Page 59 of Broken Heart

Marco laughed and threw his hands up in surrender. “Alright, relax. I’m just wondering what’s going on with you and Skye, because based on what I saw this weekend, it seems that you two are more than just friends.”

“Nothing is official,” I informed him.

When I said nothing else, Marco pressed, “And you’re telling me you don’t want it to be? I watched how you were with her, and I didn’t get that vibe. Plus, I can only assume, based on the way you were grinning at your phone, that you were just texting her.”

I shrugged. “I’m doing my best to exercise some patience with her, especially after what she’s been through.”

My best friend sent a look of approval my way. Of course, even if he liked how I was handling things, he still felt compelled to get on my case about it. “And how’s that going for you?”

“I’ve never been more content to be so frustrated in my entire life,” I admitted through my laughter. Shaking my head with disbelief, I explained, “I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about Skye that I can’t just walk away from.”

He gave me a nod of understanding. “I think it’s become obvious to so many of us here that you’re feeling something extraordinary when it comes to her. But I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t some concern. What about her? Do you think she’s going to get to a place that you want to see the two of you?”

I inhaled deeply and considered the answer to that question. Skye had been adamant from the start about not wanting to get into a relationship. The timid and reserved woman I first met had slowly opened up to me, and now we were at a place where she’d purposely turned her head to kiss me last night. Everything that had happened Saturday—and the day before at the charity event—gave me hope that things were changing for her. My hope was that the talk she intended to have tomorrow would reveal she’d had that change of heart. Until then, I could only assume things were headed in the right direction.

“I think the tides might be turning,” I finally confessed.

“That’s good, Coop. I’m glad to hear it. And if I’m honest, I’m hoping things go the way you want, because it’s been nice to see this more relaxed side to you.”

I huffed. “Yeah, I’m just trying to take a page out of your book and not take everything so seriously, I guess.”

Marco laughed again. “Now that would be something to see. If that happened, I think your family might force you to marry that girl.”

My best friend was the most laidback guy I knew, so I understood why he believed it would be an impossibility for me to reach that same level of relaxation he had. But hearing him mention me marrying Skye, something moved through me.

We weren’t there yet. Hell, she hadn’t officially confirmed she was interested in taking things between us to the next level. But given the conversation I’d had with Wyatt last week about his feelings for Rhea and the way things had been changing between Skye and me, I couldn’t say I didn’t like the idea of having something permanent with her.

For now, I just needed to give her the time she needed to be sure of me. Because I still believed there was a reason I wound up in her store a few weeks ago that went well beyond me needing to be inconvenienced by another job.

She could call it fate or fortune. I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to pretend it had happened for no reason.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I advised.

He held his hands up in surrender. “Hey, I thought you’d like the idea of a lifelong commitment to a woman like Skye.”

He wasn’t wrong.

Fuck, he wasn’t wrong.

A man like me, dealing with headaches and stress at work all the time, could find himself feeling rather lucky to come home to a woman like Skye, a woman who sought to make his life better, who took away the stress.

Because that’s precisely what happened whenever I was with her. Skye made me enjoy my life outside of work. She made me appreciate that time even more than I already had.

I narrowed my eyes on Marco. “I think you want things to go there with her, because you think things will change here. Hate to break it to you, my friend, but that’s not going to happen. Maybe I’m a little out of sorts right now, but no matter where things go from here, I think it’s safe to say I’ll still get irritable every now and again.”

Marco shrugged. “It was worth a shot.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Let’s go. We’ve got work to get done.”

He grinned at me. “And there’s the guy we know and love.”

Five minutes later, I had no choice but to put all the thoughts and excitement about what tomorrow would bring to the back of my mind, because as always, my workload was never ending and chaotic.

17

SKYE

“You weren’t lying, were you?”