The Heart - Kate Stewart Page 0,34
muttered, giving her my full attention.
I looked at my aunt and gave her the ear she was asking for.
“You’re like a son to me.”
“I am your son,” I assured her.
I saw her eyes soften before she laid into me. “Your diet is lacking substance and it’s my job to point that out to you.”
“I get it.”
Her voice was a whisper as she looked at me with glassy eyes. “I don’t think you do.”
I paused at my aunt’s emotion. She had been a pillar of strength for me my whole life. She’d been there for me on my darkest days, the days before, and every day after. I’d never known life without her, never wanted to. I swallowed hard.
“You all feel this way?”
She nodded.
I looked out the window at the bustling streets of New Orleans, thinking of Rose and the look in her eyes when I’d almost kissed her. That look alone was worth skipping my trip.
“She’s off limits.”
“How so?”
“She’s a friend of mine’s daughter. And she’s scared.”
“So she’s not off limits.”
“If you ignore everything I just told you then, no, she’s not off limits.”
Ignoring another smile from her, I grabbed her drink and took a large swallow as she sighed in distaste. Our plates were deposited, and I took a large forkful of fish, knowing if I didn’t kick the buzz, I would end up in a cab and forced to leave my bike, something I hated to do. I finished my plate and looked up to see my aunt with a growing smile on her face. “This talk was pointless.”
“I agree.”
“No, Jack.” And this is where the point kicked in. “You’ve already made your decision.”
“And that decision is seat 1A in about twelve hours.”
My aunt looked down at her plate with another smile as my temper flared.
“I’m not hiding, and I’m not running. I hope you know that. I hope you’ve known that. I’ve been good for a very long time,” I said confidently.
Ignoring my remark, she looked on at me with pride. “You were so afraid to show that beautiful face,” she mused.
“Only you thought it was beautiful.”
“Beauty isn’t everything. It’s hardly anything.”
“I know.”
“You more than anyone, and now you’re the most beautiful man in the world.”
“Again, only you’d think that.”
“Not this time, my boy,” she said as she glared over her shoulder. “And who said I was talking about your face?” She stood suddenly and laid her credit card on the table. I moved to stop her from paying, but she cut me off with a look of warning. I surveyed her untouched plate and looked back up to her in confusion. “You know I would never cut our time short, but I have an appointment.”
I waited as I watched a rare blush coat her cheeks. With an eye roll, she admitted the truth. “With a wedding planner.”
I gave her a full laugh, and she looked down at me with a scowl while she filled out the credit card slip. My aunt, though a hard-ass, looked nowhere near her actual age, and was truly a beautiful woman. She’d had it on good authority to teach me about unwanted attention, having had dealt with a fair amount of it herself.
“Eat my plate before you get on that damned bike,” she ordered as I stood to hug her. She wrapped around me tightly for a moment, a little longer than usual.
“Don’t worry,” I whispered as she held me tighter at my words before she let me go.
I watched her walk away and made a move to resume my seat when I smelled perfume. For a second, I entertained the idea of a quick fuck. It was something I wouldn’t have hesitated doing months or even weeks ago. But my aunt was right. I had dined on the same type of woman who stood behind me now for almost a decade. Empty sex in an instantly empty bed after didn’t have the same sating effect it used to have. My last fling had lasted only a few months. I’d been in Vietnam on another one of my endless trips and hadn’t batted an eyelash when she’d informed me she’d moved on almost a month before my return. Still, it would be a decent attempt to get the eyes and lips I’d spent the last week thinking about out of my head, though I could never erase the impression she’d made.
Rose in my thoughts again and my decision made, I quickly turned to the woman in wait and watched her eyes