Alpha Male Romance(96)

“He definitely hit the mark with Nori,” Kipp continued.

My attention shifted and I lost count of how many curls I'd done with my left arm. “What do you mean?”

Kipp either didn't notice how sharp my question had come out, or he didn't care. “She's a remarkable woman.”

No shit.

I went back to my curls, switching to my right arm. I didn't need to hear Kipp telling me things I already knew.

“Is she coming down?” he asked.

“Don't know,” I grunted. I hadn't thought about it. “She might've thought I'd cancel today.”

“Maybe I'll go up and see how she's doing.”

I dropped the weight with a loud clang. Kipp raised an eyebrow.

“You okay?” he asked.

“My fingers slipped,” I lied. I stood and grabbed a towel from the pile. I wiped my face and tried not to let myself think about why Kipp would want to see Nori.

“Has she made a decision about whether or not she's going to stick around?” he asked.

I shrugged. After what happened between the two of us, I doubted she'd stay, but I didn't want to explain any of that to Kipp.

“Do you know if she has a boyfriend back in Texas?”

I clenched my jaw. I really wasn't liking the direction these questions were going. “She had one,” I said. “But they broke up.”

“Family?”

I turned toward him. “Parents.”

“I know she's only been here a couple weeks,” he continued. “But has she met anyone?”

I couldn't stop myself from asking it this time. “Why do you care?”

He shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. “I was thinking I might ask her out for a drink sometime. Welcome her to the city.”

My hands curled into fists. Of course that was why. I'd known it, but I was hoping I was wrong. After how I'd treated Nori, she'd definitely agree to go. Kipp was everything I wasn't. Educated, employed. Kind. Whole.

“What do you think, X?” Kipp asked. “You've spent a lot of time with her. You think I have a chance?”

“How should I know?” I started to wish I hadn't been such a dick the first week or so Kipp had been around, because then maybe he would've noticed that I didn't like this conversation.

Then again, that might've meant he'd want to know why. Again, not something I wanted to talk about.

“Has she said anything about the kind of guy she likes?”

“You think that's something she'd talk about with me?” I was done for the day, I decided. I didn't feel like doing anything more.

“What about anything else?” Kipp asked. “Any inside information to get in good with her?”

He wasn't out of line, not really. Nothing he was saying was inappropriate. If he'd been talking about any other woman, I wouldn't have had a reaction at all. I probably even would've helped him. I liked the guy.

But I didn't want him anywhere near Nori.

Before I even realized I was doing it, my fist connected with Kipp's jaw.





Chapter Ten





Nori





I considered staying upstairs all day, but another part of me knew that would be childish. No matter what happened between X and me last night, I still had a job to do. And no matter how badly he'd behaved this morning, he'd still lost someone he cared about, and I knew all too well what that felt like. I couldn't let him go through that alone.

I was trying to decide the best time and way to approach him again when I heard a car pull in. A glance out the window told me that Kipp was here. It surprised me that he hadn't canceled PT for today. I would've thought he'd be glad of the excuse not to have to do it. Besides, I remembered all too well how much work went into planning a funeral, and there'd be even more since the father had been involved in so many things.

A part of me was grateful to see Kipp was here. When, after a few minutes, X hadn't sent Kipp away, I knew I now had my excuse for going downstairs and seeing how X was doing.

I didn't go right away though. I still hadn't completely recovered from everything that happened since yesterday. I needed to compose myself. So I finally changed out of the robe I'd been moping around in and put on some real clothes. My favorite worn, comfortable jeans. My favorite t-shirt with the dancing cats on it. Maybe a little childish, but I needed comfort, not sex appeal. In fact, sex appeal was the last thing I needed at the moment.

I couldn't think about sex right now. Sex, bad.

Well, not bad. Especially not with X. Pretty fucking fantastic was more accurate...

But, no. I couldn't think about last night or sex or anything other than work and helping X take care of things with Father O'Toole.

When I finally managed to pull myself together enough that I was pretty sure I wouldn't fall apart, I headed down the stairs. I was partway down the hall when I heard a strange noise coming from the therapy room.