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His frown deepened. “They wouldn’t truly be presents from me if you picked them, would they?”
“Yes. If, as I just covered, you refunded me. It’s no different from me telling you what I might like and you then go ordering it online or whatever. I’d—”
Knuckles wrapped on the front door.
With a surprised blink, I asked, “Are you expecting anyone?”
Pursing his lips, he shook his head.
Huh. I turned and opened the door. My jaw dropped as I found Brooks standing on the other side of it. Feeling my face split into a gigantic smile, I threw my arm around him. “Oh my God, why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
Laughing, he hugged me tight. “I wanted to surprise you.”
Well, he’d succeeded. I pulled back, gripped his arm, and then all but dragged him inside. “It’s so great to see you! Wait, how did you even know where Dax and I live?”
“A lot of people do, Addie. It wasn’t hard to find out.” He turned to Dax and held out his hand. “How you doing?”
His mouth curling, Dax shook his hand. “Aside from being annoyed by you having your hands all over my wife, fine,” he playfully replied, wrenching another laugh out of Brooks.
“You came here alone, then?” I asked as he closed the door.
“Yeah, Brittany and Manti couldn’t make it,” he said with a wrinkle of his nose, referring to his partners. “Her family showed up at our home in Africa, so she couldn’t just leave. We decided that Manti would stay with her. I’ll only be in Redwater for a few days, but I had to come see you guys.”
“I’m so psyched you did.” He’d been a friend of mine for over a decade, and I’d missed him something fierce. “Let me go stash these bags and then we’ll order food.”
The next few hours were spent laughing, eating, ribbing, drinking, and catching up as we sat together on the patio area. Though Dax wasn’t quite as open and relaxed with Brooks as he was with his closest friends, the two had a good dynamic. And it was clear to see that he held Brooks in high regard.
At one point, Dax’s phone rang. Grumbling that he needed to take the call, he retreated inside. I stayed outside with Brooks.
Watching me from the seat directly opposite mine, he grinned. “You look happy.”
I felt my mouth curl. “I am.”
“No, I mean you lookhappy,happy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this chilled and content.” Brooks cast a brief look at the patio door. “If you don’t love him yet,” he added, lowering his voice, “you’re well on your way to it.”
Going very still, I automatically opened my mouth to object, uncomfortable admitting he was right.
Brooks granted me a firm look. “Don’t go denying it, Addie, you’d be wasting your time. I know you too well for you to fool me about something like this.”
Ugh, hesodid. Feeling my shoulders sag in defeat, I exhaled heavily. “It turns out that Dax is easy to care for,” I said, keeping my own voice equally as low. “You could have warned me of that before I married him. I’d have jotted it down on my cons column.”
His lips quirked. “Then I’m glad I didn’t, because you otherwise might not have walked down the aisle with him.”
Honestly, just the thought that I could have made a different decision—that I wouldn’t be where I was now, wouldn’t feel as I did now, wouldn’t have Dax in any way, shape, or form—took my breath away.
Brooks’ expression sobered. “He cares for you, too, you know. I can’t say how much—Dax’s emotions are never easy to sense. But it’s obvious by the way he treats you that you matter to him.”
I gave a slow nod. “Yeah, he openly said something to that effect to Grayden.” The memory warmed my blood and made it easy for me to breathe again.
Brooks frowned. “Grayden?”
“He acted like a bit of an ass.” I relayed what went down in Dax’s office, though I omitted the part where Mimi had a thing for him and simply said she didn’t like that he’d moved on. “It was quite intense.”
“Grayden must have been pissed,” said Brooks with an amused snicker. “Dax sure didn’t make any attempt to hide how possessive he feels, did he? I like that. And I like that he openly admitted it isn’t the only thing he feels for you. I’m glad honoring the pact worked out for you both.” He raked his teeth over his lower lip. “I was worried about you. Worried you’d both regret your decision but stay together anyway because neither of you like to give up on things.”
“I feel no regrets. There was never a moment where I did.”
Brooks cocked his head. “And will you still have zero regrets if you do grow to love him but it transpires that he’ll never love you back? I’m not saying that’ll come to pass, by the way. In fact, I’m hopeful that it won’t. I’m just playing Devil’s Advocate.”
