Page 14 of If Only In Our Dreams

Oh my god.

It was taking me a bit, but yes, my brain was finally connecting the dots.Wow. How the hell had I missed this?

“Nice to meet you too, man.” Turning his shit-eating grin away from me, Robin took Trent’s hand and gave it a shake. His hand didn’t linger like it had when we’d touched. When he dropped Trent’s hand, he even went as far as to take a half-step in my direction.

His shoulder brushed my arm.

My heart fluttered.

“Commiiiiiiitmeeeeent,” he repeated again, low and spooky, like a platform-wearing ghost. It was honestly nice that Robin wasn’t acting any different now that Trent was here. But I was too shell-shocked to properly respond.

“I see you’ve already met Ben,” Trent laughed, eyes crinkling. “Ignore his face. He’s got a permanent stick up his butt. I promise he’s a secret softie.” A dark lock of black hair slid across his forehead like it always did, and as the sun lit him up from behind I had a weird urge to reach over and mess it up. He looked too good. It pissed me off. I kind of wanted to strangle him.

“There isnota stick up my butt,” I glared at Trent, cheeks hot all over again. I didn’t deny the “softie” comment. Because that was true.

Robin cracked a grin, obviously noticing that. I suppose I had betrayed myself by apologizing and immediately making a photo album to set him at ease.

“And I’mnotafraid of commitment,” I told Robin directly because for some reason, I needed him to know that.

“Damn,” he shrugged a shoulder, eyes dancing, tone mockingly disappointed. “What ashame.” He batted his lashes up at me playfully. He did not sound disappointed by this at all, even though it was obvious he was teasing.

“So, you…know my brother?” Robin added, watching me curiously. If he was as shocked as I was by this turn of events, he didn’t show it.

“Yes.” My cheeks were hot. “I’m his brother-in-law.” Oh, dear god. What had I gotten myself into?

“And you’re from Belleville,” Robin added.

“Yes.” My cheeks burned and burned and burned.

“Cool.” Robin looked pleased, and that made me…well… That made me super fucking happy. “Cool, cool, cool. Small fucking world, am I right?”

Relief, unlike anything I’d ever known flooded my system as I finally processed what this meant. Because if Robin was Miles’s brother…we’d get to play this “scare” game again.

I’d get to see him.

A lot, apparently.

And I was…embarrassingly excited about that.

In my defense, Ben Montgomery was a totalsnack. Not that I’d tap that, because I wouldn’t. Family, duh. And I was only here temporarily. I’d be leaving right before Christmas Eve, so there was no reason to shake the foundation that Miles had painstakingly built. But still—I couldlookat him and think that, couldn’t I? In the privacy of my own head.

It wasn’t illegal to want to climb him like a tree.

Ben glared a lot more now that we were in the car with Trent. Kept glancing at him like he was Satan incarnate and I couldn’t help but find that fucking hilarious. I could see where Trent’s “stick in his butt” comment had come from. But I got the feeling the “softie” descriptor was more accurate.

My amusement, however, was dampened by the fact that Miles wasn’t here.

He hadn’t come to get me.

When his text had said when Trent would be arriving I shouldn’t have assumed they’d be coming together. But I had.And messing with Ben was the only thing that had managed to keep me distracted enough not to negatively react when I realized that Trent was alone.

I mean…sure, I was happy to meet him.

Of course I fucking was.

I’d have to be an asshole not to be.

If there was anyone on God’s green earth who deserved Prince Charming, it was my baby brother. He’d always had a heart two sizes too big for his body. Always been as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, despite being tall as a mountain himself.

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