmmm! Yep!" still bent over.

Betty rushed to the bar, trying not to cry with embarrassment at her stupid move! Good grief! Was there really no end to her clumsiness, she berated herself? "I…um…

Could I…do you have some…ice, please?"

The bartender stifled a laugh, as he handed her a bucket from behind the bar, and a dishtowel, "Yeah, here you go, sweetie! I tried to warn that poor guy you were shooting every man down who's been hitting on you so far, but that move has to take the cake!

What the hell did he say to you, anyway? I thought he was just going to thank you for turning in his phone! He didn't seem like some kind of pervert! I'm sorry if he bothered you, Miss! But, clearly you can take care of yourself!"

"That was…his phone? In the…ladies room?" She seemed puzzled, but shrugged it off in light of Daniel's urgent need for some relief, "Thanks!"

She returned with the bucket of ice and towel. She seemed totally flustered as she placed a few cubes in the towel, then took some back out, so she could fold it before handing it to him to place it where he was in such pain…"Thanks!"

"Can you…breathe?"

He shook his head.

"I'm REALLY sorry!"

He nodded, "Mmhmm…"

She put her hand on his shoulder, "This is NOT how I wanted to…God I'm SUCH a klutz!"

He finally managed to take a breath, wincing as he tried to lift his head, and smiled, nodding, "yep!"

She rolled her eyes, trying to clear her head from the drinks she had while she was trying to get up the nerve to go talk to him. It had been his mother's bright idea to approach Daniel at his local bar.

Normally, she would have eschewed the idea, but since her hotel was nearby, she convinced herself he probably wasn't coming since it was the middle of the week anyway, so what was the harm? She got there fairly early, started playing pool and drinking and then she saw him and had decided to just slip out unnoticed if she could.

She took a drink of water and pushed aside her last Margarita, thankfully untouched. Three was her limit, but when she ordered her fourth, she was thinking it might actually give her the "liquid courage" to go talk to the man.

"Do you…want to try to sit down?" Again he merely nodded, unable to speak. She attempted to help him to the table where she had been sitting before she started playing pool.

He mumbled something unintelligible and sat stiffly with the makeshift ice pack still in his lap. After a few minutes, she waved over the waiter, "Could I please get a Scotch on the rocks for the gentleman? And I'll have a cup of coffee and glass of water?"

"Sure, Miss!"

"Is that okay, Daniel?"

He nodded, still having to speak slowly and not nearly recovered by a long shot, "Yeah, thanks! Scotch is definitely a good idea right now! So, I was just going to tell you um…thanks for turning in my phone!"

She looked puzzled, "Oh, sure. I didn't know it was yours. I found it in the ladies room! Did you get lost?"

He made a face, "The…LADIES room? Seriously? I wasn't in…how the …that's not…SHIT! Wait a minute!" He went to reach for his wallet and realized it, too was missing.

"Shit! My damn wallet is gone, too!"

"Some lady pickpocket must have snatched your phone and wallet but dropped the phone in the bathroom!"

"I can't believe I got robbed!" He shook his head but managed a smile as he snorted, "Well, better you than me, I guess, huh? Welcome back to New York, Betty!" he laughed sincerely as he raised his Scotch to "toast" her.

She laughed along with him, holding up her water, "That's very generous of you to say, Daniel. Especially considering the circumstances! Thank you!"

He shrugged, "Circumstances? What do you mean? Me getting robbed like some dumb tourist or you racking me with a pool rack?"

They both laughed. She took her time to sip her coffee and drink her water, allowing him to recover as well as herself to sober up, then eventually reached out and took his hand, "I came here to…apologize, Daniel. I'm truly sorry for all the stupid, hurtful things I said or I told my staff members about and they wrote with my knowledge. I should never have let things go that far. It ruined our friendship and… and…I really regret everything!"

He narrowed his eyes, "Really? After…thirteen years of radio silence, that's all I get? You're sorry? Well, AFTER you try to castrate me of course! I guess that curbed your blood lust, seeing me in pain, is that it? What's the matter? You don't have the stomach for one more argument after all these years of pent-up frustration and anger for all the nasty things I said about you or let my staff say about you?"

She was having a difficult time trying to clear her head, but she winced, and blurted out, "What do you want from me? I said I was sorry and I am! But considering all the times I saw you…well, hit on girls then sleep with them, and just ignore them and hit on the next willing girl, or all the times I cleaned up after all your…messes, yeah, I'd say, that me hitting you…there was carmichael!"

He glanced up at her, then smirked, "Carmichael? What the hell is that? Don't you mean…karma, silly?"

"Whatever! You know what I mean!"

He laughed outright, "Yeah, I guess I do. You're saying you supposedly didn't hit me on purpose, but maybe you think I sort of deserve it anyway. Is that the gist of it? That's 'carmichael'?"

"Right!"

"Okay, Betty. So, now that you put me in my place supposedly accidentally are we…good now?" He looked up at her meaningfully, and somewhat pathetically, with those stupid puppy dog eyes of his and held out his open hand.

