His cheeks flushed. “Look, just – change of subject?”
“Sure.” She felt her own smile dim as he glanced back down at his plate. She wasn’t sure why she’d brought his not-girlfriend up; they’d already had that conversation, and he clearly wasn’t comfortable talking about his sex life.
Which she shouldn’t have cared about in the first place.
She groped for something more benign to say – and he beat her to it. “Did you make the corn?” he asked, scooping up a spoonful.
“I did. It’s not fancy, but it was the best I could do at work.”
He nodded, appreciatively, she thought, swallowed, and spooned up another bite. “I remember it. I think.” He frowned, thoughtful.
“It was what I always took when Maggie invited me to something. I can’t cook like her, but I can whip up a mean salad.”
He nodded again, serious against her self-deprecation.
There was a lull down the table.
“Speaking of Maggie cooking,” Leah said. “Ava, what’s the news on the restaurant?”
“I keep telling Dad to go ahead and let her know about it,” she said, “but he’s insistent on it being the best Mother’s Day present ever.”
“Here, honey, I got you a buncha work and stress,” Mercy said, to chuckles. “Nah, she will love it.”
“And she’s going to want to plan every tiny detail,” Ava said. “Which I’ve expressed to him repeatedly.”
“Ooh, you know,” Whitney said, “your mom’s been taking Kris under her wing. Maybe she’ll let her help.”
Ava waved a fork in her direction. “That’s anexcellentidea.”
“Just admit you don’t wanna be involved,” Aidan said.
“Oh, I’ll be involved, I’m sure. But. Kris needs something to be excited about. And doesn’t have a floundering writing career and three babies.”
“Yet,” Mercy said with a snort. “And it’s not floundering,fillette, don’t say it like that.”
Ava shook her head, lips going momentarily tight, and Leah made a mental note to ask her about it later.
“Are Kris and Roman getting that serious?” Sam asked, and then glanced down the table toward Reese, shoulders tucking a little.
Warm breath against Leah’s ear startled her, as did the press of a warm, hard shoulder against her own.
“Kris is Reese’s brother,” Carter whispered, too soft and close for anyone else to overhear. “It’s a very long, very weird story, but she’s a little more normal than him.”
At the other end of the table, Reese picked his beer up again and drained it, giving no indication that the rest of the table was discussing his sister.
“Okay, a lot more normal,” Carter conceded. “She actually lives in your building.”
“Oh, so that’s…” She turned her head – why, she didn’t know. Instinct. When she did, their faces were a hairsbreadth apart. Close enough that he was just a blur of blue eyes, and tanned skin, and white teeth.
They both froze.
Then his breath rushed warm across her face as he pulled back.
“The Kristin Maggie meant,” she finished, voice faint. She swallowed, her throat tight. “I haven’t met her yet.”
Carter didn’t respond at first; stared at her, lips parted, expression unreadable, the blue of his eyes only a thin ring around his pupils.
Unreadable, maybe, but shocking all the same. So unexpected that it sent a quick, hard pulse of heat through her; it washed down her face, and throat, her chest, pebbled her nipples and landed deep in her belly with one final, clenching throb.
