Coco pulls her hot pink glasses from her face and sighs. “You’ve been moody all week. Seriously, Nix. It’s like you have PMS. You’re giving me whiplash with your attitude.”
“Why are you wearing those ridiculous glasses?” I divert the conversation to something I know Coco will love talking about—fashion. The glasses are over-the-top, even for Coco, but she hasn’t stopped wearing them since she opened the lid of her laptop and started on her new assignment. They don’t even have a prescription to magnify what she’s reading. They’re only on her face because they’re cute.
She chews the earpiece of her glasses that’s wedged between her lips, and she narrows her eyes, piercing into me. “I look good in these glasses.” She snarls at me in her cute-but-trying-to-be-badass way. “Don’t change the subject. What’s wrong? Is ither?” Coco’s eyes turn hawkish in their gaze.
“Her name is Eva.”
“Bingo.” She snickers. “It is her.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” I bury myself in my paperwork because I’ve never let a woman affect me the way Kennedy does, and it bothers the hell out of me. I can still feel Coco’s eyes on me, and there’s a long stretch of silence that used to be comfortable between us when she was younger.
“You like her?” The lid of her laptop closes, and she begins to drum her fingertips against it. “Like, really like her? Hmm,” she says with a hint of amusement in her voice.
“Yeah,” I finally admit and hate the way my mouth tastes when I say the words. Admitting any type of feelings for anyone has never sat well with me. I promised myself I would never get involved with anyone—especially someone who’s involved in my business.
“Aww, Nix is in love,” she teases.
“Shut up, Coco,” I grumble. “I’m not in love. I’m pissed. They’re two different emotions.”
“I’m well acquainted with them both. What happened? Scare her away with your charm?”
I glance up to catch the mischievous smile on her face, and a low growl creeps up my throat. “Drop it.”
“Ooh,” she sings and claps her hands. “I struck a nerve.”
Leaning back in my chair, I rest an arm on the cold marble counter of the kitchen island and relax. “Do your work.”
“Nope.” She smiles, and for a moment, I see a hint of the kid I once knew.
“We haven’t talked in a few days.” I sigh because I know Coco is a pit bull. The girl can’t drop a topic once she’s started her line of questioning. She’d be a great detective, annoying every criminal until they cracked under her constant barrage of questions. “I’m just worried something happened to her.”
She clasps her hands together and stretches them out in front of her, the smile still playing on her lips. “Want me to ping her phone?” When she untangles her fingers, she wiggles them in the air. “I know how to do that now.”
“Nope. No pinging.” I stop there, not admitting that I already did it. “I’ll deal with her when I see her again.”
She waggles her eyebrows. “Sounds hot.”
“Coco,” I warn with my lips set in a firm line.
She rolls her eyes and scoffs. “You’re no fun anymore, Nixie. Always so serious and zero sense of humor.”
“Babe, I’m funny.”
“Nope.” She shakes her head quickly.
I cross my arms in front of me and cock my head. “Yeah. I am.”
She puts her hand between us and throws her palm in my face. “Hardly.”
“Come on.” I open my arm and rock forward in my chair. “I make you laugh. Admit it.”
She rolls her eyes dramatically. “You were funny when I was sixteen.” She pauses and presses her index finger to her lip, deep in thought. “Well, funny after I was done being scared of you.”
I turn my head as if I didn’t hear her correctly. “You were scared of me?”
“Duh! I swear you’re clueless sometimes. Men…” Her voice trails off.
“I never gave you any reason to be scared of me, Co.”
