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I stared at her. “Lumberjack on my ass? What does that even mean?” I held my hand up. “You know what? I don’t want to know.” Now that Phil was my boss, I felt like I needed to draw some boundaries with my sister.
She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Maybe I should get Phil a flannel shirt.”
The most casual clothing I’d ever seen my brother-in-law in was khakis and a polo shirt for golfing. I suspected he would be allergic to flannel. All of his clothes were tailored to fit him perfectly. I couldn’t picture Bennett in a tailored suit. I doubted he even owned one.
Not that it mattered. I highly doubted I’d have an occasion to see him in one, and anyway, I’d be gone before too much longer. Speaking of which, it was time to get back to work. My night with Bennett had been a nice… I didn’t want to call it amistake, because it wasn’t that. No encounter as passionate as ours could ever be considered a mistake.
Temporary distraction. That was what I’d call it. Definitely not a mistake and definitely not a disappointment that he was gone when I woke.
But now I needed to work. While Stephanie was preoccupied, I surveyed my list of local business commission board members to determine who to go see next. I was interrupted by my sister poking me in the side, which was as impossible to ignore as it had been when we were kids.
Sighing, I put down my legal pad. “Yes?”
“So, where did you leave things?”
“What do you mean?” I was playing dumb in the hopes that she would get the hint and leave it alone. But I knew my sister, which meant I should have known better.
“With Bennett. Is he coming over again? Or are you going to his place? Or do I need to make solo dinner plans?” She wiggled her eyebrows.
“We didn’t leave things anywhere.”
She nodded. “It’s too soon to havethe talk.”
“He’d have to be here for us to talk,” I muttered, finally admitting to myself that I was completely perturbed and hurt that he’d bailed on me. Ignoring my feelings about the situation would only make them worse.
“What was that?” Stephanie asked, tucking her hair behind her ear and leaning toward me.
“He didn’t say goodbye. He just left.” I hated the despondent pitch of my voice. It made me sound like a jilted lover.
My sister gaped at me. “A wham, bam, not-even-a-thank-you, ma’am?”
Is that accurate?I’d never had a man walk out on me the morning after, so I was having trouble coming to terms with it.
“Yes… well, no, not exactly.” I thought of how tender Bennett had been, of how he’d paid attention to every inch of my skin, and of the tormented conflict in his eyes when he’d showed up. He’d been a Montague coming to see a Capulet.
My sister’s description implied that the encounter had been cheap, which wasn’t at all true. Still, he’d slipped out in the dark of morning, before the sun rose. That was a fact.
Steph held her hands up. “If you want me to help you, you’ve got to give me more than that.”
“I don’t want you to help me,” I snapped, and she flinched. I sighed. “Sorry. I want to work. I don’t want to talk about Bennett.”
She picked up her coffee. “Which is exactly why you need to talk about him,” she said under her breath. “But whatever. I’m just your happily married sister. What do I know?”
A moment before, she’d been mypoormarried sister. She was the queen of altering the narrative to suit her needs.
“You’ll be the first person I talk to when I’m ready.”Which will be never.
She stood and stretched. “There’s beach yoga this afternoon. Are you in?”
“I need to work.” I reached for my laptop.
“Fine,” she grumbled.
As she walked past the front door on the way to the stairs, a knock sounded. Her gaze met mine, and her brows rose in a question. She backtracked a few steps and peered through the peephole. Then she threw open the door with a broad grin.
She cocked her hip and put a hand on her waist. “Bennett! What a surprise to see you here! I never would have expected you to show up this morning, of all mornings. Did you sleep well?”
Jesus.I scrambled to my feet before Stephanie could say anything further. I could only imagine the damage she would do if I’d given her details to use as ammo.
