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Joel gave him a resigned look. ‘Go ahead. Laugh.’
Nick shook his head slowly. ‘I’m not laughing, I’m delighted. You couldn’t have picked a better person to fall in love with—’
‘Hold it.’ Joel lifted a hand and interrupted him. ‘Aren’t you forgetting something here? I might be in love with her, but she certainly isn’t in love with me. She doesn’t want any more than friendship.’
Nick looked at him doubtfully. ‘Are you sure you’ve got that right?’
‘It’s been her most commonly used word since Saturday night,’ Joel drawled softly, tapping his fingers on the desk and trying to conceal just how unsettled and frustrated he was by the situation.
Nick frowned. ‘You told her that you love her but she said that she wasn’t interested in being anything but your friend?’
There was a long silence and then Joel cleared his throat and shifted awkwardly. ‘Well, I may not have actually said that I love her. At least, not in so many words, but—’
‘OK, hold it right there!’ Nick lifted a hand and stopped him in mid-flow. ‘If you didn’t actually tell her that you love her, how do you expect the girl to know?’
Joel rubbed a hand over his jaw. ‘Well, I don’t know. I suppose—’
‘Joel!’ Nick’s tone was exasperated. ‘It’s just three little words. Are they really so hard to say?’
Joel looked at him. ‘I don’t know,’ he said softly. ‘I’ve never tried. And I don’t see the point now. Lucy’s made it clear that she just wants us to be friends.’
‘How can you be so totally blind?’ Nick looked at him incredulously. ‘Lucy Bishop is the kindest, most unselfish person any of us have ever met and she knows that you’ve got a serious problem with commitment. If you haven’t actually told her that you love her she’s assuming that she doesn’t mean anything to you, and she doesn’t want to put pressure on you by confessing her own feelings.’
‘But—’
‘When have you ever been seriously involved with a woman before?’
‘Well, never, but—’
‘And does Lucy know that?’
Joel thought for a moment. ‘Yes. We had a long conversation about love. I admitted that I didn’t know what love was.’
Nick rolled his eyes. ‘There we are, then.’
Joel frowned. ‘But that was before we—’
‘Before you made love to her,’ Nick finished softly. ‘But you still haven’t ever said those words, have you? It’s time to tell her how you feel about her, Joel.’
Joel’s shoulders tensed. ‘But what if she doesn’t feel the same way? She was badly hurt by Tim. I don’t think she’s keen to get involved with another man.’
Nick sighed. ‘Joel, take it from me. The girl is in love with you. She’s crazy about you, but she seems to have accepted you the way you are and she’s putting on a brave face.’
‘But—’
‘Listen—take some brotherly advice for once in your life, will you?’ Nick took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair. ‘Think long and hard about whether you really want to lose Lucy, because that’s what’s going to happen if you don’t act quickly. Is one night with a woman like her really enough? Or even a hundred nights? Think, Joel! Because if you don’t drag her into your cave quickly, someone else is going to do it. And they’re going to do it soon. That girl is special, Joel. Really special.’
‘I know that—’
‘So come to your senses and ask her to marry you,’ Nick said, his expression bleak. ‘Before it’s too late.’
With that he turned on his heel, leaving Joel staring after him.
Was Nick right?
Did Lucy really love him?
And was he ready to make a proper commitment for the first time in his life?
