His hold softened to a caress that sent goosebumps racing up my arm, skittering across my chest, and tightening my nipples.Stroking the soft skin on the inside of my elbow, he continued softly.“There’s nothing to fix.”His eyes serious, his teasing smile absent, he continued, “I’ll take lunch.Coffee.Anything.”
Gently extricating my arm, I backed away.“I can’t.”
“Won’t,” he corrected.
I nodded.“Won’t.”
“What’s the hold-up, Daire?Are you chicken?”Max mocked.“Surely you’re not scared to be beaten by a little bitty thing like her!”
Hawk stood watching with his hands on his hips, his mouth tight.
Noelle faced him with her hand braced on his chest.
Oh, fuck, please, Hawkley.Don’t pull the big brother act right now.
Daire grinned at Max then turned back to me, his face completely serious.“I’m ready for you, Harley.”
Turning he dove cleanly into the pool and banged out ten laps.
His words tumbled around in my brain as I watched his long body slice through the water like a blade, the lean muscles of his back flexing, the strength in his arms the motor driving him onward.
When he finished, flushed with exertion, he treaded water at the edge.“Come on, little spitfire.I’ll start from here and you can dive in.I just put ten laps in, and I’ll still give you a head start.”
He was already sitting on the side of the pool when I pulled myself out, a wary eye on him.
Smiling easily, he whispered for my ears alone, “Raincheck.”
10
Minions and Deer Ticks
Duetotheholiday,the week flew past.By Friday I was a bag of nerves.Since Noelle and Hawk moved in together, my weekends had changed drastically.I would most certainly see Daire again that night and I was far from ready.
While I was aware of my loneliness before Noelle came home, I didn’t realize just how alone I actually was.
I only had Paul.Paul and work.
I no longer had close friends in town.
Noelle was gone.Hawk withdrawn.Max a workaholic.
With Noelle back, everyone came back to life, and I had more social life than I knew what to do with.
But I could not quite quiet the thoughts at the back of my head that prodded me to wonder why it took Noelle coming home to set things right.Why Hawkley and Max never saw fit to reach out to me.
It was petty.
And I dismissed it as juvenile.
Mostly.
A huge part of me wanted to spend the weekend quietly.A walk on the beach followed by a glass of wine, cuddled up on my couch with a good book.
But because Paul had to go and get engaged and everyone knew about it, I had to show up with a happy face, or risk them staging an intervention.Years of being left alone had in no way prepared me for the attention everyone suddenly paid to me.
And I was sick of faking it to show up the way everyone else needed me to be.“For fuck’s sake.”I threw my pen down on the desk.
“What did that pen ever do to you?”
