Page 36 of Attached At Heart
I hung up the phone with a weird feeling in my stomach but struggled to place it.
Mr. Anderson didn’t give the impression that he intendednotto approve our marriage in terms of the inheritance, but he didn’t seem entirely convinced, either. Or maybe he just didn’t like the idea that his approval would undoubtedly put a wrench in his working relationship with my parents since they’d oppose it—we both knew that to be true.
It was something I hadn’t quite considered until now.
“Everything good, Lane?”
I nodded, putting those thoughts away for now, and turned toward Blake, who I’d almost forgotten was there.
“I think so, yes.”
“Ready for dinner?”
Taking a deep breath, I forced a smile. “Ready.”
I was even more glad we were doing this now, pretending for his family. We needed to cover all our bases, just in case Mr. Anderson came poking around.
Natalie’s home was a brownstone apartment with bay windows that I would die for. It was small and a bit dated but had crown molding and a fireplace with books stacked on top of the mantle. The coziness made me want to curl up on the couch, and that was precisely what I did.
But with a six-foot-two, finely muscled doctor beneath me.
Everything happened as Blake predicted, and now I was sitting on his lap in his sister’s living room. A baseball game wason in the background, but no one was really paying attention to it.
The only thing I could pay attention to was the man whose lap I was on.
We were on the end of the couch, and I’d leaned back, wrapping my arm around his shoulders like he’d told me to. His arms circled around me. One was settled securely around my waist like he thought I might flee, and his free hand rested casually on my thigh. His fingers kept grazing my bare skin as he fidgeted with the hem of my dress, and I was so acutely aware of him in a way I never had been before. Every tiny shift of his body was as obvious as an earthquake with deadly magnitude.
Blake, on the other hand, was unfazed. He’d introduced me as his wife to his sister, Natalie, and his nine-year-old niece, Chloe, without batting an eye. They’d both given me hugs like we’d known each other forever, even though this was our first time meeting.
I’d heard a lot about Natalie over the years, but we’d never crossed paths before; from what Blake told me, she was an incredibly busy woman between parenting as a single mom and working as a trauma surgeon. He also said she’d been busy and overworked her entire life, starting in high school when she’d taken so many PSEO courses that she almost had her bachelor’s degree completed by the time she’d graduated.
After our introduction, Natalie had ducked back into the kitchen and shooed us toward the living room, where the infamous football player, Noah London, sat with his family. His girlfriend, Gemma, whom I recognized from the hospital, gave me the warmest greeting, and I immediately felt guilty for how I’d judged her that day. Then, Noah smiled broadly and held out his hand to shake while his other arm was preoccupied with holding the baby I’d thought was Blake’s. Her name was Delilah,and she was precious and sweet and couldn’t have been much more than a month old.
If it weren’t for Noah, I might have felt weird about sitting all wrapped up in Blake in front of his family. But Noah had immediately pulled Gemma into his side when they sat back on the couch, and he hadn’t once moved his available hand away from her. Blake’s gentle affections only matched the vibe of the room, and I was grateful for that.
It only took me a few minutes to decide I liked Noah. I couldn’t lie; for years, I’d held a slight distaste for Blake’s younger brother simply because of his reputation and how people treated Blake when they found out he had a famous athlete for a brother—like he was a stepping stone of sorts. But in real life, Noah seemed charismatic and kind andclearlydevoted to his girlfriend and daughter.
He also seemedverycurious about his brother’s spontaneous marriage, which in any other circumstances would have been sweet. But it only put me that much more on edge.
“You could have called me, you know,” he said, a twinkle in his eye as he glanced at his brother. I recognized that twinkle. It was the same teasing spark Blake had, except Noah seemed to have it more openly. Blake’s only appeared when we were alone. “I could have been a witness.”
Blake chuckled, and I felt the vibrations of it through my entire body, making me tingle deliciously. I bit down on my lip, trying not to react as Blake carried on like nothing had happened. Like we weren’t suddenly connected in a way we never had been before.
“You don’t need a witness in Massachusetts,” he said with a shrug.
Noah shook his head, grinning. “Sully’s still mad you’ve deprived him of a party.”
“I’m sure there will be another reason for the Londons to celebrate soon,” Blake said, his smooth voice more pointed as he looked between Noah and Gemma, who began blushing furiously at the comment.
“Very true,” Noah hummed, glancing over at his girlfriend with stars in his eyes.Hewasn’t embarrassed by the comment. It actually looked like he was melting inside from the thought of it. My cheeks started to heat just from watching the two of them.
Or maybe it was from the way Blake’s hand slid across my rib cage slowly like he was trying to feel for the bones and count them to make sure I was real and alive. He dragged his hand all the way across my abdomen, skirting just below my breasts before letting his touch vanish, his hand dropping to his side.
That was for the best. The more Blake touched me, the more I worried that he would realize how my pulse ticked up. He was a doctor—a very good doctor—trained in looking for subtle differences in the body, symptoms, and signs of distress. I was exhibiting too many of those at the moment.
“How did the two of you meet?” I spit out, looking for something to say to distract from Blake, from his woody scent overwhelming me and the compelling job he was doing of making his family believe he wanted his hands on me as much as his brother wanted his hands on his girlfriend.
Gemma’s head popped up like she’d been abruptly pulled out of a trance. Noah turned his attention toward me more slowly, as if he had to be dragged away from looking at his girlfriend.
