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“Interesting. What else do you remember about me?” she challenged.
“You love cake, sushi, kids, coffee, white wine, your family, and helping people. You prefer thriller movies over rom-coms and have had only one serious boyfriend.” He retrieved two wine glasses and opened the bottle. “You’re not sure if you’ve ever been in love, and you’ve been waiting for me to sweep you off your feet.” Handing her a glass of the wine, he clinked his rim with hers.
All humor was gone. He wasn’t far off. She had always felt like she was in a holding pattern. When his friendship with Parker ended, she couldn’t help but wonder if she had meant anything to Conner. And she could never seem to forget him.
“To us.” He sipped his wine and then kissed her briefly. “Now, we don’t eat unless we can pull off these sushi rolls, and the directions say we need to wrap them really tight.”
She was surprised to see how serious he was about making their own sushi and a little disappointed he didn’t just take her right back to his bedroom. Maybe he wasn’t sure what she was up for, or maybe he thought they needed to get to know each other better first.
Handing her a flat sheet of seaweed, he placed a sushi making placemat in front of them at the counter and read aloud.
“First step, we add the ingredients we want evenly. Do you want to make the salmon roll or the shrimp tempura?”
He concentrated on adding a layer of rice and several pieces of salmon before trying to roll the little grains of rice in the thin bamboo matt. But his large hands had trouble getting a good grip, and she started laughing.
“What’s so funny? Don’t tell me you’re allergic to fish. I know for a fact you always ate all my shrimp rolls. Even when I double ordered, I barely got one.”
“Oh my gosh, I didn’t know you ordered those. I thought my brother ordered them for me because he knew I didn’t like pizza.”
“We’ve established that your brother doesn’t pay attention to the details. I was the one to make sure we had things you liked in the apartment.”
They each continued to attempt to roll their sushi. Was it really possible she had missed all the signs that Conner Maguire had been into her? Her brother always had her favorite coconut water, fresh fruit, sushi, and her weakness, cake. Could he really have been the one restocking those?
“I thought I was just the annoying younger sister.”
“You were the alluring, tempting, off-limits, younger sister of my best friend of fifteen years. It was your freshman year of college and you were just getting a taste of some freedom.”
“So you were interested in me but didn’t want to upset my brother?”
His hands hovered over the mess of his first sushi roll, and his eyes met hers.
“Yes, and I didn’t think we could withstand a long-distance relationship. You needed to experience the freedom of college without your brother or a protective boyfriend to answer to.”
“I’m just surprised to learn after all these years that gorgeous Conner Maguire was pining away for me when I spent years just wanting you to kiss me.”
“Meanwhile, I spent years resisting the urge to kiss you. But we don’t have to play that game anymore. We can be together if we want to.”
“Sort of.” She exhaled the breath she was holding.
“We don’t need anyone’s permission but I understand you don’t want to lose your relationship with your brother, and I don’t want you to, either. I’m working on that.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m tracking down Mariah Gordon, and I’m going to do what I should have done before.”
“Which is?”
“I’m going to get her to admit she lied and explain why.”
Shaking her head, Hannah wiped her hands on a towel sitting beside her.
“You’re assuming she cares to clear this up, but she has no reason to tell the truth now and make herself look terrible.”
“You’re right, but don’t underestimate my ability to get people to tell the truth. Just look at you. It didn’t take you long to admit you’ve been wanting me since puberty.”
She elbowed him in the side, and he feigned injury.
“Alright, next step. Somehow, we slice these.”
