Page 49 of Fighting For You
Her exaggerated French accent for Cookie’s name had all of us snickering.
“You did just have some rather intense eye contact.” Jo fanned herself. “Honestly, it’s the stuff of romance novels.”
Elise rolled her eyes. “Okay, seriously. I’m not available, even if there was some eye contact happening.” Her cheeks bloomed with a blush.
Jo sighed. “You’re single. And honestly, he’s…”
“Astoundingly attractive?” Dove submitted.
“Almost problematically handsome, I’d say,” Winnie said, glancing in the direction Cookie had gone.
“You know I think Bruce is about the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, but I will fully admit Luc is almost unreal.” Nikki widened her eyes and we all nodded, even Elise. “The symmetry…”
“Not the point. Not even in the realm of points on a lineor a plane or in a sphere or wherever else points can be. We’re shifting back to Jess to remind her she should feel her feelings about her past relationship, but not guilt herself over them.” Elise’s eyes sparkled with a knowing compassion. “Don’t let him showing up here drag you back. Move forward.”
My bruised little heart grappled for her words, grasping at them and clutching them close. I wanted to move forward. I wanted to never look back.
“I don’t have a lot of ex feelings, but as we all know I have a lot offeelingfeelings and I just want to say… don’t get confused about what you’re actually feeling.” Dove had said something like this days ago when she and Elise came to dinner, too.
We could all read what she meant, because they’d seen me snap at Beast and give him the cold shoulder. And though they didn’t all know the recent revelation of his supposed love for me way back when, they knew I’d been with him over the weekend and that he’d taken care of me. And, better than I had, they seemed to knowhim. Not as the antagonistic force in my life, but as a man in their small town, a friend to their partners and even themselves.
“I’ll try,” I scraped out, wishing some amount of my tactical courage would rub off on the side of me thathadto talk to Beast soon.
I had to, because if I didn’t, I was going to go crazy vacillating between angry and confused and this weird, twisty, excited feeling I was currently refusing to acknowledge.
Ethan Carter, Adam’s younger brother, wandered over and gave Jo a side hug. They were business partners since Jo had silently invested in Ethan’s coffee shop, Joe.
“How’s everyone liking the crazy crush of people in town already?” He looked around, eyes wide.
“I sold out by seven-thirty this morning. It’ll be great for business, but I’m already tired.” Elise slumped a little in her seat.
“That’s amazing! Aren’t you doing some catering at one of the events, too?” Winnie asked.
Elise winked at Ethan. “Actually, yes. We’re teaming up and doing a donuts and coffee thing before a press junket on Tuesday morning. I am incredibly stressed about it, so thanks for mentioning it.” She made a face.
We all chuckled, and Dove wrapped her arms around Elise in her special brand of unhinged koala hug. “You’re amazing and your donuts are amazing and everything is going to go… amazingly.”
Nikki raised her glass. “To the amazingness-cubed of Tuesday’s event!”
We all raised glasses, and since Ethan had carried his own pint along, he joined. When we’d all taken a drink and everyone began chatting, he paused, tripping over his words.
“Um—oh. Oh. Crap. That’s Jenna Halter.”
We all turned to look in the direction he was staring just in time to see Cookie wrappingtheJenna Halter in a very cozy hug.
“Whoa. How does Luc know her?” Jo asked.
“They seem pretty comfortable together,” Dove commented.
“Just a work thing. He kind of saved her life. They’re not dating.” I said it straight out because it was true, and also because I’d seen Elise’s face fall. We’d all just witnessed the incendiary eye contact minutes ago, and I didn’t want her to think he was the kind of guy running around charming everyone he met.
Not like Kurt, who was exactly that way.
“Sometimes, I forget all of you guys are actual heroes. It’s weird.” Dove eyed me like I might bite her.
I chuckled, glad for the reprieve from the ooze of nasty feelings coming at me from all sides tonight. “I promise we’re just humans. Most of us don’t even wear our spandex superhero outfits under our clothes all the time.”
She laughed, and a friend pulled Ethan away. We got wrapped up in talking about which celebrities we were excited to see, and the number of times Jack McKean came up had me laughing. I couldn’t tell them I’d be guarding him for at least part of the weekend, though they’d find out eventually, and I absolutely planned to troll them with a picture if the opportunity came up.
