“Nothing is going on,” he muttered, but he was smiling.
Smiling.
My brother. Mr. Grumpy, who only loved our sister and his niece, was full-on, stupid boy in love, smiling.
“Holy shit,” I whisper-shouted. “Something did happen.”
“She’s going through a tough time right now. I invited her to be around good people, but I’m starting to question my decision.”
“You aren’t going to tell me what happened then?”
My brother-in-law rounded the corner and frowned at us. “Wait, what’d I miss?” Trent asked.
“Nothing,” Colt barked.
Trent pointed between the two of us, then looked to Colt. “Look, I know I'm not technically your brother, but brother-in-law's got to count for something. That gives me the right to ask if you're sleeping with that gingersnap back there.”
Before I could process what was happening, Colt had Trent slammed against the wall with his fist twisted in his shirt.
“First of all,” he said in a deadly quiet voice, “call her that again, and I'll fucking kill you.”
Trent wheezed against the wall, still trapped in Colt's grip. “And second?”
Even with Trent having a few inches on him, I'd have put my money on Colt in any fight. The way his muscles coiled, the controlled fury in his stance—Trent was outmatched.
Colt shoved him away with enough force to rattle the wall.
“Second, it's none of your goddamn business. Why aren't you more worried about him and the celebrity sitting in our living room?”
“Hey,” I said, hands up. “Leave me out of this.”
Trent rolled his shoulders and tugged his sleeves back down. “Well, I’m clearly not going to get anything out of him. So yeah, what the hellisgoing on there?”
“We’re dating. That’s what.”
Trent blinked. “And how the fuck did that happen?”
I sighed and rubbed my face, knowing damn well I wasn’t about to admit we were fake dating. That didn’t mean I had to lie either. So, I gave them the version Ellie and I agreed on—and the one that kept running through my head.
The words tumbled out before I could stop them. “We’re dating. We started talking recently. I like her. She’s smart, gorgeous, and she smells like heaven. She makes me laugh when I shouldn’t even be smiling, and I think I might be going a little bit crazy.”
Especially considering we only just had our first real conversation this morning. They didn’t need to know that.
Colt looked at me like I’d told him I wrote poetry in my free time. “Oh, you’re cooked.”
“Welcome to the club.” Trent clapped me on the back and turned to Colt. “You too?—”
Colt pinned him with a death stare.
“You know what? Never mind.”
“I’m done here,” Colt muttered, already walking away.
Trent waited a beat and turned back to me. “For real though. You like her?”
“Yeah.” Way more than I should, considering it was all supposed to be fake. I exhaled, leaning back against the wall. “I try not to think about you and my sister together too often.You’re welcome, by the way—but seriously, man, this is a lot. How do you do it?”
“It’s like you can’t breathe around her, right?”
