“Do you think he’s gone?” I asked, not actually giving a shit where Teddy was.
“Who? I mean, yes. I’ll check.” She slid the blanket off, then climbed off my lap. I missed her weight immediately, but I needed the distance to help my dick calm down. I could feel my pre-cum sticky in my boxers as I watched her cross the room and look out the front window. She ran a hand through her hair, looking impossibly all rumpled from what we’d just done. “His car’s gone.”
“Good.”
Silence settled between us, but it was less awkward than I’d have thought.
I was desperate to know what had just happened between us, but with Teddy still in her life, it didn’t feel like the time to ask her about starting something new.
Then again, we could have made the noises without sitting on my lap. We could have moved the bed frame without her dry-humping me.
She could have kept her top in place and not asked me to touch her.
Did she just get carried away?
Or was she interested in me the same way I was in her?
Chapter Thirteen
Elias
Sunday morning I was restless, so after doing a load of laundry and grocery shopping, I went into work. There wasn’t a ton to do until more materials arrived, but there was always something. I could do some maintenance on the chainsaws, maybe.
I pulled into the yard, not surprised to find Jace’s truck already in the lot. He was one of the hardest-working people I knew, and this Beast project was taking it out of all of us. I stepped into the office to find Jace frowning down at his phone.
“What’s wrong?”
He glanced up, not seeming surprised to see me. “When did you last see Layne?”
Heat crept up my cheeks. Although that was silly, there was no way he knew what Layne and I had done when I was at her house last. “Yesterday, when we were all in the office,” I said. “I gave her a lift home.”
Jace nodded. “She just texted to let me know that she and Teddy are meeting with the realtor tomorrow to get her name off his lease.”
“That’s good news, right?”
“If all goes well, it is. She mentioned that he showed up at her place after the barbecue on Friday and again yesterday. Do you think you could…”
“What?”
“I know you guys are pretending to be dating. Any chance you could go over there tonight, stay there with her, to make sure Teddy doesn’t try to do something stupid?”
I hesitated.
He went on. “She’d never accept me hanging around, but she trusts you.”
I ran my hand over the back of my neck. I was in too deep. I had to tell him. “I’ve got to talk to you about that, actually.”
Jace’s brow dropped. “What’s wrong?”
“Look, she’s your sister, and you’re my boss and my friend. I think of her as my friend too, but…I’m starting to see her as more.” Jace continued to stare, so I clarified. “I think I have feelings for her.”
“And how does she feel about you?” he asked, gently.
After my concerns of him being pissed off, this was a good start.
I shrugged. “I don’t know, honestly. This whole fake-dating thing has made the water kind of muddy. Besides, she’s not completely done with her ex yet, so now would be a really bad time to start asking her hard questions.”
He nodded. “First of all, she is one hundred percent done with her ex. The fact that they still have their names on a lease doesn’t mean she feels a damn thing for that guy.”
