Page 98 of Melting the Ice

“Yep, I’m here.” I slid into the kitchen and hoped my brother didn’t hear how loudly my heart was beating.

“Just need to grab my coat, and we can go,” Micah called out. How husky did his voice sound, or was I imagining it?

“You okay?” Ray asked, his head tilted in question at me, much like all the dogs I walked when they wanted a treat. I squelched a nervous laugh.

“What? Yep. Never better. Just needed some water. I left my water bottle at Harper’s. So, did you guys go hiking this morning?”

Totally normal. I could be totally normal.

“Oh-kay. And no, we stayed at the bar for a while after you left last night, then came back here and hung out. I refused to go hiking without an acceptable amount of sleep,” Ray said.

I chuckled. My brother was not a fan of long hikes, especially when it was cold as hell out.

“We might hit up Red Rocks Park this afternoon. Nothing too much for Ray, of course,” Micah said with a grin.

“Hey, I just don’t enjoylonghikes. Doesn’t mean I can’t keep up with you, Micahtron. Except when you decided to run them, of course. And by the way, I noticed some of the guys called you that last night. How’d they get that one out of you?”

“Um, that was my fault. I might’ve called him that the first time I saw him,” I said, smiling at the memory.

“Oh shit. I’m sure he appreciated that.”

“It’s fine. Annoying, but fine.” He paused. “So, lunch?”

“Josie took me to a great sandwich place yesterday, and they had so many options. Pickles Deli, I think. But I’m good with going there again, or whatever.”

I breathed in a sigh of relief at not being outed again.

“Works for me,” Micah said. “I heard the Gobbler there is good.”

My gaze spun to him, and I wanted to swat that tiny smirk off his lips. I never should’ve told him about Harper’s joke.

Freaking hell, this man.

“Works for me.” Did I sound squeaky?

“Oh, dude, meant to ask. You start drawing or something?” Ray asked, his attention on Micah, who had moved to stand next to him at the kitchen island.

“What? No.”

“Collecting dirty pics, then?” He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. “Found this tucked under that book on the coffee table.”

“Uh, definitely not,” Micah said, reaching for it.

“Bet Josie could do something this good. Not that she’s drawing nudie pics or something,” Ray said. I choked as he held it out of Micah’s reach.

Crap. It was one of mine.

“That’s mine,” I muttered.

Ray froze and then tossed it toward me. “What? Why is it here? Like, did you buy it, or…” He trailed off, looking horrified.

I couldn’t help but laugh softly. “It’s part of the illustrations I’ve been drawing for authors. I started just doing branding and avatars, but these images are really popular, so I wanted to add them to my options for my authors. I like to hand draw them before doing the final image on my tablet. Feel the pencil against the paper, you know. Uh, it must’ve fallen out of my bag or something.”

“Oh, okay. Yeah, that’s great. You always were great at drawing people. Yeah, here you go.” He handed it to me like it was going to attack him, and this time my laugh spilled out.

“It’s not that funny. Wait, but how did it end up on Micah’s coffee table?” He eyed me suspiciously.

I darted a look at Micah, but he wasn’t saying a word.

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