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“Why don’t you take your lunch, Casey? You’re due for one.” She looked at Brent. “She’s doing great. I can tell she’s going to fit in well here.”
I flushed at her compliment and looked back down at Brent, who looked proud of me, making my cheeks warm even more. “I’ll get our drinks before I sit down. Do you know what you want?”
After he gave me his order, I walked away, feeling the weight of his stare following me. It was overwhelming, but I couldn’t deny how exciting it was to have the attention of such a handsome man.
As I was getting our drinks, Mandy walked up, grabbing a coffee cup. “That man,” she sighed dramatically. “What I wouldn’t give to be in the middle of that sandwich.”
I looked at her, startled. “What do you mean?”
She laughed as she poured coffee. “Those guys were seniors when I was a freshman. Every girl in school wished they would be the one to turn either one of them straight. But we could all see they were committed to each other. Then we started dreaming of being the filling between them.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see Brent still watching me. “Between them?”
She giggled. “Oh yeah. Any girl would have been happy to be the peanut butter to their sandwich. The meatball to their sub.” She looked at me with a grin. “The cheese in their quesadilla.”
My cheeks flamed. Yeah, I knew exactly what she was talking about. “They, umm, they never… experimented? With girls?”
“Nope. What a pity, right?” She sighed wistfully and then sashayed over to her table with the cup of coffee.
I picked up our glasses and turned back to the table to see Grace chatting with Brent. After what Mandy had said, I didn’t know if I was happy that they hadn’t brought in a girl to share between them or disappointed that it wasn’t their thing.
I set our glasses down and started to sit across from him as he and Grace chatted, but I felt a tug on my hand and found myself being pulled into the seat next to Brent. So close I was plastered against his side, his arm against the back of the seat, resting against my shoulders.
“Umm…”
“Sit here, dollface. Ethan said he was going to try to make it to lunch again today.”
“Oh, okay.” I looked up at Grace, biting my lip, wondering how it looked to see me sitting cozied up to her son’s almost-husband. She was beaming down at us, not looking the least bit bothered by the display.
“What do you want for lunch, Casey?”
“The special looked really good.” Seeing the open-faced turkey sandwiches coming out of the kitchen for the last hour had worked up my appetite. They looked delicious and smelled even better. I had found out when I arrived that morning that the cook, Mark, was Ethan’s dad and Grace’s husband. While we were busy most of the time, Grace had taken a lull in customers to give me the history of the diner that they had purchased several years ago. They had made it a success and never looked back.
Ethan’s dad looked like an older version of Ethan, tall and lankier, but just as handsome, with the same golden honey eyes that were kind. He welcomed me warmly, the lines around his mouth and eyes crinkling as he smiled broadly and gave me a bear hug that nearly broke my ribs until Grace chastised him. She pulled me away, warning that Ethan and Brent wouldn’t be happy if he broke me. I knew she didn’t mean it the way my thudding heart took it, but I still allowed myself to pretend that the guys cared about me as more than just a stray they picked up.
They were such good guys. I could see that now. There were no more doubts in my mind that they were trustworthy and that I felt comfortable with them. I would have to constantly remind myself that my fantasies were just that–fantasies. They didn’t actually feel the same way about me as I did about them.
Grace left to go give our orders to Mark. I looked over at Brent to find his eyes trained on me, looking serious. “How is it going, really?” His concern was heartwarming, and I had to ignore the new round of butterflies bouncing around in my belly.
“I’ve been pretty nervous,” I confessed. “I’m so afraid of screwing up. So far, it’s been good, though.” I giggled. “Except for when I thought I broke the soda machine.” I looked back into his eyes, softened after their brief moment of concern. “Turns out it just ran out of syrup. Who knew?”
He chuckled along with me and squeezed my shoulder. “Grace loves you. You could probably drop ten plates, and she wouldn’t even get mad.”
I shuddered at the thought. “Well, I like her, too. But I don’t want to drop any plates.”
A warm mouth brushed a kiss against my cheek, and I inhaled quickly, realizing that Ethan had arrived. I didn’t know how I missed the bells, except maybe I had been so wrapped up in the warmth of Brent’s presence that I had blocked out everything surrounding us.
I looked up at him to see his gaze on me, his eyes full of warmth. Then he looked over to Brent before leaning over me. My breath caught in my throat as their lips met an inch from my face. They were so close that if I leaned forward just the tiniest fraction, I would have been a part of their kiss.
It was brief, just a press of lips, but a buzzing went through me, heading straight for my traitorous vagina. As they pulled away from each other, my eyes stayed glued to their lips, first Brent’s, then Ethan’s. He straightened back up, and I watched as he took his seat, a small smile playing across those lips I couldn’t tear my gaze from.
It wasn’t until Brent leaned in close to whisper into my ear that I finally took a shaky breath.
“Breathe.”
Twelve
ETHAN
