Page 218 of Safe With You

I stared at him.

He shook his head. “She’s making it sound worse than it is.”

“Worse?” I asked.

His eyes closed briefly.

Tasha grinned.

“I mean more than it is.”

“That wasn’t better.”

“I know.”

I laughed, and something warm settled low in my stomach at the thought of Ellis talking about me when I was nowhere around to hear it.

“You good?” Ellis asked quietly.

I realized I was still looking at him.

“Yeah.”

His eyes stayed on mine for another second.

“Okay.”

There was something in Tasha’s expression when I glanced back at her. The teasing was still there, but it had softened around the edges.

She looked at her brother for a moment before looking at me again.

“So,” she said, “this is where you’ve been keeping him.”

“I haven’t been keeping anybody.”

“That’s what he says too.”

“I’m standing right here,” Ellis said.

“I know.”

Before I could answer, Naomi appeared beside us.

“There you are,” she said to me. “We’ve got about fifteen minutes.”

Her attention shifted to Tasha, who looked back at her. Neither of them said anything for a second, but the pause lasted just long enough for me to notice.

“Tasha, this is Naomi. Naomi, Ellis’s sister.”

“Nice to meet you,” Naomi said.

“You too.”

They shook hands, and Naomi let hers fall back to her side before looking at me. Tasha did the same.

A second later, their attention drifted back to each other.

I narrowed my eyes.