Page 54 of Meet Me In The Dark

“I mean it. I’m happy for you. Really fucking happy, brother.” I jab the air between us. “Sienna’s… well, she’s Sienna. I don’t need to tell you. That girl is for keeps.”

“Yeah, she is.” Nathan dips his head, eyes down, but there’s a faint smile tugging at his busted lip. “I knew that would get a reaction from you that doesn’t look like you want to set something on fire.”

“You want a reaction?” I jab him in the gut. “There you go.”

“Jesus,” he groans, holding his side as I smirk down at him.

We both laugh until he ruins it by saying, “You fucked the architect.”

I’m so caught off guard, I don’t see his glove coming until it connects with the side of my jaw, just enough to snap my head.

“The fuck?” I growl, stepping back.

Shaking it off, we circle again.

“Is this going to be a problem?” he asks, serious now. “We’ve had world-class architects fight to get this contract. She’s the best. If this thing between you two gets messy—if she starts designing skyscrapers shaped like dicks and naming them The Julian—I’m going to be pissed.”

“Fuck off,” I mutter through a laugh.

“I mean it.”

I throw a punch that misses. “We met at the—” I stop and flick my eyes to Mateo behind the ropes before I clear my throat. “We met at the club.”

Nathan’s brows lift. “No shit? Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, that explains the tension, but is she going to be a problem?”

“When do I ever let women get in the way of business?”

He snorts. “I remember thinking the same thing when I met Sienna.”

“You gonna get all fucking poetic on me now?”

He ignores that. “Celeste is beautiful.”

My gut clenches. “I know.”

“And smart.”

“I know. What’s your point?”

“I know what a woman like that can do to a man. I’m about to ask one to marry me, remember?”

We shuffle, and the rhythm slows, but the weight between us doesn’t.

“You forget I know you too,” he adds. “The way you looked at her? It’s the same look you get when you’re chasing a deal or about to burn something down just to win. You get obsessed,” Nathan goes on. “And if that’s where this is going, you need to take a step fucking back.”

He’s right.

Of course he’s right.

That doesn’t mean I’m going to listen.

I land a solid shot to his ribs.

“Yeah,” he wheezes. “There it is.” He gathers himself just in time to pant out, “Just saying. A good woman doesn’t ask you to change. She makes you want to.”