“Can you blame me?” I ask, my eyes locked on her. “Not only is she gorgeous, but she also has an incredible mind. What’s not to drool over?”
He huffs out a laugh. “Oh, you’ve got it bad.”
“Pot, kettle,” I reply, an eyebrow raised. “You’re worse than all of us combined.”
“I am not,” he argues, but I can see the smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
“We’ll agree to disagree,” I say with a shrug.
James turns around, the food forgotten. “So, what’s going on with you and Blake? I’m assuming you’ve taken my advice and forgiven her?”
I run a hand through my hair. “Yeah. After everything that happened, those old feelings came flooding back in. I couldn’t stop them even if I tried.”
“Don’t I know it,” he mumbles with a chuckle.
“We got close, you know. Working on the case, spending time together with Oscar. It just happened.”
“Understandable. Forced proximity and all that.”
“Huh?”
James groans, tipping his head back. “Raven and her books. It’s a trope or something.”
“Pussy whipped, my man.” I laugh, patting his shoulder.
Caleb walks over, beer in hand. “Anyone seen Lauren?”
“Dear god,” I complain, “can you both leave your women alone for longer than two seconds?”
“Says the guy who hasn’t taken his eyes off Blake once in the last five minutes,” James drawls.
I whip my head toward him. “Ihave, you just missed it,” I reply indignantly, crossing my arms and pouting. My eyes wander back to Blake, though, and I know he’s got me.
“Pussy whipped,” he mouths at me, and I give him the finger.
“She’s a beautiful woman,” Caleb muses over his beer.
My hands clench at my sides, and my teeth grind together. “Watch it, Professor. I will knock you on your gorgeous ass if you continue that line of thinking.”
“Ooooh, would you look at that…? It’s not so funny when it’s the other way around, is it?” Caleb laughs.
Fucker’s trying to wind me up, and it's working.
“Yeah, yeah. Point proven. We don’t discuss how attractive our women look, and we don’t fucking touch them. I love you, but absolutely fucking not,” I growl at the pair of them, ready and willing to kick both their asses if they so much as get within a foot of Blake.
James pats my shoulder. “Welcome to the club, my man.”
“Does it ever get easier?” They both give me questioning looks, so I add, “The urge to kill any man that looks or speaks to them?”
“Nope.” Caleb laughs. “Just gets worse, especially when they come home and tell you they got chatted up by one of the single dads at school.” His jaw works overtime, and his hand grips the bottle tighter, threatening to crush it.
“Three down, one to go,” I murmur.
“I don’t think there’s a single woman on this planet that would take on Noah’s grumpy ass.” James chuckles as he plates up the cooked food.
“Fair point,” I agree. “Where is he anyway? I’ve never known anyone to wander off as much as he does. That boy is still a complete enigma twenty years later.”
“Fuck knows,” Caleb says. “He’s my best friend, but evenIdon’t understand him half the time.”
