I glare at him but he doesn’t take it off.
“Didn’t Chance tell you?”
Her smile withers. She opens her mouth and shuts it, then glances away.
And I realize.
I didn’t actually say so. I was floored at her beauty. I was amazed, but I never mentioned it.
Shit. Did she think I didn’t think so? Because I do. So fucking much.
But unlike Baxter who spins words like a poet, I’m the opposite. I say facts and that’s all. Telling her she’s simply beautiful is inadequate. I want to say more, to do more.
And now she won’t look my way.
Baxter looks between us, his eyes twinkling. “Maybe he was saving it for later tonight?” He bumps my shoulder with a closed fist. “Right, bro?”
I eye him. This wouldn’t have come up if he didn’t meddle. “Yeah. Right.”
He ignores my annoyance and spins to Maddie. “I’ve told everyone about you and they are all excited.” He gives her his arm. “Come right away! Come and meet everyone.”
Maddie throws me a glance before slipping her hand into the curve of Baxter’s arm.
He whisks her away, giving her a tour of the house as they go.
I shut the door behind myself, my eyes still glued on where Baxter is acting as though Maddie is his.
She glances over her shoulder, a small smile playing on her lips and I’m consoled a bit.
She’s still mine. My fake girlfriend, but my girlfriend nonetheless. He wouldn’t dare go there.
He wouldn’t.
With that, I peel myself away from the entrance and join the rest of the family.
Chapter Nine
Maddie
Voices filter out from an open door and my fingers dig into Baxter’s arm on reflex. He smiles down at me and pats the back of my hand reassuringly.
“Come on, I’ll show you the living room.” He drags me away from the voices to a high-ceilinged room. There’s a floor length window overlooking a garden fresh with greenery.
“It’s so beautiful,” I breathe.
“It is.” He steers me toward a mantle over a fireplace. “These are even more beautiful.”
I lean in and squint at the photos. It’s easy to make out Chance’s teenage face. He hasn’t changed much, scowl and all. There’s just light in his young eyes that I don’t see now.
I back away, uncertain if he’d like me looking at those photos. I’m only his employee and fake girlfriend. By the end of the night, I won’t be one of those anymore.
I shouldn’t get intimate with his life.
Baxter takes me to more parts of the house, showing me dents in the wall he and Chance made when roughhousing.
“There were three of you in the photo?” I prompt.
“Oh, yeah. Our little brother, Landon. He’ll be at dinner tonight. You’ll get to meet him too.”
