AllFreeNovel
Share Us
What is she thinking?
Does she need some lunch?
Will that hate sex I offered make her feel any better?
Jesus Christ, quit it already.
I gotta quit reliving that moment she held my shirt in her hand. Yes, I’ll give Lu Wade anything she wants. Needs. But something tells me it’s not the savage hate sex I was ready to give her last night. And it’s still not clear whether or not she’s still dating that guy. The one I saw her with when I went to Charlotte to win her back a few years ago.
“Excellent job as always.” I shake Marianne’s hand when the meeting wraps up. “Thanks for helping us out.”
She winks as she closes her notebook. “Anytime.”
“I think our event planner has a crush on you.” Goldie puts a hand on her stomach.
Coop scoffs. “Everyone has a crush on DR.”
“Not true.” I run a hand up the back of my head. “Y’all still up for the food tasting on the boat? We’ll kill two birds with one stone and taste everything for the bachelor/bachelorette party tomorrow and the rehearsal dinner on Friday.”
Cooper stretches. “Hell yeah, we’re still down for it. Stede’s serves some of the best food I’ve had, period.”
“Stede’s is doing the food?” Lu’s voice has a note of panic in it.
“Only the best for my bride,” Coop says.
“First, the ladies’ room.” Goldie bumps her hip against Lu’s. “We’ll be right back.”
Cooper and I wait on the deck just off the terrace, elbows on the wooden railing that faces the ocean. I try not to think about what Goldie and Louise are talking about right now. But I know they’re talking about me. My nerves return with a vengeance.
So does excitement. Which is plain stupid. I may want to spend time with Lu—I have so many questions, she’s so fucking sexy—but she sure as hell don’t want to spend time with me.
How am I gonna be around her for, Christ, four days straight and not fall all over again?
How am I not gonna get all hard and shit if she keeps wearing these cute little dresses that show off those fucking legs?
I do just fine in that department. I wanna get laid, I have calls to make.
But all of a sudden, the only person I wanna call is Lu Wade.
And that’s a big fucking problem, because she has a boyfriend. I saw them together when I went to Charlotte a few years ago. I am not the kind of man who fools around with women who are taken.
More than that, she hates me. Even if I wanted to get naked with her, no way in hell she’d be interested.
But maybe, if she let me tell her the truth—
Coop elbows me. “Everything okay?”
I dig my sunglasses out of my pocket and put them on. I love the late summer skies out here—clear, crisp, a shade of blue unlike anywhere else on Earth—but the sun is strong this time of day.
Clearing my throat, I wonder what I should say. I don’t want to lie to my friend. But I’m also not sure how much of the truth I can share. “Eh.”
“Don’t think I didn’t see the heart attack you had when you laid eyes on Louise. She may have p—” He puts his fist to his mouth again. “Lord, I can’t even say the word. Point being, she may have had a violent reaction to seeing you, but I could tell she knocked you off balance too.”
There’s a spot on my left lens. I take off the glasses and pull the hem of my shirt out of my pants, using it to scrub furiously at the spot. “Wouldn’t you be surprised if a girl you knew a decade ago turned out to be the best friend of your best friend’s fiancée?”
Coop grimaces. “Sorry to bum rush you like that. I really had no idea.”
“I know, I know.” I wave him away. I’ve tried to get together with Goldie and Coop more often. But they’re always jetting off somewhere. I only got to see them once for a quick lunch here on Bald Head a few months back, and then we spent that wild weekend in the Dominican Republic (that’s where the DR nickname comes from—I have lots of friends down there, so Coop started calling me Mr. Dominican Republic, which was then shortened to Mr. DR, and then just DR, over the course of the weekend). I certainly haven’t had the chance to meet any of Goldie’s friends. She’s never mentioned the name Louise either.
I would’ve definitely remembered if she had.
“Did y’all have a thing?” Cooper asks.
Taking a deep breath, I let it out. Survey the waves that thunder on the beach. It’s a good day for surfing. I should get out there. Clear my mind.
“We did.”
“Was it serious?”
I fall onto my elbows on the railing. “It was.”
