“Same,” I chimed in.
When she bit her lip and snorted another laugh, fuck me. Adele Jacks was a firecracker to my nervous system.
Just then, a waiter appeared, glancing between us. “Hi there, what?—”
“So, it’s Mediterranean week,” Asher cut in.
The waiter chuckled. “That it is, and you appear happy about this.”
Asher nodded firmly. “I am. Can we just go to the buffet?”
“Youcanjust go to the buffet,” the waiter replied. “But first, can I take drink orders?”
“Just water for me,” Adele said quickly.
“Same,” I chimed in.
Asher’s eyes landed on the beer menu tucked between the condiments before his gaze bounced to mine. “We’re done hiking for the day, andyou’redriving.”
“Dude, we have so much work to do back at the resort,” I pointed out.
Asher let out a put-upon sigh. “Fine. Just water for me too.”
“Well, that’s easy,” the waiter replied before quickly filling our water glasses from the pitcher on his tray before he moved along.
We went to the buffet, filling our plates. Asher and I had a lighthearted debate over whether hummus or baba ghanoush was better.
When we were seated back at the table, Adele looked amused, her eyes arcing between us.
“What?” Asher asked.
“Nothing. You guys are just funny. It’s nice to see siblings who get along.”
“Do you have any siblings?” I asked, realizing in that moment that I wanted every answer to every question I could think ofabout Adele. My curiosity about her was boundless. This was sonotme. I loved women, but I wasn’t that guy who got curious about a specific woman. I wasn’t an asshole, but I liked to keep things light. And yet, here I was with Adele wanting so much more. I’d never even kissed her, or gotten close enough to slide my hands over her sweet curves and map her body. I was in deep, and I barely knew the woman.
Adele paused for just a beat before she replied, “I do. I have a sister.”
She took a swallow of water, and I felt Asher’s gaze shift to me. When I slid my eyes to meet his, I realized he sensed that my reaction to Adele wasn’t typical.
Fuck my life. My nosy brothers.
“And, what does your sister do? What are we talking? Older? Younger?” Asher circled his hand in the air.
I bit the inside of my cheeks to keep from chuckling. He’d appointed himself my advocate. He was going to be nosy as hell. Asher wastypicallycurious, unabashedly asking all the questions.
“Her name is Rowan, and she’s two years older than I am.”
“Oh.” Asher nodded. “Okay. What does Rowan do? Does she gallivant all across Alaska and hike like you?”
Adele pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh. “Is that what you thinkIdo?”
“Well,” I cut in. “You kind of said that’s what you do.”
Her cheeks flushed a little, and she lifted one shoulder in a tiny shrug. “I suppose that is what I do. But that’s not what Rowan does. Like me, she was born and raised in Alaska. We lived just outside of Fairbanks. My parents, if they could have, would’ve wanted to live in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.”
“Whoa,” Asher replied, blinking. “That’s rural, even by Alaskan standards.”
A long enough pause followed that I got really curious. Adele took a quick breath. “I had some medical issues that meant I needed to be close to medical facilities,” she said simply.
