Indigo Nights (Nights #3)(50)

“It’s Jake. Do you mind if I answer it?” I asked.

“Of course not. Shall I leave you to it?” He went to stand, but I pulled him back. His question was a reminder that we were still feeling out the edges of what our relationship looked like. Did I like privacy when I spoke to my brother? Did he like to shower in the mornings?

“Don’t go.”

He smiled and leaned back again.

“Hey,” I answered my phone.

“How did it go? I’ve checked YouTube, but I couldn’t find a clip,” Jake said.

“It was good. I can send you the digital file. They said they’ll send it through. Are you at work?”

“Yeah, are you back at the hotel?”

“Um, no. I’m staying with Dylan tonight.” I stroked my hand over his thigh. I’d mentioned to Jake that I was seeing someone just before I’d left for Chicago.

“You are? If it’s serious, I’m going to need to meet this guy. I hope he’s looking after you.”

I looked up at Dylan. “Yeah, it is for me, at least. He just brought me lemonade and cake.”

Dylan slid his hand under mine and wound our fingers together. There was heat between us, as always, but this felt . . . more.

“Sounds like he knows how to get on your good side. Look, I’ll leave you to it, but I’m serious. I want to meet him.”

I laughed. “We’ll see. You need to trust me. It’s different now. I make better life choices.”

“I know. I just worry.” Jake had earned his right to worry about me. And Dylan had said that he wanted to meet him.

“Don’t. I’m good. Send my love to everyone.”

I ended the call and slung my phone on the table.

“He’s worried about you?” Dylan asked.

“Always. I think there’s lots of change in my life at the moment, and that makes me vulnerable.”

He smoothed his hands up my arms. “Is it too much between us?”

I turned and traced his stubbly jaw with my fingers. “No. Is it for you? Are we going too fast?”

“Maybe on paper.”

My stomach churned at his admission. I hadn’t wanted that to be his answer.

“But it feels right,” he continued. “In my heart, even in my head, it all makes sense. But I can understand why your brother might be concerned. What did he say?”

“He said that you clearly knew how to get on my good side.” Should I tell him that Jake wanted to meet him? I didn’t want unnecessary pressure on either of us.

“And?”

“And, you know, all the normal stuff?”

“No, I don’t know. My brother’s in the Navy. He has been married since he was twenty-two. I don’t have sisters. So I don’t know what brothers with sisters are like.”

“Shit, your brother’s in the Navy?”

He chuckled. “Are you wondering if you got the wrong James?”

I tutted. “Of course not. It’s just that when you say stuff like that, I realize how much I need to know about you. I can hardly introduce you to my brother when I don’t even know that your brother is in the Navy.”

“I’m meeting your brother?”

I covered my face with my hands. “No. I didn’t mean—”

“In your phone call, he said he wanted to meet me?”

I stayed silent, hoping I might disappear if I didn’t respond.

“Beth, you know I can see you even if you’re covering your face so you can’t see me, right?”

I burst out laughing and dropped my hands into my lap. “Okay, you win. Yes, he said he wanted to meet you.”

“Okay, good. I’ll come over when we take ownership of Redux in two weeks. We can do it then.”

“Just like that? You don’t think it’s too much too soon? I don’t want us to burn out.”

“Yeah, I said I wanted to. Why is it such a big deal? I’m not telling him you’re knocked up.”

I stretched to kiss his jaw. “Okay then.”

How had Dylan gone from incredible sex and a tight ass to the guy who was flying to London to meet my family?

My stomach fluttered. Everything was just too perfect.





Dylan

I’d told Beth that she didn’t need to meet me at the airport, but now that I’d landed, I was delighted she’d told me that she was ignoring me and would be waiting for me.

As soon as I passed customs, I craned my neck to try to spot her in the crowd. Her beautiful smile and her plump red lips came into view first. Her grin was wide and she held her hands up high, as if she were a ring girl at a boxing match, except her sign read “Mr. 8A.”

She was on the other side of a waist-high metal barrier, but that didn’t stop me from leaning across and pressing my lips to hers. Her hands slipped around my neck and I let go of my suitcase so I could run my hands across her back. She smelled like lemons. I’d missed her. It had been sixteen days since I’d last seen her.

I rounded my hands around her ass and pulled her over the barrier. She clamped her legs around my waist. I wanted to be in private, to slide my tongue over her soft, pliable skin. I dipped my lips over hers and she moaned. There was going to be a lot more of that very soon.