‘That’s the problem,’ I admit. ‘I don’t know.’
‘What?’
I fill him in over two more bourbons, leaving out the part where I personally called the resort and demanded the name of the woman staying in the Coral Reef Suite mid-January—with no success. When the receptionist finally did crack, the name she gave was Minnie Mouse. Clearly, Irish is some sort of celebrity. So how come she’s not on my radar?
‘Shit, that’s wild.’ Marcus whistles lowly. ‘What was she like? Hot? Flexible? Did she call you Daddy? Come on, man. Give me something.’
I contemplate throwing the glass at his head, but it would be a shame to waste good whiskey.
He watches me, his smirk fading. ‘Oh, fuck.’ He stares at me again for a long beat. His tone shifts. ‘I knew it wouldhappen one day. It did, didn’t it?’ He thrusts his pointer finger in my face
‘What?’ I snap, swatting his hand away roughly.
‘A woman finally got into your head.’ He sounds positively fucking gleeful. Oldest friend or not, I’m not above punching him in the face.
I stare at the chandelier, watching the light fracture into a thousand pieces. I say nothing, because what can I say? There are no words. He’s right. She got into my head. My heart, and so far beneath my skin, it’s unbearably tight with an itch I have no idea how to scratch.
So much so that I can’t even look at another woman, let alone contemplate fucking one.
Marcus leans forward. ‘How’d you feel when you left her?’
I don’t answer.
He exhales softly, nodding. ‘That bad, huh?’
‘It’s not—’ I stop, jaw locking. ‘It’s complicated.’
‘Is she married?’
‘No.’
‘Engaged?’
‘No.’
‘Crazy?’
‘Not that I know of, but aren’t all women a tad crazy?’ I quirk a brow.
‘It’s the hormones.’ Marcus swirls his bourbon in his glass. ‘That’s what Letitia tells me after she launches something at my head for saying the wrong thing.’
‘If you greet her the same way you just greeted me, I don’t blame her. “You look like shit”.’
He grins. ‘Don’t be stupid, I don’t have a death wish.’
I stare into my empty glass as if the answer might be lurking at the bottom. ‘Truth is, I didn’t get her name, and she left before sunrise. Didn’t give me any way to reach her. And I can’t get her out of my fucking mind.’
Marcus leans back, a low chuckle sounding from his lips. ‘Ah. Now we’re getting to the crux of it. Is it because she ran out on you? Or because you finally met your match?’
‘I don’t have a match.’
‘Everyone has a match.’
A beat of silence stretches between us.
Finally, I ask the question that’s been bubbling up inside of me for months now. ‘How did you know Letitia was the one?’
Marcus’s expression softens, and his gaze shifts as he stares wistfully into space. ‘She made everything feel easy. Even the hard shit. She made me want to do better. To be better. For the first time in my life.’
