Page 41 of My Ex's Brothers

“I mean, what other choice did I have? My mom was grieving, my brothers needed someone to take care of them, and I—” He sighs before continuing. “That’s why what I’m about to say, you need to understand that I get it. I know what it’s like to be in your shoes, Amelia.”

His words alarm me, and I feel my defenses already starting to come up. Whatever he’s going to say, it’s going to piss me off, I know it.

The waitress brings out lunch just as his phone rings.

I breathe a sigh of relief. Saved by the cell phone again.

“Yeah. Okay, great. Yes, thanks, Harry!” he says, smiling, and my heart skips a beat. He hangs up, looking at me. “Your car has been delivered to our place,” he says, and my blood stops.

“Our place?” I ask.

“My place. Dane’s place. Tripp’s. We all live together?—”

“Oh. I see…” I say, tucking some hair behind my ear. “So you can work on it.”

He nods. Right, that makes sense.

So why does the fact that they live together create a sort of panic in my chest along with a bloom of wetness between my thighs?

What the fuck is wrong with me?

“Actually, that’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about…” he says carefully.

Even though he speaks softer, his voice is still tinged with that deep, gravelly edge that is some cross between a purr and a rumble, and I have to bite my tongue to keep in the moan that wants to escape me.

Maybe this is how a midlife crisis starts.

“What do you mean?” I ask as I stab at my smothered chicken.

“I mean, I know doing this all on your own can’t be easy…” he says, and I stop with my speared chicken halfway to my mouth.

My instinct is to hide, to tell him I’m fine. But I know that I’m not, and I get the feeling lying to Rich would only cause more problems.

It’s just a discussion, Amelia. Two grown-ups having a conversation…

“Nothing good in life is ever easy,” I say as I bite off a piece of chicken.

“Right, but with the rightsupport system…” he says, waving his hand about nonchalantly, “it would be a hell of a lot easier.”

His gaze holds mine steady.

“What are you getting at, Rich?” I ask, feeling defensive. The way he’s looking at me has my nerves on edge. Given everything that’s happened today, it just feels like something’s about to drop. Something I’m not sure I’m going to like.

He shrugs. “Maybe if you moved in withus, we could?—”

“Move in with you? My ex’sbrothers?” I drop my fork. “Are you insane?”

I watch his lips turn up into a smirk. “That wasn’t a no.”

“You’re serious.” I say, coughing on my damn chicken. I hit my chest, forcing the food to go down before I literally choke.

“As a heart attack, baby girl,” he says with a grin.

“Rich, I’ve been here for like five minutes, I?—”

“You’ve been here for two weeks, Mia. Because my idiot brother fucked everything up, and now you’re what? Doing the single mom thing?”

His words shouldn’t feel as judgmental as they do, because it’s the truth, but somehow they make me feel judged. But before I can say anything, he continues.

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