Cole and Max burst out laughing like naughty schoolboys, and I roll my eyes at their childish behavior. Sapphire isn’t annoying; they are.
“You need another dozen of those crystals to calm you down, that one isn’t working,” Cole teases, screwing with me.
“Will you three knuckleheads keep your voices down?” Nathan interjects, making us stand to attention. “You’re like fucking children.”
I smirk to myself as Max and Cole laugh out loud again.
I might be uptight, but I’m not as highly strung as Nathan has been for weeks. If I were him, I would be too. He’s been juggling organizing a wedding, preparing the house to welcome the arrival of his baby, and he’s still working around the clock because he’s the top personal injury attorney in the state.
Max leans forward and asks Nathan, “How are you feeling?”
“Fine.” He juts his chin out with confidence, straightening his bow tie, but we all know he’s hiding his nerves. Like me, he craves control, thrives on it and hates losing it.
“You’ve nothing to worry about.” Max reaches past me and pats Nathan on his forearm. The one he uses to beat us almost every weekend at tennis.
This seems to soothe Nathan, and he drops his shoulders, his features softening when he shoots Max a smile. “Thanks.” He blows out a breath before looking at Max. “So, you and Paige?”
I dip in and out of my brothers’ idle chitchat as Max informs us Paige was the woman from his date in the dark he had months ago at a sex club. I shudder at the thought. That’s the opposite of fun in my opinion. Not that it counts for much, but I like sanitary conditions where I know who has been where with whom.
The desire to ask Max whether the case he and Paige were working on was jeopardized gnaws at my curiosity. Like always, the need to do the right thing pulls at my inner conscience. Not only is it well known that we do not allow sexual relationships between opposing counsels, but it’s also written into everyone’s employment contract. I save that line of questioning for another day. However, at the risk of sounding like a jerk, he had better not have risked the firm’s stellar reputation.
I cast a glance over my shoulder and smile at how easily Sapphire has made friends with half the guests, complimenting their outfits and asking them about themselves and how they know the bride or groom.
She’s so naturally relaxed and fits right in. Nothing fazes her.
Even when I picked her up, her cat, Ghost, ran out the door, then proceeded to do a figure-eight between my legs, covering the bottom half of my black pants in white cat hair, and she ran back into the house to fetch a lint roller to remove it. Unflappable. That’s the only word for her. While I was seething inside, I tried my best not to burst a blood vessel, myperfectsuit no longerperfect.
Well, it is, but it isn’t. Maybe slightly imperfect is a better way to describe it. To everyone else it looks fine, but to me, it’s not. It’s difficult for me to explain my just-right OCD, and what makes and what no longer makes sense to me anymore.
Sapphire surprised me further by not mentioning what happened in the fitting room or our text conversation, instead choosing to talk about other things. She asked me if I could help her restructure her business, analyze every inch of it and create a new partnership agreement to bring Mistee, her best friend, on as a partner.
When I agreed but let her know that there were huge financial assessments that would also need to be undertaken, as well as valuation assessments, tax implications, state filings and a multitude of policies to be written to prepare and action, she didn’t flinch, not once, simply agreeing to it all and asking when we could start.
See… she’s unflappable.
An enigma.
I tune back in to my brothers’ conversation as Cole questions how serious Max is about Paige. I’m just glad they’ve stopped poking fun at me about Sapphire.
“Wow, it must be serious. You’re all closed off and shit.” Cole addresses Max, sounding shocked.
“Yeah, well, she’s…” Max starts, stopping mid-sentence to peer over his shoulder to where Paige is sitting behind us, before he finishes, “…everything.”
Man, has he got it bad.
The last time I felt like that… Well, I don’t want to think about her right now because she shattered my fucking heart into pieces without a care in the world.
“She’s it,” Max says, sounding like a love-struck fool as Cole pats him on the shoulder.
I only catch the end of Cole’s sentence. “She must be something special.”
“She is,” Max replies with ease, surprising us all.
Hell, this coming from the guy who maintained he would never commit to anyone has blindsided us all. When I dropped off his things at her house the other day when Paige was sick and he offered to look after her, I didn’t ask any questions, because quite frankly it was none of my business, but the awe in his voice makes me crave something deeper with someone.
Specifically, someone who goes by the name of Sapphire Feelgood.
Nathan, Cole, and I all stare at our notoriously unavailable brother and grin at him, happy that he’s finally emotionally matured.
