Page 79 of Why Not Us?

I don’t add to the conversation, simply listening. Adalie places her hand on my knee, like she wants me to be part of this but doesn’t want to force me to speak if I don’t want to. I lift her hand, bringing her fingers to my lips for a kiss before placing it back where she’d laid it. She gives me that smile again.

Cockblocking brother aside, I could get used to mornings like this.

Chapter 24

Adalie

As summer begins, work gets busier. Wedding season is in full swing. Thankfully, as the head of HR, I don’t need to be there until midnight during the weddings, but I like to be there during the day in case anything goes wrong. Nate and I see each other as often as we can, which means, if Dani isn’t with him, we’re together. Sometimes I stay at his house, sometimes he stays with me. He couldn’t come with me to Derek’s for the May game night because he had Dani, but he’s hung out with me and my friends a few times and even invited them over for another barbecue.

The week before Dani’s birthday, she’s with her mom, so construction on the art space begins. Nate and Taylor work on it when they’re not at the brewery and each day I come over after I’m finished at Blue Vista to help. I put together the table-top easel and a rolling cart that fits under the new desk. After dinner on Sunday, I stock the area with everything I bought Dani or found in my own supplies that I knew I wouldn’t use.

“Did you go a little overboard?” Nate asks, looking around at all the stuff.

“No. Well. Maybe a tiny bit. It’s fine. I don’t have any kids in my life I get to spoil. So Dani can have the full effect for now.” I put three canvases into the canvas rack I insisted Nate install. “I know I usually only come over on Thursdays when Dani is here. But would you mind if I’m here tomorrow for the big reveal?”

I turn to him with my hands clasped in front of me, my eyes large as I give him my best puppy dog expression.

He laughs and pulls me close. “I was going to tell you to be here by four. You kind of have to be, princess. I don’t know what any of this stuff is. Except the desk and the chair.”

I slide my hands up his chest to link around his neck. “I guess I’ll have to be here. If only so you don’t tell her the palette is actually the canvas.”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know what either of those things are.”

My head tips back as I laugh and he pulls me a little closer, lifting me into his arms bridal-style. “Come on, princess. You wanted to go into the hot tub.”

I’m still laughing as he carries me downstairs.

“I love it when you’re like this,” I tell him.

He grins, nipping at my ear. “Like what?”

“You’re playful and funny. This is going to sound weird, but it’s kind of like how you are with Dani.”

He pauses on the last step, giving me a confused look.

“With everyone else, you have this wall up. You don’t like to talk, you don’t laugh or smile much, or if you do, it’s subdued. But with Dani, you’re lighter. More free.” I shrug. “I don’t know. It makes me feel kind of special. Like you’re giving me something only the person you love the most gets to see.”

“You are special, Adalie.” He carries me the rest of the way into his bedroom where I have my things.

My heart is thumping wildly in my chest. He says such sweet things sometimes, and every time he does, I’m dragged deeper and deeper. I want to tell him I’m falling in love with him, but I keep the words in because I’m not sure he’s ready to hear it. And I’m definitely not ready to not hear the words back. Instead, as he sets me carefully on my feet, I say, “You’re special, too, Nate.”

He gives me a soft smile, kissing me lightly.

“Get your bathing suit on before I change my mind and just take you to bed.”

My body flushes with heat as I consider what I want to do more, hot tub or bed. If we go to bed now, we won’t go in the hot tub, a fact I’ve learned over the past few weeks. But if we go to the hot tub first, we’ll still end up in bed together later. I grab my swimsuit and rush into the bathroom before he can change my mind.

Another thing I’ve learned lately: we have to get dressed in different places because if I see him naked, I get distracted, and we never go anywhere.

I meet Nate outside where he’s got the lid off the hot tub. I have a towel wrapped around me and my hair up in a messy ponytail. Nate takes the towel from me, hanging it on the hook by the steps beside the towel he’s already hung for himself. While he does that, I take a moment to admire the ink on his arms, chest, and back. I could look at this man naked for hours and not be bored. The tattoos that cover his skin are amazing. And if I ever get tired of looking at the tattoos, I can simply be mesmerized by the muscles in his chest and abs and shoulders. He is absolutely scrumptious.

He offers me his hand so I can hold it while I step into the hot tub. Gorgeous and a gentleman. It’s not surprising that I’m head over heels. Those traits combined with the earth-shattering orgasms he gives me, and I honestly never stood a chance.

I settle into a seat and say, “Jets.”

“Your wish is my command, your highness.”

He flicks the switch, turning on the jets and I sigh as I sink into the water, my eyes closing, letting it massage me, humming in pleasure as it hits my lower back.

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