Page 93
She sighs, twisting her wine glass in a circle. “That apartment is a product of my mother. She conned it out of husband number four along with a place for my sister and promptly left him with her chunk of his money. I wasn’t even allowed to decorate it and I hate pretty much everything in there.”
“Where do you want to live?”
She smiles, the kind of smile that makes my heart stop for a second, as her eyes glaze over. “I want a cottage right on the water. I want something I can make my own, kind of like I’m doing for Mercedes.”
“Mercedes?” I ask, arching a brow. The name sounds familiar and I can’t remember if I’m supposed to know who that is.
“My boss at the blog. She’s given me free reign to design this apartment she just bought as a rental and I’m going to write about the experience.”
Her face lights up when she talks about her work and I want to keep that look on her face as long as I can. “You sound like you really love it.”
“Yeah, I do. It kind of snuck up on me but I’m excited about where I’m heading in my career. I’ll be responsible for the entire design page and its contents.”
“Do you like it more than writing?”
She shakes her head. “No. Writing is my first love. I found it at a time in my life when I desperately needed it and I love the way words can move people, save people.”
“How so?”
“About a year ago, this woman came into the newspaper office where I used to work and told me this story about these corrupt cops. She said her life was in danger and no one at the precinct would help her. I felt moved to help her and I wrote an article about the whole thing even though it got me in trouble with my boss.”
My eyes widen and I sit forward. The story she’s telling sounds a whole lot like Emma’s. “Was her name Emma Harrington?”
“Yeah,” she exclaims, smiling. “How did you know?”
“The club helped her through that whole thing and Nix is Blaze’s son.”
She shakes her head. “Wow, small world. Why didn’t they ever tell me about the club helping them?”
“Dunno,” I say with a shrug.
“Well, how are they doing? I always wondered but I didn’t want to pry into their lives.”
“They’re great. Got married and had twins.”
She laughs, looking genuinely pleased to hear everything worked out for Emma and Nix. “That’s good.”
“I love the way your face lights up when you talk about your work,” I say, reaching across the table to grab her hand. A blush creeps up her cheeks and I grin.
“You know, before you came along, it had been a long time since anyone made me blush.”
Why the hell does that make me want to beat on my chest like a cave man? “Good.”
The waitress approaches our table with our food and sets it down in front of us before turning her gaze to me again. Jesus, can’t this girl take a hint?
“Is there anything else I can get you?”
Carly scoffs behind her.
“We’re good,” I reply, making sure I emphasize the “we’re” part. Her smile is a little forced as she nods and leaves. I take a sip of my beer and watch Carly as she glowers at the waitress’s back. Finally, she blinks and turns back to me.
“All right, any other questions?”
“Are you up for some more?” I ask and she’s quiet for a moment before nodding.
“Yeah, it’s not as hard as I thought it would be.”
I laugh just as the waitress stops off with a bowl of dinner rolls. She places it in front of us and turns to me, completely ignoring Carly again.
