Gwen gave a quick shake of her head. "Wait, wasn't he in the bedroom?"
"Not anymore," Drake said, sounding like this wasn't a bad thing.
Gwen whirled to face him. "Oh, soyoulet him out?"
Next to me, Lexie whispered, "See? Itwasa he, just like I said."
She looked so pleased that I had to smile. "Good thing we didn't bet."
She smiled back. "Yeah, but we should've."
I felt my own smile widen. "Too late now."
Her voice softened in the shadows. "It's never too late."
I liked the way that sounded –andthe way Lexie looked as she said it, as if this had nothing to do with the dog and everything to do with us.
No. It wasn't too late.But itwaslong past time to return the guy's coat and send him packing.
I turned and looked toward the couple as they continued bickering back and forth. I couldn’t catch all of what they said, but the cousin was looking more troubled with every passing moment.
My smile faded.Jackass.
Nother.
Him.
I stalked forward. "Hey Buddy!"
The guy turned to look. "Yeah?"
I gave him a hard look. "Do you want the coat or not?"
Turns out, he did.But by the time he claimed it and disappeared into the darkness – only after slipping into the house to retrieve his dog – Gwen looked ready to cry.
And Lexie, for her part, looked ready to offer Gwen whatever comfort she could.
As the three of us stood together near my mailbox, Lexie tossed me an apologetic look before wrapping an arm over her cousin's shoulders and guiding her toward the front door of her aunt's place.
Just before nudging Gwen into the house, Lexie turned and called back to me. "We'll talk later tonight, okay?"
I'd been wanting to talknow.And yet, my heart warmed at the promise in her voice.Man, I liked this girl.
Perversely, I even liked that she wouldn't abandon her cousin when the going got rough.
I'd dealt with selfish people all my life – my parents in particular. But Lexie – she was something else. And one way or another, I decided, I was going to make Lexie mine.
Chapter 29
Lexie
By the time I closed and locked the front door, Gwen had already reached the nearest sofa, where she sat looking cold and dejected in her bathrobe and winter boots.
I moved closer to ask, "Do you want to talk about it?"
She gave a sad shake of her head. "I don't think I should."
I searched her face. "Does that mean…you don't want to? Or you can't?"
