“I’d hardly call not offering to split the bill a red flag,” he says. “Most girls who offer to split the bill don’t actually intend on paying half.”
“Says who?” I ask.
“Everyone.”
“Not true.” I glance at his brother. “Eli. Back me up.”
Eli shrugs. “I agree with Landon on this one.”
“It’s a double standard,” Landon says. “You offer to pay half, but if we take you up on it, we’re assholes. You might as well not even offer.”
“I disagree,” I say. “I think it’s a nice gesture.”
“But that’s all it is. A gesture.”
I shake my head in disagreement. “I’ve split bills before. I don’t offer something unless I mean it.”
“And the relationship with the guy who let you pay worked out, did it?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Obviously, it did not.”
Landon can’t hide his smirk. “I think you just proved my point.”
I glare at him and then give an easy shrug. “It must be a generational thing. Younger men aren’t afraid to challenge gender norms. Their egos aren’t as fragile, I guess.”
Eli guffaws at that, throwing his head back. “Dude, she just called you old.”
“She’s just cranky because it’s past her bedtime,” Landon snaps.
I glare at him. He glares at me. There’s a whole lot of glaring going on.
Eli glances back and forth between us and then slowly gets to his feet. “As entertaining as this little show is, I’m calling intermission, kiddos. We need another round.” He jumps over the side of the hot tub and jogs toward the house.
Which leaves Landon and me. Alone. Together. In a hot tub.
In a nervous habit, I gather my hair behind my head in a ponytail before letting it fall down my back. I don’t miss the way Landon’s eyes follow the movement, his lips pulling down in a frown.
“Sorry, is my bikini making you uncomfortable?” I ask, making a big show of ducking below the water’s surface. Maybe it’s childish, but he’s really pushing me to my limit here. “Wouldn’t want you to think I’m ‘prancing around here half-naked’ for your benefit. It’s called fashion. Women have been wearing this suit since the sixties.”
Landon doesn’t say anything for a moment, and my eyes remain focused on the unhappy set of his mouth. When he finally does speak, he says the absolute last thing I’m expecting.
“I was a dick last night.” It takes everything in me to keep my jaw from dropping, especially when I realize he’s not done. “I shouldn’t have said those things.”
“Yeah, you were majorly dickish,” I say. “And you shouldn’t have said those things. But I’m used to it. I expect it from you. I’ve come to accept that that’s just the way you are.”
Hence the one-hundred-and-one unflattering nicknames.
He nods. “I deserve that.”
“It doesn’t even bother me anymore.”
His eyebrow quirks. “It doesn’t?”
I shake my head. “Not since I’ve lowered my expectations.”
“Hmm.”
“I came here for my sister. That’s it. Not to lure you and your family into some sort of scheme, or to sabotage any relationships, or to corrupt Parker, or to force your brother to make me Mai Tais, and definitely not to set your house on fire. I doubt I could do any of those things if I tried…well, except the whole fire thing, obviously. That would be pretty easy. Not that I’m thinking about how easy it is. I mean, you’d still need a shit ton of gasoline judging by the square footage of this monster home, but—”
