Page 11 of Mountain Man's Holiday Home
“Talk about what? How you took advantage of my sister?” Luca’s voice was getting louder. “She told me she’s never even had a serious boyfriend, and you?—”
“Stop.” I pushed past Hendrix, fury replacing embarrassment. “Just stop right there.”
Both men looked at me in surprise.
“I’m twenty-three years old, Luca. I don’t need you protecting my virtue.” Crossing my arms, I stared my brother down. “And for your information, nothing happened that I didn’t want to happen.”
“Lainey—”
“No. You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to request I tag along with him on an errand, then get mad when we actually connect.”
Luca’s shoulders sagged. “Yeah. I guess I was pushing you two together a little.”
“Why?” Hendrix asked, and I could hear the confusion in his voice.
“Because…” Luca scrubbed his face with his hands. “Because you’ve been alone too long, both of you. Every time you come home, sis, you’re all work and no play. And Hendrix hasn’t settled anywhere in years.”
“But not this,” I said, understanding dawning.
“Not this.” He looked between us, his expression raw. “I didn’t expect you two to sleep together…and now he’s leaving Monday, and I just?—”
“You just what?” Hendrix’s voice was quiet, but there was an edge to it.
“I don’t want to see her get hurt, okay? You’re a good guy, Hendrix, but you’re also a guy who never stays in one place longer than a few months. And she’s my baby sister.”
The words hung in the air between us. I felt something cold settle in my stomach as the reality of the situation hit me. Hendrix was leaving. I was leaving. What had happened between us in that old mill was beautiful, but it was also temporary.
“You’re right,” Hendrix said finally, and my heart cracked a little. “The plan was to leave Monday.”
Luca nodded, some of the fight going out of him. “I know. That’s why?—”
“But not anymore.”
Both Luca and I stared at him.
“What?” I whispered.
“I’m not leaving Monday.” He turned to face me fully, his gray eyes intense. “I was supposed to head to Tennessee for a land development project, but I can push that back. Or find someone else to handle it.”
“Hendrix, you don’t have to?—”
“Yes, I do.” He stepped closer, close enough that I had to tilt my head back to look at him. “Because what happened in there wasn’t just a hookup for me, Lainey. I need you to know that.”
My heart was pounding so hard, I was sure they could both hear it. “It wasn’t?”
“Hell no.” He glanced at Luca, then back at me. “I want to see where this goes. I want to spend time with you, get to know you better. Everything about you.”
“But I’m only here for two more weeks,” I said softly. “I have to get back to Charleston for work.”
Something shifted in his expression. “Two weeks?”
“I always come home to help with the Christmas tree lot. It’s our busiest time. But things slow down in mid-December, so I go back to my life in South Carolina.”
I watched him process this information, saw the moment he realized the complications we were facing. Two weeks wasn’t long enough to build anything real. Was it?
“What if…” He ran a hand through his hair. “What if I stayed a couple of weeks? Helped out at the lot?”
Luca’s eyebrows shot up. “You want to work the Christmas tree lot?”
