Page 28 of The Brothers Next Door

“Yes, normally, but someone called in sick so I took on an extra shift.”

“Oh.” Her grin widened, if that were at all possible. The look she was giving him, peering up at him from behind her long, fake eyelashes, annoyed me. “Well, at least the best is out protecting our city today. I feel safer already.”

Oh dear God, I felt like I was going to vomit, she was laying it on so thick. He was standing here next to me—it should be apparent that we were here together.

“Yes, he’s wonderful.” I slipped my arm around his back and gave him a quick side hug. “New York is indeed lucky.”

For the first time since we showed up at the counter she graced me with a look. It wasn’t the fondest of looks, mind you. But I didn’t care. I staked my claim, something that was generally very unlike me. I was normally a bit of a doormat. Maybe moving back to New York changed that in me as well. It was a fresh start, after all.

I felt his gaze on me, but ignored it, keeping my eyes focused on the counter girl. “I’ll have a Philly cheese steak.”

“Make that two Philly cheese steak subs, please.” Before I could begin to pull my wallet from my purse, he was pulling his credit card from his wallet. “And a couple of Cokes, please.”

I had no issues with Coke, so I nodded my head in agreement. The girl’s attitude became a bit cooler as she processed the transition and motioned for us to move down the counter to pick up our order.

It wasn’t until we retrieved our food and sat down that I couldn’t handle the silence between us any longer or the feeling of his eyes on me, while a hint of a grin curled up the corners of his lips.

“Okay, what?” I chewed at my lower lip knowing exactly what as I unwrapped my sandwich. “You’re staring at me with a little cocky grin. You look slightly insane.”

He took a sip from his beverage and then allowed his grin to blossom into a full-fledged smile. “You did a pretty good job at staking your claim over there.”

Thinking I knew what he thought was one thing, but being called out on it was an entirely different matter. From the feeling of heat in my cheeks, I was certain my face must have been crimson in color. “I ummm…” I really had no justification for my behavior. “If I was out of line, I apologize. Being rude is not like me, I swear.”

He laughed. “No need to apologize. It’s been a while since I’ve had a woman in my life mark her territory on me.”

“So, I’m a woman in your life?” I asked cautiously. Considering I hadn’t heard from either brother this morning I had no idea if Nate had spoken to Darrin or not. “Have you spoken to Nate?”

“Maybe I did.” He shrugged. “Maybe I didn’t.” He began unwrapping his sandwich and took a hearty bite.

“All right, you’re going to make this hard on me, I see.”

“I’d never do that.” He took another bite, chewed, and then pointed to my sandwich. “You’d better eat up.”

I couldn’t eat, not until I knew. Admittedly, part of the reason I’d been feeling so over my head today was due to the fact there was a part of me that was waiting to hear from Darrin, to find out if he’d also be willing to share me, or if I was going to have to make a choice. If I had to choose, I had no idea who I’d want to be with. “I’m going to assume you did, otherwise you wouldn’t be playing with me like you are now.”

“Maybe.”

“And?” I’d now completely lost my appetite, despite the pleasing aroma drifting up. “I wasn’t sure what to expect or how you’d react. I expected…” I shook my head. “No, I hoped you’d call or text me.”

“Or perhaps I was just waiting for you to leave on your lunch break so I could accidently bump into you so we could have lunch together because what I wanted to say needed to be said face to face rather than over an impersonal device.”

“Oh.” That was the best I could come up with. But the way he was looking at me, with a mixture of heat and amusement, I knew it wasn’t a no.

“If you think this is something that you could be comfortable with then I’ll give it a shot. It isn’t my first choice, but Nate seems to think this could work.”

“Do you two normally share your women?”

He chuckled. “You’d be the first.”

I crinkled my nose up at him. “Why start now?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe it’s my way of dipping my toes back into the dating pool. Maybe I like you enough that I’d rather share you then not get to know you better. Hell, maybe I figured that Nate was full of shit and this was all one big joke of some sort. I wanted to see you to verify for myself.”

“Why haven’t you been dating?”

Shrugging, he took a long drink from his soda, but there seemed to be a cloud laced with sorrow that came over him. For whatever reason, it was a touchy subject for him. Perhaps, at least I hoped, he’d eventually trust me enough to open up.

Not sure what to say, I took his hand from across the table and gave it a squeeze. The little bit of comfort seemed to do the trick, pulling him from the haze he’d momentarily been in.

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