Page 15 of If You Could Only Believe
My invisibility plan was going great until Katrina Roth approached the table. Her face was equal parts, shock, outrage and disgust. “Sophia,” she said, shaking her head, “what are you doing over here? Don’t you know this table is reserved for the Buchanans?” She said it in such a way that anyone would think I was stupid.
And, maybe, I was. After all, I was still sitting here with people I did not belong with.
Michael had been speaking with Mason, who was sitting next to him, but he turned at Katrina’s voice and spoke before I could answer her. “Sophia is at this table as my date, Ms. Roth,” he informed her, ignoring her gasp. “But thank you for your obvious concern.”
“You’re da…date?” she sputtered. Her face went from superiority to straight shock at Michael’s announcement.
He smirked at her. “Yes. However, she’s just my date tonight, but only because I know she’d say no if I asked her to marry me right now.”
“Michael!” I shrieked, slapping him on the arm, completely forgetting the fact that he was head of HR and the bosses of each division were sitting by witnessing my mental meltdown. “Quit being ridiculous. We’ve only known each other for…what,three hours?”
He turned his attention from Katrina towards me and said, “What? You don’t believe in love at first sight?”
My eyes widened. He couldn’t be serious. “Of course, not.Does anyone?”
“I do,” Mason announced.
“Me, too,” Aiden chimed in, while Gabriel just raised his hand as if we were in school.
“Bu…but…but…”
Michael flashed me those paralyzing dimples of his. “Sophia Buchanan,” he teased. “Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”
Up until this point, the women at the table had remained silent and were letting Michael steal the spotlight, but that ended on Michael’s ridiculous question. “Sounds perfect,” Shane said, joining in on this circus.
“Actually, it sounds beautiful,” Justice cooed.
“Sounds sophisticated and elegant,” Denise agreed.
I scanned each of their faces, completely ignoring Katrina, and asked, “Are you guysallon medication? I mean, I thought it was just Michael, but…” I was drowned out by their laughter.
I was really getting tired of being laughed at.
Chapter 8
Michael~
If I didn’t think she’d stand up and storm out of here, I’d pull my phone out and take a picture of her flabbergasted face.
My brothers’ love stories were legendary. Anyone who’s ever heard anything about the Buchanan marriages knew that it was, indeed, love at first sight for all of my brothers. They came, they saw, and they conquered, and my poor sisters-in-law never stood a chance.
That’s why I wasn’t going to ignore what Sophia was making me feel. I’ve been hit on countless times throughout my lifetime, even more so as each of my brothers married. Once Mason and Aiden had gone off the market, women had been losing their minds going after Gabriel and me. There were even times college girls would be waiting on our doorstep dressed in nothing but lingerie.
And once Gabe married Justice…well, let’s just say there were moments I feared for my safety.
But, out of all those women, none of them had ever ignited anything in me. Sure, my dick got hard, because…well, I’m a guy and my dick’s going to notice a half-naked girl trying to get my attention, but I neverfeltanything for any of them. The desire simply wasn’t there.
Until now.
Until Sophia and her uninhibited reactions.
Like now, her eyes were saucer large with her hand slapped over her mouth because it dawned on her, almost immediately, that she just asked the bosses of the company she works for if they took medication because we must be unstable to believe in love at first sight.
Fucking shit was endearing and hilarious all at once.
I wanted to assure her she wasn’t in trouble, but Katrina’s shrill voice broke up the laughter. “Oh, I get it now,” she said, tittering as if joining in the laughter. “This is a joke or something, right?”
I felt Sophia stiffen, and then almost immediately deflate as if she couldn’t agree with Katrina more, and I saw red. I haven’t seen red in ages. I worked really hard to keep that particular color of the prism spectrum out of my life.
