Page 17 of Fractured Dreams

She gave him directions, and chatted happily as they worked, apparently not noticing his sudden tension—or doing her best to ignore it anyway. But eventually he relaxed, and they fell into an easier rhythm, to where Tex even thought he might be able to handle being around her without trying to strip her naked and take her up against the wall.

Except, when they were sitting across from each other at the table and he complimented her on the food, her smile lit up her gorgeous face, making her eyes shine, and something sparked deep inside him.

Fuck.

Chapter 9

Eden floated on her back in the pool, looking up at the cloudless azure sky, trying to figure out why she was so unsettled.

It had been four days since Noah had left; four days since Tex had moved in. And things had been… tense. Not what she’d expected. She’d done her best to make it less of a chore for him to spend time with her, inviting him to watch TV or a movie, asking if he wanted to cook with her, asking him to join her in the pool. But he always had an excuse not to. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was actively avoiding her, though she couldn’t imagine why he would. Except… Eden chewed her lip. Except maybe he’d noticed a change in her.

She flushed, her mind returning to that first morning, when Tex had come into the kitchen wearing only a pair of low-hanging sweatpants. When she’d turned to see him there, with his tousled hair, sleepy amber-gold eyes, and sculpted, tattooed chest—the V of muscles at his hips clearly visible—her heart had stuttered, mouth going dry. He’d been just about the sexiest thing she’d ever seen, and as her eyes had drifted over him, she’d found herself wondering what it would be like to see him naked. What it would be like to be nakedwithhim. The turn of her thoughts had shaken her, but not enough to stop her from reaching out and touching him. To see if his skin was as warm and smooth as it looked.

As soon as he’d flinched, she’d snatched her hand away, wondering if there was any way he could have guessed what was running through her mind, or if he’d just been shocked at her touching him out of the blue. She’d done her best to act normally afterward, but the way he’d practically bolted from the room made her think he’d figured it out. Eden ducked her head under the water to cool her flaming cheeks at the idea he knew what she’d been thinking about him.

And since that moment, she hadn’t been able tostopthinking about him, and it was driving her crazy. She didn’t know if it was their forced proximity or something else that was causing this sudden onset of inappropriate thoughts, but whatever it was, she was struggling to continue acting as if everything was normal.

Not that it mattered, really, because she’d barely seen him after that first morning. For the last three days, after a quick breakfast, he’d disappeared into Noah’s music room and stayed there for hours. Then the last two afternoons he’d gone to Connor’s to work on the Fractured album. He’d told her Lexie was away on a shoot, so she hadn’t bothered to tag along either day, knowing he and Connor would be busy.

And when Noah had called that same afternoon to check in with her, she’d made sure not to mention the strange tension, since she knew he’d be straight on the phone to Tex to ask him about it.

God, how embarrassingly cliched, the sister crushing on her brother’s best friend.

Eden stroked her way to the edge of the pool. Far from enjoying her time with Tex, she’d started wishing the days away, hoping that when she was no longer around him so much, her sudden, ridiculous crush would disappear.

Because whether or not he was Noah’s best friend, he was a rock star, and she’d already found out how dangerous they were to her heart.

Eden toweled herself off, the hot sun already drying her skin, and wandered back to the house, not bothering to wrap the towel around her since she was mostly dry anyway. As she opened the sliding door and stepped into the cool interior, a noise came from the hallway.

“Tex?” she called out.

He appeared around the corner, guitar in hand as usual, and she smiled at him, hoping that it appeared normal and not slightly too wide and manic, the way it felt on her face.

He ran his hand through his hair. “Hey Eden, nice swim?”

“It was lovely. You should join me sometime; you’ve barely used the pool.”

Tex merely nodded, his expression shuttered, and once again tension vibrated in the air between them. He was keeping his eyes fixed firmly on hers, and Eden was suddenly affronted. She was standing before him in a little bikini, and he hadn’t even bothered to check her out. Sure, she was his friend’s sister, but she was still a woman, and her figure wasn’t bad. It was as if he couldn’t be less interested if he tried.

After all, even before she’d developed this crush, she would still occasionally check him out. It was hard not to, when he was so overwhelmingly masculine, with his height, broad shoulders, and hard, defined muscles. And his eyes: thickly lashed and an amber-gold so intense, that when he focused them on her, she would sometimes lose her train of thought for a second. She’d never considered it to be anything more than an appreciation of a sexy man, but now that she considered it, even though Connor and Zac were good-looking too, they’d never held quite as much appeal for her as Tex.

Was it actually possible she’d been crushing on him for a while and not even realized it? Eden shook her head at herself. It didn’t matter, it was a stupid infatuation, and that was all. In less than three weeks Noah would be back, and a couple of months after that, she’d be in Oregon. She just had to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid before then to let on how she was feeling. Although the way he was acting around her lately, he might have figured it out already.

Desperate to ease the tension, Eden asked, “Do you want some lunch? I was going to make a sandwich for myself, but I can make one for you too?”

“Thanks, but Connor and I have a lunch meeting with Drew, to go over some contract stuff. It might run late, but I should be back this evening.”

“Oh, okay.” Even she could hear how forlorn she sounded, and Tex shut his eyes for a second, before opening them and giving her a regretful smile. “Sorry sweetheart, I can’t miss this, but I’ll try to be better company from now on.”

Hating that she sounded so needy, particularly as she’d made such a big fuss about him staying with her to start with, Eden plastered a smile on her face. “That’s okay. I’m a big girl; I’m used to being on my own. Go do what you have to do. I’ll see you tonight.”

With her smile fixed in place, she walked past him and climbed the stairs to her room to have a shower, dismayed that the warmth that used to reside in his eyes when he looked at her was no longer there, replaced by something that seemed an awful lot like discomfort. Unshed tears blurred her eyes, but she kept her back straight as she marched up the stairs.

???

Eden was in the kitchen making her lunch a short while later when Tex called out a farewell as he headed out the door for his meeting with Drew. She stifled her disappointment that he didn’t bother to come and say goodbye in person.

But as she sat eating her sandwich, looking out at the ocean, Eden decided that instead of moping, she was going to make a nice dinner for them both, to thank him for being there for her. And hopefully get them back on track to being friends. As long as she didn’t do something stupid, like touch him inappropriately again, then hopefully he’d stop looking at her as if he were afraid he might wake up one night and find her naked in his bed. She could deal with having a crush on him—after all, nothing was going to happen between them—and she still wanted to be friends. He’d said he’d have more time to spend with her after today, so what better way to start it off than with a nice meal.

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