The sweet, brief look warmed my frozen toes, and I smiled back at him. “Well, you don’t need them. You happen to have a great dick, so no need to overcompensate.”
He laughed hard in reply, and I’d never heard anything so joyful. It was a deep, loud bark of laughter that came from his chest. And oh, baby! The way his lips curved up had me grinning like a fool. It was probably a good thing the power had returned. I needed to get back to the sorority house and put some distance between me and my blizzard buddy, because the fragile lines I’d drawn in the snow had definitely blown away.
I liked him more than I should. My heart pitter-pattered as I stared at him, taking in his profile and wondering so many little things that I had no business asking. Like, had he enjoyed being married or did he hate it? What would he do if he couldn’t coach? Did he like me, too?
Yeah, no asking questions, I scolded myself as the truck pulled to a stop.
Harrison jutted his chin toward the brick two-story house on my right. “This is Blair’s.”
“It’s a nice house.”
“She’s done really well for herself. Her husband is a great guy, and I’m thankful they live so close.”
“I’m thankful for you. If I had your brother for a sibling, I’d probably sabotage every family holiday. I know you don’t want to talk about it—and this is metotally notbringing it up—but if you want ideas on how to really mess with him, let me know. I was really good at pranks when I was a kid.”
He smiled, and his dimples popped, just for me. “I might take you up on it, but not today.”
“It’s a date.” I foolishly tried flirting and immediately regretted using the worddate. “Uh, promise. Rain check. It’s penciled in. That’s what I meant. I’ll add it to my calendar for us to chat about mean Hank. That’s all I said.”
“Wow, Becca. You’re even cuter when you’re flustered.” He leaned toward me, his full lips curving up in amusement and his eyes crinkled on the sides. Cupping my face in his large hands, he traced his thumb over my ear, sending goose bumps over every inch of my skin. He took his time bringing his lips to mine, giving me the sweetest and most gentle kiss I’d ever had in my life. “Thank you.”
“Uh, you’re welcome?” I had no idea what he was thanking me for, or even what day it was, because that kiss was so out of character. He tasted like mint, and I had no idea how. Did he have a candy cane that he hid from me? That would’ve been rude. I loved candy canes. Why was I thinking about candy canes when the guy I was crushing on looked at me like maybe he liked me, too?
“I’m not the most skilled at expressing myself, but I’m glad you’re here with me today. Really fucking glad, Becca.”
The look in his eyes matched his intense tone, and I could only nod.
Fling. Fling. Flingy-fling.That’s what this was. I had to remind myself when he looked at me like this, all warm and fuzzy, making me question why we weren’t together and doing this all the time.
Because I deserve a real relationship and he doesn’t do those.
“Now, let’s go inside before the kids run out into the cold. I can already see their little heads in the window.” He nodded toward the large bay window at the front of the house.
I followed his gaze and grinned at the outline of three kids staring back at us. They each had a mop of brown hair and large smiles. Harrison grabbed our bags from the back and then, taking my hand, rushed toward the house. We barely cracked open the door before three little humans barreled into Harrison, each one finding a limb and wrapping themselves around the giant man so tightly that he couldn’t walk. My eyes stung with emotion, but the wind blew really strong, so winter allergies were an easy excuse. For sure. Not at all seeing the grumpy guy get love from three kids.
“Blair,” Harrison shouted into the hallway. “Your monsters are preventing me from entering your house. Control them.”
“Uncle Harry! You have to see what I got from Santa!”
“Uncle Harry, you brought me a present, right? Mom said you wouldn’t because I ate all the waffles this morning, but you promised.”
“Uncle Harry, Mom said we can play outside for five minutes. I got my snow pants on. Did you bring yours? We can make an igloo and live there.”
Three little voices were filled with so much joy and pummeled him with question after question. Moving toward a chair, he maneuvered the kids onto his lap, and it was a full five minutes before the littlest one pointed a finger at me. “Who are you?”
“I’m Becca. I’m a friend of your Uncle Harry’s.”
“Uncle Harry has friends?” Her eyes grew wide.
“He sure does.” I laughed and stood as a beautiful woman bearing no resemblance to Harrison walked into the room. I offered her a smile and extended my hand. “You must be Harrison’s favorite family member. Hi. I’m his neighbor, Becca.”
“Ah, you’ve heard of Hank then?” She met my hand and smiled. “Nice to meet you. I must say, it’s a surprise to have a guest of my brother’s.”
“Oh, you’re not alone in being surprised. This is a shock for me, too.”
Her eyes warmed, and she ran a hand through her light brown hair. She looked tired, and after seeing her three kiddos, I could imagine why. “Well, my offspring don’t introduce themselves because they’re monsters, but the oldest is George, followed by Brodie, and the little one there is Gabby. Children, say hi to Uncle Harry’s friend.”
“I thought I was his best friend,” Gabby whined. “You pinky-promised me!”
