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“Casual. Got it.”
“We’ll talk on Monday.” He’d have to get up at a stupid hour to make sure they had a plan on Monday morning, but he’d do it. “Now go enjoy your evening. Or what’s left of it.” He said goodbye and hung up the call, slumping in his chair.
It was two o’clock in West Virginia. Which meant it was seven o’clock in London, and there was another layer of guilt, that the people he employed were working on a Saturday evening because he’d come back home.
He’d spent the morning catching up on all the emails he’d been sent yesterday while he’d been traveling. And there was a huge ass pile of shit to deal with before Monday. He knew it would be harder to do his job from across the Atlantic, but what choice did he have?
You could have stayed in London.
Yeah, he could. And then he’d be feeling guilty there, too. It was a lose-lose situation.
Even without the whole Grace debacle.
He’d thought about her last night, when the jetlag stopped him from sleeping. Remembered the way she’d looked at him in her hallway when he’d asked her if she was okay. All doe-eyed and soft. He’d wanted to taste those lips, feel her breath against him, make her sigh the way she’d sighed that night a year ago.
But she’s not yours.
Yeah, and it needed to stay that way. She’d agreed to avoid him and that was good, wasn’t it?
Because no one knew what type of shitshow would ensue if her parents found out about their night in New York. That he’d buried himself inside of her until they were both breathless and sweaty. That he’d held her all night and thought it was just the beginning.
This needed to stop. She was way too young and his life was complicated enough. He was here for his mom, nothing else.
“Hey bro?”
His door opened and Josh was standing in the gap. His brother had arrived earlier that day and Michael had been so happy to see the kid – though he wasn’t a kid anymore. He was grown up with a fiancé and a house in Charleston.
“Everybody’s arriving,” Josh told him. “Mom wanted me to get you.”
He nodded. “Cool. I’ll be down in just a minute.” He’d been up since the ass of dawn helping Cam set everything up. Tenderizing steaks, making burgers, carrying in cases of beer.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” Michael gave him a wry smile. “Just work stuff.”
Josh gave him an understanding look. He worked for a tech company in Charleston. “I know that feeling. Anything I can help with?”
It was still funny seeing how grown up his brother was. “No. It’s all good.”
“Excellent.” Josh lifted a brow. “Mom’s gone all gaga about having her ‘babies in one place’. She wants a photo of us all later.”
“Can’t wait,” Michael said dryly, his eyes catching Josh’s. But they’d do it for her because she wasn’t well and they wanted to make her happy.
“I’m glad you’re home,” Josh said.
“Yeah, me, too.” Michael winked at him.
And it was only a bit of a lie.
* * *
“You get a beer,” Hendrix said, passing a bottle to Grace. “And you get a beer,” he said, giving the next one to her brother, Scott. She lifted a brow at him – he was too young and he knew it, but he just shrugged and took a mouthful before she could stop him.
“What the hell. EVERYBODY gets a beer!” Hendrix started throwing them out at all the cousins. And there were a lot of them.
So many she was losing count. Hendrix was as handsome as his older brothers, but according to gossip he was more dangerous with the ladies. Luckily, all the ladies here were related to him and rolled their eyes at his antics.
He threw another bottle, and Sabrina caught it, grinning.
