The doorbell rang, and I took another sip of my wine, walking over to the front door to let Macon in.
But when I opened it, it wasn’t Macon.
No, it was him.
“Hey, there,” Nate said, sticking his hands into his pockets. “I was over mooching dinner when Dakota said that she needed this ASAP for Joshua’s class. So, I figured I’d pick it up for her as payment for the meal.”
“Oh. I didn’t know it’d be you.”
His gaze raked over me, and I ignored the answering chill.
Why couldn’t Brian do that for me? Why hadn’t a single look from my date given me any type of feeling like Nate gave me now?
And the shudder wasn’t revulsion. It should be. But, no, he made me feel sexy, like a woman. As if I were wanted.
And I hated him for it.
“Here you go,” I said, handing over the Tupperware. “Tell Dakota I’m sorry for keeping it so long.”
“She said she left it. It wasn’t like you were holding it hostage.” He paused and then cleared his throat. “How was your date?”
I narrowed my eyes at him and then did my best to count to ten. We had a truce, after all. “It was fine. I’m home now. But you never know about date two.”
He raised a single brow. “Sounds like fun.”
“Anyway, thanks for picking this up for her. I’m about to chug the rest of this wine, so driving probably wouldn’t have been a good idea.”
“That bad, huh?”
“I’m not going to talk about my date with you, Nate.” For multiple reasons.
“Understood. I don’t think it’s a good idea either. I am sorry it didn’t go well, though. And I’m only guessing it didn’t because of the wine.”
I didn’t know why he had added that part, but for some reason, I was grateful he had. Maybe the wine was getting to me. We stood there staring at each other awkwardly for a few minutes until he cleared his throat.
“Anyway, I should get this back to her. You look good, Myra.”
Surprised, I nearly took a step back. “Oh. Thank you. I tried.”
“You never really have to,” he whispered. His voice was so low, I wasn’t even sure I had heard him. But when he turned on his heel and walked away, I could only stand there blinking, wondering if maybe it was the wine.
Because Nate couldn’t have said that.
Did I want him to?
Chapter 4
Nate
I rubbed my temples and then opened another browser to search a word. I loved my job, I did, but there were only so many days I could spend staring at a screen without wanting to scratch my eyes out. I was a freelance copywriter, but I still had a boss for part of my work because a big publisher employed me. And since I wanted to keep on their payroll because they were my highest paying client, I had to work on this deadline, even if I was past the number of hours they had agreed to.
Though maybe I wasn’t paying attention enough. Perhaps it had nothing to do with the project in front of me. No, it likely had to do with my inability to concentrate on anything but seeing Myra alone, drinking wine while wearing that dress of hers.
It hadn’t showcased as many of her curves or shown as much cleavage as the other dress she had worn, but this one had been a little clingier, made her look a little softer.
And yet, the idea that I knew she had sexy-as-fuck curves under that dress and was hiding it made it even hotter somehow.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
I finished looking up the word and took a few notes. I was done for the day. I put away my work and figured I would wrap it up. I’d have to do a few pages over the weekend, but that was fine. I usually worked, if only for a few hours.
My job paid well, and the settlement I’d gotten from the accident had given me a decent savings account so I didn’t have to worry about my house or my bills. But if I wanted to grow my retirement or pay for medical insurance or have money to go out with my family and friends, I needed to work.
I put away my computer and got up from my chair, rolling my shoulders back. I worked strategically in different places around the house, but never in my bedroom. I remembered my mom saying that I was never allowed to do homework in bed. I always thought it was a weird thing, but she explained that the more we studied or worked in bed, the harder it became to fall asleep because it stopped being our safe place to relax.
I completely understood that now. And while I knew that my sister, Arden, occasionally worked from bed because of her lupus, I tried not to do it. That meant I had comfy chairs with lumbar support in every room, so I never got bored. It was the little things in life. And maybe if I kept thinking about chairs and backaches, I wouldn’t think about Myra and that dress.
She was dating. Hell, I was dating. I had gone out thanks to my brothers, and it wasn’t my fault that the date had ended up being with Myra. So what if she wasn’t the person I had been expecting? That didn’t mean I needed to focus on that. Right?
She was allowed to date whoever she wanted, and I was allowed to do the same with whoever I felt like being with. After all, she had likely been with plenty of men while we were apart.
I grumbled at that thought. But hell, I had been with several women since, too. I’d even had a serious girlfriend since Myra. So, fuck that. I didn’t need to get jealous. Sure, she was hot. She always had been, and she still was. Good for her.
That didn’t mean I had to want her. I was so tangled up in that, I feared I would give myself another headache.
I went to the kitchen and got myself one of my reusable water bottles and chugged a third of it before my doorbell rang. I frowned, looked at the clock, and then went over to open the door.
My family stood on the other side: Arden, Prior, Macon, and Cross. If my parents weren’t living out of state, they probably would have been there, as well.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked dryly as I stepped back, not bothering to invite them in. They would come in on their own anyway. That’s what family did. And I was exactly like them.
“We just wanted to see how you were doing,” Arden said, rising to her tiptoes to kiss my jaw. I hugged her tightly, laying a kiss on the top of her head and making sure my twin went right to the couch to sit down. She’d had a rough go of it last week, and though I knew she was fine and hadn’t been admitted to the hospital for kidney issues, it had come close.
Lupus was no joke, and I hated that she had to deal with her health daily when I didn’t. Yes, I had some issues thanks to the accident, but it was nowhere near my sister’s struggles. She was my twin, and I hated that I couldn’t take her pain away.
“You’re giving me that look again. Stop feeling bad. I’m doing great. You know Liam wouldn’t let me out of the house if I weren’t having a good day.”
I snorted at the thought of my brother-in-law. “You know, you’re right. I kind of like him these days.”
“You’re only saying that because he’s on your side right now. If you were thinking about him and his precious baby sister, you wouldn’t.”
I scowled, and the rest of my brothers started groaning about something or other. “There, I don’t like him anymore.” I laughed.