She nodded, placing her hand in his, "We're…good!"

"Good! Because apparently, I'm broke at the moment! I don't suppose I could share your cab far enough to drop me off at my place? I guess I need to make some calls tonight and tomorrow cancel all my cards and replace everything in my wallet. Wow! Mom is really going to think I came up with a good excuse for not showing up to the meeting tomorrow!" He laughed.

"She didn't think you would show up? Why not? Oh! You mean, because of…me?"

"Yeah, pretty much! She said I was being a baby and needed to get over myself so we could work together again!"

Betty tried not to laugh, but smiled, and shrugged, "Well, your mother IS a very smart lady, Daniel! You really should listen to her more often!"

He rolled his eyes, "Right! So, are we going to be able to…work together again, Betty? At least this time I won't be your boss, we'll be colleagues. By the way, if you can apologize for the past, so can I. I never meant for things to go sideways, either you know! I only came to London in the first place for y…never mind, it's been so long!

I guess it really doesn't matter why now, but once I started at Mode UK, I was only trying to help my family. I definitely didn't set out to hurt you, though! I'm really sorry, too!" He started to offer her his hand to shake, but she smiled and put it up for him to slap instead.

"Apology accepted!" she laughed lightly as he high fived her.

"Good to know." he said softly as she helped him to his feet and they walked to the street to get a cab.

The ride to his townhouse was silent, but the energy between them was crackling with excitement and it was definitely a very positive energy.

Finally, as they arrived outside his place, he turned and smiled, handing her his phone, "So…um, MISS…can I please get your number? I seem to recall that you changed yours after you blocked mine years ago? You do have a new US number again now, right?"

"I do. And yes, you can have it. Here you go, sir. I'm really sorry you got robbed, Daniel! But trust me, all New Yorkers aren't like that. New York is a great city! I should know. I grew up here. And sure, it can be tough sometimes. It can definitely knock the wind out of you. But, it's home! And I really missed it!" her eyes watered slightly as she handed him back his phone. "You can call or text me…anytime you feel lonely!"

He glanced at his phone and saw that she had put "Daniel's girl" in the notes when she added her number to his contacts.

Okay, obviously, she was either flirting with him because she was still a bit tipsy or, well, regardless of why, he would take the win, "I might just do that, Miss! I've been pretty lonely for a long time now. Thank you! For everything; the ride and the drink, the absolute pleasure of being in your company again. I'll see you soon!" he practically whispered as he got out, before he said or did anything too stupid and pissed her off again.

Once he got in the door he berated himself for not simply inviting her inside. But he knew he needed to get a handle on his feelings. It actually seemed as if whatever resentments she had still been holding onto after all this time, Betty was willing to let bygones be bygones! That presented him with a huge dilemna. How could he explain his own failure to "get over himself" as his mother put it?

He didn't know how long the statute of limitations was on past hurts or bad behavior, but he supposed from Betty's point of view, she had been the "injured party". After all, he had been the one to take the stupid "temporary job" at Mode UK that had caused all the bad blood between their companies in the first place.

After several calls to report his credit cards and other important items stolen and taking a nice, long shower to clear some of the cobwebs from his head, then an inspection of the damage Betty had (hopefully) unwittingly caused to his manhood, he flopped onto the bed, and passed out.

The next morning, after calling his mom, only to have her laugh at his injuries, he decided that first a text was in order to make sure Betty had given him her actual number.

"Excuse me, but is this the lovely lady who stole something from me last evening at Roy Franco's Bar on sixty-first street? Betty Suarez, from Queens?"

"Stole something? No! That wasn't me. I simply gave you back your phone that I found, remember? I'm not the one who stole your wallet, Mister! And, excuse me, but did I tell you my name? A girl in New York City can't be too careful!"

He grinned, lying on his bed on his stomach, taking his time to think of exactly what he wanted to say to her after all these years apart. He had often tried to imagine what he needed to tell her.

"Yes, I know your name. And I don't care about my damn wallet! That can be replaced. Money and credit cards and all that can be recovered. I'm talking about my heart. You stole it years ago, young lady. I've been trying desperately to live without it for thirteen damn years! But I want it back! Please, Betty? I need my heart. After all this time, I still need you!"

She stared at her phone for several minutes, in total shock. Then jumped as she heard it ringing. "Daniel?"

"Yeah, it's me. I'm sorry to bother you again, Miss. I had some cash at home. And I called everyone I could think of to replace everything. But I don't suppose you'd be willing to take me to the bank today and to the store to buy a new wallet? Once I have access to my credit card, I'd be happy to take you out to lunch, and maybe dinner, too to repay you for your kindness last night for the cab ride and the drink."

"Daniel, what about the meeting?" She was still trying to process what he had texted her earlier about his feelings for her.

"I already called Mom. And she was surprisingly unjudgemental when I told her how I was victimized and assaulted at the bar. She must have felt sorry for me, enough to actually let me off the hook for the meeting. And you, too. She said to take the day to replace everything I lost. I figured, one of them was you. Can we… start over?"

"I'd really love that, too!"