Chapter Eleven
Lucy
“What the fuck is he doing here?” I spat the words out at Logan, but never took my eyes off Godrick. I despised how good he looked right now. His suit was pristine, the lapels black while the actual blazer was navy blue. He wore no tie, keeping the white button-up shirt unclasped at the neck to show an area of milky skin I wanted to lavish.
Godrick pressed a hand to his chest, jaw-dropping as if he was offended. “Ouch, Ms. Green. That hurts.”
Right. Like he’d ever be offended by anything. The man was a solid wall nothing could penetrate.
“And language, Ms. Green. I wouldn’t expect such a filthy word to fall from such a pretty mouth.”
“If you don’t want him, I’ll take him,” Maria slumped against the wall, drool shining off her chin as she stared at the Adonis God standing in the middle of the doorway. Sure he was hot, in a villain kind of way, if you liked that kind of thing.
The problem was, apparently, I loved that kind of thing.
The man was trouble, with a capital fucking T.
“Maybe my feelings should be hurt,” Logan made his way into the apartment and set his toolbelt on the kitchen table. I hated it when he did that. He always got dirt all over it. That was where we ate, but no matter how many times I told him, he put it there. I was done. I wasn’t his mother.
“I didn’t think you’d care since you keep passing me up, Red-Hot,” Maria shrugged her shoulders as if his lack of attention didn’t bother her, but I knew better. My new friend really liked my brother, and my brother was being a dick to her.
“He is in love with someone else,” Godrick said.
The hurt across Maria’s face almost made me run to her and comfort her, but the smirk on Godrick’s face had me relax.
“Oh yeah, me and Barbara go way back,” Logan said, throwing his work jacket over the back of the dining room chair.
“Barbara from work?” I asked Logan, doing my best to ignore Godrick’s presence. It was impossible. He had this energy about him that flooded the room. It would suffocate me if it didn’t make me feel like I could finally breathe for the first time in a year.
“Little old lady didn’t see what was coming to her. He laid a kiss on her that knocked her knitted socks off.”
Maria threw her hands on her hips and cocked them to the side. “Is that the problem? I just don’t have enough wrinkles for you? I never thought I’d be jealous of an old lady, but here I am—” She plopped down on the barstool at the kitchen counter and plopped her chin in her hand. “I’m going to move on.”
I couldn’t tell if she was kidding, but the words bothered Logan because he slammed the fridge door after grabbing a beer. “Anyone want one?”
“I’ll take one,” Godrick said, gently removing each arm from his jacket. He folded it in half and then draped it over another chair, careful not to wrinkle it. The gold cuff links shined under the small chandelier in the walkway between the kitchen and dining room. He unlinked each one, parting the cuffs around his wrist. Godrick carefully put them in his pants pocket. And then the handsome devil started to roll each sleeve up to his elbow, showing those muscular forearms. Each side had a vein dancing across it. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from them, especially his hands. His thick fingers rolled the shirt expertly like he had done it a hundred times before. “Where are the flowers? I’d like to see the note, as well.”
Ah, so that was why he was here. He always had to interfere, didn’t he?
“Flowers are in the trash; note is on the table. I need to go to work. I’m already an hour late,” Maria kissed Lucy on the cheek and completely bypassed Logan. That was unlike her. She loved playing with my brother with words, but all her steam had run out because of something Godrick said. It pissed me off that he couldn’t mind his own damn business.
But with that said, if Maria wanted to move on, she could. I didn’t see any harm in that, and while Logan seemed to care, he didn’t show it much. It served him right to lose a girl like Maria, even if I did tell her they couldn’t date, I would never want my friend or my brother to be unhappy because of what I said. Love knew no bounds. It always found a way.
“Take care of my girl tonight,” she told Godrick.
“I promise you I will,” he answered, taking the spot next to me where Maria had been. The space between us crackled with that familiar electricity. My lower back was engulfed in heat from his palm, and I held my breath, waiting for him to remove his hand.
He didn’t.
“No goodnight for me?” Logan turned around and took Maria’s wrist in his hand. It was the first time I saw him reach for her. Logan had no idea how to handle his emotions, ever since we were a kid, all they ever seemed to do was confuse him. Now that he was older, he pushed the emotions to the side. Maria seemed to have stirred them up tonight by ignoring him. She stared at his hand, finally touching her, and instead of happiness, I saw her eyes shine. She gently pulled her hand from his and shut the door behind her. Logan stared at it longingly, reaching for the handle.
He dropped his hand.
Deciding not to go after her would come around and bite him in the ass.
“Lucy.” Godrick pressed his hand against my lower back to turn me around to face him. “Did you see Brian? Can you be sure it was him?” He pulled me to his chest, and my hands flew out to brace myself on his chest. There was barely an inch between us, my legs were shaking, and my mind fogged. I had missed being close to him. The way he took over my body with one look, with a simple touch, with an everyday stare, it made me needy.
Looking down at the slate grey tile floor, I shook my head. My hair fell around me in a red veil. It gave me a sense of security to not see his piercing gaze, a moment of relief.