“Yep. It’s about time we took a proper break. How about dinner tomorrow night? No laptops, no talking about corrupted files, data breaches, or VPNs, and no racing back to work while we’re still chewing.”
She hesitates, eyes on mine, biting her bottom lip like she isn’t sure this is a good idea. Or maybe she’s just forgotten what it feels like when someone asks her to do something normal.
“Dillon…” She trails off, drawing in a deep breath as she fidgets with the hem of her fitted blue tee.
In the weeks she’s been here, I’ve learned that pretty much all she’d packed were T-shirts, jeans, and a few sweaters. After what the guys and I had talked about, it made me wonder if she’d left home, wherever that was, in a rush, but none of us had asked.
Yet another thing we’d let go for much too long.
“It’s just food, and we’ve got a proposal for you,” I say with a grin when it becomes clear she doesn’t know what to say. “Don’t worry, it’s not a marriage proposal. I promise I’ll even let you pick the playlist.”
Finally, after what feels like weeks, I get to hear her laugh. “Okay. Dinner. Tomorrow night.”
“Good,” I say, backing toward the pantry but keeping my eyes on hers. “Do you like lasagna?”
She arches a single eyebrow.
“Who doesn’t like lasagna?” she asks, that playful edge in her voice that I’ve come to crave.
“Perfect.”
“You’re going to ask Boone to make it, aren’t you?”
I waggle my eyebrows at her. “Damn, you’re a fast learner.”
She laughs. “A girl can pick up a few things in almost a month.”
As I turn to pull ingredients for cupcakes from a shelf, I catch her watching me cautiously, but with a flicker of something else behind her eyes.
Something that makes me think maybe the waiting will be over soon. Anticipation zaps through me, racing down my spine and settling in a hot knot at the base of my spine.
I watch her watch me from the corner of my eye, seriously considering just going over there, kissing her, and seeing what happens. But her eyes dart around again. It makes her look like she’s waiting for the floor to drop out from under her, which means this probably isn’t a good time to push my luck.
Sighing as I stride over to the fridge, I try to ignore the weight of her eyes on me every time they flick my way.
This dinner could go one of two ways: either we’d all finally start being honest about what the hell is happening between us, or we’d scare her so badly that she’d be back on a bus by morning. I really hoped it was the first one.
When I start cracking eggs into a mixing bowl, I finally see her open her laptop back up, that guarded expression slipping into place like armor she doesn’t even realize she’s putting on. That same frustration from before flares up again, sitting like a hot coal in my stomach. I can’t ignore this anymore.
“Roxie,” I say softly, drawing her attention away from her screen.
Her head lifted, her eyes slide back to mine. “What’s up?”
“I don’t want to freak you out.” I brace my hands on either side of the mixing bowl, looking right into her eyes. “It’s just that there’s something I should probably say before we all sit down together tomorrow.”
Her throat works as she swallows. “Okay.”
“We know you’re hiding something,” I say gently, doing my best not to make it sound like an accusation.
Her nostrils flare, her eyes widening as some of the color starts draining from her cheeks.
Maybe I should’ve waited and done this with the guys after all, but I’m in it now. All I can do is push through. Before she even asks, I start explaining.
“It’s not hard to tell. You flinch when the phone rings. You avoid certain topics like they’re land mines, and you’re always vague when you talk about yourself. You don’t have to tell me what it is,” I add quickly when she stiffens even more. “But I need you to know that we’ve seen it. That we’ve noticed and that it’s probably going to come up soon.”
Her eyes dart away again, her shoulders stiff as a board. “I don’t?—”
“You don’t owe us an explanation,” I say gently, cutting her off before she can try to deny it. “Not unless you want to give one, of course. I just wanted you to know that we want to help. If there’s something or someone you’re hiding from, we can make sure you’re safe here. That’s all.”
