Page 9 of Beautiful Broken Love

“Oh, there’s a next time, is there?”

He lowered his eyes to my chest, then brought them back up again. “Absolutely.”

I crossed my legs, feeling a tingle between them that I hadn’t felt in a long time. Thankfully, the waiter appeared with our waters and took our orders.

I wasn’t sure what we were going to do or talk about now that he’d signed the contract. I’d had some things in my mind that I’d wanted to mention, like sales figures and what we used in our products. Fortunately, I didn’t have to lead many of the conversations, because Deke took the floor.

Before he started, though, I noticed him glance at my wedding ring as I collected my water. His face had warped a bit, and when he noticedmenoticinghim, he cleared his throat and forced a smile.

I could tell he had questions—or that maybe he was regretting his wine and dine initiative with a woman he didn’t realize was (or hadbeen) married—but if he felt any sort of way about it, he didn’t show it. He still acted himself ... and still stared at me like I was naked.

I should’ve told him about Lew—about why I still wore the rings—but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hold back the tears. It was better to let it be and let it go. After all, I doubted Deke and I would be having any more one-on-one “business” dinners after this.

“What made you get into skin care, anyway?” Deke asked after chatting about how packed his summer schedule was going to be.

“Well, believe it or not, I used to make my own body scrubs and creams when I was younger. All in my mom’s kitchen. I went to a community college and got my bachelor’s in business and figured I’d put that degree to use doing something else I loved.”

“And that’s how GOC was born,” he said.

“Yep. Exactly.”

“Seems to be doing well for you. Don’t know what you need me for.” His eyes lit up as he waited for my response.

“I mean, sure, it’s done well, but it can always do better. And by the way, I’m really glad you’re doing this with us, Deke. Seriously. Having you as the face of our products is going to change a lot of things for us.”

“You don’t have to thank me. You did the work, and it paid off. But let’s make a sober toast to it,” he said, picking up his glass of water and raising it in the air.

I snorted a laugh, picking mine up too. “Okay.”

“Here’s to Golden Oil.” His eyes twinkled beneath the warm lighting as he studied every detail of my face. “May it continue to prosper for you.”

“To Golden Oil,” I said, tapping his glass.

As we locked eyes and sipped, I tried very hard to ignore that warm, fuzzy feeling inside me.

FIVE

DAVINA

While we ate, I found it surprising that Deke was such a great conversationalist. Most athletes loved talking about themselves, but not him.

“Were you born in Charlotte?” he asked me.

“No, born and raised in Maple Cove, but Charlotte is my second home.”

“Oh.” His eyebrows dipped a bit. “Where’s Maple Cove? I don’t think I’ve heard of it.”

“It’s about a two-hour drive from here, just outside of Asheville. It gets lumped in with Asheville, because it’s such a small town.”

“Oh. That’s cool. I’ll have to check it out. So what about siblings?”

“A sister, two years younger, and a brother, sixteen years younger.”

“Sixteen years?”His eyes stretched as he gaped. “Mama got busy!”

“Yeah.” I laughed. “She did.”

“That makes you the oldest, then.”

---