Page 23 of Heartsick & Lipsticks
We’d all worked hard, and I’m sure we would have been successful on our own. But I don’t think it hurt that we always had each other to push us forward. It’s true that the people you surround yourself with are inevitably reflections of you. And we were all motivated, ambitious, and family-oriented men.
I knew that some might not agree with me saying that I was a family man since I’d never had a serious relationship. But they were wrong. My family, Bella, and my chosen family were everything to me. I would do anything to protect them and sacrifice anything for their good and happiness. I would move mountains for the people I loved.
Skye once again moved to the forefront of my mind. I didn’t know the woman, yet she’d engendered the same feelings in me that only the people I loved did. I’d wanted to protect her, fix any situation that was going on in her home life, and do anything I could just to make her smile.
“So, who’s the lucky lady?” Maddox asked, snapping me out of my inner thoughts. I stared at my friend in disbelief. How did he know I was thinking about her? He was perceptive, but damn, that was damn near mind reading. “What? Who?”
“Your date for the fundraiser. Who is the lucky lady?”
His question had me picturing myself walking into the venue with Skye on my arm. I hadn’t intentionally imagined it; the damn scene just played out in my head.
This was seriously getting out of control.
“Oh, I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I haven’t really thought about it with everything else going on.”
Thankfully, Maddox and Alex accepted my explanation. Part of me wanted to tell my friends about Skye, but something stopped me. I wasn’t sure what was going on with me, and I wasn’t going to say anything until I knew. I was sure that whatever it was would pass. This infatuation, or whatever it was, would fade.
And if it didn’t, I would find something or someone to distract me.
