“I’ll take the office with Maren,” Ethan said. “Miles and Sadie can check the dining room. Ace and Emma take the kitchen.”
“I’ll take the office,” Adrian said, and before Ethan could argue, “You and Emma can get breakfast going. Aren’t you hungry, Em?”
“Starving.” She stalked off without needing a second invitation.
Whatever I sensed happening between the men rivaled the constant push and pull of the kids. They were less vocal about it, but I could’ve sworn I caught a meaningful look. A sly smirk.
“You coming, Uncle Miles?” Sadie slipped her hand into Miles’ and led him to the dining room.
Bubble burst.
6
Maren
We all fanned out across the brownstone, a search party for one very slippery houseguest. Sadie’s constant chatter carried down the hall as Adrian and I stepped into Ethan’s office.
He leaned against the corner of the desk, arms crossed, a smirk playing at the edge of his mouth. “Guess I’m your backup,” he said. “Or maybe I’m the danger.”
“Which is it?” I asked, crouching to check behind a low cabinet.
“Both,” he said with a wink. “Depends on how much you like playing with fire.”
I rolled my eyes. “So you’re backup, danger, and also fire. Sounds like too much for my heart to handle.”
Adrian chuckled, stepping closer to peek where I was looking. “Heart’s going to get a workout here anyway. Trust me.”
I crouched lower, peering behind the walnut bookshelf, and spotted something on the floor. My fingers closed around it.
“What’s this?” I asked, before I got a good look at it. His reaction made me take a second before handing it over.
It was a photograph of the three men, arms around each other, and a beautiful woman between them. It could’ve been friends laughing into the camera, but something about how closely they pressed together gave me a totally different feeling in my gut. The woman’s head was resting on Ethan’s shoulder. Kind of.Upon closer inspection, I noticed it was Adrian’s hand on her waist, but not his hand at her neck. That one belonged to—
“Just a photo.” He snapped it from my fingers and tossed it on the shelf without even looking. “You didn’t happen to see a newt back there, did you?”
I paused. “No. No newt.”
He gave a tiny shrug and, like it solved all problems, muttered, “Better go look somewhere else then.”
“But we haven’t even finished…”
Adrian was out of the office like his ass was on fire. That’s when I knew it wasn’t just my imagination. I walked back to the shelf and stared at the photo again. It was definitely Miles’ hand on the mystery woman’s neck. Heat bloomed low in my stomach, and I didn’t quite know why. Something about the easy intimacy captured there. Frozen in time. If she was their friend, she was a close one, that was for sure.
The hallway was quiet, and I went for the linen closet at the end. Inside, the walls were stacked with towels and blankets, neat enough to make me momentarily envious. The space was tight, just wide enough for one person to move comfortably. Or two if they didn’t mind breathing the same air.
“Coffee?” Ethan’s voice came from behind me.
I startled, and spun round to find him leaning casually against the doorframe, an extra cup of coffee in hand. When I failed to answer him immediately, he edged inside the closet with me. My pulse picked up without any warning.
“I take it he wasn’t in my office?” He placed my cup onto an open spot to the left of us.
I shook my head. My tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth for some reason. No matter how hard I thought about wordscoming out of my mouth, all I could think of was how small this space was. How close to me he was standing.
The smell of fresh linens mixed with his woody scent and sent me flying.
Ethan’s eyes flicked toward the closet shelves, then back at me, and I caught the faint tightening in his jaw. “I just hope the little fucker hasn’t decided to crawl between my sheets.”
The tension of the moment seeped away with my soft laugh.
