Aiden braved a smile. “Dealing with budgets and city permits not your dream job?”
“Nope, and neither is telling Pritchard that he can’t wash his lucky hunting socks in the breakroom sink.”
They both gagged at the memory of the unforgettable stench that had befouled the small room and sent every employee running for cover the previous week.
“So many challenges to running a business that I never even considered before the past two months,” Aiden said mournfully.
“Better you than me,” Trip said. “Anyway, Mom kicked my ass today, and she’s right. We need to work together, and it’s not fair for me to take my shit out on you.”
A hard knot in Aiden’s chest loosened at the sincerity in Trip’s voice. He’d hated being at war with his brother. “Thanks. And I’m sorry too for ever implying that you were jealous that I was single.” He forced himself to face a terrifying truth. “I’m actually a little jealous of you. You and Ash.”
When Aiden looked over at his brother, he expected to see surprise on his face, but instead he saw a kind of speculative understanding.
And instead of letting his brother ask whatever question was brewing, he hit him with one of his own. “So, uh, what kind of things would Ash like to do, exactly?”
Trip groaned and tossed up his arms, almost knocking the truck’s rearview mirror askew with his flailing. “I don’t know! I have no idea. I thought about suggesting a cooking class or some shit, but I don’t know if that’s what she had in mind.”
“If it helps, I’d never do a cooking class.” Then he reconsidered. “Actually, that sounds like something Thea would want to do, so I guess I might.” His next words were the best peace offering he could come up with. “Maybe we could double-date sometime? Cooking night with the Murdoch boys and their ladies?”
Trip lifted one shoulder. “Could be all right.”
When he glanced over, Trip’s lips were pulled into another small smile, so he was getting this right at least. Of course, he still had one problem. “I kind of blew Thea off all week.”
“Dude.” Trip sounded actually outraged. “Why?”
“We… well. Last weekend we finally, you know…”
Trip’s mouth dropped. “You’ve been not-dating her for two months, and you guys hadn’t boned yet?”
Talking about this felt disrespectful to Thea, yet he opened his mouth and said, “Correct. And it was great, man. It was fucking great. And I don’t know what to do now.”
“What do you mean, ‘what to do now’?”
Aiden took one hand off the steering wheel to gesture helplessly. “How do you relationship people do it?”
“Dowhat?”
Trip sounded downright amused, so Aiden asked the question that had been rolling around his brain.
“Before, did you say Thea looks at me like…?”
“Like you’re a fried pork tenderloin she wants to rip into.” Trip tilted his head to study him. “Actually, no. Like you’re the secret recipe for fried pork tenderloin that she covets and wants to keep for herself.”
Huh. He’d never been so flattered to be compared to a greasy piece of meat before. Trip wasn’t done though. “That’s another reason I was pissed. Thea’s nice. She doesn’t deserve whatever you end up doing to her.”
His stomach dropped. “She really doesn’t.” That was another thing the brothers agreed on, and didn’t that make him feel like shit.
Then Trip said something so profound that it smacked him in the forehead like a two-by-four. “So don’t.”
“Don’t?”
“Don’t do it,” his brother said. “Don’t just fuck her and leave. Stick around. Be in a relationship.”
A sharp wave of yearning hit him, but it was overlaid with an equally sharp pulse of fear. “How?” The question clawed its way out of his throat. “How could somebody like me make that work?”
This time when Trip laughed, there was no meanness to it at all. “If you’re asking that question, you’re probably on the right track.” Then he mercifully changed the subject. “So I guess we’d better start making some plans for the business. Your favorite thing, huh?”
“I do love a plan,” he agreed, but as they hashed out the distribution of responsibilities on the final hour of the drive, Aiden’s mind refused to fully let go of thoughts of Thea. And after he dropped Trip off at his place, he didn’t point his truck toward his empty house. Instead, he drove straight toward the person who was starting to feel more and more like home to him with every passing day.
