Sweet Sinful Nights(18)
They’d kissed for a few seconds, and it was fine. Nothing more. Later that night, she’d brought it up. “That was like kissing my brother. Can we, you know, never do that again?”
He’d laughed, and clinked bottles with her. “Never is fine by me, sis.”
It was a good thing, because he needed her on the friends side of his life. She seemed to need him, too. She was one of the smartest people he knew, but she had horrible taste in men lately. Understandable, since she’d given her heart to someone long ago. She’d spent time in the military, and had fallen for another soldier, and he’d fallen hard too. But he’d died in combat, and since then Mindy had kept relationships at a distance, preferring instead to date casually from time to time.
Usually *s.
With disastrous results.
The hostess handed Mindy a menu, but she waved it off. “Don’t you know I have it all memorized by now?” Mindy said, tapping the side of her head.
“Of course you do. I’ll send the server over shortly to take your order,” the hostess said with a smile, and handed Brent a menu.
“Like I said, royalty.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “And like I’ve said a million times—”
“I know, I know,” he jumped in, cutting her off. He adopted a high-pitched tone, mimicking Mindy. “You’re an ass, Brent Nichols.”
She cracked up once more, her light blue eyes twinkling with delight at Brent’s impersonation. “I told you it was funny.”
“Too bad I didn’t record her slapping me so you could have it for cell phone posterity.”
She snapped her fingers in an aw shucks gesture. “I would absolutely add that to my collection of stupid things Brent has done over the years. It’s quite an extensive collection.”
“I am well aware of that.” Mindy was privy to the pranks he’d pulled in high school, the bar fight he’d gotten into a few years ago, and a bet he’d made at a bachelor party for a buddy last year. He’d come out unscathed on all accounts since he had some kind of magical lucky streak. But the Shannon situation was far more complex than going all in with his big mouth or the big ego that matched it. He needed help. He needed finesse. He needed Mindy.
Brent quickly scanned the menu, then shut it and stretched his arms across the back of the booth. “So, swami, tell me what to do.”
“I’m not even going to say you need to apologize. Because you need to do more than apologize. You need to grovel. You need to beg her not to hate you.”
He let out a long, deep, frustrated steam of air. “I can’t do a damn thing right around her.” He dropped his forehead into his palm, the sunburst black ink on his forearm staring back at him.
“You have an Achilles heel when it comes to Shannon.”
Brent raised his face. “I know. Believe me, I know.”
His confidante on all matters related to Shannon, Mindy had been briefed chapter and verse from the start. She knew the good, the bad and ugly. She’d helped him pick the diamond for the ring when he was getting ready to propose in college. She knew, too, that he’d f*cked up that fateful day ten years ago. She’d encouraged him then to try to make it right. But Shannon hadn’t taken his calls, so he’d been forced to move on. Now, she’d reappeared in his life, like a goddamn blazing neon sign, and he wasn’t going to let her wriggle away again.
“So what do I do?”
Mindy was about to answer when the waitress popped by to take their order and serve them coffee. As she walked off, Mindy checked the time. She had to be at work soon, and she was already dressed for the gig, in her white button-down shirt and gray pants, designed to blend in as she surveyed the scene at the hotel. “Here’s the deal,” she said as she poured a pink packet into her mug. “You have two things you need to do. One, you need to remind her how good you were together. And, two, show her that you’ve grown up.”
He wiped his hand across his brow. “That’s all? That’s a piece of cake.” Then he turned serious. “Okay. Lay it on me. How do I show her I can be the man she needs?”
“Oh, sweetie. You’re getting ahead of yourself. You don’t even know if she wants you the same way as before.”
He raised an eyebrow, a burst of confidence speeding through him as he remembered the way Shannon had shuddered in his arms last night. “I’m pretty sure she wants me in the same way as before,” he said with a wide grin.
“Do you have any idea how big a rehabilitation project you are for me? I am starting at caveman level with you. You need to simply begin Project Win Shannon Back with an apology.”
“How do I apologize for making the dumbest mistake of my life?” he asked, this time completely serious.
She pointed at him, her eyes lighting up. “That,” she said excitedly. “What you just did. That would be a good start. But let her know it’s not a joke and make it clear that you’re aware you messed up. Let her know in a way that will show her you’re being completely honest.” She took a sip of her coffee. “Look, last night’s little make-out fest aside, you have no idea if she wants to have anything to do with you. There’s no way you could know that. You have to step back first before you go forward. You can’t simply pick up where you left off. You need to get down on your hands and knees and do some groveling.”