Sadie snorted. “You know I don’t believe in fate and destiny and crap like that. If it’smeant to be, you have to make it happen.”
“Let’s get to work,” I said.
Sadie and I didn’t agree about love and relationships. She’d pursued Nate, and they’d been together for almost five years now. And it worked for them. But I’d always liked the idea of a knight in shining armor sweeping me off my feet.
And since that knight hadn’t been around yet, I wasn’t about to go looking for him. I had other things to focus on right now. My knight could come whenever he was ready; there was no rush.
I had time.
2
PARKER
“Aboutfuckingtime,”Isaid and opened the front door to Ryan. He stood in my penthouse lobby, dressed for a workout. His hair was a mess, his eyes a little red and swollen, and he had a day-old stubble on his chin.
“Traffic.” He said and grinned at me.
“I call bullshit,” I said and clapped him on the back, letting him in. “You reek of alcohol.”
He laughed. “Yeah, well, I’m going to pay for it today, so don’t worry. Justice will be served. It’s why I wanted to come here rather than show face at the gym—if they saw me like this they would crucify me.”
Ryan had his own gym. I’d tried out the new gym just down the block from me, and that was how we’d met. It was almost a decade ago now. After studying to be a personal trainer, Ryan had decided there was no way he would pay another gym to use their floor space.
He and his sister were the same—go-getters. And boy, did they go out and get.
It was one of the reasons I hung out with Ryan. Besides my brothers, I knew few people who had the balls to go out and do their own thing, rather than succumbing to the man. And the difference between the Conrad brothers and the Jenkins twins was that we’d done it with a shit-ton of money we’d inherited from my dad. And they’d done it with absolutely nothing.
I closed the door behind him, and he followed me to the gym.
“Jeez, you still haven't decorated this place? It's been years.” Ryan asked.
I groaned. “Don’t you start.”
“Yeah? Other people say something?”
“Everyone.”
“Generally, when there’s a common consensus, it’s worth noting.”
I shook my head and tried to look at my apartment through a stranger’s eyes. And I guess it could use work. The walls were all just white, the flooring was still the original oak hardwood, and the few pieces of furniture I had—although expensive—only added up to what I actually used. It looked like I’d just moved in, actually, sans the boxes.
But I was at the office more than I was here, and my office looked fucking awesome.
“Your place looks like it was just built, man,” Ryan said. “You can’t even put one picture up? I know you’re a bachelor, but seriously, man.”
I shook my head and glanced around. “It’s not that bad.”
“You’re right. It’sworse.”
I chuckled. “I’m not much of a decorator. And I just moved in.”
“Yeah ... like seven years ago.”
I shrugged. It was true. I’d lived in this apartment for seven years already. And I still hadn’t done a thing to make it home. I’d bought it just after a divorce. It had been easier to give Brooke the house we’d lived in when we’d split, and this place had just been constructed. I’d bought it in cash after seeing pictures online and moved in a week later.
End of story.
I didn’t have a reason I hadn’t decorated yet. I just hadn’t gotten around to it.