“That’s only a few hours away. Might do you some good to visit.”
“Nope.”
Not unless Hell froze over.
He’d said all he had to say the day he’d left for Army boot camp. That was seventeen years ago, and he hadn’t been back home or seen the man since.
“What about your sister?”
His friend was trying to be helpful, Sinjin understood that, so he ignored the agitation pinching his shoulder blades and finished zipping his bag. “I saw her and her family before I left for Mexico.”
It had been good to meet his brother-in-law and his nephews in person. Facetime was nice but couldn’t take the place of an in-person meeting.
Hunter nodded, then wisely changed the subject. “So how did the walk with Isla go yesterday?”
A shaft of awareness shot through him at the mention of his pretty neighbor’s name, and he suddenly wished they were talking about his family again.
“Fine.”
Hunter’s deep chuckle had him lifting his gaze. “I see.”
He frowned. “See what? There’s nothing to see. You all told her I’d walk her home, so I walked her home.”
“It makes sense now.”
“That’s good, because you aren’t making any.”
Hunter’s smile widened. “Yeah, pretty sure I definitely discovered the reason for your restlessness.”
Blinking, he studied the guy a second before his meaning dawned. Sinjin laughed out loud then laughed harder at his buddy’s stunned expression. “I know what you’re getting at, and you’re crazy.”
“Last year, I would’ve agreed with you,” Hunter said, a smile twitching his lips. “But one look into Christa’s eyes woke up more than my body, man. It woke up the humanity inside me again.”
“That’s great,” he said, cupping his buddy’s shoulder a second before releasing him. “I’m happy for you. She’s a good woman, raising a great boy. But I don’t understand what that has to do with me and my restlessness.”
“It has everything to do with it, Sinjin,” Hunter insisted. “I saw the look on your face when you caught Isla with yourlap, yesterday. You felt like you were hit with a ton of bricks, right?”
Yeah, but he wasn’t going to admit it, so he shrugged instead.
“And then warmth literally seeped into your chest.”
Shit.
Yeah. That was exactly what had happened. “How…?”
“Because it’s like I just told you,” Hunter said. “That happened to me when I first met Christa.”
“What does this have to do with restlessness?” His brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders yet, which pissed him off.
“It’s because you’re refusing to acknowledge that you like the way Isla makes you feel.”
He blew out a breath and shook his head. “Doesn’t really matter. Even if I like it, that doesn’t mean I’ll do anything about it, or that she’d want that anyway.”
“Oh, she’d be okay with it. Trust me,” Carter spoke up from behind.
Damn. Sinjin turned to face the grinning idiot. He was slipping. He hadn’t even realized someone else had entered the room.
“She wore the same dazed and delighted expression.” Carter’s grin increased.
