Adore Me (Austin Singles 3)

He scoffed and shook his head, taking my change of subject with a grain of salt. “This Saturday night at six.”

“Will Charlotte still be up?”

Tucker stood and gave me a smile. “You try to act like you don’t like kids, but dude, my daughter’s got you wrapped around her finger.”

I returned his smile. “I won’t argue with you on that one.”

“She’ll be up. She doesn’t go to bed till around eight.”

“Then I’ll see you this Saturday at six.” I stood. “You didn’t have to come all the way to my office just to invite me to dinner.”

He gave me a look I couldn’t read. “I wanted to check on you. See how things were, what you had decided to do about Morgan.”

Swallowing hard, I barel

y nodded my head.

“See you Saturday, Blake.”

“See ya, Tucker.”

I spent the next few days burying myself in my work. Projects that I had pushed to the back burner were moved up to priority. Ideas for a house I had been designing just for fun became my nighttime work when I couldn’t sleep. I offered to take on work other coworkers didn’t want to be bothered with. I did whatever I could to keep Morgan out of my mind.

It was working too. As the days went by, I was forgetting how she smelled. What she tasted like. How the sound of her laughter made joy pulse through my veins.

I even asked a friend of mine, Rose, to accompany me to Charlie and Tucker’s dinner party. She was more like a friend with benefits. We liked to have a good time together, but when we needed that occasional dinner date or companion to a social event, she was my go-to girl, and I was her go-to guy. We hadn’t hooked up in almost a year, though. Hell, I hadn’t been with anyone but Morgan in the last year. At the time I invited Rose, I didn’t even think about Morgan being there. Of course she would be there, and I was a stupid asshole for not realizing that. It was a party for her brother and her best friend.

When she walked into the living room and glanced down at me on the floor with Charlotte, she smiled. Then she saw Rose, her entire body went rigid, and the light from her baby blue eyes dulled.

Rose stood up. “Hi! I’m Rose, Blake’s date.”

I closed my eyes briefly and wished like hell I had informed Rose she was just a friend tonight.

Morgan’s eyes darted down to me, then back up to Rose. She played it off and smiled. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was the only one who noticed it was a forced smile.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Morgan.”

“Blake has never mentioned you. So how do you know Nash and Kaelynn?”

My stomach jumped as Morgan bit into her lip, trying not to show the hurt on her face.

Picking up Charlotte, I stood and cleared my throat. “Morgan is Nash’s sister and Kaelynn’s best friend. Morgan, Rose is a friend of mine.”

“Nice to meet you, Morgan. It must be so cool having your best friend marrying your brother.”

Morgan nodded. “Yes. It’s fantastic.”

“Morgan is an art therapist,” I said, pride radiating in my voice because, dammit, I was proud of her.

Rose drew in her brows. “What is that?”

“Art therapy is a form of expressive therapy in which patients use creative processes as a way to explore their feelings. I specialize in veterans. Post-traumatic stress syndrome, things like that. They aren’t normally the chatty types, so art works better.”

“Wow, that is an amazing job. It must be stressful.”

Morgan shrugged. “It can be. What do you do?”

Rose wrapped her arm in mine as Charlotte reached out for Morgan. I leaned out and let her take the squirming baby from my arms. Clearly, Rose didn’t get the hint when I introduced her as a friend.