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She takes another step farther away from me, and it hurts. “Sure. What’s up, Arch?” She crosses her arms, her defenses mounting. Her brother doesn’t bring out the softer vulnerability she showed me earlier.
Archer scrubs a hand over his face, his grin reappearing. “Got in touch with Conner and Ethan. They drove up for a night out with you.” He pitches a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of his truck.
“College friends of ours,” I explain to PJ, not wanting her left out of the conversation. She nods, expressionless.
“Exactly. Not sure you ever met them since you were—what?—eight when I went to college?” It annoys me that Archer keeps feeling the need to remind PJ how much younger she is. Or maybe he’s just reminding me.
Point taken, asshole. I like her anyway.
But I see no way around joining them for a night out when he’s planned something with our friends. I can’t possibly say,“Thanks anyway, but I’d rather fuck your sister, so if you could just give the guys my regards…”
I cast PJ an apologetic look, and she offers me a small smile. It feels like a consolation prize, but I file it away with all the other tiny gems she’s given me.
“Anyhow, they’re waiting.” Archer tilts his head in the direction he came from, and I hear laughter in the distance.
“Sure. Yeah.” I turn to PJ. “Thanks for today.” I meet her eyes, hoping mine communicate how little I want to leave her.
I kiss her on the cheek, feathering her skin with a breath before backing away. It’s a promise. A hope.
Her eyes heat, and she nods almost imperceptibly.
She turns to go, and I follow Archer to his truck.
“Was I disrupting something?” Archer’s voice contains more humor than suspicion. As if it’s ludicrous that he could have walked in on the most important moment of my life. Even if that’s how it feels.
I swallow hard and turn my baseball cap around so the brim blocks the view of my face. “Nah, just making sure she got in the door okay.”
He claps me on the back as we reach his SUV, where I can already hear the raucous voices of our college friends chatting in the back seat. “Thanks, man. I appreciate you watching her back.”
If he only knew all the parts of her I’ve been watching all day, he’d disown me. I feel a little guilty at the betrayal, but mostly, I just feel sad about the missed opportunity, one I’m not sure I’ll ever get back.
“Hey, it’s the elusive billionaire,” our friend Ethan yells through the open window as soon as we’re in earshot. He works for Google, and even though our offices are near each other, I haven’t seen him in years. One more casualty of my lack of work-life balance.
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumble, giving him a high five through the window. “Quit that shit, or I’m not getting in the car.”
“Aw, you know I’m just giving you a hard time. I’d trade places with you in a heartbeat, you know that.”
Would he? Should he?
As I slide onto the passenger seat and Archer fires up the engine, I wonder about the logic in that. Ethan’s married with three kids, who he actually sees, and he’d trade places with me for money I have no time to spend?
I feel like an asshole complaining, but if it would give me free time with PJ Corbett, I’d take that trade, no questions asked.
Chapter
Fourteen
PJ
I’ve been waffling all day long.
A long day during which I haven’t seen a sign of Colin Hathaway at all. Maybe he turned tail and went back to Silicon Valley. Maybe all the bro time last night was enough to make him man up and face the criticism back home, and he’s gone.
I can’t decide how I feel about that. Because the other possibility is that he’s still here and still coming to dinner tonight.
I did invite him, after all. And I’m not sure how I feel about that either because seeing him in a house full of my siblings spells “awkward” with a capital A.
Then again, I really want to see him. That fact dwarfs all the other concerns.
