“Admit it. You like it.” She blushes. “See,” I place my finger close to her face, but I don’t touch her. “Look at this lovely shade of pink coating your cheeks.” I drag my finger across the bridge of her nose, still not touching her skin. But I can feel the heat radiating off her. “And your cute nose.”
Her breath hitches, then she swats my hand away. She cocks her hip to the side, and it takes all of my willpower not to allow my eyes to linger on the prominent curve of that black, pencil skirt she wears. “So this is how you made the female population fall in love with you.”
“Whatever do you mean?”
She gestures towards me with an open palm. “Prince of Hearts.”
I place my hand over my heart and act appalled. “Me? No, no, baby girl. I am the Prince of one heart. Yours.”
“Oh. My. Gosh,” Lucy says. Both Lorelei and I snap our heads towards her proclamation.
She’s staring at us, fanning her face while giving a toothy smile. “Baby girl? Are you two official now? Oh, I woulddieif a man called me that.”
“No,” Lorelei says, a little too quickly for my liking, then she looks back at me. “Finley is just being a rake and attempting to live up to his earned international nickname.”
“But you like it.” I wink. Lucy feigns a swooning motion.
“Lucy, let’s go order,” Lorelei says, turning her back to me and grabbing her twin’s arm. Hadley and Karoline are already at the counter ordering. I join the guys at the table.
“Well, well, Mr. Andersson,” Braxton says as I sit down. “Way to go. Looks like you’re well on your way to Lorelei’s heart. I’ve never seen her approach a person the way she walked right up to you.”
My heart sings. “Really? I hope so. The woman has me smitten.”
“We know,” Mason, Gabriel, and Anders say at the same time. It’s interesting to hear a phrase spoken in southern, French, and Korsan accents all at once. Mason laughs while the other two scowl.
My PPOs are some of the grumpiest men on the face of this earth, but hey, at least I know I’m safe with them. They won’t have fun, so at least I know they are constantly aware.
“Hi, Lucy,” Gabriel says as she slips into a seat beside him, placing a hand on his arm. Well, so much for observant PPOs. Gabriel’s eyes are now hearts as he focuses solely on the twin I was supposed to date.
I glance at Anders as he rolls his eyes.
Hadley and Karoline join the group, sitting next to their men. Lastly, Lorelei joins, sitting in the last available seat. The one right next to me.
She scoots a little closer to me and away from Anders as she sits down. The action warms my heart because it tells me she feels safe enough to be closer to me than someone else.
“How’d the house look?” Karoline questions Mason as she throws her long hair into a ponytail holder.
Hadley begins talking with Braxton about something that happened in her store earlier. Lucy is distracting my PPO fully, but Anders remains on guard. Lorelei fiddles with the cuff of her white dress shirt.
I pull her ponytail to get her attention because I have apparently gone back in time to five years old.
“Yes?” she questions, her hand tugging her ponytail over the shoulder not beside me.
“You are adorable with your ponytail. That’s all.”
“Thanks?” she says just as Selene interrupts everyone while bringing us our drinks. I opted for lemon water while Lorelei got a chai.
“How has your Friday been?” I ask before sipping my water. Lorelei blows on her tea, and my insides light up like an electric fence.Tone it down, Finley, I demand myself.
Lorelei tests the temperature of her chai before answering. “It has been good. I have almost wrapped up my arguments for a big case I’m presenting on Thursday next week.”
“Can you tell me about it?”
She smiles sadly. “Not all the details, but it involves a local woman who had been on and off drugs and alcohol for years. She lost her children last year, and that woke her up. She’s been clean ever since, and we are trying to get her custody back.”
“That must be hard on you,” I say, itching to reach out and touch her because it’s how I would want to be comforted. But she’s not me, and it would only make her nervous, especially with everyone around.
She nods slowly. “It is, but cases like these are my favorite.” Lorelei turns her pretty hazel eyes to me. “That moment when kids are reunited with their parents is a beautiful scene. It makes every hard thing I have to hear regarding their stories worth it. God works everything for His good. I see that over and over again in my field of work.”
