Bitter Hearts (A Southern Loving Book 3) by Ava Thorn

“Duh! He was looking at the door the whole entire time I
gave him the dimensions for the crib and the print out. If you asked me, he
thought you was going to walk in the house at any moment.”
    “Hank
and I are just friends. I’m employed to work for a client who wants him to
build custom cribs.”
    “Nope,”
he said, smirking deviously and waving a hand as if to dismiss idea. The
expression upon his face indicated that he was having far too much fun toying
with her.
    “Girrrrl,
I think he likes you.” Corey grinned at her, reclining back in the rolling
chair. He sat up and rolled his chair from his desk to her. “I think you like
him too.”
    Kari
rolled her eyes and moved away from her desk where Corey sat there laughing
like a manic. “You make me sick,” she said.
    “Then
go take some medicine,” Corey howled with laughter.
    “You’re
so ridiculous. He doesn’t like me; we can barely work well together. Plus, I’m
black and he is white,” she said, trying to calmly but desperately put
everything into perspective.  For the past few days they’d been bickering at
one another.  She’d rather keep their role neutral, her being the designer and
him being the carpenter, if they went beyond the lines of professionalism it
would cause them to have an odd working relationship.
    “You’re
silly.” Corey shook his head. “What does your color have to do with the price
of tea in China?”
    “Ugh,
you getting on my nerves.” Her eyes bored into those of her assistant, taking
on a look of steely certainty until Corey burst into a fit of laughter. Kari
sucked her teeth. Would it be bad if she liked Hank a little more than she
should?
    “Come
on Kari, it’s not that bad. You haven’t dated in two years and I’m pretty sure
your vajayjay has some cobwebs in it,” Corey said, rolling himself over to his
desk. “Look at it like this, he likes you and you like him.”
    Kari
went to the small kitchenette in the office and made herself steamy cup of ginger
tea. “Why are you worrying about my Concha ?”
    “I’m
a good friend and I’ve been worrying about you since the day you broke up with
him, whose name shall not be mentioned,” Corey said.
    “You
don’t have to worry about me. I’ve bounced back great from that tragedy of a
relationship,” she assured Corey.  Her best friend was a hopeless romantic who
thought there was always a happily ever after like those crazy Hollywood love
stories. She wasn’t Cinderella and there wasn’t going to be a Prince Charming
to sweep her off her feet. The only person responsible for her true happiness
was her and no one else.
    “He
doesn’t know how to approach you regarding setting up an appointment to meet,”
Corey said hesitantly, as he busied himself with filing.
    Kari
held the mug inches from her lips as the words came from Corey’s lips. Maybe a
meeting with Sam was exactly what Rita said she needed to do in so many words
the other night. She was done wrong and not once did she seek any type of
resolution. For two years she pretended like him hurting her had never happened.
“Arrange for a meeting when I return from Texas,” she said, taking a seat
behind the desk.
    “What
about Hank?” Corey asked.
    “What
about him?” she asked with a quizzical looked on her face.
    “He
likes you and you like him,” he muttered.
    “This
is not Jr. High School,” Kari snapped, jotting down information on sticky note
as she posted it on the desk. “I have to pick up some samples for my meeting
with the McBride’s tomorrow evening, can you close up for me?”
    “Yeah,
of course.”
    Kari
finished the remainder of the tea before standing up. Going across the room she
wrapped her arms around Corey. “I love you, Corey. You’ve been my best friend
since college and didn’t question my ideas of opening a business here in Nashville.”
    “Yes
I did,” he said, patting her shoulders. “I said girl ain’t nothin’ out there
but a bunch of hillbillies, but