Wyatt gives me a hard look. Jo walks in carrying a gigantic board bearing too many different foods to count. Meats, cheeses, tiny pickles, dried fruits and nuts, and other things I can’t even name.
Derrick and Andrea, Wes’s friends from high school, walk in behind Jo. Dakota makes introductions with Tenley, and I watch both of them try not to lose their shit over meeting her. Tenley pretends not to notice their stammering. Her lips curve into a trained smile, much like the one she gave Jo when we walked in.
Dakota orders us to sit. Tenley motions for me to sit beside her, and I try not to let it show how happy this makes me. Dish after dish arrives at the table. Dakota keeps ordering, and I quickly realize some of what’s coming out isn’t even on the menu. I switch from Wes’s IPA to wine and ignore his dirty look. It’s a wine bar, for Christ’s sake.
Tenley sparkles, as if a thousand diamonds live inside her. She is witty, sharp with her comebacks when Wyatt displays the chip wedged in his shoulder blades, and dry with her responses to Wes when his gruff sarcasm comes out. My brothers love her. Far more than they ever cared for Anna, and they aren’t trying to hide it at all. It has nothing to do with her being a famous actress, either, because neither of my brothers give a shit about fame. Doesn’t matter how pretty your outside is when you’re rotten inside. That’s what our grandma used to say.
Tenley laughs, a big belly laugh, at something Dakota said. I miss the joke entirely. I’m too busy sitting in the ambient glow of Tenley, soaking up her goodness.
Dessert wine appears on the table, but I decline. “Driving,” I remind Tenley, pointing a finger back at myself. A grin slips out the side of her mouth. Her eyes are glossy, her motions fluid. The wine has loosened her movements.
Wyatt reaches under his seat and stands. His gaze zeroes in on Tenley as he thrusts a small white box in her direction. “I got you something.”
I bristle. Isn’t it enough Wyatt has Tenley sleeping in his bed? While I’m three hundred yards away thinking about her lying between my little brother’s sheets.
Tenley takes the cube-shaped box. She glances at Wyatt as she lifts the lid, reluctant. She, like me, has no idea what could be inside. Because of this, she leans her body back, angling the box away so nobody can peek. Her eyes widen, and she quickly puts the lid back on the box.
She stares at Wyatt, who’s sitting across the table looking way too pleased. “How?” She’s astonished, and the rest of us are clueless.
Wyatt shrugs as if it’s no big deal, but the asshole can’t seem to wipe the satisfied smirk from his face. “It wasn’t hard to track down, once you learn people’s motivations.”
Her lip curls up in disgust. “Were they being sold?”
His answering nod is tiny. Tenley groans.
“Fucking Christ,” Wes complains, raking a hand down his face. “Tell us what the fuck is in that box.”
Thank God someone besides me said it. I’d look like a jealous asshole if it’d come from my mouth. Wes just looks like a regular asshole.
Tenley glances around the table, lips twisting. To Andrea, Derrick, and Jo, she says, “I’ve been staying at the Hayden ranch because someone broke into the house the studio rented for me. They only stole one thing, and Wyatt somehow managed to get it back.” She runs a finger over the box now sitting in front of her on the table.
Her underwear. Inside that box are her underwear. Touched by my brother, because they didn’t grow legs and climb in by themselves. Wyatt and I have been in plenty of fights over the years, but I’ve never wanted to snap off his fingers more than in this moment.
“And that would be?” Wes motions with a cupped hand that bounces through the air like a rock skipping the water’s surface.
“My underwear.”
Jo, Dakota, and Andrea gasp. Wes’s eyebrows scrunch together, and I know he’s already trying to work out who the hell took them. Derrick’s head shakes, and he shares a can you believe that? look with Andrea.
Wes adjusts the way he’s sitting in his chair, threads an arm over Dakota’s shoulders, and asks Wyatt, “Do I want to know how you retrieved those?” He sounds proud, which isn’t surprising. Protecting people is a cornerstone of Wes’s personality.
Wyatt leans back in his chair. I can’t see it, but I’d imagine the front two chair legs are off the ground. “Probably not.” Wyatt looks at Tenley. “Let’s just say that from now on, you shouldn’t have any reason to hide out on the ranch. Nobody in Sierra Grande is going to fuck with you.”
“Thank you,” Tenley says quietly to Wyatt. She melts back into her seat, the box placed in front of her like it could be the next course. She sips her wine. Leaning over, I capture Tenley’s hand under the table. Her fingers flutter at my touch. She is warm, her skin buttery soft.
My fingertip traces the top of her hand. Topples off her thumb as it passes by. Glides across the spot where it landed. Her thigh. Her muscles constrict. She turns to me.
“Do friends do this, Warner?” The question rides on the low side of a whisper, and if I weren’t watching her lips move, I may not have heard it at all.
“Some do sometimes, others not at all.”
Her lips press together as she holds in a laugh. “You’re confusing.”
My finger circles her knee. “I know.”
Her head tips, and the light from the flickering candle dances in her eyes. “What do you want, Warner?” I like the way she says it. Quiet and strong, she’s holding me to my words. Making me answer for the way I’m touching her.
My response comes from deep within, rumbling against my chest, my lips and tongue shaping around each letter. “You.”
Tenley holds my gaze. Says nothing. Across the table, Jo laughs. Glasses are lifted and set down. Tines of forks scrape across plates.
Tenley breaks first. She looks away, rejoining the conversation as if she were never absent. They are talking about Andrea and Derrick’s weekly front yard happy hour, how the concept has grown and made people feel closer to their neighbors. The words float around me like fog. I’m having a hard time concentrating, until Andrea speaks to Wyatt.
“Wyatt, I want to know something.” Her voice is heavy from more than enough wine. She leans her forearms on the table and looks at him.
Wyatt lifts his eyebrows and his chin at the same time, waiting.
“A little bird told me your truck was seen leaving Sara Schultz’s house early in the morning last week.” Andrea makes a pointed face. “And that her husband was out of town.”
Derrick sighs irritably and puts his hand on Andrea’s shoulder, pulling her back to upright. He says something in her ear and she frowns.
The reactions around the table are varied. Wyatt’s face has turned to stone, his cheekbones taut, waiting for someone to speak out against his behavior. Wes pinches the bridge of his nose. Jo looks away, to a wall bare of anything interesting, and Dakota keeps her eyes on Wyatt, her gaze soft and curious. Of all people, Dakota is the most open to understanding other people’s choices.
Tenley looks up at me. Awkward, she mouths. I nod.
Taking Tenley’s hand, I stand up and pull her up with me. “On that note, we’re going to take off.” I clap both my brothers on the back and stop at Dakota. “Thank you for tonight.” Tenley leans down, wraps Dakota in a hug, and says something in her ear. I take a few hundred dollars from my wallet and drop them into the purse hanging from Dakota’s chair. She’d never accept the money outright.