Page 27 of Feel It in the Air

“Judge away. We all do,” Willa cuts me off. “You’re part of the family now. It’s a whole thing here. Gus can catch you up. But basically, since Hux didn't get on that, we just deal with it.”

“We’re just friends,” Hux snaps.

“Sure you are…” Gus comments. Willa rolls her eyes, slapping Hux on the back, the both of them obviously not believing him. Hell, I’m not sure I believe him and I’ve only spent one evening with the two of them.

“Look, it’s sundown somewhere, and the perfect girl is just waitin’ on⁠—”

“Just friends,” Willa prods, cutting Hux off, unable to let it go. “You know, you could maybe be more than just friends, if you…”

Hux abruptly leaps to his feet, shaking the whole table, rattling the pint glasses on top. Willa shrieks, all of us lurching backward in reaction. Huffing out a breath, he climbs out from the bench, glaring at his little sister.

“I don’t need relationship advice from a little sister who spent ten years sneaking around.”

Oh shit…

I turn to Gus, searching for answers. “What did I miss?”

Squeezing my thigh again, he shifts, adjusting himself so he’s straddling the bench facing me. The rest of the bar, all his friends and family, fall away until there isn’t anyone but him and me left as he stares into my eyes. Those deep-green irises soften the longer he holds my gaze, right along with my resolve not to crawl into his lap.

“Lots. And I feel like I’m missing even more where you’re concerned.”

“Whatcha wanna know?”

“Everything.”

Everything…me too…

“But for right now. I think I’m done sharing you with the rest of Hickory Hills.”

“Then what do you say to walking me home?”