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He nodded once and then he was gone.
After I made another love match between a terrier mix and a sweet elderly widow, I met Charlie at our favorite sushi restaurant.
“I think I’m in over my head,” I said to her the moment we sat down.
She frowned. “Why’s that?”
“He shows up on my doorstep last night with tea to help me sleep. And then he stayed the night because I asked, and this morning he said he wasn’t going to sleep with me until I was ready.”
“Normally, I’d say steer clear because this is like total love-bombing. However…”
“However?”
Before she had a chance to reply, the server arrived. We ordered quickly, getting the same thing we always got. As soon as the server left, I repeated, “However?”
“However, Savage said something to me last night—and I don’t think he knew what he was saying. It was a throwaway comment, but it kinda stuck with me.”
“Well, don’t keep me hanging,” I said, reaching for my decaf green tea.
“He said his brothers have been falling like dominoes,” she said slowly.
“I don’t follow.”
“Like, falling in love or whatever. Finding their Old Ladies. And Old Ladies? Who wants to be called old?”
“Okay,” I said. “That’s not really anything to be concerned about.”
She sighed. “I know. But it was like, the way he said it. Like one day his brothers were all going along, happy as you please, nailing anything that walked, and then the next moment they were in love and making commitments and stuff. He said he didn’t think he’d live to see the day that Bones would fall for someone and then he started singing ‘Another One Bites the Dust.’”
“It’s not love,” I insisted. “That’s crazy. This is infatuation on both ends.”
I thought about how intense it had gotten this morning. Bones had been wrong, though. After my shower, I’d still wanted him. But it was definitely a relief that he hadn’t been there when I’d gotten out.
My head was all screwed up over it.
“Yeah, infatuation,” she drawled.
“Don’t say it like you don’t believe me.”
“I’ve never seen you this way.”
“What way is that?”
“When you were with Tyler, it was like you were there, but you weren’t really there. You weren’t invested. Not the way you are with Bones.”
“Invested how?” I demanded.
“I don’t know. You just look…you look like you can’t stop thinking about him. Like you’re thinking about the next time you’re going to see him even though we’re having a conversation.”
“I’m seeing him Wednesday night for dinner.”
“And then he’s taking you to a wedding. A wedding. He’s a biker, Hayden. Do you think bikers take random women to weddings of their club brothers?”
“I don’t know what they do.”
“Savage didn’t ask me to go,” she said.
“Are you upset about that?”
