Her eyes practically bug out of her head, and she looks like she’s about to choke. She clenches her hands into fists. “Yes, dammit! I want this to be real, and I hate that I want that when I don’t really know what you’re thinking.”
Happiness and relief swamp me. This is what I’ve been wanting since … well, practically since the beginning. Since our first official date, for sure. My hand goes behind her head and pulls her lips to mine in a fierce kiss. When I end the kiss, I press my forehead to hers. “I want that too. This is real. It’s been real for a while. I’m glad we’re finally on the same page. So what’s the problem with meeting my brothers again?”
She hits my shoulder weakly with her closed fist. “Sometimes I think I hate you.”
“Sometimes I think I love you.” I … didn’t quite mean to say that. But now that I have, I can’t unsay it, so I hold her gaze as she pulls back enough to look at me.
Her eyes bounce back and forth between mine, trying to read my sincerity. “Are you serious?”
I swallow the blockage in my throat. She opened this can of worms. And backpedaling won’t help anything, that’s for damn sure. So even though I’m terrified she doesn’t really reciprocate, the fact that she’s already said she wants this to be real bolsters my courage. “Yeah.”
This time she kisses me, pulling my face to hers for a softer, sweeter exchange. “I love you too,” she breathes against my lips.
We release each other slowly, reluctantly. But we’re in a parking lot in broad daylight. And we’re expected at my brother’s house shortly. It’s not exactly the ideal time or place to demonstrate our feelings more physically than kissing.
“So … we’re still going to my brother’s?” I clarify as I put the car in reverse and back out of the parking spot.
She laughs. “Yeah. We’re still going to your brother’s.”
Chapter Thirty
Alexis
Colt parks the car in front of his brother’s house—a two-story white stucco house with a red-tile roof at the end of a winding gravel road. He looks at me as he unbuckles his seatbelt. “Ready?”
Actually, I feel like I might puke. And our conversation in the gas station parking lot, while eye opening, didn’t actually do all that much to ease my nerves. Though at least I don’t have to feel like a liar on top of worrying about whether his brothers will think I’m … I don’t know. A loser? A washed-up has-been? Someone who’d normally be beneath their notice?
But there’s no time to dwell on that now, because Colt is out of the car and coming around to open my door. I’d normally open my own door, but he seems to have noticed my freeze response as I stare at the walnut-colored front door bearing a summery wreath.
Colt offers me a reassuring smile and a hand out of the car. Shutting the door behind me, he pulls me in close and places a soft kiss on my lips. “Relax,” he breathes in my ear. “They’re going to love you.”
Swallowing down my fear, I nod, and taking Colt’s offered hand, let him lead me to my doom.
I mean, the door.
The door opens as we climb the front steps. A man with the same face shape as Colt but the wrong coloring stands in the doorway and gestures us inside with a smile. He’s a little shorter and a little broader than Colt, too, with darker hair and oddly colored eyes. Hazel-ish? But kinda gray too.
He pulls Colt into a quick hug, slapping him on the back with genuine happiness. “Hey, man. Good to see you. It’s been ages.”
Colt laughs and reaches for my hand again, tugging me inside after him. “Brendan, everyone, this is Alexis.” And he tells me each of their names, as though I don’t already know, but the confirmation of which face goes with which name is helpful given my discombobulated state.
Gabby and Lauren both smile widely and wave as they’re introduced. Jonathan waits for Colt to finish before stepping forward and hugging his brother as well. “We’ve missed you, man,” he says. “The tour’s not the same without you.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” chimes in Lauren, nodding emphatically. “You definitely miss the way he bangs on your dressing room door and lectures you about appropriate times to have sex.”
I can’t swallow the burst of laughter that comes out of me, even though I try.
Lauren turns to me, a sly smile on her face. “Weeeeelll, perhaps now that he’s getting some, he won’t be so jealous of other people’s love lives.”
Colt snorts. “It’s not so much jealousy as it is not wanting to walk in on my naked brothers when I’m just trying to wrangle everyone for a show. I can’t say I miss that part at all.”
“Awww, c’mon,” Gabby says. “You don’t miss bossing everyone around even a little?”
“Oh, I dunno.” Lauren leans against the breakfast bar, a speculative note in her voice. “Somehow I think he still does plenty of bossing around.”
When my face heats up, Colt steps in front of me, as though to shield me from his sisters-in-law’s gazes and double entendres. “Alright. Let’s let Alexis get comfortable with everyone before you start prying into our sex life. Maybe save that for next time, yeah?”
To my surprise, Lauren looks sheepish as she peeks around Colt to look at me. “Sorry, Alexis. I’m just so used to busting Colt’s chops. It wasn’t really directed at you.”
I wave away her apology with a smile. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”
Colt pulls me against his side again, his arm around my waist, and I don’t miss the looks we’re getting, a combination of curiosity and happiness. Whatever strange relationship these boys might have with their mother, it’s clear that they all care
