Page 86 of Clean Out of Luck

“I think I gripped the wheel hard enough to break it.”

He chuckles and leans forward to press a kiss against my temple. “I can’t believe this is our reality now.”

“What is? Heavenly back rubs? Because I could get used to this.”

“I mean that I get to hold you. That I get to kiss you. That I get to listen to you tell me about your day.”

It’s getting hard to swallow, and my eyes are stinging. “Wade, don’t make me cry. We just started dating, and I don’t want you to see me with mascara all over my face.”

“I’ve seen you with smeared mascara before,” he says softly. He keeps rubbing my shoulders, and I melt farther into him.

“I can’t believe I didn’t see what was in front of me,” I whisper.

“And what was that?”

“You.”

He waits quietly for me to continue.

“I never felt any connection with anyone I went out with. But I did with you. I thought it was because I’d known you for so long. I didn’t realize it was a different kind of connection. It’s weird how right this feels.”

“Why does it feel so weird, do you think?”

“Two weeks ago, I would have laughed in someone’s face if they’d said you and I would be snuggled on a couch together today. But now? I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”

A door bangs loudly, and I sit up a little, trying to blink the sleepiness from my eyes. It must be Jack getting home from work.

But the thing that walks around the corner is not Jack.

It’s a brown-haired, brown-eyed, broader, more masculine version of me.

Phoenix walks into Wade’s living room, staring at the two of us together.

Phoenix, my brother, is standing in the living room looking at me while I’m snuggling his best friend.

There’s no hiding at this point. No pretending like we’re not snuggled up in a tangle of limbs on Wade’s leather sofa.

Phoenix’s eyes take it all in in the span of a few seconds.

His eyebrows shoot up. “What in the world are you two doing? What the heck is going on here?” he practically shouts.

Wade grips my hand and glares back at Phoenix. “What do you mean what’s going on?”

“What are you doing here? You’re still supposed to be gone for a few more months,” I cut in.

“Are you two…” Phoenix sputters and points at us. “Are you two canoodling?”

I press my lips together to fight a laugh. My brother hates it when I laugh when he’s mad. But canoodling? How could I not laugh when he’s using a word like that? It’s his fault for surprising us anyway.

“Why are you touching each other?” he exclaims. “You realize your legs are on top of each other, right?”

My body is shaking, I’m laughing so hard.

Wade looks at me with a concerned expression on his face. “Your brother is yelling at us, and you’re laughing. Pull it together, woman!”

That just sends me into another attack of laughter. I mean, how could I not?

I never thought this would be one of my life experiences. That Phoenix would be the one interrupting something between Wade and me. I mean, my entire childhood existence revolved around interrupting Phoenix and Wade on their adventures. And now I’m on the receiving end of it, only worse because Phoenix just interrupted a fantastic cuddle.

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