Opposites Attract - Jessica Prince Page 0,14
job!”
Choosing to ignore her objection — seeing as a crazy person never admits they’re crazy, I continued on. “I was doing a favor for my brother’s fiancée, not mine. And I’ll have you know my memory is just fine.”
The brunette still standing in the doorway let out a little snort and muttered what sounded like, “Wouldn’t put money on that, hotshot.”
I turned my glare to her. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” She shrugged and gave me a knowing smile, but before I could press further Delilah spoke up.
“Wait… what do you mean your brother’s fiancée? You’re not engaged to Navie?”
I scowled the best I could, considering I could feel my pulse in my face. “No, psycho. I’m not engaged to Navie. I’m not engaged to anyone.”
Delilah shot her friend a look and the brunette bugged her eyes out and tipped her head to the side in return. It was like they were having a complete conversation with nothing but strange, exaggerated faces before finally remembering that the man one of them had maimed was still standing there.
“Uh…” Delilah wrung her hands in front of her and let out an awkward laugh. “So this is a little embarrassing.”
“You don’t say?” I deadpanned, still pinching the bridge of my nose.
She held her hands out in surrender and had the good grace to look ashamed. “Look, it was all a huge misunderstanding.” Reaching out, she wrapped her fingers around my forearm and, even in my angry state, I couldn’t help but be aware of just how soft her hands were. “If you’ll come in, I’ll get you some ice for your…” she twirled her finger in the general direction on my face and cringed, “…nose.”
I pulled my arm from her hold, leery of walking into the apartment of the woman who’d just gone all Mohammed Ali on my ass for no good reason. For all I knew, I could have been walking straight into a trap.
“You’ve done enough. I’ll get my own ice in the safety of my own apartment, thank you very much.”
I watched as she rolled her eyes dramatically and grumbled something that sounded like “For the love of Buddha” under her breath. She grabbed my arm again, this time, a lot less delicately, and jerked me toward her apartment. “Will you stop being such a baby?”
“You punched me in the face!” I objected even as I followed after her.
“In my defense, I thought you deserved it!”
I narrowed my eyes the best I could, considering I could feel my nose swelling up, as she led me into the living room and shoved me down on the couch. “Speaking as an attorney, that defense wouldn’t count for shit in court.”
The brunette asked, plopping down on the couch, just inches away, and studying my face like I was something under a microscope. “Personally, I think she did you a favor. You were too pretty before.” She waved her hand in front of my face. “This whole rugged, I-get-in-bar-fights-for-fun look is a definite improvement.”
Had I fallen into a twilight zone or something? Never in my life had I been accused of being too pretty. “I’m sorry, who are you?” I snapped.
She smiled widely and held her hand out for me to shake. “Devon McMillon. Del and I are roomies and have been besties since we were young enough to still pee our pants on the regular.”
“Devon!” Delilah yelled, but it didn’t have any effect on the woman beside me.
“Richard Locklaine,” I offered, shaking her hand. “Not to be confused with my brother…” I shot a look at Delilah. “You know, the one marrying Navie?”
She shuffled from foot to foot and pushed her glasses back up her nose. “Uh… I’ll just go get you that ice.”
Despite myself, the corner of my mouth curled up in a smirk. The woman was a total whack-job, but she was still cute, especially when she was flustered.
“Nice to meet you, Richard.”
I dropped her hand. “Nice to put a face to the women trying to kill me with sleep deprivation,” I said dryly. Delilah returned from the kitchen and smacked a bag of frozen peas down on my face. “Ow! Damn it, woman!”
“Sorry,” she shrugged, not looking sorry at all before turning to her friend. “Dev, can I talk to you for a second… in the kitchen?”
Devon stood from the couch. “Excuse me. We’re just going to go whisper about you where you can’t hear. Be right back.”
I would have laughed had I not been worried I was