“I think you could, you know.” My words were quiet, too. “I know we’ve only just met ... but I like you a lot, Jacey. It scares me shitless.”
“Me, too,” she admitted. “I’ve never been with someone so ...” She paused. “Solid. Someone who knows who he is and isn’t ashamed to own it. I like you so much, Owen. It feels like it means something, you know?”
I nodded as though she could see me. “I do, and I promise—” A pounding at my door broke into my reply. “Kade’s here. I’ll call you when he leaves, and we’ll make plans for this week.”
“Okay.” She sounded a little breathless. “Good luck.”
Ending the call, I dropped my phone back onto the desk and walked slowly to the doorway, schooling my face to a blandly neutral expression before I opened the door.
“Hey, Kade. Want to come in?”
He stared at me, his eyes narrow as he stepped over the threshold. I shut the door behind him.
“Dude, really? Mysister?My baby sister?”
I cleared my throat. “In my defense, I didn’t know she was your sister when I first met her.”
He waved his hand. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I heard all that.” With a long and heavy sigh, he sank into my desk chair. “I’m not here to bust your balls, Owen. Maybe I should be. Maybe any brother worth his shit would have you up against the wall, shaking you down and telling you to stay the fuck away from my sister. But honestly, I’m not even that mad. I was ... surprised more than anything.”
I sat down on the end of my bed. “I understand that.”
“Jacey told me that she wasn’t upfront with you last night. You didn’t do anything wrong.” He leveled a steady gaze on me. “But today you knew.”
“Yeah, I did. And that’s on me. We weren’t sure, though ... I mean, we thought maybe last night was just all the wedding crap and a bottle of decent wine. I guess I thought I didn’t want to jump the gun and get you involved if it turned out that we didn’t have any, um, spark.”
Kade snorted. “But from what I hear,sparkwasn’t an issue.”
“Not really.” I stared down at my own knees, unable to look my friend in the eye as the image of his sister on my lap, grinding down on me, flew across my mind. “That’s why we wanted to talk to you now. I’m going to take Jacey out this week. On a date. I didn’t want to do that behind your back.”
“I appreciate that.” Kade was stiff. “You know, I like you, Owen. Leah asked me if I had any good reason to be unhappy about my sister being with you. I couldn’t come up with even one ... except something that I didn’t want to get into with my wife.” He wagged his head. “Bro, we used to pick up girls together. We used to talk about what we did with those chicks. We joked about their tits, their asses ... how loud they were in bed ...” Kade shuddered. “Now when you talk about that shit, it’s my sister who you’ll be describing. That makes me want to pound on you until you promise that you’ll never look at her again.”
I was quiet a moment, thinking. “Kade, the thing is, we don’t talk like that anymore. Think about it. Did Max ever brag on how good Samantha is in bed? Does Jake tell us everything he and Harper do together?”
Kade looked pained. “God, no. And thank you, sweet baby Jesus, because I think some of what Jake and Harper get up to would give me nightmares.”
“Exactly.” I nodded. “We’re not kids anymore. You all have wives or girlfriends who are probably going to be wives before long. We respect our women, right? They’re not random chicks.” I took a deep breath. “I hope you’ll trust me to have enough regard for both Jacey and for you that I’d never treat her with anything less than my total respect.”
He studied me for a minute. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you? This isn’t a hook-up.”
“No, it isn’t. I’m not sure how serious it’s going to be, because we only met last night, Kade. I’m not proposing marriage. I’m just asking her on a date. If that goes well ... I hope there’ll be more of them. If it doesn’t, then at least we’ll be friends. But I won’t play with her feelings. I’m not looking for fast and easy here.”
We sat together in silence, neither of us looking at the other.
“Does this mean the last man standing is about to go down?” Kade broke into what looked like a grin. “Are you joining the committed club?”
I shrugged. “It could be. Not getting ahead of myself, though.”
“Fine.” With a long exhale, Kade stood up. “Just ... don’t break her heart, okay? Jacey acts like she’s full of confidence and totally impervious, but the truth is, she still second-guesses herself all the time. She’s vulnerable.”
I quirked my eyebrow. “I heard that you told Jacey the same thing—not to break my heart.”
“I did.” He waved one hand. “What can I say? You both matter to me. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt here.”
“Neither do I. I promise to do my part.” I offered him my hand.
“That’s all I can ask.” Ignoring my hand, he brought it in for a quick, tight man-hug, slapping my back. “Do your best. And don’t fuck this up.”
* * *
