Page 22 of Wishing for Love

She laughed. “I was going to bring it upstairs. You don’t need to keep me company.”

He found himself saying, “Maybe I want to.” She lifted one eyebrow at him and he realized that was a big mistake. He couldn’t risk putting her off when he was depending on her so much already. “Sorry. That came out wrong. I’m sleep deprived and overworked and now I want chocolate.”

“You sound like my sister Anne when it’s her time of the month,” she said, laughing.

Best way to turn a woman on. Not that he was trying to do that, but he blew it if he was.

“There you go,” he said. “I guess I’ve always been good at connecting that way with women. Might be why my best friend was a woman.”

She filled their two bowls with pudding and then added the Cool Whip and handed it over to him.

“Could be because the closest siblings to you were twin girls.”

“Maybe. Dallas and Bronx didn’t come along until I was five and then Siena with them. I spent more time helping out with London and Paris and making my own friends in school. But it wasn’t until college that I had the girl best friend.”

She hummed in her throat. “Can I ask something?”

“Anything,” he said.

“Maryn was gay, right?”

“Yes,” he said. “Or did you think it was me that was gay? I know it’s this assumption when a guy has a girl best friend.”

She laughed. “It crossed my mind for one brief second and then I realized there was no way. You’re most likely single because you’re a workaholic.”

“That about sums it up,” he said.

“Elsie let it slip the other day about her mother’s girlfriend.”

“Nora?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. “Were they together long? I can tell by your tone you might not have cared for her.”

“Maryn decided she wanted a baby. She didn’t want to wait and then worried if she found a woman she wanted a serious relationship with, there’d be custody battles if they split and so on. This was going to be her child and hers only.”

“Smart,” she said.

“I was surprised but then not really. Maryn never had a great relationship with her mother or father. They were very religious and not approving of her life choices.”

“It’s not a choice,” she said. “At least I don’t think so. I mean I tried and realized it’s you or it’s not.”

He lifted his eyebrow over that, then coughed on the bite of pudding. “Tried?”

“You should see your face,” she said, laughing. “I went through a phase. I think I went through a lot of them. Early twenties and I had friends that were experimenting. I found them attractive. Just as I do men. I thought, why not see if I’m missing something in life I’m not sure of?”

“Oh,” he said. Damn. He wasn’t sure why he couldn’t get the picture of her out of his head and hoped his chest wasn’t turning as red as his face might be. He sure the hell felt the heat of it.

She was smirking at him though. “It was never more than a kiss. I even told Taylor that recently. The truth is, two kisses in and I knew it wasn’t a choice. I couldn’t tell myself to be orfeel something that others were to just try it. I didn’t feel it and wasn’t forcing it. It’s okay to be attracted to the opposite sex on looks alone and that is all it was. I’d much rather spend my physical time with a guy.”

“I understand,” he said. “Maryn went through this with her parents. I think because I had so many siblings, she and I just clicked our freshman year. She was beautiful and men were always hitting on her. They didn’t want to believe she was gay.”

“Did you play her make believe boyfriend?” she asked, her voice all soft.

Yeah, the heat filled his body again. “I did for a good year. Then we had a ‘breakup’ and just decided to be friends.”

“It’s hard to date yourself if your best friend is a woman. Or you’re even playing a make believe one.”

He grunted. “Tell me about it. Most times they didn’t believe she was gay. I gave up after a while.”

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