Page 53 of Made for You
“Yes. I just…” A tired-sounding exhale came out. “I just haven’t seen you.”
I chuckled. “That’s true. You’ve had a thing or two to deal with this week.”
With a huff, he responded. “It’s been crazy. Not all bad, but top it off with Ki’s math club and her track tryouts and I’m toast.”
“Did she make the team?”
“She did.”
My heart flipped at the response because I could hear his smile. The big brother pride practically beamed at me through my phone.
“Good for her.”
“Yeah. It’ll be great for her to have that team dynamic. But listen, we’re still on for Saturday, right?”
The urgency in his voice had me sitting up. “Yes. Unless you need to reschedule, I—”
“No. I don’t.I won’t.”
I grinned, for some reason holding my phone tighter like it might bring us closer. “Good.”
“I was just thinking dinner. There’s a new place which, now that I say that, I realize wouldn’t matter so much to you since you just got here, but I thought we could try it.”
Pacing my room now, I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “I’m good with whatever. I can imagine the same old options get a little tired.”
“They can, though I don’t get out all that much, as you might’ve noticed.”
“Drinks on Friday nights at Craic with the team and maybe a coffee on Sundays. That’s all I’ve noticed so far.”
A loud gasp came through the line. “That’s rather specific, Nikki. Are you tailing me?”
“Oh, no. Not tailing you. Just sifting through your garbage before you get home on your later nights. Totally normal stuff,” I joked.
His laugh set butterflies winging in my chest.
“Oh, good. I was afraid you might be stalking me, but that sounds just fine,” he said, that bright smile audible.
“Yep. All above board.” My face hurt from grinning.
“Okay then, Nik. I’ll see you soon. Sleep well.”
The fact that I’d slept at all after that had been miraculous. Or maybe it had come thanks to the stimulating work. I hadn’t anticipated being interested in the details of what Saint Security did beyond a kind of topical curiosity about what exactly they did and the natural inquisitive response I had to most new things. But the more I worked, the more I learned, and the more I learned, the more I wanted to know.
I liked the team Bruce and Wilder had put together. Kenny chatted with me, Adam was polite and solicitous, always offering to grab me something when he went out. Jess was competent and professional, though she’d been out of the office a lot, as had Beast. Tristan had this very comforting presence even though he was surprisingly quiet, and Eddie was just plain badass. It wafted off her. The fact that she was married to a pop star cracked me up until the day I saw Bri Williamson come through the door to pick her up for lunch and I nearly had a heart attack.
The man was stunning in person and so unassumingly nice. I would’ve expected a lot more attitude and a lot less genuine kindness and determination to learn my name and the basics of my history. When Bri had seen me sitting at the desk, he’d introduced himself, asked about where I’d come from, and mentioned he recalled Eddie saying I had a background in accounting. What kind of celebrity was this guy?
I wouldn’t have put the charming singer with the gorgeous former secret agent in a million years until I witnessed him seeing her. We were talking and I knew the instant she walked into the room because his attention snapped to her and his face did this hot-sweet-relieved thing like everything he cared about had just entered his orbit.
AndEuler’s formula,it was adorable. But when Eddie walked straight to him and rose on her toes to kiss his jaw, then his lips, wrapping him in her arms as he did her, it did something to me. I was still sorting it out. I’d looked away, tried to busy myself with my computer and files andthings I needed to do besides watch Eddie and Bri make out, because they’d sort of gotten into it.
Thankfully, they hadn’t forgotten I existed entirely. Eddie had pulled away and given a vaguely apologetic look and said, “He just got home.”
If I hadn’t liked him already, the light flush on Bri’s cheeks and the grin he’d made no effort to hide would’ve charmed me completely. The man was besotted with his wife, and I did not use that term lightly.
I’d waved them off, internally delighted to learn of this sweet pairing, and when they’d left hand in hand, I’d stared after them for quite a while.
What would it be like to feel like that? Not just happy to see someone, not just attracted and eager, but… ignited? Like someone had turned up the volume, turned off the dimmer, connected the meaningful threads into a cohesive design?
