Page 31 of You Complicate Me

“Maybe the bisque didn’t agree with me,” she admitted.

He nodded. “Not surprising. It looked like baby crap.” He gestured for the waiter and asked him for a bottle of water.

The fact that it looked like crap was probably what kept the men, other than Brad, from eating any of the bisque. Smart. Her stomach roiled and she groaned. If only she’d been smart and avoided it, too.

“It gave me gas,” Ruthie said, then underscored her comment with a loud belch, not bothering to cover her mouth.

“Lovely,” Gage muttered.

Sarah dabbed at her sweaty forehead with a napkin. “I guess that wasn’t a good suggestion after all. I’m so sorry, Sadie, dear.”

Grace silently took back the nasty things she’d been thinking about Sadie’s choice in food. She should’ve known that the pumpkin bisque had been her mother’s idea.

Sadie smiled weakly, still beautiful, even though her alabaster skin had turned pasty and clammy-looking. “That’s all right. I still appreciate your help. I didn’t have any clue what to order.”

The waiter arrived with Nick’s water. He accepted it with a nod of thanks, then twisted the cap off and handed it to Grace. “Drink this. I wasn’t about to let them bring you tap water. I don’t even trust that after the bisque fiasco.”

He said bisque with the same enthusiasm she showed for big hairy spiders. Grace smiled up at him. He smiled back and they kind of…stuck like that. The noise around her dimmed and her stomach calmed for a moment as she focused on his face. Those amazing eyes with the little smile lines at the corners. And Jesus, who knew men could even have lashes that thick?

“Angel,” he said, voice pitched even lower than usual. “If you don’t stop looking at me like that, I’m carrying you back to your room caveman-style and pinning you to the wall for a few hours.”

Her breath whooshed out. That sounded way better than it probably should have.

With a growl he leaned toward her.

Brad slammed his fist down on the table, sending the bread basket and his wine glass flying. “I’ve had just about enough of this,” he shouted.

Grace and Sadie jumped, but Nick calmly shifted his gaze from Grace to Brad, raising a brow expectantly.

“Grace, I’ve tolerated this charade long enough,” Brad said.

“Great leapin’ horny toads,” Ruthie muttered, mopping up the spilled wine with a handkerchief she’d pulled from her bra. “I guess the little fairy has a backbone after all.”

Sarah wrung her hands anxiously. “Brad, maybe you should wait—“

He gave his head a furious shake. “No. I absolutely will not wait another moment to tell Grace how I feel.”

“Sweet Christ,” Gage grumbled, downing what remained of his wine. “What a clusterfuck.”

“Brad,” Grace said with a sigh that felt like it came from her toes. That was how deeply exasperated she was with Brad at the moment. “Can’t we talk about this in private? Tomorrow, maybe?”

He slammed his palms down on the table again and leaned forward. “And let you spend the night with this piece of…” He gestured to Nick, his lip curled up in disgust, “…trailer trash? I bet he didn’t even bother telling you he’s the son of a drug dealer who died in a prison brawl.”

Nick’s eyes narrowed, and every bit of color drained from Sadie’s face. Everyone else at the table went deathly quiet.

Michael looked at Sadie, whose lower lip began to tremble. He frowned. “But I thought your parents died in a car accident.”

Sadie’s mouth opened and closed like a landed trout, but no sound came out.

“No,” Brad went on, clueless as ever, pointing an accusatory finger at Nick, “they didn’t. His mother was stabbed to death in prison while serving time for dealing. His father died of an overdose while awaiting trial, also for trafficking.”

Nick ignored him and shook his head at Sadie. “I’m so sorry, honey.”

Michael looked at her like he’d never seen her before. “You lied to me?” he whispered. “Why?”

Grace knew the mulish look on Michael’s face. She’d seen it a million times over the years. If she let him dig his heels in, the marriage would be off, which was exactly what she wanted. They were too young to get married, anyway. All she had to do was keep her mouth shut and the problem would go away.

But one look at Sadie’s distraught face and she knew she couldn’t let it go down like this.

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