Page 29 of My Brother’s Best Friends Entanglement

His eyes lock on mine and then he leans in and whispers in my ear, "Oh, I'm sorry, does it look like I give a fuck? You need sustenance, and I'm going to make sure you have it."

And then he pulls away.

It all happens so fast, I barely have time to register, except that there's a faint aroma of his aftershave tickling my sense, and every inch of my skin is tingling.

And I can barely breathe.

But when I look over at him, he's back to humming under his breath, making me a plate as he says, "You haven't trained your digestive system to expect food in the morning. How else will your brain have enough fuel to do all that thinking you want it to do?" He actually frowns. I'm trying to remember the last time I saw Marcus frown. "Is this how you are when you're in Sydney?"

"No," I say, scowling. "I eat fine. Does it look like I'm not feeding myself?" I gesture to my body, over the soft curves of my belly pressing against my black cotton pants, and I turn, giving my arse a little wiggle. I turn back to see both Marcus and Rhys staring at me. Guess they agree. "See? No need to worry about me going hungry. In fact, I could probably skip a meal or two."

I walk over to the drinks station with my thermos to make myself some green tea, muttering under my breath about overbearing men.

When I turn back to the island, there's a plate with a perfectly poached egg on a piece of homemade buttered sourdough toast. Marcus hands me a knife and fork without a word, and when I don't take them, sighs and places the cutlery in my hand himself.

"Eat it before it goes cold." He takes the tea towel and drapes it over his head, pulling the corners down under his chin, and adopts a sad look as he points to his apron. "I slaved over a hot stove for four minutes to make that for you. I give and I give but do I get any appreciation?"

The whole scenario is so pathetically silly that warmth blooms in my chest, and before I can stop myself, I say, "Okay, okay. I'll eat the damn egg. Wouldn't want it to not get to fulfil its destiny!" and then lean over and press a kiss to his cheek.

It's not until his scent envelops me, and I feel his freshly shaved cheek against mine as I pull back, that I realise what I've done.

Have I lost my ever-loving mind?

I take a step back, staring at him, the shock clearly still on my face.

At first, he seems rooted to the ground, but then his entire face lights up as he throws the tea towel in the air and says, "Exactly! I knew you'd understand. See? Some people get it, Rhys-es Pieces."

His reaction breaks the ice, and I take the chance to brush past it. I laugh, cut myself a piece of yolky toast, and roll my eyes when Marcus forces me to admit exactly how much I love it. Not hard, it really is delicious.

Rhys stays quiet throughout, sipping his coffee, focused on his paper.

When I'm halfway through my breakfast, I put the fork down and ask Marcus, who's putting together some sandwiches, "Hey, um, what do you think of Enfield?"

"Enfield?" He looks up from the lunch box he's packing. "Why?"

"Just asking."

"Okay, but why are you just asking?"

I dab my mouth with a napkin. "Things have changed a lot here since I lived in Adelaide. I was barely an adult when I left, I never really knew the different suburbs."

He eyes me. "Alexia."

"Marcus."

"Are you looking at apartments?"

I reach over and pop a blueberry from the fruit bowl into my mouth. I don't know why I feel like I need to hide that I'm rental hunting. This was always the plan. "Ye-es."

He presses down on the lid of the lunch box and it clicks into place. Loudly. And then slams the ball of his hand down on it. Guess it sticks sometimes. "When?" he says.

"No plan yet, just looking right now." I finish off my egg and toast and carry the plate to the sink. "So, Enfield? Or Mitcham?"

No answer.

"Ooo-kay. Well there's one in Prospect. That's a little closer to the city than Enfield."

He frowns. "No, not Prospect. Good if you inherited a place, you're going to make a killing in this market. But as a short-term rental, unless you want to live above a sandwich shop and pay an extra two hundred a week for the pleasure of never being able to find a park. Hard no. Absolute hard no. Don't look at Prospect or Enfield."