Page 24 of Not Quite Perfect

“It’s customary to knock.”

I jumped, surprised to see Theo standing next to me on the stoop of my mom and Richard’s new house. I’d been so focused on trying to figure out how I was going to pretend I wasn’t head over heels in love with my stepbrother that I hadn’t heard myrealbrother arrive.

“Oh, right. Sorry. I must have been preoccupied.” I raised the heavy knocker and let it fall back down, causing a loud clanging noise to reverberate against the sturdy iron base.

“Let me guess. Our new brother?”

Ugh. Would people stop calling him that?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

It had become my standard response where all questions relating to David were concerned. At first, I’d thought feigning ignorance was the best strategy, but as time wore on, I realized that I was about as transparent as a piece of Saran Wrap. I knew I’d have to come up with a better line eventually, but this was the one that seemed to leap out of my mouth the moment anyone pressed me on my feelings for him.

“Sure, you don’t.” Theo smiled knowingly and gently checked my hip with his own.

I drew in a breath to respond, but then stopped. The less said the better.

“Relax. It’s not like it’s obvious to anyone that you guys are in looooove.” He drew the word out using the same sing-song voice we’d used to taunt each other as children. Come to think of it, as adults too.

“We’re not in love.” I rolled my eyes so far back in my head I thought they might come right back around.

Theo set his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Alex seems to think the guy’s in pretty deep. And you know how our brother is when he thinks he’s onto something. He wants to get to the bottom of it.” He studied me intently, watching for a reaction.

Despite how badly I wanted to confide in Theo, David and I had agreed to keep our relationship secret … at least until I could figure out how to get my mom on board. But if Alex—a cop best known for solving unsolvable cases—was sniffing around, it was only a matter of time until he discovered my secret.

And since that couldn’t happen, I needed to be extra diligent this evening.

Before I could assure Theo that he and Alex were barking up the wrong tree, the door opened and Richard welcomed us inside. “Oh good, you made it!” He shook Alex’s hand before turning my way and wrapping me in a tight embrace.

I stiffened and then willed myself to relax. It wasn’t that IdislikedRichard, but I knew too much about him and his checkered history with women. I had a hard time separating the man who would steal his son’s girlfriend from the one my mother had married. All evidence pointed to him having turned over a new leaf, but I was too cynical to believe it. He and my mom might be happynow, but I wondered how long their bliss would last. At some point, I fully expected her to call me up in tears because he’d left her for a younger woman. It had been hismodus operandifor too many years for me to give him the benefit of the doubt now.

“Hello, Richard.”

He leaned away, but kept his hands wrapped around my upper arms. His eyes coasted over my face. “You get more and more beautiful every time I see you, Victoria. Just like your mother.”

I narrowed my eyes.Was he hitting on me? “My mother is certainly a beautiful woman,” I said, shrugging out from his grasp. “And you’re a very lucky man.”

“Who’s a lucky man?” My mom stepped into the foyer, glancing between Richard, Theo, and me.

“I am,” her husband answered, beaming at her before wrapping his arm around her shoulder and kissing her cheek.

Maybe I’d misread the situation. Right now, with his eyes trained adoringly on my mom, he didn’tlooklike a man who was hot for his wife’s daughter. Then again, men like that didn’t usually go around telegraphing their snake-in-the-grass tendencies this early in a relationship either.

“You are indeed.” She gave him a quick squeeze around the middle and then moved away with a playful smack to his shoulder. “But speaking of lucky men … we need to find someone for this one here.” She craned her head toward Theo.

Theo groaned and rolled his eyes. “I do not need my mom finding me a girlfriend.” Leading the way into the family room, he lifted his chin in Drew’s direction. The youngest Witherspoon was passed out on the far end of the big gray sectional Richard and my mom had bought when they’d moved in together. Something about seating the whole family on Christmas morning. “You should focus your efforts on him. He hasn’t had a girlfriend since high school.”

I held my breath, waiting to see how the others would react to Theo’s comment. When no one so much as batted an eyelash, I let out a small sigh of relief. If they suspected Drew’s secret, no one gave any outward indication.

Instead, our mom airily waved the comment away. “He’s still a student and way too young to be settling down. But not you two.” She swung her finger accusingly between us. “I want grandbabies before I’m too old to enjoy them.”

Theo moved to the bar and began fixing himself a drink. “You’re barking up the wrong tree. I like my life just fine the way it is—sans kids. And Victoria’s happy, too.”

She sniffed. “I just want what’s best for my kids. Is that so wrong?”

Alex sauntered into the room, jumping seamlessly into the conversation as if he’d been there the whole time. I swore the man had supersonic hearing or something. “It is if what you want is in direct contradiction to what your children want.” His gaze collided with mine, and for a brief second, I swore he was trying to communicate some unspoken message.

Richard let out a hearty guffaw and raised a glass of red wine to his lips. “They say mothers know best though, don’t they?”

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