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“Ohhh.” Man, I was dense.
“I can’t really tell her not to come…”
“No, you definitely can’t, and a hotel is out of the question. How long will she stay for?”
“Only a few days. I’ll take her to Raleigh to visit our mom, hang out for a bit, and that’ll be that.”
“It’s okay. I’m sure we can handle it for a few days.”
“Thanks. I’ll let her know.”
CHAPTER25
Dante
Stef arrived on Lucy’s doorstep two days later, stomping the snow off her boots and barreling inside, throwing her arms around me before she’d even taken off her coat.
“Oh my god, I’m so fucking excited!”
“Sshh, Lucy’s working.”
“Oh, sorry.” She dropped her voice to a whisper, which wasn’t much quieter than her normal speaking voice.
The office door swung open and Lucy stepped out, looking adorable in gray sweats and a hoodie, with her hair piled high on her head. “It’s okay, I was just about to take a break. Oof!” She took a half step back, bracing herself as Stef gave her a big hug.
“I am beyond excited! I can’t wait to be a zia.And I love that you’ve finally tamed my brother.” She punched my arm. “Marriage and babies, hey, Dante? Who would have thunk it? It’s so good to see you again, Luce. Thanks so much for letting me stay. Where should I put my stuff?”
Blinking in confusion, clearly struggling to keep up, Lucy said, “Um, the last door on the right, end of the hall.”
“Great. Thanks.” Moments later, Stef bounced back out. “Is it okay if I make coffee? The trip was brutal.”
“Oh, sure, of course.” Lucy still seemed to be reeling.
“I’ll make it,” I volunteered.
Stef beamed at me. “Thanks!” She followed me into the kitchen and dropped into a dining chair. “So, I’m dying to hear how all of this came about. Do you wanna fill me in, Lucy? Men are terrible at remembering all the facts and I want to knoweverything—” Holding up her hand, her eyes dancing, she said, “Well, not everything, just the G rated stuff. Ya know.”
Lucy sank into another dining chair, looking more than a little overwhelmed. “Well, we hadn’t seen each other for ten years, of course, then we bumped into each other in Seattle.”
“Seattle?”
I felt Stef’s eyes boring into me, but I kept my back to her.
“Seattle, yes.” Lucy’s confusion was evident. “We hung out that weekend when you were away.”
“Funny, bro, you never said.”
Yeah, because I had no idea what that weekend would lead to, and just wanted to keep it to myself.
I shrugged as I handed her a mug of coffee. “It was none of your business.”
“None of my business? My brother had just met the love of his life and was about to get married and it was none of my business?” She was looking at me through narrowed eyes and it was at that exact moment that I realized letting her stay had been a bad idea. A very, very bad idea.
“At the time, I didn’t know where I was going to be stationed or how we were going to make it work, so there wasn’t much to tell.”
“Riiight, makes sense,” she replied, her skepticism so thick I could almost see it.
I made Lucy’s tea, grabbed her favorite cookies from the shelf, and brought everything to the table. Sitting down, I handed her my coffee mug. She held it to her nose, closed her eyes and inhaled rapturously. A blissful expression came over her face that had my dick stirring, but I ignored it, smiling at her when she handed the mug back to me.
