Page 43 of Cloud Nine Love

The reason it might appear as though I had a long day, was because I’d had a very long night. No, make that four very long nights. Ever since I’d spent the night with Kyle, aka Remi, I hadn’t been able to get any real sleep. I tossed and turned relentlessly. I wasn’t sure if my restlessness was because I was scared someone would find out our very dirty secret or if it was because I knew who Kyle was now and his proximity. One text, and I was sure he’d show up on my doorstep, ready to deliver me more earth-shattering orgasms.

It was the most frustrating situation to be in. For once in my life, I actually wanted someone to touch me. For the first time in my life, a man had the superpower to switch my brain off. For the first time in my life, my body was not only responsive, it was eager. Too bad the man who made all those things true was also the man I considered to be off-limits.

At least, that’s what I kept telling myself. The truth was, I had spent many more hours than I cared to admit fantasizing about what life would look like with Remi Rhodes in it, which was a complete waste of time. I kept reminding myself there was no hope for a future with the man, but my head, heart, and hormones were determined to keep hope alive.

I picked up the highball glass and took a sip. Then another. Then another. Except, they weren’t really sips; they were more like gulps. Liquid courage—that’s what I needed. After finishing the last drop, I finally took in my surroundings. The place was packed with people gathered to celebrate the happy couple.

As I scanned the crowd, my eyes automatically locked on the one person I was doing my best to ignore. Remi Rhodes. It was like he was a magnet, and my ocular perception was metal. Just two more days. That’s all I had to get through, and then my life could start without the anxiety that had been my constant companion, thanks to one Remi Rhodes.

I watched as Remi pulled his sister into a big hug. Even from across the room, you could see and feel the affection the siblings had for each other. Their relationship was special.

“He’s always been so sweet with her,” Kenna commented beside me.

I’d heard that a lot. Even before I’d met ‘Kyle,’ Kane talked about how Remi basically had to raise Ruby and how hard it had been for him to leave her when he enlisted. I could definitely see the bond between the two of them. It made me even more attracted to him, not that he needed any help in that department.

“I can’t believe that Misty and him broke up.”

“Did you know her?” I was curious about the woman who had slept with another man when she was engaged to Remi. I couldn’t, for the life of me, relate to what would possess someone to do that.

“No, not really. I met her once a few years back when Remi came to visit his mom right after they got engaged. She was nice and gorgeous—one of the most attractive people I’ve ever seen in real life. I’m pretty sure she’s a model.”

Cool, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear. Remi’s ex-fiancée was professionally beautiful. Cool, cool, cool.

“They seemed so happy,” Kenna continued. “I wonder what happened between them.”

I knew the answer to that. She cheated on him and got pregnant.

“I always figured he’d be married by now and have kids. He talked about wanting a family all the time when we were together.”

“When you were together?” I repeated, sure I must have heard her wrong.

“Yeah, we dated off and on when I was a freshman, and he was a senior. It was nothing serious.”

The news of Remi and my cousin’s past hit me like a swinging wrecking ball to the gut. Any flicker of hope that anything, even something casual, could happen between us just got doused with a cold bucket of ice water. That was the third strike—the final nail in the coffin of our future. I absolutely could not be with one of my cousin’s exes.

I needed to chalk whatever happened between us up to a blip on my sanity radar and move on. Just as I made that determination, Sam Whitlock walked by with a sexy brunette on his arm, giggling up at him.

Kenna noticed it, too. She looked like that wrecking ball had just hit her in the gut.

“Has anything ever happened between you and—” I started to ask.

“No—” Kenna cut me off before I could even say his name. “We’re just friends. We grew up next door to each other. That’s all. Nothing’s ever happened between us. Nothing. We’re just friends.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that.” Her response had me thinking that she protesteth too much.

Kenna moved down the bar to help other customers, and when I glanced back at Remi, I saw he was gone, and Ruby was heading straight toward me.

“You made it!” She smiled widely.

“Yep. It took me a little longer dropping off Harper at Lilah’s than I thought,” I lied. The truth was, I’d been the one who was running late because I was procrastinating.

“Hey, Ruby.”

Ruby and I turned and saw the man who had just sucker punched my cousin by parading his current flavor of the week by her.

“Is it too late to bring a plus one on Saturday?” he asked.

“Um, um…” Ruby stumbled over her words. “Um, no, that’s fine.”

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