Page 69 of What About Us
I’d just been fantasizing about burying my face between her legs when she caught me jerking off, for hell’s sake. She belongs in my life, permanently, and not just as friends. She belongs at the table with my family and in my bed. I have no doubt about that, and after sleeping with her against me all night, I can’t stand any distance between us. But I can’t tell her that without telling her how I feel about her. And I’m not sure she’s ready to hear that.
I look down at my phone. No new messages or phone calls. She’s definitely freaking out. I probably should have locked my door, but she was supposed to be at work. And who just walks into the bathroom without knocking?
Granted, she probably had her earbuds in, because I found one on the carpet outside the bathroom as I was leaving the room to chase after her. She must have dropped it, hurrying to get the hell out.
I tap out another text to her.
Hudson:I’m picking up dinner. Maybe after Paige goes down, we can have that rematch?
Immediately after I send it, I realize that sounded like a proposition to watch me jerk off again, instead of a friendly game of chess. Which, I mean, I don’t hate, either. I’d definitely be down. Scrubbing a hand down my face, I groan.
There’s a honk out front, so I grab my keys and pocket my phone. Locking the door behind me, I jog down the driveway before climbing into Hutch’s truck.
“What’s with the scowl?” Hutch asks, glancing my way, before backing down the drive.
I look over at him. Do I dare tell him what happened? He’ll just give me shit, and I don’t know if I’m in the mood. It could help to talk it through, but fuck that. I’ll verbal vomit all my feelings, and then he’ll tell me to fuck her already. Which, fair, but not exactly helpful in this situation. I just got her to agree to marry me; I can’t just whip my dick out and be like, “Wanna hop on?” So, I shake my head and look out the window.
However, I should have known I wasn’t going to escape his questions.
When he stops for a row of ducks crossing the road, he turns to look at me. “So…that was some wedding, yeah?”
I keep my face forward, watching as the mama duck and her six little babies waddle across the road. Only in Timber Forge. “Yep.”
He taps his thumb on the steering wheel to “Bad Company” playing softly from the radio. I see his cocksure grin from my periphery. “You guys fuck yet?”
Really?
When I just continue broodily staring out the passenger side window, he barks out a laugh. “Holy shit, you did, didn’t you? What, you couldn’t get it up or something?”
“Fuck you, Hutch,” I say, throwing a glance in his direction.
He huffs out a laugh. “Then what?”
“I think I spooked her.” I bob my head back and forth, frustration at the whole situation creeping in. “Or maybe she spooked herself.”
He arches a brow at me. ”Spooked her, how?”
I study my younger brother for a couple of beats and decide, fuck it. This is what I came home for, right? Support and shit. Besides, telling my brother that I’m in love with my best friend—now wife—isn’t exactly news to Hutch. Hell, it probably isn’t news to anyone in my family. The only one who seems tonotknow is her.
“I kissed her,” I blurt.
“Yeah, I know. I was there,” he says, like I’m an idiot.
I let out a frustrated sigh. “Not yesterday. Before,” I say. “Ugh, never fucking mind.”
“You had your tongue in her mouth for thirty seconds yesterday, and she seemed ok when you guys left.”
“That wasbefore…” I say again, but then trail off.
He shoots me a confused look. “Before what? I’m not following, brother.”
I sigh. I should talk to Finn about this first. And he doesn’t push. He’s silent the rest of the way to the tire shop. It isn’t until he pulls in and parks that he finally turns his attention to me. He waits, fucking around with one of the beaded bracelets stacked on his wrist.
I watch as Larry from the hardware store comes out of the shop, carrying two quarts of oil. He climbs into his old Cadillac.
And then, I start talking because Hutch’s doing that Jedi mind trick shit again.
“I think she’s spooked or embarrassed…maybe both.” I blow out a pent-up breath and scratch my jaw.
