Page 48 of Not Quite Perfect

Cass pushed his hand away. “Nope, I’ve got this.”

Theo stared down at her, something unreadable flashing in his dark green eyes. “You’re not paying for my lunch.”

Cass laughed. “I’m not, you are. Or rather, the company is.” She gestured toward me. “Recruiting expense.”

Theo shook his head. “You know I’m your boss, right?”

Cass stood as well and patted Theo’s arm, her hand lingering a bit longer than necessary. “I never forget it.”

I tried not to read too much into her words, but you’d have to be deaf not to hear the open longing and frustration in her tone.

Theo came around the table to wrap me in a quick hug. “I assume I’ll see you on Sunday?”

When I chewed my lip and looked away, he said, “Oh come on! Not again.”

“What’s ‘not again’?” Cass asked, her eyes bouncing between my brother and me.

“Victoria is fucking our step-brother.”

I smacked his arm, my palm smarting when it connected with hard, wiry muscle. “I’m notfuckingDavid.”

He raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Okay, fine. Yes, David and I aretogether. But when you say we’re ‘fucking’ it sounds so tawdry.”

Cass laughed, and hefted her purse up over her shoulder. “I hate to break it to you, Vick, but fucking your step-brotheriskind of tawdry.”

I threw up my hands and let out a dramatic sigh. “Gah! You two are exactly the same. No wonder he l—” My eyes grew wide and I clamped my mouth shut around the bomb I’d been about to unleash.

Theo, his face glowing with mortification, rushed to cover my faux pas. Wrapping his arm around Cass, he pulled her in against him and ruffled her hair. “Yup, underneath all this refinement, we’re both just teenage boys who like jokes about sex.”

Cass smacked his arm away and pushed out of his embrace. Righting her bangs, she muttered something under her breath. I didn’t quite catch it, but my brother must have because his face went from pink to white. Whatever he’d heard had shocked him.

Cass turned to me, completely unruffled by their exchange. “You coming?”

I flicked my eyes between my brother and the woman he so obviously loved. I hated that they had to keep their feelings hidden—from the world, and from each other. I’d never seen two people who were more suited than Theo and Cass were. Maybe if she and I had some alone time, I could try and push her toward him.

“Yup, I’m coming,” I said, blowing an air kiss toward my brother.

“See you Sunday!” he called out as I flipped him the bird.

Once out on the sidewalk, Cass looped her arm through mine as we approached the crosswalk. “Okay, spill. I want to hear all about this step-brother of yours.”

Twenty

David

I was tired.Tired of work politics. Tired of family politics. Just flat out exhausted. And I still had one more class to teach before I could go home for the night.

Only, I didn’t want to go back to my sad little apartment with my sad little bathroom that was so small I could touch both walls when I stood in the middle. To the kitchen where I couldn’t open the dishwasher and the refrigerator at the same time (not that I ever needed to, but still).

But most of all, I was tired of sleeping alone four or five nights a week. I wanted Victoria in my bed every night. Or rather, I wanted tosharea bed with her.

I was also really fucking tired of my lumpy ass queen-sized mattress. I pressed my fists to the small of my back and stretched. I’d woken up this morning with an errant spring shoved into my kidney.

“You heading out for drinks tonight?” Hank popped his head into my office.

“Nah,” I answered, reaching for a stack of papers I still had to grade. If the one on top of the pile was anything to go by, it was going to be a long night. “Duty calls.”

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