be so fucking oblivious sometimes, and then times like now, you’re too fucking perceptive. It’s
annoying.”
“I’m oblivious when I’m uninterested,” he says with a jaw-cracking yawn. “You and Maya?
That’s worth paying attention to.”
“Why? Why do you care?”
“Because you do,” he says softly. “You’re different since she arrived.”
A dozen brush-offs spring to my lips, a dozen different ways to convince Jonas that there’s nothing
there. I’ve done it in the past, convinced him things were fine even when they weren’t. Because I
thought that was best for him.
“When did you grow up?” I ask him, startled all over again at the man beside me.
“I don’t know how to answer that. I grew up a long time ago. But I feel…different since Janey.
Maybe that is why I’m noticing it more in the people around me.”
“Noticing what?”
“Attraction. Affection. Touch. The way people in love look at each other. I didn’t pay attention to
it before. And now, we have four brothers with significant others. And I am drawn to Janey. It is very
top of mind for me right now. So do you? Have feelings for Maya?”
“Maybe,” I admit reluctantly.
“What does that mean?”
“It means there’s something there, but I don’t plan to pursue it. There’s no point. I don’t want a
relationship, and Maya is a relationship woman.”
Jonas sits up, spinning to face me. “Why don’t you want a relationship?”
“Because my life is full. I have you and work. I don’t need anything else.”
“You need sex,” he points out, one eyebrow raised in challenge.
“Yeah, but I can get that anywhere.”
Jonas curls up his nose, and I want to punch him. “Do you really prefer sleeping with strangers?
You’d choose that over Maya? Over being with one woman? It doesn’t make sense to me.”
“I don’t know why. It’s not that complicated. I can’t let anyone else into my life.”
“Why?”
I hate that fucking word. “Because! I can’t fucking worry about another person.”
The silence stretches tight between us, the tension nearly unbearable. He raises his knees and
