Page 44 of Hard to Hold
“I’m just glad you had the sense to make me wear sunscreen,” I told Wolfe as he drove down my street.
“You didn’t put it on your nose,” he teased.
I pulled down the visor to look in the mirror. When I saw how red my nose was, I laughed.
Seemed I'd been doing that all day. Laughing. It felt good. Strange, almost. But definitely good.
Now that I was going home to an empty house, the familiar trepidation was coming back and I was dreading it. We’d spent the better part of the day at the lake, the three of us laughing and joking and enjoying the sunshine. To my surprise, both men had kept things relatively impersonal. They’d answered my questions when I rapid-fired them, telling me about growing up in a small town, about Friday night football at the high school, bonfires and all-night parties, but not once had they turned the questions on me.
Halfway through the day, I realized they’d done it on purpose. They were respecting my space, and I appreciated them for it, even if I did want to share a little bit about myself with them. I hadn’t had real friends in … well, not since high school. Before my parents died, before…
Wolfe pulled up in front of my house.
Shaking off the revelry, I took a deep breath. “I had fun today,” I told him, closing the visor and looking directly at him.
Of course, his nose wasn’t red. In fact, his skin had bronzed more than it had been already, and he really was too handsome for words.
“Me, too.” Wolfe turned and looked out the front windshield. “Do you work tonight?”
“Yeah.” I peered up at the empty house. “But I could make dinner if you … uh … want to come inside.”
I noticed his hands gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles were white. He obviously had something on his mind, something I probably wouldn’t like.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to be forward. I … uh…”
Wolfe’s warm gaze traveled over to me, and I sat still, waiting for him to say something. Anything.
“I’d like to go inside your house. And I’d love for you to cook for me,” he said, his voice soft, deep. “But I’m not sure that’s a good idea right now.”
“Oh.”
Oh. Right.
Rhys.
I shook my head. “I didn’t mean… I…” I swallowed hard. “I know about you and Rhys.”
Wolfe cleared his throat.
“I mean, I don’t know about you. It’s not like anyone has said anything, but it seems to me that you like each other.”
“Like each other?” Wolfe’s words echoed with amusement.
I squared my shoulders and looked directly at him, my face flaming. “It’s okay. I get it. I didn’t expect … anything. I mean, I like you as a friend and all. If you and Rhys are in a relationship, that’s cool.”
Wolfe laughed, the sound booming inside the truck.
“What?” My face heated more. “What are you laughing at?”
“Is that what you think?” He grinned and I couldn’t look away. The man was so incredibly good-looking. “That Rhys and I are…”
I swallowed hard.
“Darlin’, there’s a lot you don’t know.”
“Then tell me.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but I could handle the truth. I'd accepted the fact that whatever was going on between me and Wolfe and Rhys was friendship. I liked both men immensely, and I was sort of happy that they liked each other. It meant I would never have to choose between them, because honestly, I wasn’t sure I could at this point.
“It’s … complicated.”
