That right there really pounded home the boundaries Hugh set in place for us. I really needed to think long and hard about what I wanted to do with this relationship, and I had to do it soon. Once I was ready, I’d sit down and talk with my guys. I owed them that much.
Chapter 27
Atlas
Hughstokedthewoodin the fireplace, sending sparks up through the chimney. Christmas jazz music played softly in the background as I hung a glass Santa ornament on the tree. Once the fire was roaring again, he wore his rug thin as he paced for the hundredth time.
“I don’t fucking get it!” he finally said, tossing his hands into the air. “Why won’t he answer me?”
“I also texted him, but he’s ignoring me, too.”
He finally sat and sipped his bourbon, watching me.
Mrs. Peach was wearing the cutest Fair Isle sweater in red and white, batting a low-hanging ornament.
The scent of pine, burning wood, and the roast cooking in the oven helped to give the festive vibe.
I wore a red sweater I’d recently purchased, the wide neck causing it to slip off my shoulder. My earrings were tiny Christmas ornaments. Not only did I want to be festive, but I wanted to be sexy for Hugh and Linden tonight. Except there was no Linden. He was supposed to be there to help with thedecorations. Apparently, Hugh and Linden got together each year and decorated each other’s homes. It was a reflection of their close friendship.
Hugh had been frowning, and you could practically taste the tension in the air.
I climbed the stepladder and placed another ornament higher on the tree. Then I glanced back at Hugh, winked, and gave him a coy smile, but nothing replaced his frown. In fact, it only deepened.
“How does that look?”
He didn’t even look at the tree. “It looks good, precious.”
I stepped down with a sigh, walked over to him, and straddled his lap. He still held his tumbler full of amber liquor as his free hand slipped underneath my sweater, his fingers grazing along my stomach.
“I worship your skin,” he said. “I can’t stop touching it.” His thumb rolled over my nipple, turning it hard and making me shudder.
“And it worships you.”I worship you, but I didn’t say that. “What’s wrong, darling?”
His hand came to rest on my thigh. “Did you notice something off with Linden the other night?”
“Yes. He seemed a little bit out of sorts. Not his usual self.”
“Thank you. That’s surprisingly validating. I thought I was going crazy. It’s hard to tell with Linden sometimes because he’s always so easy-going and full of smiles.”
“But he’d tell us if something’s wrong, right?”
“I used to think so, but now I’m having doubts. In all our years of being practically brothers, he’s never snapped at me. He’s the most patient person I know. Then yesterday, he wouldn’t answer his texts.”
That was the first time I’d heard about that.
Hugh reached for one of my curls and fingered it. “I’m worried.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of Linden’s mood shift. He said he was just off that night. That nothing was really wrong between the three of us. But was that true? Like him, I was starting to have doubts, too.
“Yeah, his not answering is weird on top of everything else.”
He took a long sip of his bourbon, coughed, and set his glass down on the side table.
That little niggling thought tingled in my brain that Linden was falling for Hugh. Or had already fallen for him. The heated looks he gave his cousin had been growing for the past few months. To me, it made sense that feelings would happen between them with the amount of time they spent together having sex, even if it wasn’t with each other. How could it not? But I didn’t know how to broach the subject, especially since Hugh had made the boundaries clear that they were only cousins, implying there would be nothing more between them. But he’d been watching Linden as well. Of course, boundaries can change over time.
The biggest question to ask ran deeper. “Hugh-baby?”
“Hmm?” he replied distractedly.
