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Before I could answer, however, Lucy’s brother had to add, “And you strike me as a man who needs a new grill. Well, Lucy’s got one in her backyard that’s never once been used.”
I lifted one eyebrow in interest. “Gas or charcoal?”
He grinned knowingly, very aware of the type of grill I preferred. “Charcoal all the way, baby.”
I heaved out a breath. “Alright, then,” I agreed. “You have yourself a deal.”
20
LUCY OLIVIA
I’d been pacing my house and checking the time every few seconds for the last two hours when my phone finally dinged with an incoming message.
“About freaking time,” I muttered, crawling two feet across the floor from where I’d been lying next to Ava, while she had some tummy time, to the coffee table where I’d set my phone down.
Proud of myself because I hadn’t called my brother and demanded an update yet, after he left my place, promising to stop by Vaughn’s on the way home and check in, I snagged the device and muttered, “Yes!” when I saw it was from him, only to frown immediately afterward when I noticed it was a group-chat message.
“What the hell?”
Glancing toward my baby and hoping she hadn’t noticed my language, I grinned when I saw her watching me with solemn brown eyes and gnawing relentlessly on a chew toy.
“Hey!” I cried, tickling her belly. “You rolled over on me.” She’d only started doing that yesterday. But once she’d gotten the hang of it, I couldn’t keep her on her stomach. “You’re supposed to be practicing lifting your head from the blanket, you little rascal.”
In answer, Ava lifted her feet instead, showing me how she could nearly tickle her chest with her toes, and she lowered her chew toy enough to grin at me with gummy adoration.
Grinning was another recent accomplishment of hers. And it melted my heart every time she did it.
“Ack, I just can’t scold you when you’re being so freaking cute. No, I can’t.”
I started to kiss her all over the face when my phone dinged again, shortly followed by another.
“Oh, right,” I gasped, sitting upright and refocusing on the screen to read Beau’s group message.
BEAU: Moving Party! Found a tenant for L’s garage. Bring boxes, tape, food, and other moving shit to address below.
I blinked, more confused than ever. Because why the hell was he off, finding a tenant I fully intended to find on my own, after I had specifically asked him to check in on Vaughn? And if he’d already stopped by Vaughn’s house, why the hell hadn’t he contacted me yet to report how Ava’s other uncle was doing?
I’d been dying over here all morning, waiting for his call.
It felt like I’d been restless and waiting for the past month or so since he’d walked out the front door after that kiss.
A kiss which I was henceforth never going to think about again because it never should’ve happened in the first place. I mean, Vaughn was Duke’s brother. He was Ava’s uncle. There was no way a relationship between us could go anywhere.
And obviously, he felt the same way since, you know, he’d stayed away since our make-out session.
Sure, it did my heart good to know I hadn’t been the only one of the two of us who’d been feeling the chemistry and attraction, but yeah…
Aside from that nice little reassurance, it was still all wrong to want him and entertain the idea of more.
Idly glancing at the group chat still in my hand, I blinked when I realized the address Beau had provided seemed strangely familiar.
I furrowed my brow as more messages popped up.
LUKE: Just who is this tenant, anyway? Anyone I know?
FOX: I’ve got a dolly. Do we need a dolly?
BEAU: It’s Vaughn. Ava’s other uncle. And yes, we definitely need a dolly. Trucks for moving too.
