Page 10 of Inked Temptation
“No, because now I feel like I pushed you into it.”
I stood up and held out my arms. My baby sister came to me, wrapped her arms around my waist, and sighed.
“I feel like I never get to see you.”
I kissed the top of her head and held her tightly, ignoring the fact that my sides hurt where she was touching. It wasn’t her fault. She didn’t know that I had fallen off a roof yesterday. I was fine, but I still ached, not to mention the huge bruise that I had that I would have to hide from everybody else. I didn’t want them to worry about me. They had been worrying about me forever, and I didn’t need to add to it. Added to the fact that I didn’t want them to think I couldn’t handle this job on my own. While a certified plumber, I also had the skills necessary to do nearly everything but some electric.
I had been learning my entire life how to be a general contractor and, while I wasn’t the architect that Annabelle was, I was still good at most things.
“Come on. We’ll go tonight. Have fun, and I get to see all of my siblings. Are the spouses going?”
“Yes. But you’re family. You’re not a ninth wheel.”
I winced. “That’s lovely. I wasn’t even thinking I was going to be a ninth wheel. At that point, am I just a part of a bus?” I rubbed the spot over my heart, almost playing along.
“That’s not what I meant. I’m just not saying the right things around you. This is why we need to spend more time together.”
“But I like going over to your houses to see you guys. To see Emery.”
Paige beamed at the thought of her baby, and I just shook my head.
“You see? Between Rafael, Lexington, Hailey, Jack, and now Emery, I’m full of nieces and nephews. I like us doing the quieter meals at home where I can spend time with the babies.”
“And we have babysitters tonight, and Clay got babysitters too. So he will be there with Riggs, who promises to come out and dance with us.”
“That makes me an eleventh wheel, Paige,” I murmured, and she winced.
“What about that guy that Annabelle said she was going to hook you up with?”
My body tensed. “Hook up? Is that what you’re going with?”
“Oh, shut up. I don’t know. We know that my dating life was not great until Lee.”
“Did you and Lee even date? Or did you guys just accidentally get married?”
“Some things were accidental, and it wasn’t the marriage,” she teased, and I groaned.
“I do not need to think about those things.”
“True.”
“Okay, I will go. I will dance. I’m not going to be set up or hooked up with anybody. I’m just going to have fun with you guys.”
“That’s all we want. Because we love you.”
The way she said that told me that they had once again been talking about me.
Because they were worried about their brother.
I did not want to be their worry anymore. I wanted to be the guy who knew what he was doing and didn’t make people feel as if they had to tiptoe around him.
“We’ll go dancing. Have fun. And maybe I’ll hook up with some random guy there.”
“You know, that’s one of those things you should not tell your baby sister, but if hooking up with somebody—rather than dating them—makes you happy, go for it. Because all I want for you is to be happy.”
I shook my head and smiled and then pushed her gently out of my office so I could get back to work.
That was the problem with the fact that everybody I knew was married. They all had families and were ready to spend the rest of their lives together. They clearly wanted to make sure that everyone else in their lives was happy and settled as well.
