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“James?” I cried in horror. That moron waiter would be an even worse candidate for Chloe than Deacon. “What the actual hell?” I demanded. “Why are you so determined to pair her off with one of your employees?”
“Oh, you think it should be someonenotfrom the bar? Okay.” With an agreeing nod, he added, “Makes sense.” Then he shrugged. “I guess my dentist is—”
“No!” I cut in sternly, making a slashing motion with my hand. “Stop. Just stop now. No more. I want her, okay? Stop trying to piss me off by making me imagine her with someone else.Iwant her.”
Pick settled back in his chair with a single nod. Then his eyes glittered with triumph as he murmured a satisfied, “Alright, then. Go get her.”
“Fuck,” I muttered and wiped my face, finally realizing what I’d just done. “How the hell did you get me to admit that?”
Pick lifted a single shoulder. “Because it’s the truth,” he said. “You’ve wanted her for a while now.”
I groaned in frustration and scrubbed my face some more. “But I never thought Ishould.”
“Well then, now I’m telling you it’s okay. Because if it has to be someone, I’d honestly rather it be you than…” Making a face, he shook his head and added, “Basically anyone else.”
I gazed at him for a moment, finally realizing the gravity of what he was saying. It was no small deal that he trusted me with something so important. He trusted me with his daughter’s heart.
He reallymustlike me.
But one problem was that… “This doesn’t mean I’m head over heels in love with her, though. Physical attraction is a hell of a long way from love. And that’s where you want me to be, right? In love.”
Pick nodded. “I do. But you’ll get there.” His eyes twinkled with a glint. “Or, like I said, maybe you’ll finally realize you’ve already been there for a while.”
I snorted out a hard laugh. “Yeah, right. Now, I really know you have problems. Because I amnotin love with Chloe.”
Her father merely shrugged. “If you say so.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’mnot.”
My firm voice made him pause. Looking me dead in the eye, he said, “Fine. Then you’ll get there. I have faith.”
With a more strangled laugh this time, I shook my head. “Jesus.” Wiping a hand over my mouth, I pushed my way to my feet, needing to walk. But as soon as I was upright, my knees gave out and my legs sagged. “Dammit.”
I clutched the edge of his desk to catch myself and bowed my head, panting out a few unsteady breaths before I looked up into his seeking gaze.
“How am I supposed to do this?” I demanded. “I’ve never loved anyone—you know—likethatbefore.” I shook my head stupidly. “I don’t know the first thing about it.”
Pick released a heavy breath, his brow furrowed in thought. Then, he fell back in his seat. “Well,” he murmured carefully. “For starters, you couldnotpop back with some idiotic, smartass comment every time she does or says something you don’t like.”
“Hey, she starts it,” I cried in self-defense.
But Pick just sent me a stern look and kept talking. “You could try being, I don’t know,niceto her. Compliment her a little, open up to her, do silly little thoughtful gestures for her. Let her be one of your closest confidantes. And I mean, tell her shit you wouldn’t tell anyone.”
I swallowed, thinking about the night she’d sponged me dry with the towel, where I’d confessed my secret anxieties to her. My stomach pitched as I wondered if that meant—
“You do all that,” Pick assured me, “and she’ll begin to drop the prickly outer shell she’s grown for you. Before you know it, she’ll let you in too, and then boom, game over. You won’t help but love her.” He nodded encouragingly. “She’s incredibly easy to love. You’ll see.”
I snorted and shook my head. “Right.” Then I blew out a breath, absolutely certain this was a task I would fail but also dead sure that I was going to try to accomplish it anyway, with everything I had.
Because Pick had asked, and he seemed convinced it was what Chloe needed. And he was never wrong.
Although…
“I’m still not convinced she’s in love withme, though. I mean,Chloe? No…man.” I waved my hands and shook my head. “No way.”
That one was the hardest part to digest out of all of this.
“Just watch,” Pick murmured, sending me a knowing nod that looked full of wisdom and certainty. “Pay attention. You’ll start to see it soon enough.”
