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I shrugged. “Yeah, sure, of course. Whatever makes them happy.”
Naomi leaned forward, smirked, and pointed a finger into my chest.
“Dakota,youmake them happy. Can’t you see that?”
It was like a bomb went off. My mind was suddenly reeling, spinning with possibilities. Voices in my head — greedy voices, conservative voices — all began arguing pros and cons. Ifs and whens. Logistics. Benefits. Impossibilities…
I thought about Tyler and my parents and the full, bustling house I grew up in. I also thought about Jace and his empty home. I remembered all the times I crushed on him in high school but didn’t do anything about it. All those missed opportunities like the one in the pool, because neither of us took that leap.
Tyler.
It wasn’t just Tyler, though. I could see that now. I was using my brother as an excuse — a shield against the fear of a rejection. A fear of change. Of going outside my comfort zone, when I was already in a safe, cozy place.
But nottheplace. The place I really wanted.
“Here’s a question,” Naomi said, after a long bout of silence. “What if youtriedit?”
“T—Tried it?”
“Yeah,” she grinned. “I mean shit Dakota, you’ve already tried it! You know you like it.Morethan like it, if I’m not mistaken.”
I nodded numbly. “You aren’t.”
“It’s radical as hell, but it’s not like you haven’t already dipped your toes in the water,” she continued. “For the last week and half, you’ve been swimming in the pool without a lifeguard.” She paused for a second and grinned. “Or with three very yummylifeguards, depending upon how you look at it.”
I bit my lip.Could I?Really?Nothing made sense anymore.
“This isn’t the advice you wanted,” she chuckled. “Is it?”
“I don’t know what the hell I wanted,” I said truthfully. “It’s definitely not what I expected.”
“Yeah, well…” Naomi unscrewed the cap off a tiny flask and poured some into her third cup of coffee. She held it over my own mug and I waved her on.
“Sometimes opportunity knocks,” she said. “Other times it shatters your door with a battering ram and comes crashing into your living room.”
The image
“Now you can scramble out the window and escape it,” she continued with a shrug. “That’s one option.”
Her eyes shot up to meet mine. There was mischief in them, maybe even a little envy.
“Or you can sit down on the couch with it and see what the hell it wants.”
I took a sip of my newly-spiked coffee. The much needed rum was delicious.
“I asked what was stopping you before,” said Naomi, “and maybe that was a little backwards. Because if these men truly love you — and it sure sounds like they do — I have an even better question.”
I glanced up just in time to watch her pretty eyes flash dangerously.
“What’s stoppingthem?”
