“Hey, no…” he murmured, reaching out with one finger to lift my chin. “It’s not like that. You don’t have anything to be sorry about.”
“Of course I do.”
“No,” he emphasized again. This time however, he added a gentle smile. “Do you have any idea how happy we are that you’re here?”
“No,” my smile mirrored his. “But I’m listening.”
“Sawyer was thrilled to see you when he came to pick us up. And when we told him you were coming home with us? I’ve never seen him so excited. Bodie too.”
I couldn’t argue. Sawyer had given me the biggest, most heartfelt hug.
“And what about you?”
“Me?” he asked, touching his sweaty chest. “Angel, you couldn’t even imagine how badly I wanted to see you again.”
I paused, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “But?”
“But nothing,” he shrugged. “We’re going to get everything straightened out for you. In the meantime, you’re here. We’re sure as hell going to enjoy having you around.”
He interlaced his fingers and extended his arms, stretching the muscles of his back to the absolute limits.
“So… wanna tell me whyyoucan’t sleep?”
His question made me hesitate for a moment. It was a moment too long.
“Strange new place, strange new bed,” I shrugged.
“Liar.”
Those chocolate eyes drilled through me like a laser through butter. There was no sense in lying.
“Fine,” I sighed at last. “I was wondering if I’d overstayed my welcome. If maybe you guys were getting bored with me.”
“Bored with you?” He looked outright offended. “What in the world made you thinkthat?”
“Well, first I thought you were mad about me not mentioning Cole in Maine.”
His expression softened. “We weren’t mad. Just… I don’t know, confused.”
“Then we all turned in early tonight,” I shrugged. “And I have to admit, after the wildness of this past weekend? I was a little surprised when you boys put me to bed without so much as a goodnight kiss.”
There, I’d said it. I’d told him what I was actually feeling, rather than make up some inaccurate platitude. Carter’s gaze dropped a little. Like he couldn’t look at me directly anymore.
“Yeah, well, there’s a reason for that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean we talked it over, before we got you settled in,” he said. “The three of us decided we didn’t want to overwhelm you.”
“Overwhelm me?” I smirked. “Doesn’t seem like this was a problem in Maine.”
“In Maine we did what we did because we all wanted to,” Carter replied. “But here, you’re a guest because you have nowhere else to go. We wanted you to feel at home with us. We didn’t want you to think that just because you were staying here, that you needed to… well…”
“Holy shit, is that it?” I gasped. “You’re leaving me alone out of respect?”
“Well, yeah.”
I felt wholly and immeasurably better. And here I thought they’d left me alone because they’d already gotten what they wanted.
