Foreplay (The Ivy Chronicles #1)(63)

“Sorry.” I plucked at the edge of my napkin, my sense of ease evaporating.

“It’s okay. His reputation is well earned. I tried to stop it in the beginning, but he’s eighteen now. He’ll start college in the fall. I can’t tell him what to do anymore. He’s gotta learn for himself.” His lips cocked in that sexy half-grin that made my stomach flip every time. “And just hope he doesn’t end up a father before his twentieth birthday.” He laughed and winced at this simultaneously. The low deep sound rippled over my skin and sank deep inside me. He scrubbed a hand over his short-cropped hair. “Shit. I sound like a father.”

He did, and it totally threw me. It didn’t fit with my initial notion of him. He really was a nice guy. “I get it. You’ve had to be more than a brother to him.”

Some of the levity faded from his face. He was quiet for a moment before saying, “He was just so little when our mom died . . . and I already told you that our father isn’t exactly the type to sit down and talk us through things or comfort us. For bad or good, I’ve been a parent to him.” He shrugged again. “But this year I decided I needed to take a step back.”

The waitress set our drinks down and left. I stared at Reece, wondering how many eight-year-old boys would have stepped up to the plate and adopted the role of mother and father for their younger sibling. “I’m sure what you gave him is better than him going without.”

He shrugged one shoulder. “It was something. He knows I care about him at least, and he’s not alone.”

And isn’t that everything? I thought of my own mother. I couldn’t say that I knew she ever cared about me. Maybe once. Before she started to care about her addiction more.

Almost like he guessed that I was thinking less than pleasant thoughts, he suggested, “Let’s talk about something else.”

I nodded, okay with leaving the subject behind. Talking about his upbringing only made me think of mine. Maybe that was the downside to us being not so different. “Sure.”

“Pepper?”

I looked up at the sound of my name and stared at Hunter’s face, not registering him at first. It was a strange, bewildering experience staring at Hunter with Reece across from me. Like two worlds coming together that never should have met.

“Hunter.” I leaned back in my chair, not realizing until that moment that I had been leaning half across the table, so into Reece and being close to him. “Hi,” I added dumbly.

“Hey, how’s it going?” His gaze slid from me to Reece and back again. He hovered there, waiting. I couldn’t seem to think of a thing to say even though it was apparent he was waiting for an introduction.

“Hey, I’m Reece.” Apparently he knew what to say and do. Reece reached out and shook Hunter’s hand in a solid-looking grip.

“Hunter Montgomery. I went to high school with Pepper.”

“Oh, yeah.” Reece smiled amiably. “That’s cool to have someone you know around.” His expression was innocent. He gave nothing away, like that I might have mentioned Hunter’s name a dozen times. Thank God.

“Yeah. It is.” Hunter’s eyes settled on me as he answered Reece.

“We just met a couple weeks ago,” Reece added, looking at me with eyes that looked suddenly smoky blue. Probing and intimate. Like he knew what I looked like naked and couldn’t wait to get me naked again. “But it feels like we’ve known each other longer. Know what I mean?”

My eyes flared. I kicked him under the table, wondering what he was doing painting the picture that we were some kind of hot and heavy couple. Even if maybe we were. Sort of. Or not. I didn’t know what we were exactly, but it wasn’t a couple. That’s the only thing I knew for sure, and I didn’t need him planting the idea in Hunter’s head that I was unavailable.

“Uh. Yeah,” Hunter murmured, his eyebrows drawing together.

I still couldn’t find my voice. My face felt overly hot and I knew I must be as red as the little squares on the tablecloth.

“Yeah, well, nice meeting you, man.” The smile was still on Reece’s face and in his voice, but there was a steeliness in his gaze. His meaning was clear. Good-bye and go the f*ck away.

“See you later, Hunter,” I murmured softly and gave a small wave, eager for him to leave, but not because I was so enamored of my date and wanted some alone time. I wanted the embarrassment to come to an end. I wanted to stop Hunter from concluding that I was involved deeply with the guy sitting across from me.

“Yeah.” Hunter nodded and moved back across the restaurant. He reclaimed his seat at the bar with a couple of other guys. I’d seen him around campus with one of them. I thought it was his roommate.

“So that’s the infamous Hunter.”

I lifted my gaze back to Reece. “This was a bad idea.”

“What was?”

“You. Us. This date we’re pretending to be on.” Reece was silent and I flicked my gaze to Hunter across the restaurant and back to him again. “Did you have to do that?”

“Do what? Make you look desirable?” He looked at me in exasperation. “You should be thanking me.”

“What? How?”

“I just took you from one category . . . the-girl-I-never-pictured-naked category, and dropped you into I-wonder-what-she’s-like-in-bed.”