Page 53 of Heartsick & Lipsticks
I watched as Jada strode across the room. There was no reason why I couldn’t go and speak to Naomi, but something was stopping me. It took me a second to realize I was nervous. Not about my mother being there. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Part of me was happy that she’d see the good I’d done even after being handed shit cards, but another part of me said it didn’t matter what she thought.
The reason I didn’t want to go see her was because of Skye. I needed to be at the top of my game tonight to secure donations. If I went over and spoke to her now, my entire night would probably be shot. In that dress, she was a dangerous distraction.
“Hey man, how are you doing?” Maddox asked as he slapped his hand on my shoulder.
“Good.”
“How are things going with…?” Maddox inclined his head toward the corner.
“Good. She’s feeling okay, I think. Jada is going to check on her.”
“I wasn’t talking about your mom. I was talking about the woman you haven’t been able to keep your eyes off of.”
“Are we talking about Skye?” Alex asked as he joined Maddox and me at the bar.
“Yeah,” Maddox confirmed.
I loved the two men flanking me, like brothers. They were family. Normally, I was an open book. These guys knew everything about me. But for some reason, I felt protective of Skye. She was different. What I felt for her was different.
And since I wasn’t even exactly sure what it was that I felt, there was no way I was going to put it on the table and open up the speculation can of worms.
“So, what’s going on there?” Alex motioned his chin toward Skye.
Alex never asked about my personal life. If you looked up strong, silent type in the dictionary, I was sure that his photo would pop up. He didn’t talk about feelings. Ever. It irritated me that the one time in my life I wished he would keep his opinions and questions to himself, he decided he’d share.
“Why do you care?” I asked, feeling a little defensive.
“I don’t. But Sadie wants to know.”
That tracked. Sadie, Alex’s fiancée, was definitely what I would call a hopeless romantic.
“There’s nothing going on. She’s my mother’s nurse.”
Both men just stared at me silently. Over the past couple of years, both Alex and Maddox had settled down with their soulmates. I was the last single man standing.
“She’s different.” Maddox stated. “You’redifferent now that she’s come into the picture.”
“How so?” I wasn’t different.
“You haven’t flirted with one woman here tonight,” Alex pointed out.
“You’ve barely noticed any other woman exists,” Maddox doubled down on Alex’s statement.
That’s because no other woman did exist; the thought popped into my mind and scared the shit out of me.
Alex and Maddox were right. All night I’d been obsessing over Skye, and that wasn’t new behavior. Since I met her almost a month ago, she’s been all I’ve been able to think about. It was really starting to fuck with my head.
A slow smirk pulled at the corners of Alex’s mouth as he and Maddox exchanged a knowing look.
“What?” I asked defensively.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for almost thirty years,” Maddox relayed.
“What day?” I asked.
“The day that Nicholas Locke met theone.”
The one. I repeated the phrase silently in my head. I wasn’t even sure she wasaone, much lesstheone. She’d been avoiding me since our early morning kitchen run-in, where I’d told her she was beautiful. It was so bad, I’d been worried she wouldn’t show up tonight at all.
“This is going to be fun.” Alex grinned from ear to ear.
It didn’t feel like fun. And if anyone knew how to have fun, it was me.
