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“What? Held hands? Why didn’t you jump him in one of those big wine barns and rip his clothes off. That’s what I would have done.”
“He initiated it. It was perfect, actually.” Twenty minutes of hand-holding might be regarded as taking it ultra slow, but considering we were broken up and Beau had put up every roadblock to my other advances, I considered it a true victory.
“You only have one date left, London. Then it’s the end of classes and graduation.” Nina looked stressed.
“Don’t remind me.” I slid between the covers. Beau was only a few feet away, sleeping in the guestroom at the end of the hall. I probably wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight.
I awoke to the smell of bacon. Mmm…bacon. I quickly darted in the bathroom, washed my face, brushed my teeth and hair, and changed out of my pjs before racing downstairs. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I couldn’t believe what I saw.
They were all there. As if cooks in an assembly line, my brothers were manning the breakfast stations, along with my favorite houseguest, Beau.
“Wow. What’s gotten into all of you?” I scanned their faces for an answer. My zombie movie-watching experience told me an apocalypse had probably occurred while I was sleeping.
“There she is.” My dad was at the table reading the morning paper. “Isn’t this a treat? Your brothers were possessed in their sleep last night and we get the benefit of them making us breakfast. Sit. Sit.”
I wandered over to the table, still not sure if I was awake. Who knew Roman could scramble eggs or that Nash was any good with toast? Austin handed me a cup of tea.
“Here you go.”
“Thanks.” I took the tea and swirled in a teaspoon of sugar. I glanced around the kitchen. This was utterly amazing. All of my family, my best friend, and the boy I was crazy about were in the same room.
Beau walked over with a tray of bacon. “Don’t you look happy this morning.”
“I am. I really am.”
The parking lot was crowded. It looked like everyone in Beau’s apartment complex had returned from their weekend excursions. I steered into an empty spot far from Beau’s building.
I shifted the car into park and turned to face Beau. “Thanks for going on the hometown with me.” After the rocky start, the weekend had gone
better than I ever could have imagined.
“It was awesome. I loved meeting your family. Your brothers are cool to hang out with. I don’t think I’ve ever played that much basketball and corn hole in one weekend.” My brothers had cornered Beau into every competition they could create. I was surprised they didn’t get into competitive eating.
“So, you’ll go easy on them in your blog?”
The smile that had spread across his face faded. “You’re worried about what I’m going to write for my post?”
Shit. “No, that’s not what I meant. They are overwhelming sometimes. There was so much that happened this weekend.” My joke was a fail. I should have said something about the way he washed dishes and won my mom’s respect, or how he impressed my dad at dinner with his newly learned wine technique, or how my world suddenly felt so complete with his hand in mine. But no, I had to mention the blog.
“Right. I better go. Thanks for the weekend.” Beau opened the door, retrieved his overnight bag from the backseat, and jogged toward his building.
Dammit. Two steps forward and three hundred steps back.
16
Nina shoved her phone between the pillows on the couch as I walked into the living room, ready to start Love Match.
“Who was that?” I eyed the bumpy cushion. She seemed especially jumpy.
“You won’t be mad if I tell you, will you?” Nina was biting her lip.
“No.” I lied.
“It was Austin. He was just calling to say ‘hey.’”
“My brother is calling you now? Austin is calling you?” This was unbelievable.
“You said you wouldn’t get mad.” Nina was pleading with me. “It was just a simple phone call, but if you don’t want me to talk to him anymore, I won’t. He is your brother. I guess things could get weird.”
