He stared at our joined hands for a long moment. I could see him working through it, weighing consequences, calculating risks.
Then he looked up at me, and the heat in his eyes made my breath catch.
“Just for the summer,” he said.
“Just for the summer,” I agreed.
“No expectations after that.”
“None.”
“And we keep it quiet. From everyone.”
“Absolutely. Just because it’s easier that way,” I quickly added, not wanting to even consider that it was because we might have been doing something wrong. Because we weren’t. Not really. Dexwasn’tmy brother. He only had that relationship with Trace and the others because they’d basically grown up together. I didn’t have that with him and when you thought about it, it was crazy to hold ourselves to that standard. Or maybe that was just a convenient lie because I didn’t want to admit the truth to myself. Because even if he wasn’t my brother, he wastheirbest friend and if this all blew up it would make the already strange and awkward relationship I had with this new side of my family even more strange and awkward.
He squeezed my hand as if he could sense the rapid fire thoughts firing through my head. “This is a terrible idea,” he said, even as the smile started to form on his lips.
“The worst,” I agreed.
“We’re going to regret this.”
“Probably.”
“When do you want to start?” His voice dropped lower, intimate, and my stomach flipped.
“Now?” The word came out breathless.
His smile was slow, dangerous, the first real smile I’d seen from him since that night at the bar. “Now works.”
Neither of us moved to pull away. We just sat there, hands intertwined, coffee forgotten, the world outside the window continuing on while we made possibly the worst decision of our lives.
And I didn’t care.
For the first time since arriving in Willowbrook, since meeting my brothers, since everything got so complicated… I didn’t care about doing the right thing or being careful or protecting myself.
I just wanted this. Wanted him.
Even if it was temporary. Even if it ended in August. Even if it was destined to hurt. I wanted this one thing that was mine because someone had chosen me. Not because someone had done something years ago that had tied our fate together. Not because I was the outsider people were trying to find a place for in their lives. Just because I was me, Leigh. And maybe that could finally be enough.
“So,” I said finally. “What now?”
His eyes were dark, intense. “Now I take you home before I do something inappropriate in this café.”
Heat flooded through me. “Inappropriate?”
“Like kiss you the way I’ve been wanting to for days.”
“That would be inappropriate.”
“Very.”
“We should probably go then.”
“We should.”
But neither of us moved.
Finally, Dex stood, pulling me up with him. We walked to his truck in charged silence, the air between us thick with anticipation.
