Page 3 of L.O.V.E

Ellis stood an inch taller than me, had me by a good fifty pounds, but where I was turkey breast, my friend was more prime rib, and he never let an opportunity slip to remind me he was bigger, despite the fact he’d never taken me down on the mat.

Our trip to the gym passed in silence. Ellis only zipped his lips when he had something epic to say, a think before you speak kind of guy, so I parked, cut the engine, and said,“Spit it out, bud,” then made myself comfortable, settling into the seat and buckling down for an earful.

After a deep rise and fall of his chest, he blurted,“I’m worried about you.”

“Okay.” So was I, but that was between me and my weathered spirit.

“Seriously. What’s up? You’ve been off lately. You’re always on edge. You spend all your free time at the gym. And what was that scuffle really about this morning?”

“He attacked me,” I reminded him. “And you know damn well why I’m at the gym.”

Holden rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I know. You’re on a mission. Noble, yes, but nobody gets the jump on you unless you wanna fight.”

Fuck. True. First glance I’d known that, if provoked, the guy at the coffee shop would react, and maybe I’d needed the release. But that wasn’t what’d made me look in the first place. That woman’s presence had drawn me in. Siren enchanting the sailor. Seeing her sitting next to that Mike O’Hearn wannabe had summoned my primal urges.

“Not sure what came over me. It was crazy like I knew her, but on a whole different level. God.” I scratched my aching temple. “This is hard to explain. There was a connection. Just…something. That ever happen to you?”

The left side of his mouth twitched. He tried and failed to hide his grin.“Yeah, when I met Darlene.”

Darlene, the woman who’d broken his heart more than once before skipping town with Eva, his one-eyed Yorkie.

“So you get it?”

“No, dipshit.” He flicked the side of my head. “I don’t get it.”

“But you just said—”

His thick finger jabbed my chest, silencing me.“Not the same.”

“How’s it different?”

With a huff, he jerked the door handle and dropped one foot to the asphalt, then paused.“When I met Darlene, I was single.” Before closing the door, he turned and asked, “And where the hell is my coffee?”

Natalie

“So, how’d he take it?” Mom asked over her shoulder, working the buttons on the Keurig. She wore her favorite cardigan, the violet highlighting her ice-blue eyes.

I slammed my handbag down next to a stack of mail on the dining table. “I didn’t get a chance to do the deed.” I huffed, then plopped my rear onto a stool at the kitchen island.

Mom slid a fresh cup of coffee my way. “Why not? Did you change your mind?”

“Oh, hell no. We’re over.” I chugged, suffering through the burn, because Mom’s coffee was the bomb. “But that bulldozer will have to figure it out on his own. I’m done.”

I relayed the details of my horrid morning. The fight. The humiliation. My ruined blouse. The stranger with the dreamy eyes who did nothing but look at me like I was everything he’d ever wanted in the world… And wow, thinking back, I’d suffer again to bear the weight of that gaze.

“What happened to the guy?”

I looked up from my drink to find Mom leaned over the counter, chin resting in the palm of her left hand, a knowing smirk twisting her pink-tinged lips.

“I didn’t stick around to find out.”

She blew a raspberry. “Too bad. Sounds like a keeper, to risk life and limb over a woman he’s never met.”

“Yeah, too bad. The man might’ve been my soulmate. Now he’s possibly dead, or at the very least, pulverized because of my embarrassing lapse in judgement when it comes to dating.” Dropping my face to my hands, I shook off the funky vibes and laughed. What else could I do?

Mom raised her mug. “Good riddance, Holden Oswald Travers the Third.”

I lifted my cup to hers. “Damn straight.”

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