Yep, he knew exactly what was going on between them, and that was the problem. The truth wasn’t something either of them could afford to let get out. If that happened, Nash would be grouped right back in with his father after working his whole life to set himself apart and struggling to gain the trust of the families his old man had screwed over. Literally.
“These huge-ass burgers with the works should help to get your mind off that jackass.” Nola set his plate down in front of him. After she slapped some silverware on the bar top, she eyed him up and down. “Where do you put all that anyway? You’re nearly as bad as this one.” She hooked her thumb toward Drew. “All muscle and no meat on those bones.”
Drew crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes. “If I said something like that to you, you’d have my balls in a sling.”
She shrugged, not bothering to deny it as she strolled back toward the kitchen. “Yeah, well, I’m prettier than you, so I can get away with more.”
Nash laughed under his breath and shook his head. No way was he getting in the middle of those two. They’d been like that back in school too, but their bond had only seemed to grow the older they’d gotten. He couldn’t count how many times he’d heard people speculating about them being a couple, but he recognized the same kind of easy affection between them that he had with Nat. And Nat was as close to a sister as he had.
“Remind me why I thought it was a good idea to start a business with her?” Drew rested his elbows on the bar top and leaned toward Nash.
Nash raised an eyebrow. “Wishin’ you hadn’t? Better hope she didn’t hear that.”
He held up his hands and laughed. “I didn’t mean it, I swear,” he said loud enough to be heard over the din of the bar.
Drew waved to someone over Nash’s shoulder, and he turned around to look. Will, Mac, and Rory stood by the front door, all three of them laughing. For the life of him, Nash couldn’t drag his gaze away from Rory, despite now knowing they had a spotlight on them.
She’d changed since Miss Sally’s house and now wore a sundress with some kind of strappy heels on her feet, her hair pulled back in a twist. Pristine Rory once again, but he held an odd satisfaction that he knew the real her beneath all that shine. He knew she preferred T-shirts and stretchy pants to just about anything else. That leaving her hair up for too long gave her headaches because it was so thick. That she could swear like a sailor, but she only did it when she was talking to herself or cussing him out—and never in front of her girls.
“Look, man, I’m not sure what’s goin’ on there, and this is probably none of my damn business—”
Nash twisted around at Drew’s words. “Nothing and you’re right.”
“—but I’d be a shitty friend if I didn’t remind you to think with the head on your shoulders and not the one in your pants.”
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” Nash’s hackles were up, preparing once again for a fight.
Drew raised an eyebrow, no doubt at Nash’s tone, but he didn’t call him on it. “People are already talkin’. You’ve got a brand-new partnership to think about, and last I heard—from you, by the way—a business you needed to buy and quick. Even if I were somehow attracted to Nola and didn’t think of her as that annoying as fuck sister I love but never wanted, I still wouldn’t act on it. Icouldn’t. Too much at stake. You see what I’m sayin’?”
Yeah, he saw. And he didn’t have to be told again because he’d been repeating the same damn thing to himself over and over from the get-go.
But when he glanced back over his shoulder and found Rory staring at him, his muscles tightened. Her lips curved up into the smallest smile, just for him, and he was a goner.
There was no amount of warnings in the world that would keep him away, damn the consequences.
Rory hadn’t even been home long enough to change out of her town hall clothes before her doorbell rang, and her pulse fluttered. It was probably too much to hope that it was Nash who stood on the other side of her door, but she still couldn’t stop the wish from coming.
She hadn’t seen him since the night he’d kind of, sort of asked her out on a date and she’d turned him down in not so many words—or any, really. She was a little nervous what that’d mean for them and this pseudo-relationship they had. She wasn’t ready to move to the next level, but her chest ached at the thought of what they had ending.
The whole thing made her head hurt. She didn’t know enough about this stuff to have even an inkling of an idea of what she should do now. This was one of the times she wished she could talk to her sisters about it, because they sure as hell knew a lot more about dating and relationships than she did.
When she pulled open the front door, she couldn’t stop the smile from curving her lips. “Nash, hey.”
“I see you’re finally listenin’ to me and lockin’ your doors. ’Bout time.”
Actually, she’d come in through the back and hadn’t yet made it to the front to open it up, but she’d keep that tidbit to herself.
She hummed and leaned her shoulder against the doorjamb, propping open the screen door. “Weird how you happen to know the nights the girls are at their daddy’s.”
“Are they gone? Huh, imagine that.”
She nearly called him out, because she was almost certain he knew and that was exactly why he’d come by. This was the third time he’d shown up when Ava and Ella were at Sean’s, and that, combined with her having been home only minutes, told her there was more than just coincidence at play. But since she wasn’t one hundred percent sure, she kept her mouth shut. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder if Nash had been paying enough attention to her that he’d learned her schedule. And if he had, what did that mean?
“What’re you doin’ here?” she asked.
“Just came by to grab the measurements for the floating sink in your master bath so I can get that ordered.”
It was only then that she noticed he still wore his tool belt, which meant this was a business call and not personal. Well, now she just felt like an idiot and inwardly cursed herself for attempting to be flirty when all he’d come to do was write down some numbers and leave.
