“You know how to play with a girl’s heart, Red-Hot. It ain’t right, you know.” Maria pouted, plopping on the couch with her arms and legs crossed.
“I’m not trying to play with something that precious, Maria.”
They spoke as if I wasn’t here. I should go into my room and shut the door to leave them alone, but Logan grabbed his tool belt off the hook, giving Maria a longing look that would make any other woman catch fire, but it seemed like Maria was a phoenix, able to take the burn.
The front door shut, and Maria put her arm over her face and fanned herself with her other hand. “That man is going to be the death of me.”
“God, I hope so. It would put me out of my misery.” I joked, throwing a pillow at the side of her face.
“Hell, put me out of my misery. The man is killing me. I swear that’s what he wants. Logan is too damn hot for his own good.”
“If you like that sort of thing.”
“You mean the hot sort of thing? Yeah, sounds awful, speaking of hot, what is happening with your boss?”
A flash of me against the wall of Godrick’s office emerged to the front of my mind. If I thought hard enough, I could still feel his hands against my body, his thumb pressed against my clit, and his black eyes searing me with his desire.
He showed me no mercy.
My hand touched my neck when the haunted tendrils of his fingers grip my neck.
“I know that look! Come with me to work and tell me about it.” Maria lifted a leg up onto the couch and tucked it under her. Her hair, which was usually straight, waved in a hot mess that made her look overly sexy. Like Godrick, no woman should be so pretty. It was so unfair. She had no makeup on except mascara, and her long lashes touched her brows, her blue eyes deep like sapphires against the pale light of the living room.
“I am not going to a tattoo studio.”
“Yes, you are. You’re moping. I don’t know why, but I want to know. That’s what friends are for.” Maria got up and tugged on my arm, and I fell limp, pretending I was unconscious. “Oh, stop being so dramatic.”
I ignored her, my mouth falling open as I swayed from side to side from her efforts of trying to get me up.
“You are unbelievable,” she held back a laugh and threw my arm down.
I opened one eye and grinned, tossed the blanket off me and stretched. “Fine. I’ll go, but you have to feed me first.”
“Only if you tell me what happened between you and your boss. I know something did because every time I mention him, your cheeks get all red, and your eyes get all glazy like a donut.”
“They do not!” No, they did. They definitely did. I also hadn’t told Maria about my stalker encounter at Poppies. She was such a good friend, and I gave her nothing in return. Getting close to people was something that scared the hell out of me now. Nothing but pain and disappointment followed after I allowed someone in my life. I slid my flip-flops on and swallowed, afraid to tell her the truth about the crazy that followed me everywhere.
What if she thought I was too much trouble and wanted nothing to do with me?
“I’ll come with you, but I’m not getting a tattoo.” I pointed at her as I grabbed my purse.
“We’ll see.”
I scoffed and tapped my foot on the floor. “I’m not.”
“Mmmhmmm,” she said, opening the door with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. “Oh, what’s this?”
“What?” I tried to look around her to see what she was talking about, but the light from the hallway was too bright, and from the angle I was at, I couldn’t see over her shoulders.
“You have a gift.”
The blood drained from my face when she held a vase of pink peonies and a card with my name written in chicken scratch on the front of the plain white envelope. I knew it wasn’t from Godrick. Godrick had elegant, yet masculine handwriting. He wrote in all caps lock, in small block letters that were all the same size.
“Is this from your boss? Wow, these are so pretty.”
“It isn’t from him. Oh god,” my stomach turned when I plucked the card from the bouquet of flowers. My hands shook. The handwriting was Brian’s. I thought he was in jail. How did he send this to me?
The clunk of the vase against the counter had me jumping, and the card fell from my hand and onto the floor. Maria gave me a funny look as she picked up the card. “Lucy, what’s going on? You’re as white as a sheet. Did Godrick do something to you?”