First, when he’d arrived at my house, he’d made a face like he was stepping into the sewer. And, yeah, that probably had more to do with the fact that he was horrifically allergic to dogs and my twenty-five-pound exuberance machine had jumped right up to welcome him to our home than it was a reflection on his surroundings, but still.
Second, I’d had an emergency surgery pop up, so our planned night out in Starlight Cove had been nixed. Worse, Beck tended to spoil me in the food department—bonus points for your best friend cooking for a living—so the last time I did a full stock-up at the grocery store was…well, I couldn’t remember. Which meant all I had available was my standard cuisine of cereal.
And finally, I’d hoped for some quick bonding time between my little brother and my bestie during my usual morning stop. Instead, Ash had spent the entire time we’d been in the diner with his face buried in his phone, no doubt secretly trolling his girlfriend—ex-girlfriend—and tormenting himself over every picture and status update, and Beck had spent it glaring daggers at anything that moved.
So, yeah. It could’ve gone better. But it hadn’t been all bad, especially with the carb cornucopia Beck had spread out today. If I had one of his blueberry scones as my last meal, I’d die a happy woman.
“So, what’d you think of the diner?” I asked as I drove us back to my place. I wished I were running—I always felt a bit out of whack when I messed with my schedule—but my brother would rather, and I quote, shove toothpicks under his nails than run for fun. “Cute, right?”
Ash shrugged, his attention—you guessed it—on his phone. “I’ve eaten better. And the company left a lot to be desired.”
“Hey!” I reached over and smacked him in the stomach. “Rude.”
“I didn’t meanyou.” He rolled his eyes. “I meant the asshole in the hat. The guy who let himself into your house last night while you were gone. We should talk about that, by the way.”
I snapped my head in his direction, darting my gaze back to the road to make sure I wasn’t veering off course. “Wait…Beck came by last night? When? For what?”
“While you were at the clinic.”
“Huh.” That must’ve been what his texts had been all about. But it was weird that he’d dropped by, obviously run into my brother, and then he just…hadn’t said anything. Though, we hadn’t exactly had a lot of time—or any, really—to chat since I’d gotten in late last night—or rather, very early this morning—and he’d already been at the resort meeting when I’d woken up. I hadn’t even had a chance to let him know Ash was in town, and since Addison had cracked the whip the entire time we were in the diner, this morning wasn’t the meet-and-greet I’d hoped.
“As for what,” he said, “my guess is his intention was to piss a circle around your house since you were unavailable and have a dick-measuring contest, never mind that I’m yourbrother.” He shuddered. “Doesn’t take much to make him feel threatened, does it? I’m surprised he didn’t get out a tape measure and drop trou.”
I snorted. It wasn’t hard to imagine Beck coming off like that to a newcomer, and he tended to be extra protective of me around other men. Apparently that bled over to my family, too. That was just part of his charm and not something he employed often, considering how few prospects I had…or even wanted.
After breaking things off with Jeremy shortly after moving here, I hadn’t wanted the added pressure and stress of making a new relationship work on top of everything else. It’d already been enough of an adjustment to make the transition smooth at the clinic—not to mention my moving clear across the country. I hadn’t needed to add navigating a new relationship onto my plate, too. Ididn’tneed to. I was perfectly satisfied with the companionship I had in the form of a growly best friend who loved stuffing me with delicious food and offering cuddles whenever I bullied him into giving them.
I shook my head. “It’s not like that with us.”
“Doesheknow that?”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know for certain, but I think he’s probably aware we’ve never slept together, yes.”
Ash shot me a blank stare—hisyou are such an idiotlook that he’d perfected over his twenty-nine years. “I don’t understand your brain sometimes. How are you so naive?”
I gasped. “I amnotnaive.”
Okay, so my romantic life was fairly vanilla—and, like, imitation vanilla. Not even vanilla bean over here. I certainly wasn’t setting records with three lovers in thirty years. But even if I hadn’t lived out any adventures in real life, my ever-trusty romances broadened my horizons in ways that would’ve horrified my brother. Andhad,actually. When I was in college, I’d accidentally sent him a text meant for my roommate—also named Ash—that may or may not have been a link to a particularly steamy book. And I may or may not have gone into detail about which scenes I loved and why she should read.
After reaming me a new asshole, he’d demanded I either lose his number or change his contact info to hisrealname, despite the fact that I’d never called him Sebastian a day in my life.
“Fine,” he conceded. “Not naive. Oblivious.”
I huffed as I pulled into my driveway and shut off the car. “That’s not any better.”
“I’m just saying, there was something there.”
“Yeah,friendship. You remember what that’s like, right?”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I cringed, immediately wanting to snatch them back before they reached his ears. Considering he was currently escaping his recent breakup from the woman who’d started out as his best friend, that was a low blow on my part—even if unintended—and I should’ve known better. Maybe he was onto something with the whole oblivious thing.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“Whatever. You have a point,” he said. “And, yes, I remember what friendship is like. I also remember what it’s like to want to fuck my friend. And Beck’s there, Evie.”
“No, he’s not. You’re totally misreading it. He barely tolerates me!” I slid the key into the back door’s dead bolt, only to find I’d forgotten to lock up when we’d left. Whoops. Definitely would not be mentioning that to Beck—his grumbly face turned downright murderous when I did that. But between Chuckanut’s incessant barks that would hopefully scare off any robbers and the fact that this was Starlight Cove, I wasn’t too worried about intruders popping in before 8 a.m.
“What was with the cringe?” he asked.
