She disappeared into the walk-in closet and closed the door behind her, leaving me with the distinct feeling that I’d done something wrong.
It was as if I’d personally insulted her by even hinting that I could get her a dress. She was so unlike any other girl I knew, and I had no idea how to take care of her without making her mad at me.
She emerged from the closet several minutes later in a pretty white-and-green flowery dress that showed off her every curve. And of course it had a fucking slit up the left side. She was as beautiful as ever, and my fingers itched to touch her, to taste the sugary flavor of her lips, to run my hands over her slender curves.
She didn’t so much as look at me as she walked over to the dresser and slipped a gold bracelet on each of her wrists. They looked like beautiful shackles and sent my thoughts speeding in a direction they had no business going. I could imagine Danielle lying in my bed, wearing nothing but those bracelets. And I couldn’t help my body’s reaction to that particular image.
Fuck.
If she were anyone else, I’d just fuck her, get it out of my system. But that was out of the question because I’d decided to fake marry a pillar of morality who was saving herself for something better.
And why shouldn’t she? It was what she deserved, even if the thought of some other asshole looking at her, putting his hands on her, made me want to punch something.
The rest of the day went by at a snail’s pace. We were meeting my siblings for dinner at Maggie’s apartment, but until then we had a whole day to kill. And I spent most of it watching Danielle move around my place like she owned it.
She’d gotten more comfortable in the past two weeks, and a part of me liked that a little bit too much. I actually wanted her in my space—something I’d never wanted before.
Dinner at my sister’s felt comfortable too. Danielle got along so well with Maggie, and she’d always been closer than I’d like with Miles. Something he would usually rub in my face as much as possible—especially since his girlfriend wasn’t with him tonight—but he’d been unusually quiet all evening.
His silence continued as dishes were cleared and desserts were brought out. He also declined chocolate, which was telling in itself.
“What’s up with you?” Maggie asked, narrowing her eyes at him as he downed his cup of coffee like he wished it was something a lot stronger.
He shrugged. “Nothing.”
“You don’t seriously expect us to believe that, right?” I asked.
“For goodness’ sake, I’m twenty-four years old. You can all stop babying me.”
“Oh, honey, you’ll always be our baby brother,” Maggie said, reaching out to ruffle his hair.
Jokes aside, Maggie was right. We couldn’t just turn off our older-sibling responsibility to protect Miles no matter how old he got. And something was definitely up.
Danielle leaned over the back of the couch Miles was sitting on and wrapped her arms around him. It took effort not to growl at them. I didn’t like how she touched him so easily—never had.
“Stop ganging up on him,” she said, glaring at Maggie, then me. “He’ll tell us what’s going on when he’s ready.”
“Nothing’s going on,” Miles said.
“Uh-huh. I think what you meant to say is ‘Thank you, Danielle.’”
He smiled up at her, but it looked forced. “Thank you, Danielle.”
She kissed the top of his head. “You’re welcome.”
I glared at them both. “Donotkiss him.”
Miles grinned at me, and it almost looked real. “Jealous, Hayden? You know I’ll always be Dani’s favorite.”
“Her name is Danielle,” I growled at him.
Danielle smiled sweetly at me… right before she kissed Miles’s cheek. “Hayden, stop being ridiculous. And Miles, stop antagonizing him.” She finally let go of him and walked over to give me my own cheek kiss. “Maggie and I are going to go talk about girl things. Don’t kill each other while we’re gone, okay?”
“No promises,” I muttered.
But Miles seemed to have already forgotten I was even there as he checked his phone with palpable anxiety.He didn’t even seem to notice when I got up and moved behind him.
“Waiting for important news?” I asked, leaning my elbows on the couch by his head.
