“Well, he did not want to leave but didn’t want to pressure me. Then I realized that I didn’t want him leaving either. I swear, when he showed up and I opened the door, it was like James Bond had come to take me to dinner! And then we went out to his car and it’s a freaking Aston Martin! I mean, come on! How is this my life?” She was laughing and it felt so good and she was so happy to be able to share this with her best friends.
“No way! He drives an Aston Martin?” Skye asked. “Seriously? I thought those cars only existed in movies!”
Leanna nodded and took another bite of her bagel. “The car is amazing and watching him drive it while dressed in a suit was almost foreplay in and of itself.”
“Damn,” Josie commented, now fanning herself. “Now there’s a picture for you. Any chance he has a twin brother or perhaps some equally-attractive single friends?”
“Sorry, not twin brother. He does have two brothers but one is married and the other is marrying my cousin.”
“The bridezilla,” Skye said. “Poor guy.”
“He doesn’t seem to mind,” Leanna explained. “Brody minds, but the rest of his family doesn’t see it as an issue, so…”
“Okay, so no more eligible King brothers,” Josie interrupted. “What about cousins? Did you meet any of them at the engagement party thing?”
She thought about it for a moment. “I met so many people that weekend so I really don’t remember who was family and who wasn’t.” She took a sip of her coffee. “And what’s with you wanting to get fixed up with someone? For years you’ve been yammering on about how you don’t need a man and don’t want to get married.”
Josie took a sip of her own coffee before leaning back in her seat sighing. “Yeah, I know. But now that Skylar and my brother are married and you’re with Brody…”
“I’ve been with Brody for like…ten seconds,” Lea reminded her. “So don’t throw me into the equation. A couple of dates certainly don’t mean anything.”
“Oh, really?” Skye asked. “So you’re saying you’re not totally into this guy? Because if you are, I’m going to call bullshit. I talked to you that whole weekend and I heard how you went from annoyance, to interest, to totally being into him. And the look on your face as you were telling us about last night was not the look of someone who wasn’t seriously hooked.”
Why deny it?
“You guys…I know it’s so unlike me, but…I really am crazy about him. Maybe even a little in love,” she said quietly, staring down at her breakfast. “It’s too soon and I’m sure this is not going to end well for me, but…I can’t seem to stop myself. Not yet anyway. For now, I really want to just be with him and enjoy everything I can for as long as it lasts.”
“Why do you think it won’t end well?” Skye asked.
Leanna explained how different she felt they were and then all the ways Brody pointed out how they were the same.
“O-kay…that all sounds very normal,” Skye reasoned. “No two people are exactly the same, Lea. And in a relationship, you kind of don’t want to be. Elliott and I have a lot of common interests but there are also a lot of things that we don’t. And all those things make us who we are.”
“It’s not just that,” she began and then groaned because she thought back to that first day and realized he had essentially told her everything she needed to know then. “He’s already told me he never intends to get married.”
“Oh.”
“Damn.”
She reached for her coffee and took another long sip. “So how stupid is it for me to keep moving forward? We all know I want to get married some day and have kids. I’m not a child anymore. I’m a grown woman who is getting older and my biological clock is starting to tick. Loudly. I shouldn’t be wasting my time at this stage of the game with someone who definitely doesn’t want the same things I do, right?”
Skye was about to answer but Josie cut her off.
“Speaking as someone who has always sworn she didn’t need or want to get married, I can tell you that…sometimes things change,” she admitted softly. “Sometimes you just have to meet the right person and your whole perspective changes.”
“Josie, are you saying…”
But her friend held up her hand to stop her. “I haven’t met anyone, but…it feels like everyone I know is either married or getting married or falling in love and…I’m starting to feel like I want that too. And if I met someone who completely swept me off my feet the way my brother did with Skye or like Brody’s doing with you…then I’d totally want all the hearts and flowers and promises for forever too.”
“Wow, Josie,” Skye said. “I had no idea you felt like this.”
“Yeah, well…” She sighed and then straightened in her seat and Leanna knew they were done lamenting about her friend and the focus was back on her. “All I’m saying is that maybe Brody did feel like that a month ago or even a few weeks ago. It doesn’t mean he’s going to feel like that forever so…I say go for it. Date him. Sleep with him. Have fun with him! At some point you’re going to have to have the conversation with him about where things are going or about how he feels, but only you will know when that time is. Don’t sacrifice your own happiness right now because you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. None of us do.”
It was weird to have her most cynical friend be the encouraging one, but she loved the advice.
“Okay. I’m going to do it. I’m going to date the hell out of Brody King and not obsess about a conversation we had on day one.”
“Good for you!” Skye cheered. “So when are you seeing him again?”
“We’re going out Saturday night. He’s taking me to dinner and to see Hamilton! I couldn’t believe that he had tickets to it, but I am really excited about it.”
“I have a feeling a man like Brody can get tickets to see anything you’d like and if he can’t get them for here in Raleigh, he can fly you up to New York to see it on Broadway.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she murmured. “I would never ask him to fly me anywhere. That’s not why I’m with him. I’d never take advantage like that.”
“We know you wouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean he won’t take it upon himself to spoil you a little,” Skye said.
Maybe, Leanna thought, but she wasn’t going to even go there. Right now, she was just happy that things were moving forward.
And silently prayed it lasted longer than she could even imagine.
“You’re leaving early again?” Travis asked as he walked into Brody’s office several weeks later.
Closing his satchel, Brody slung it over his shoulder. “I am. Is there something you need?”
His brother stood there looking more than a little confused and it was almost comical. “Um…I wanted you to look at this contract for the new vendors in San Diego.”
“Just email it to me and I’ll take a look at it. When do we need to have it finalized?”