Page 55 of My Brother’s Best Friends Entanglement

She groans and covers her face. “How could I forget the banana. And the mango smoothie shower!"

I yelp with laughter.

We let the laughter wash over us, the late hour making us a little goofy.

Finally, I swallow the last of the giggles and say, "Okay. Admittedly, rough."

"Yup," she says, and reaches for the cake.

"Uh-uh! My turn!" I take a long deep breath, and then say, "A bloke wouldn't leave two of the girls alone tonight. Followed one down the hallway to the toilets, wouldn't take the hint, put a hand on her when she tried to walk off. Security got him out the door but he made a really ugly scene."

All the humour drops off her face at once. "Oh no. Is she okay?"

"She's okay. I made sure of it." I look at her instead of the banana bread now. "It's one of the hardest parts of my job. Keeping everyone safe. I don't think I could live with myself if someone came to real harm at one of our bars. Whether I'm there or not."

She props her chin up on her elbows and looks at me. And I can't look away. "That's really commendable of you, Zachary."

I let out an exhale. "Nah. I have a duty of care for my employees and my patrons. It should be the bare minimum, don't you think?"

"It should. But it's not, unfortunately." I take a bite of the banana bread she offers me. We share a look in the dark, emotion flickering across her face. My fingertips itch to trace the lines forming there.

I lean in, my fingers gripping the marble of the kitchen island, inches from her elbows. "That wasn't the hardest part of my night though."

She shoots me a look of surprise as she straightens up. "What's the hardest part?"

I should stop here. Walk out of the room, shut the door, keep her safely on the other side of it. But of course, I don't. Because I'm a fucking idiot.

"The hardest part of not just tonight, but the last two weeks has been missing you for six years, and now getting to stand so close to you I can smell lavender in your shampoo. So close to the only woman in the whole fucking world I want to kiss but can’t.” I lean in closer because I can’t not. “And I don’t know how much restraint I’ve got left in me, Lex.”

We don't move. Neither of us makes a sound. Her eyes are locked with mine, and I know that even in the dark, she can see that I mean every single word.

Then she shakes her head, breaking eye contact and lets out a nervous breath. "Priya was wrong," she says. "Marcus isn't the one I need to be careful of.” Her finger lifts in shakey accusation. “It's you."

"Alexia."

She busies herself, pouring herself some more tea. "You should see your bar reviews, by the way." She's talking quickly now, words tumbling over each other. "Someone left one this week that just says 'the bartender changed my life, four stars.' Why not five? Makes no sense. Bugging me all week."

I clear my throat, giving her space from what I said. "Wow. Only four stars. Brutal. Life changing and still can't get that last star?"

"Right? Some people can't be pleased."

She gets up to fill two glasses with water and brings them back.

"So, um, you still like the people you’ve met at work? Um, who was it, Greg something?” I ask as nonchalantly as I can, because apparently I enjoy my own pain.

The look she gives me tells me she’s not buying it. But she answers anyway.

“Craig, Yeah, he's fine. Pretty helpful, actually." She takes a drink of water. "He, er, asked me out."

Lights flash in front of my face. “He what? W-What did you say?"

She just shrugs. "Haven't decided."

Something burns my chest. No. You're supposed to tell him no. Never. Don't ask me again.

“Well, I should sleep," she says suddenly, sliding off the stool. "I have a tutorial to run at nine."

"Yeah. You should get some rest. Don't want to scare the students looking all...haggard."