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“He’s my boss!” she all but shouts. “This case…”
I shake my head, ready to make a few points, when my phone dings again with a text. Damn, it was nearly dead an hour ago. How is it still hanging on?
I grab it out of my pocket.
Chance. Again.
I ignore it.
I’ll be home shortly, and I’m looking forward to one of his days of hard labor. I’ll need it to work off the tension I’m feeling. The anger. Damn, I’m pissed. I’m pissed at this gorgeous woman who I thought might be different.
In the end, they’re all shallow. Lesson learned. I won’t be fooled twice.
“Please, Miles.”
“I have to go.”
“Will you call me?”
I don’t turn to meet her gaze. I don’t because I know if I do, I’ll forgive her, grab her, kiss her senseless. She doesn’t know about my past, that my role model for relationships is shit. I just expected her to be all in. Or at least all in about me.
I can’t give her an answer. Not until I’ve had a chance to think about everything.
So I leave.
I leave, and I close the door behind me.
I don’t offerany explanation to Chance or Austin about where I was, and they don’t ask, which surprises me. After a day of muscle-grinding work—loading hay bales into a loft is hard as fuck—I shower and meet my brothers out on the deck for a well-earned cold one.
I want to go for a ride and clear my head, but a storm’s coming in, the clouds moving fast from the west.
Carly joins us and Austin tugs her onto his lap. She’s drinking diet soda instead of beer.
“Don’t like beer, Carly?” I ask.
She shrugs and settles into Austin’s hold. “It’s okay. I just don’t feel like one.”
“So…do you live here now?”
Sure, I’m being blunt, but that’s me.
“You got a problem with that?” Austin eyes me.
I take a long drink of the cold brew and then I shake my head. “Nope. Sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Of course you’re welcome here.”
She smiles. “I know that. Are you okay?”
I draw in a breath. What a fucking loaded question. I take another sip. Then, “Yeah. Fine.”
“Don’t pull that shit,” Austin says, after a swallow. “We haven’t been brothers for long, but I can tell when something’s bothering you.”
“I’m guessing it has something to do with where he spent the night.” From Chance.
“Leave him alone,” Carly says. “It’s none of your business. You both sound like my dad.”
That gets a laugh out of Austin and a chuckle out of Chance.
“I will be moving in,” Carly continues. “Austin and I have discussed it, and though my parents aren’t thrilled, they finally accept that I’m an adult and it’s my decision.”
