“Arse,” he said, nudging me with his shoulder.
“Smartarse,” I emphasized with a roll of my eyes.
We ate and chatted about stupid shit, figuring each other out all over again. By the time we threw our rubbish away, I was laughing my ass off when he told me about Gran’s reaction to my sister’s first date.
“She was scary as hell, seriously.”
I snorted again, unable to stifle my amusement. “I bet. I can imagine Gran threatening someone with a broom.”
“Not just threatened,” Nate said, wide-eyed. “She got a good hit on the kid’s backside before chasing him off.”
I sobered at the fresh reminder of all I’d missed by staying away. “Her threatening idiots away didn’t make a difference to my sister, though,” I said quietly.
Nate winced. “Amber is a force of nature and her own person.”
I bobbed my head, knowing that.
“She’s also an excellent mum and is doing so well on her online course.”
My heart squeezed at the pride in Nate’s voice. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank you enough, Nate, for being there for Amber and Gran, and now Ivy.” Those thoughts had plagued me for years, truth be told, but since I became an uncle, Nate had been incredible. He’d gone above and beyond for my sister. Plus, he’d been helping to take care of Gran. I was all too aware of how difficult Gran could be, especially when she felt vulnerable.
“Nah, don’t be an idiot. You know they’re my family too.”
Unable to resist, I reached out and squeezed his forearm, craving the contact. His self-deprecating smile softened, his gentle gaze roaming over mine. When it landed on my mouth, I swallowed hard and pulled away, standing.
“Okay, next up, let’s head back, and we’ll get cleaned up before we go tonight.” I planned to show him some cool spots where I liked to hang out with the guys. “We’ll go the long way back, though, and take in a few sights.” I risked a glance at him, catching the disappointment in his eyes before he locked down his expression.
The thing was, Nate hadn’t changed all that much. Yeah, he was broader, a little softer around the edges, his voice deeper. But I could read his tells loud and clear. Knowing I was hurting him sat like a boulder in my gut as we headed back to my car.
But short of having my cake and goddamn devouring it, which I couldn’t do, I had to remember to keep my hands to myself.
Fuck, it was proving so damn difficult to keep my hands to myself.
We’d had a blast this afternoon. I’d shown Nate an out-of-the-way ball court where a few locals played and I occasionally hung out, and I even talked Nate into going on some hoke paddleboats on one of the larger lakes not too far from where I lived. Once we’d got home and freshened up, we’d headed into the city for dinner at a quieter bar the guys and I sometimes hung out at, and that led to me foolishly answering a call from Jayden.
For the past two hours, we’d been at this club. It wasn’t my scene, and from our texts and calls over recent months, I knew it wasn’t Nate’s either. Yet my friend was tearing up the dance floor, looking so fucking hot as he moved his hips in a way that made me think far too intently about sex. He was dancing with Jayden and a couple of women who’d latched on.
Admittedly, when that had first happened, I’d tensed and wanted to drag him away and take him home, but the bastard had thrown me a wink, which I’d easily spotted over the distance since I’d barely taken my eyes off him.
Since then, I jumped between smiling at the good time he was having and being envious that he could dance so freely with a woman. While I knew a gay club would fix that right up, I hadn’t tried to visit one since the last time I’d freaked out.
“Come on. Get your ass on the dance floor with me. This is ridiculous.”
“Huh?” I whipped my head around, startled by Sutton.
When his response was to roll his eyes, latch on to my arm, and haul me to the dance floor, I was rendered speechless for a beat. “You never dance,” I called over the music. While that wasn’t technically true, since Jayden had dragged Sutton up a time or two, usually making a spectacle of the pair of them, he never voluntarily hit the dance floor.
He angled a look at me, once again rolling his eyes.
“What did I do?”
Sutton stopped abruptly and turned to face me. “You’re shit company and should be out here dancing with your friend.”
With no idea how to respond, I gaped.
“You’re impossible. Just, come on.”
The beat of my heart picked up speed as I allowed Sutton to haul me toward Jayden and Nate. Sutton was a good guy, but fuck if he didn’t freak me out a little. The man’s power of observation was next-level scary, and I had no idea what to do about that.
