Page 129 of Falling for my Brother's Best Friend

“I don’t have the flu,” she says. “I just don’t feel great. I ate a little candy this afternoon.”

“A little?” Wyatt says. “Try the entire stocking I filled for you at Christmas.”

She sticks out her tongue and makes faces at his back in true toddler fashion.

“Well, I’m starving,” Harley says. “Chasing around two kids all day and only eating a half-eaten waffle and a couple spoonfuls of mac and cheese just isn’t enough.”

“No one would think you’re engaged to a chef,” Rome says, shaking his head.

“Well, the chef doesn’t cook for his beautiful wife or his kids.” She gives him a saccharine smile.

“I told you to bring them down to the restaurant.”

“And you also said you refuse to make them boxed macaroni and cheese.”

Harley’s voice is snippy, and I laugh. Rome shoots me a glare and I bite my lip to stop.

“That stuff is crap. I made them mac and cheese.”

Harley looks around the room. “They don’t want the real cheese. They want the powder.” Harley’s on edge too.

I think we should change topics. “Well, I ordered plenty. We have two more trays in the oven on warm just in case.”

Liam pulls me against him and kisses the top of my head. I can’t wait to be with him tonight. Then the light bulb goes off and I panic because with all the running around, I forgot.

“I’ll be right back,” I whisper and sneak out of the room to the bathroom upstairs.

Opening the drawer, I reach for my box of tampons, and there’s definitely a problem. It’s very light and there’s nothing moving around inside.

Sure enough, I’m holding an empty box.

Shit.

My purse is downstairs, which is probably where I put the last one. Damn Liam for forgetting to stop and get them on his way home.

After pulling up my pants, I wash my hands and look down the hall at my old bedroom. I almost feel as though it wasn’t me who lived in there. But Denver’s door is open, and I remember that’s where Holly was putting all the purses. Surely one of them has a tampon in there.

I scramble across the hallway, hearing all the laughter and jokes downstairs. We’re all in a good place. I mean, some of us are still finding ourselves, like Phoenix and Denver, but all in all, we’ve survived. I smile, thinking about how close we all are.

I open the first purse and move around the wallet and the keys and the makeup bag. Nothing. Obviously this person expects everyone else to be prepared.

The second purse might have a tampon, but it’s overfilled with receipts and papers. Is that an uneaten Snickers bar? Yeah, I’m not taking my chance that an animal has burrowed a home in here.

“Is there something you need to tell me?”

I look up and find Liam leaning along the doorframe, his ankles crossed, his arms across his chest. He’s so damn hot. How did I ever lock him down? He’s sweet and caring… but he didn’t buy me tampons, and now I look like a klepto stealing from my family.

“A hidden drug problem or just a snooper?” He cracks a smile.

“I’m looking for a tampon because you didn’t go to the store.”

“It makes me feel weird,” he admits. “You refuse to buy condoms.”

“I don’t refuse. I just don’t think of them until—”

“We’re half undressed. I know. We’re kind of lucky that you’re looking for a tampon right now.”

We’ve agreed not to go on the pill or anything else because having kids isn’t that far off. I’m already thirty-one. I give him the “exactly” look.

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