Levi and Austin stared at each other for three seconds . . . five . . . ten.
Fuck, this was unbearable. I was teetering between anger and bursting out laughing. Mateo met my gaze this time and shook his head.
Levi’s jaw flexed. “We’re a little too old to settle things how we used to.”
“You just don’t want to get your ass beat.”
Levi’s biceps flexed and my mind made a static noise. “Austin Whynot, are you going to break your hand trying to punch me or are you going to buy me a beer?”
“The verdict is still out.”
“All right,” Mateo interjected. “This has been great, but some of us want to get on with the rest of our day. Austin, you’re being a dick. Levi is right about Avery, she can make her own choices. Also, aren’t the two of you friends? What kind of greeting is this?”
“The kind you get when Austin is acting like an ass,” I said. I held up my hands. “I’m done. I’m going back inside to paint. Have a good lunch, or whatever the fuck you’re going to do while you discuss my sex life.”
“We’re not discussing that,” Austin hissed. The horror on his face was enough to shake his resolve. “What the fuck, Avery?”
“You fucking started it,” I growled.
I couldn’t stand this anymore. I opened the door to the gallery, embracing the wave of cool AC. There was a presence right behind me as I started down the hallway. I turned, expecting it to be Austin.
But, it wasn’t my brother.
It was Mateo.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Avery
My gaze met familiar warm brown eyes, darker than a Texas storm.
Something crackled between us. Something that dug its way between the cracks of the facade I’d built over the last two years. Something that would get me in a whole lot of fucking trouble.
I raked my fingers through my hair, ruffling my bangs. “I’m so tired of this. I’m so tired of everything here. There are some days I just want to run away. Ever since Dad died, both Austin and Dallas have been ten times worse. I’m suffocating.”
“I know.” Mateo winced, trying to find some sort of half-assed defense like he always did for Austin. “That was stupid, but I think it’s good Levi said something. Austin is just being an older brother.”
“You mean an asshole?”
We both glanced back at Levi and Austin standing on the sidewalk. But they weren’t fist fighting—they were laughing. That was a good sign.
Mateo pressed his lips together. “Do you ever . . .”
He trailed off, not finishing his question. My pulse raced as I became all too aware of the fact that we were standing so close and that he looked really damn good in his jeans. I looked upat him, drinking in the way the sunlight kissed his brown skin. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, his mustache making me wonder about what it would feel like against my inner thighs.Down, girl.
“Do I ever what?” I whispered.
“Nothing. It’s nothing.”
“Liar.” I leaned against the wall, still embarrassed by what had just happened. But then I thought about what Evie and June had said about reminding Mateo that I was my own person. That I didn’t need to be treated with kid gloves. “I love my brothers, Mateo, but they drive me insane. I’m always treated like a baby. Forever the little sister, but I’m an adult.”
“You are.”
“What were you going to ask me?”
“I shouldn’t ask.”
“Mateo.”
