eyes went wide and Bo sent an elbow flying into his ribcage. He glared down at her. “What?”
“Don’t even think about asking, or I promise, you’ll regret it.”
Mikki laughed and rested her chin in her hand. “Well, now you have to ask.” Her eyes gleamed with gold threads as she waited for an answer.
“I want to learn how to make pasta, especially ravioli.” His cheeks were pink, and my brother worked hard to avoid his girlfriend’s gaze.
Mikki laughed again. “My nonna is a sucker for a handsome face so I’m sure she’ll have no problem with a video tutorial. Just promise to make it clear to her that you’re spoken for, and I’ll set it up.”
“Really?” His eyes went wide like it was Christmas morning and he’d just unwrapped the big, unbreakable fire truck he’d begged for an entire year. “That would be so cool.”
“No problem. Rocky, my sister, invited her down to her dorm room to teach a pasta-making class, roping half the football team to show up just for eye candy.”
So, she also had a sister. Another fact I stored away, in case I needed it for some reason in the future. “Your grandma sounds like a hoot,” Bo told her. “I hope I get to meet her.”
She sighed. “I imagine I won’t be able to keep her away much longer.”
“Why?” I hadn’t meant to voice the question out loud, but I had a feeling she was going out of her way to keep her secrets because I was here.
She turned to me and batted long thick lashes, slowly, before she answered. “She and my daddy had a difference of agreement about how I should be punished for ending my engagement.”
Punished. Engagement? “You’re a grown woman.”
Her lips curled into a tiny smile. “I’m aware, Nate. But the marriage would have been a good business deal. His wandering dick put that deal in jeopardy, but somehow, that makes me the bad guy in all this.” She shrugged like it didn’t matter, but those lines around her eyes revealed just how much she had to be hurting. “Now you know it all.” And her tone said she didn’t like that one bit. “Oh, and just in case you were wonderin’, his dick wandered over to my best friend. Ex best friend,” she clarified with more than a little southern belle spunk.
The room fell silent once again and I cursed my own selfish need to know more, because it had embarrassed Mikki. “Sorry,” I growled. “He’s a dumb fuck, so at least you dodged a bullet.”
For a long time, she simply stared at me, a blank expression on her face, and I figured she was about to give me a verbal lashing. Again. But finally, a smile spread across her mouth and sent a rush of warmth through me. “Thanks, Nate. I fully agree with that assessment.”
That grin hit me right in the solar plexus and I knew, right then and there, I wanted to know more about this fascinating sexy woman. I just had to figure out how to get her on board with the plan.
Mikki
“You don’t have to come in and help me with inventory, Hope. None of my other designers do.”
I appreciated the help, but even more than that, I appreciated the company. Starting Pretty Feathers had given me a purpose and a freedom I hadn’t realized I needed while I was so busy trying to be the perfect society fiancée and daughter back in Mississippi.
“Are you kidding? I get to see everything before anyone else in town, and all the designs, colors and fabrics are excellent inspiration. Plus, if I didn’t show up here to harass you, I’d probably never see you.” Hope winked and opened a box filled with flirty summer skirts with a very girly squeal. “And shopping with my design earnings is like getting clothes for free.”
“I don’t get your logic, but okay,” I told her with a shrug.
“No one gets my logic, and I’m okay with that.” She held up a yellow and white striped skirt with a grin. “This is perfect for a romantic dinner that ends with seduction, don’t you think?”
“Sure,” I agreed absently, willing to indulge her in conversations reserved for the newly in love, but only giving half an ear.
“I mean, it’s not traditionally romantic, but Will isn’t a traditional kind of guy. Did I tell you that he brought flowers to the diner? A full-on bouquet of wildflowers!”
“That’s great,” I told her sincerely, but even I could hear