Page 16 of If Only In Our Dreams

“Like his older, evil twin,” Trent added, with a snort.

I cracked a smile but it felt forced.

When I glanced Ben’s way, I saw him watching me. His eyes were the same shade as Trent’s, but there was nothing similar about them aside from that.

His eyes said,you okay?

And I shrugged a shoulder in response.

Of course he’d noticed the stark difference between our play-fighting in the airport and my silence now. Hell, I did too. Wasn’t often I met a person that I got on with like I had with him. He’d seen my chaos as charming. At least…Iassumedhe had—based on how many smiles he’d flashed my way, and the sudden lack of smiles now.

Like he’d saved that sunshine just for me.

He was different now, just like I was.

His body language was stiffer.

I mean, sure he’d been a bit uncomfortable earlier, so had I. But there was a looseness to him that was missing now. Like he had walls up that hadn’t been there before. Still though, he’d recognized my own discomfort despite that. And that was…fuck, that was pretty fucking sweet, you know?

Made me want to reciprocate.

I’d been surrounded by enough strangers, been in enough unrecognizable places, that I’d grown pretty good at reading people.

Came with the territory.

And Ben Montgomery liked me about as much as I liked him.

Therefore, there was no harm in a little flirting.

Not when it wasn’t going nowhere.

Not when he was a dad—had a whole-ass family—and was Miles’s brother-in-law to boot.

“I dunno aboutevil,” I smirked as evilly as I could, then licked my lips as I glanced Ben’s way, before turning my attention back to Trent. “Naughty, maybe.”

“JesusChrist,” Ben coughed, and Trent cackled, delighted.

“I see where Miles gets his sass.”

That comment alone made me feel a thousand watts brighter. Because the only two people in my entire fucking life I’d seen Miles sass were me and Gram—and that meant…well?—

Thatmeantthat my assumptions had been correct.

And Trent was a good man.

Good enough he’d made Miles drop his guard.

I relaxed, pushing aside my earlier hurt adeptly and instead, putting my new brother-in-law to work. I wanted to flirt with Ben more but wasn’t sure he’d welcome the extra scrutiny from Trent. And besides…I was curious about the guy who had stolen my brother’s heart.

“Miles said you have a dog?”

“We do,” Trent agreed. “Two. Tucker and Barb.”

No fucking way.

Miles hadn’t mentioned the new dog—only the one that Trent had already owned when they got together. “Two?” I blinked, surprised. I’d never expected that. I mean…not that Miles wasn’t an animal person—’cause he totally fucking was. But after Margie, our childhood dog had died, he’d sworn to me he’d never willingly go through that again.

I couldn’t help but feel blindsided.

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