When I’m With You (Indigo) by Laconnie Taylor Jones Page B

smile touched his lips. “I’ll bet every dime I’ve got on it.” He caressed her cheek with the pad of his thumb. “And the feelings between us tell me I’ll win this bet, lady, hands down.”
    Without waiting for her response, he walked out.

Chapter 4
    “Vic, haven’t you heard anything I’ve been telling you?” Caitlyn asked her best friend over lunch at Kincaid’s.
    Vic took a bite from her celery stick and gave Caitlyn a nonchalant nod. “Yeah, I heard you.”
    “Well?” Caitlyn coaxed.
    Vic slung her auburn dreads over her shoulders and shrugged. “Well, what?”
    “Come on, Vic. Whose side are you on?”
    A soft curve touched the corner of Vic’s lips. “Based on what you’ve just told me? Marcel’s.”
    Caitlyn’s mouth dropped. “What?”
    She’d been miserable for two weeks, ever since Marcel walked out of her office. Her concentration had flat lined two seconds after he’d left, and since then, Caitlyn had felt like a member of the walking dead. She was more frustrated now than she was angry because her heart was overruling every objection her mind could think of to remain mad at Marcel. Her heart said to trust him. She’d called Vic and hoped lunch and some one-on-one girl time would lift her out of her funk. Never in a million years had she expected Vic to take Marcel’s side, and suddenly she was right back at square one. She was mad as hell.
    Vic chuckled and chomped on her celery stick. “Close your mouth. It’s summer and a fly might land in there.”
    “But, Vic—”
    “Look, you asked the question, not me.”
    “But—”
    “Caitlyn, you owe the man an apology. Plain and simple.”
    Stunned, Caitlyn stared at her best friend. “How do you figure?”
    Vic wiggled her broad hips in her seat until she found a comfortable spot. With both elbows on the table, she laced her hands in front of her. “Let me see if I’ve got this right. You’re mad at him because he didn’t tell you he was a philanthropist, right?”
    “Right.”
    “Went postal on the brother when you found out, right?”
    Caitlyn nodded.
    “Can’t…or won’t…can’t figure out which, accept the man’s apology after he admitted he made a mistake, right?”
    Caitlyn stared off in the distance.
    “Did I get it all, sweetie?”
    “Vic—”
    “Nope, not finished yet. Let me ask you this. Did you tell him everything you’ve gone through for the last three years?”
    Caitlyn lowered her head and shook it from side to side.
    “Why not?”
    Caitlyn’s head snapped up. “Because that’s not something you tell a person when you’re just getting to know them!”
    Vic slapped the table. “Bingo.” She grasped Caitlyn’s hand. “Sweetie, not every man is like that no-good bastard, Cole.”
    Caitlyn stared down at their hands. “Vic, I’m scared. I’m just at the point where I’m getting my life back on track—”
    “ Sssh . Listen, I know what you’re going to say. It’s been almost three years since you’ve heard from him, right?”
    “Right.”
    “All right then. Stop trying to analyze everything and figure out where all the pieces will fit. Sometimes you have to step out on nothing but faith. At some point, you’ve got to learn how to trust again. Understand what I’m saying?” Vic pushed the tray of appetizers to the side. “You really like him, don’t you?”
    “Vic, I swear I’ve never felt this way about any man in my life.”
    “That boy got you dripping like a faucet between the legs, huh?”
    Caitlyn looked mortified. “Vic.”
    “Child, please” Vic waved a silencing hand in front of her. “Girl, we’ve been through too much together to get prim and proper now.” With a sly wink, she asked again, “Well, does he?”
    Caitlyn appeared chagrined. “Yes. Satisfied now?”
    Vic smiled. “It’s not about me. It’s about you, and I say go for what you know.”
    “He’s so arrogant and makes me so mad, I can’t see straight at times.”
    Vic sighed. “Get over it.