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He nodded and glanced down at his phone. “Yeah, I guess so.” He wasn’t a guy who spent a lot of time staring at his phone, but he spoke again without looking up. “Couldn’t we avoid spying on people and just ask Ada or Sam directly?”
I ignored his question because he was giving off a weird vibe. “Why are you being weird?”
“Says the woman who refuses to turn on her heat.” He held up the blanket for me again. “Will you get under here? You’re clearly cold.”
“I don’t think we should snuggle on the couch. Your girlfriend would hate it, even though nothing is happening.”
He looked away again. “She won’t care.”
“She hates me. She would definitely care.”
“She doesn’t hate you. And it doesn’t matter if she does. You’re my friend.” He reached for my ankle, tugging my leg toward him and under the blanket.
The space under it was warm through my socks and I let him pull my other foot under the blanket, resting his palms over my toes while I kept my perch on the arm. “It matters because you love her and I’m your friend, because I respect boundaries, a few of them, anyway.”
Silas was looking down at where my feet had disappeared under the blanket, and I appreciated not seeing his reaction. He always looked so conflicted when it came to me and Erin, and I worried I hadn’t made enough effort to get along with his girlfriend.
“Anyway,” I said, wiggling my toes under the blanket. “I’m glad you have her.”
“Teag,” he said, looking up, his brown eyes flashing.
“I know. I know. Just let me say this, okay? No veto.”
“You already played your no-veto card for the year.”
“Yeah,” I said, rubbing my arms through the sweatshirt material. “But don’t you think I should get two?”
He rolled his eyes but held his arm out in the “carry on” motion. “Why are you glad I have her?”
“She makes you happy and I like you to be happy. It’s good you have someone besides me.” I pushed my hands between my thighs to warm them and I wondered if it might be time to cave on my cost-saving measure of keeping the heat off. “And you being with her made it impossible to ever... slip up, like we did before you left all those years ago.”
He gave me a very Silas look, so I knew he had something to say but also wasn’t going to say it out loud.
“Which is a good thing,” I reassured him. “When it was bad between us, and then awkward... that was hell. I don’t ever want that to happen again.”
He finally spoke, holding up the blanket and tugging on my leg. “Will you get under this damn thing? You’re freezing. Stop being so stubborn.”
Silas was warm and the blanket was warm and even though on a few levels, I knew I shouldn’t, I slid under the fabric and his arm fell back around my shoulders.
“Happy now?” I asked, ignoring the warm sensation moving through my body that had nothing to do with the blanket.
He didn’t answer immediately, but his arm over my shoulder tensed. “For the record, that would never happen again, us being awkward and weird together. Even if we were both single.”
“But it could. What if you got drunk enough to think I was attractive or you wore those suspenders I think are so weirdly sexy?”
“They were my grandfather’s and I only put them on as a joke.” His body jostled with his low chuckle and I smiled. “And I wouldn’t have to be drunk to know you’re beautiful.”
I ignored his words and the flutter I felt in my chest at hearing them. “But since you have Erin, it doesn’t matter. We won’t slip up and ruin everything.”
When I glanced over, he was staring at a spot on the blanket, jaw set.
I nudged his side with my elbow. “You should probably get going. I’m sure you want to shower before she gets to your place, and I want this blanket all to myself. I’ve decided I’m not giving that back either.”
I thought he’d laugh, but he gave me another Silas look before finally nodding.
