toughest.”
“It will all work out,” she said wistfully.
Nick wasn’t sure if Michelle spoke of his life or her own. She might appear confident on the exterior, but her vulnerabilities were showing. Not that she’d meant for him to see them. And damned if he didn’t like what he saw. All of it. All of her. And he intended to see more.
Two
Nick had been waiting all afternoon to give Jared Granger a hefty dose of his own medicine and to ask him a few questions about Michelle Lewis.
“So how does it feel knowing you’re going to be a dad, Granger? Knowing you’re going to be responsible for this person for at least twenty years, worrying if you’re screwing up—”
“Shut up, Kempner.”
Jared made the warning through a proud-as-a-peacock grin while they stood near the barbecue pit as the party began to wind down.
Nick could identify with that smile. He’d worn exactly the same one when Bridget had told him she was pregnant five years ago, a time when he’d still held on to the hope that the marriage might survive since they would have a child to consider. Man, had he been wrong.
“Actually, I’m happy for you and Brooke,” Nick said. “There’s nothing like it in the world, being a dad.” Even a part-time one, he thought as he watched Kelsey splashing around in the pool with Brooke’s mom. Not that he didn’t crave more time with his daughter.
Jared held up a beer for a toast. “Except maybe for finding the right woman to have that baby with.”
Nick clicked his bottle against Jared’s, experiencing a little sting of envy. “Yeah, looks like you got lucky the first time.” If only he could say the same for himself.
Surveying the last of the guests, Nick was disappointed to find that Michelle had left after all. When he’d departed the kitchen to give her some space, he’d hoped she would change her mind. She certainly was changing his about her.
“So what do you know about Brooke’s sister?” he asked, probably at his own detriment.
Jared’s grin deepened, confirming Nick’s concern. “Why? Are you still interested?”
Think fast, Kempner. “I talked to her in the kitchen a while ago. She was pretty upset over Brooke not telling her about the baby.”
Jared’s smile dropped out of sight. “I was afraid of that. But they’ll work it out. They’re pretty close.”
“Yeah? They don’t seem that much alike.”
“In some ways they are. Michelle’s pretty devoted to her career and her family. When she’s not working, she’s at her parents’ house making sure they’re okay.”
“So she doesn’t date?”
“You are interested, aren’t you?”
He’d been caught with his mind in the proverbial cookie jar. So much for being subtle. “Let’s just say I’m mildly curious.”
Jared let go a sharp laugh. “I’d wager you’re mildly lustful. Michelle’s a looker, all right. Seems to me she’s anything but receptive to men right now.”
“Yeah, why’s that?”
Jared looked over his shoulder, probably visually patrolling for Brooke, then lowered his voice. “Brooke told me she’s been fairly unlucky with relationships. She had one that went pretty sour a couple of years back.”
“Haven’t we all.”
“To my way of thinking, after your argument with her at our wedding, that makes your odds slim to none.”
Obviously, they had drawn more attention during their confrontation than Nick had first believed. “It wasn’t an argument exactly.” More like casual warfare. “We just don’t see eye to eye on certain things.”
“Let me guess. You asked her for a date and she refused.”
“Nope. I just told her she looked like a princess in her bridesmaid’s dress, and then she said if I thought she believed in that old fairy tale about kissing a toad, I had another think coming even if I did fit the bill, at which time I made a comparison to her and the ice sculpture. That was about it.”
Jared chuckled. “That was enough.”
“Yeah, maybe, but I was just trying to be nice.”
“You were trying to hit on her.”
“Not exactly true.” Close, but not exactly.
Jared sent a wave in Brooke’s direction and gave her a look that revealed a man too smitten for his own good. He finally turned his attention back to Nick. “Let me tell you something else about Michelle Lewis. She’s a beautiful woman who probably fights off a dozen come-ons a week. Maybe even a day. If you want to win her over, you’re going to have to rethink your usual ‘Hi, I’m Nick, I want you.’”
“That’s a low blow, Granger. I have more class than that.”
Nick immediately recalled Al Rainey’s obvious lust for Michelle and realized Jared was probably right about men hitting on her frequently and without regard to restraint. God knew that was old Al in a nutshell. And yes, Nick wasn’t always subtle. But he was good at picking up signals, and he knew when to back off.
Nick felt the overwhelming need to defend himself, probably because he had spent much of his time in recent days on guard where his ex and her accusations about other women were concerned. “First of all I’m not really looking for anything heavy. Secondly, I’m not the playboy everyone makes me out to be. And last, who needs the grief of a woman who’s not the least bit interested in men at the moment?”
“You do. You thrive on challenge. You live for it.” Jared nailed him with a serious glare. “But I’ll warn you. Michelle is a really nice woman beneath that all-business exterior. Basically your average girl-next-door type.”
If Michelle Lewis was a girl next door, then Nick was Albert Einstein. “Are you saying I’m not her type?”
“I’m saying that if you do anything to hurt her, you’ll have to answer to Brooke, and believe me, you don’t want to deal with her.”
Nick realized all too well the potency of sisterly ties. He was the baby in a family with three female siblings. He’d barely survived all that womanly camaraderie. Not to mention the lack of bathroom space. “Okay. If I decide I might want to give Michelle Lewis a shot, I’ll proceed with caution.”
“I’m not betting on that horse.”
Jared knew him all too well. Yeah, he did thrive on challenge, but was Michelle Lewis worth the trouble? Whatever did transpire between them, he would definitely make sure he wasn’t the one to get burned.
But somehow Nick knew that when he was around Michelle Lewis, he was already standing too close to the fire.
As
