ALEX: We’re meeting her at dinner on Friday, obviously.
MILES: No, we’re opting out this week.
ALEX: Opting out isn’t an option.
MILES: We’re not coming, Alex.
ALEX: We’ll see.
MILES: You can meet her next week.
LANDO: Can someone tell me how to mute these messages?
Iwondered how long it would take for my brothers to find out about the kiss. Though seeing as Claudia, Agatha, and Eddie were all witnesses to Ruby and me yesterday, it’s frankly surprising I haven’t heard from them sooner. Although knowing them, they’ve spent the day discussing the best ways to give me shit before pressing Send.
Annoying fuckers.
But that kiss . . .
So far, she’s two for two in succeeding to knock me off my feet.
I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Or the way she’d looked at me afterward—wide-eyed and breathless, like she’d shocked herself just as much as she’d shocked me.
But after we left Eddie’s, I half expected her to bolt, so spending the rest of the day together was surprising, like something we’d done a million times before. As we did, something shifted.
We relaxed.
And the day ended with pizza and watching a movie. I honestly can’t remember enjoying myself so much with a woman without sex being involved.
But the tension didn’t disappear. Even when she sat on the other end of the sofa and fell asleep covered in popcorn.
If anything, my cock paidmoreattention.
It’s part of the reason I don’t want to go to family dinner, because I might be skilled at many things, but lying isn’t one of them. One sniff of anything more than a fake marriage between us, and my siblings will never let me forget it.
Slipping my phone back into my pocket, I look up to find Ruby staring at me.
“What?”
“Nothing. You just look pissed. Is everything okay?”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry. Idiot brothers.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I have those too.”
“Yeah, you do,” I said, recalling what she’d mentioned at dinner the night before we got married. But aside from the brief reference to her dad, she hadn’t spoken about them again. And her family isn’t a subject we’ve touched on.
“Ruby, do your parents know you’re here?” I ask, suddenly wondering if they don’t.
She shakes her head. “No. They know I play polo, and I told my mom I’d been offered this job. I talk to her maybe once every couple of weeks, and she relays everything to my dad. He’s not particularly technology-minded, so unless it’s to do with satellites or weather systems affecting his crops, he’s not interested. And my brothers are kind of the same. Given it’s not cows or monster trucks, they don’t really understand polo . . .” She shrugs. “Besides, I’ll be home before they notice I’m gone.”
I nod.
She’s not dismissive about it exactly, but I get the impression she doesn’t want to talk about it anymore. Quite frankly, I’m fine with that, because I know exactly how it feels when your family is so annoying that even talking about them pushes your buttons.
“Nervous about meeting the guys?” I say, changing the subject.
She shakes her head. “Should I be?”
