Page 358 of The Winslow Brothers

Without even meaning to, the next time I catch Remy staring at me, I bug out my eyes, and he smiles in return. It’s as if he knows my game and is already six moves ahead of me. As a woman who feeds on control sometimes, I find it wholly disconcerting.

The chatter dims as Flynn finally waves a hand in the air, and Daisy’s eyes start to look heavy. I can only imagine the visiting has been nice, but she has to be exhausted at this point.

“Okay, guys. It’s time to clear out. My wife needs to rest, and I have a couple of babies to take care of.”

The sweet, protective edge of his words is enough to send a shiver down my spine and instill cooperation from everyone else. Ty moves me by the hips easily enough, shuffling me around and out the door, just like he’s been hustling me everywhere else all day.

I wrap my arms around myself as he steps away briefly to peer down the hallway.

“You okay here for a second?” he asks, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. “I just want to run to the restroom, and then we can go.”

I nod and smile, trying desperately not to show just how overstimulated I feel by this whole experience.

He’s happy—blissful, really. And I don’t want to spoil that in any way. With some time to collect myself and get back to normal life, I’ll probably be fine. But I need the time to decompress. And it’s coming…at some point. At least, that’s what I tell myself to talk my feet off the proverbial ledge.

Ty disappears down the hall and into the bathroom, and I fight the urge to take off toward the exit. It’s not that anyone’s being rude to me—in fact, it’s just the opposite. Since Ty introduced me, his family’s been nothing short of magnanimous during a truly trying time for them.

I’m impressed by their ability to manage manners with emotions and wonder why my father and I never got that memo.

Still, everyone is outside Daisy’s room now, busy chatting with one another and celebrating the growth of their obviously tight-knit family. And I’m just standing here, willowing in the wind.

I am a woman who doesn’t really know what to do. I don’t feel like I should be involving myself in their conversations, and truthfully, I don’t think I could even manage that.

I discreetly take a few steps away from the little crowd, but I don’t miss that Ty’s eldest brother Remy is watching me again, stealing furtive glances in pauses in his conversation with Jude, and it’s making me uneasy.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not, like, creeper-type scary. It just feels like he knows. Like he knows what’s going on with Ty and me and knows the inner workings of my soul.

And I feel entirely too bare under the scrutiny.

Just look away, Remy. You’re dancing around a couple of things I’m not even talking to myself about right now, let alone a stranger.

I manage to avoid his eyes for another thirty seconds by spinning to admire a random piece of cheap art on the wall, but my avoidance is caught short when he touches me gently on the shoulder, letting me know the time of reckoning has arrived.

My spin is dramatic, but my smile is fake, so all in all, I’d say they balance each other out as I turn to face him—and the music.

“Hey, Rachel,” he greets, a genuinely friendly smile making him look slightly less frightening—but only slightly. “Thanks for coming out to support Flynn and Daisy. Means a lot to all of us.”

I nod, licking my lips. “Uh, sure.”I didn’t exactly get much of a choice, but you don’t need to know that.

He holds out a business card between his ring and middle finger, and I blink down at it numbly.

“Here. I thought I’d take the opportunity to give you this, just in case you need to get in touch with me someday.”

I shake my head as I read the fine print on the front. “Well, thanks. But I don’t think I’ll be in need of any help with day trading or investments anytime soon. I’m about as poor as it gets in the graduate student world. I know these shoes look fancy, but they’re secondhand and a gift from my sister.”

He shrugs curiously, chuckling a little—I think, to put me at ease. It doesn’t work, of course, but I appreciate the effort. “That’s okay. Take it anyway. Just in case.”

My eyebrows pinch together in confusion, but I know to the depths of my being that taking the card and putting it in my bag, even if it’ll never be seen again, is the easiest option here. I can’t exactly make a scene in the middle of the maternity ward of St. Luke’s Hospital, and even if I could, I wouldn’t want to.

I may not be completely confident in what my role is here today, but it isn’t to make Ty’s life harder.

I reach out and slide the card out of his fingers, opening the main compartment of my purse and tossing it inside. He nods and smiles, stepping away just as Ty is returning from the bathroom,shaking his hands out in front of him with a giant goofy smile on his face.

“No paper towels,” he remarks, flicking a water droplet onto Remy as he arrives just for the fun of it.

I purse my lips into a semi-smile and then cross my arms over my chest.

“You’re lucky we just witnessed the miracle of life today, or I’d slap that grin right off your face,” Remy fires back verbally, making Ty laugh even deeper and look to me conspiratorially.

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