God, he was gorgeous in an earth-shattering way. As if I could feel the vibrations coming from him rippling under my feet.
I edged forward, my voice quieted to a whisper, way too eager for my own good. “What happened to him?”
Lillith and Nikki shared a look.
Nikki leaned forward, dropping her tone to match mine. “His wife just . . . disappeared. No one knows for sure what happened to her.”
Was it fear that flashed through my blood? The man screamed danger and peril and risk. But my heart told me for an entirely different reason than the flicker of morbid intrigue that tickled my consciousness. Still, my eyes were round as I leaned even closer to her. “Like . . . do people think she’s . . . dead?”
Nikki howled with laughter and sat back, smacking her knee, obviously thrilled I’d followed her into that trap. “Ha! He probably wishes she was. My guess is she’s just a selfish bitch who walked out when taking care of a baby became too much. Not that anyone knows since he doesn’t talk about her, but I was never a fan.”
She shrugged and took a sip of her cosmo.
Case closed.
“Not about her or about anything really,” Lillith added, back to waving a caution flag. “I’ve known him since we were kids. We went to school together on the other side of town with Ollie and Kale. The three of them have had some horrible stuff happen in their lives. It affected them, shaped who they became. But Rex? He changed after his wife left. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great guy. Honest. An incredibly hard worker. He grew his small construction company into the most successful contractor in the area. Loyal to the bone, and there’s no doubt he loves that little girl. But I’m pretty sure his bitterness has seeped all the way to the marrow.”
That sense I’d been feeling grew stronger. The need to look deeper inside the man who’d built a fortress around himself. Needing to protect himself from the pain so clearly etched in his eyes.
Mournful eyes I could feel continually flashing my direction.
Scorching me deeper with each hidden pass.
Nikki laughed. “You should see your face right now. Girl, you’re in so much trouble. It looks to me like you’re taking that warning as some kind of invitation. I told you I was the queen matchmaker, but I don’t think even I’m that good.”
Lillith almost rolled her eyes. “This from the girl who’s been trying to get Ollie to look her way for the last five years.”
“Hey! Sometimes these things take time. I’m a patient woman.”
Her attention jerked toward a man who came out from the back of the bar.
“He’s back. Look, there he is. That’s who I was telling you about. That’s my Ollie,” Nikki raved not so quietly as she slapped my thigh a bunch of times to get my attention.
With the way she shivered at the sight of him, I would say her patience was wearing thin. I understood her fascination.
Ollie was rough and hard and incredibly good-looking. As good-looking as the other straightlaced guy who sat on the other side of the table from Rex.
There had to be something in the water, because both of them were almost as beautiful as the man who’d taken my thoughts hostage.
Almost.
But there was something about Rex that completely set him apart. Something that made him shine in all his surly darkness. Something that twisted my belly into a mess of anxiousness, attraction, and intrigue.
This prodding force that insisted I get to know someone who seemed desperate to remain unseen.
Nikki sighed when Ollie grabbed a couple drinks from behind the bar and carried them to Rex’s table. “God, I love him.”
With a sip of her wine, Lillith shook her head. “I’m beginning to think you’re just infatuated with what you can’t have.”
Nikki blinked at her. “Isn’t that the same thing?”
A tumble of laughter rolled from Lillith. “Not even close.”
Nikki’s gaze trailed back after Ollie. Not even trying to hide her stare when he rounded back behind the bar to help the other bartender. “For real . . . love or not, I would eat up that man.”
I giggled quietly. On the drive over, I’d worried I had made the wrong choice. Worried I’d be continually looking over my shoulder. Wondering who might recognize me. If there would be rumbles and whispers and rumors.
But I hadn’t felt it. Not for a second. I loved that these two had invited me out. That they were happy to make me feel a part of their tight-knit world. That they seemed to have no qualms about welcoming me into it.
I startled when a tall figure suddenly cast a shadow over us. I looked up to find a man towering at my side, his brown eyes raking me up and down, a grin riding his full lips.