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“Oh! Well...” Vaughn shrugged and glanced away, looking distinctly uncomfortable with my praise. “I just…” He shrugged again. “I saw something familiar in his eyes, I guess.”
“And I saw nothing,” I muttered, scolding myself. “I’m such an idiot.”
“It’s nothing to beat yourself up over,” Vaughn cut in quietly. “If you’ve never lost anyone close, then how could you know what to look for?”
Okay, that made sense. But still. I felt awful. Tugging at the string to pull it free and frowning when it only grew longer, I glanced over at him briefly. “You must think I’m awful. I take my completely healthy brother for granted, getting mad at him and snapping at him, while yours…” God, I even felt awful for bringing the topic up at all.
When I cringed at him, he shook his head. “I don’t think you’re awful. I got pissed at Duke constantly, and I knew he was dying. Anger’s an honest emotion, and it never comes at an appropriate time. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Gah, this man was too understanding. Seriously, how did he know how to say just the right thing?
Blinking at him in awe, I blurted, “I absolutely cannot believe you’re Duke’s brother.” Then I realized what I had said and cried, “Sorry! Oh my God, please ignore me.”
He smiled. “It’s fine, honestly. I get it. We were always like night and day. He was the fun, jokester, party animal, and I was, you know, the boring, responsible one.”
“You’re not boring,” I instantly argued, only to feel my cheeks heat when I realized I didn’t know him well enough to determine that yet, and he hadn’t done anything to convince me he wasn’t.
I’d only said as much because the way his presence affected me had never been boring.
My blood seemed to surge with this uncanny awareness whenever he was around. My heart always beat a little faster, my skin tingled in the most private places, and my body went into a state of hyper-sensitivity.
Nothing about that was boring.
Vaughn glanced at me with a slight frown, probably also wondering why I claimed to be such an authority on the subject, and his gaze skimmed my face before his lips parted in surprise.
Dammit, my blush was giving me away, wasn’t it?
God, this was embarrassing. He had to know how attracted I was to him now.
“I mean…” I flailed out a hand because I actually had no idea what I meant. But I definitely needed to talk my way out of this mortifying moment. Except no words were coming, and Vaughn was still looking at me with those brown, brown eyes, awaiting an explanation.
My doorbell rang.
“Oh, thank God,” I breathed, not even caring if he heard me or not. “I should get that.”
I sprang from the daybed and hurried from the room, eager for anything to save me from this moment.
13
LUCY OLIVIA
I found Pick and Eva at the door.
“Hey, baby girl.” Eva swept inside, pulling me into an immediate hug. “Sorry, we didn’t make it to the hospital to visit. I told Pick we needed to come home early.”
“No worries,” I assured. “It got a little too crowded in my room, anyway. The nurses had to yell at us a few times to keep it down.”
“Which is exactly what I said would happen,” Pick announced as he came in behind his wife, touching my back as he did. Then he added, “And who do we have here?” in a curious voice.
I pulled away from Eva and turned to find Vaughn pausing in the opening of the hallway with Ava Grace in his arms, eyeing my new company warily.
“Oh. This is Vaughn Merrill,” I started.
Only for Pick to snap his fingers. “The uncle, right?”
“Right,” I answered while Eva tipped her head as she studied him.
“But weren’t you just here yesterday?” she finally asked.
