“I don’t get it. Don’t you wanna have guy time?” East asked.
“For what? To drink beer and bullshit and count the hours until I get to go home to my hot fiancée?”
“Ah, yeah!” East argued. “Because drinking and bullshitting is fun.”
“It can be,” Dex said. “But I guess I just like being around Michelle. I’d always rather have her as a part of my world than not.”
“What about couples needing space?” East shot back.
“We have space. I’m not with her now, and it sucks. But it makes it good for when I see her in the evenings.”
“I just don’t get it,” East mumbled.
“That’s because you haven’t found a woman you enjoy. A woman you’d go back to twice. A woman that has stuck around for you.”
That made East’s head snap up. Mostly the last part. Women never stuck around for him, either. He always made damn sure of that. If you got them to leave first, then they couldn’t leave you by surprise, like his mother had. She’d had something better to chase—a drug high.
Ironic, since right now the only time East felt high was when he was near Natalie. But if anything, he was her closeted secret. And she was his quick fix. But for a brief moment, he understood chasing the high. Then he realized that maybe it was all he was. He was good enough for a woman to chase, but not good enough to stick around and make a claim. Just like he’d never, ever, trust a woman with his heart.
That got broken a long time when his mom had cared less about him, and her own health, than getting that fix.
And now I’m into mommy issues overload.
Which was why he didn’t think about this shit.
He just wanted to protect Natalie and make sure she was all right. And based on this affinity she had for dating losers who didn’t see what was right in-fucking-front of them, he had his work cut out for him.
Or…he just wanted to interfere before she went home with anyone else.
No, no, he cared. Natalie was the one girl he cared about despite her pain-in-the-ass tendencies, because she was better than everyone else. Better than him. But she was also his best friend’s little sister. Talk about “bestie” problems.
Anger rose, and he tried to tamp it down, tried to focus on something else, but Dex’s earlier words only ran on repeat in his mind. East never went back to the same woman more than once. Not that he was trying to be a dick, he just didn’t really enjoy their company on that level.
Okay, so maybe he was a dick.
Sure, he knew he was a tad closed off when it came to relationships and whatever, but that was because he didn’t like anything serious. Just casual. And he was always honest about that.
But he’d gone back to Natalie…
“You look like you’re going to barf. Did you get sushi from that truck stop again on your way in today?” Dex asked, frowning.
“No,” East said. “I just thought of something.” Like the fact that he was thinking about Natalie way more than he’d ever thought of anyone else. Or that he was lying to his best friend. Or that the one family that had taken him in was hers, not his. How she was better than him. Or the fact that he’d literally chased after her three times now, and was getting nowhere except deeper into this secret affair. They were fucking with the dynamic of things. And he couldn’t bring himself to stop.
But he didn’t want to hang out with Natalie, and he didn’t want her to be his “bestie”… He just wanted to be around her. Totally different.
“Well, whatever your problem is, I hope you get it figured out, because tomorrow is happening, and you’re the best man so you better smile and bring your A game.”
That was the thing—East always brought his A game, but lately Natalie had been handing him his ass in that department. He was supposed to be the pro at casual, and she was beating him at this game of “not dating.”
She was also the best he’d ever had. Not just in the “not dating” department. But the sex. All of it. She was just…the best. Not something he was admitting out loud even to himself. But damn…he needed to get a grip.
“You’re lecturing me about my game?” East said to Dex. “Where’d your game go, buddy? You used to be famous for it.”
Dex just shrugged, not fazed at all. “Game gets old. And when you have a good woman, you don’t need to play it.”
East instantly wanted to strangle his friend. What the hell was up with the world this week? Was everyone conspiring to piss him off? Shove in his face all their love and domestic bliss?
Just then he caught the faint smell of chocolate, vanilla and…
Natalie!
“What the hell is that?” he asked, sniffing the air.
Dex looked at him liked he’d lost his damn mind, and maybe he had. But he was sniffing the air like a basset hound, following the scent to a white box on Dex’s desk.