Room for You(35)

“Got it. No pressure.” He smirked, entertaining me.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I suddenly needed air. Being this close to Brody, with all of his energy focused on me was intense, overwhelming. “All right, I gotta check on Lucy and Piper.”

I walked over to the pantry door, and just as my hand grabbed the knob, Brody’s arm shot in front of my face and grabbed the doorjamb on the other side of me, blocking my path.

Baffled, I looked up at him, butterflies swarming my stomach.

He licked his lips as a sexy grin spread across his face. His gaze burned down on me.

“Pay the toll.”

Instantly, my butterflies morphed into pterodactyls.





“Where’d you disappear to this weekend? As if I didn’t already know.” Andy badgered sarcastically on the other end of the line.

“Uh … Kacie’s.” I yawned, still half asleep.

“No shit, Sherlock. How did that go? Did you two crazy kids profess your undying love for each other? Will I be getting a wedding invitation in the mail?”

“No, *. We just hung out,” I snapped back, slightly irritated at his teasing.

“Wow! Little defensive, aren’t we? Okay, okay. I’ll back off. I do have a question for you though, actually a favor.” Hesitation rang loud in his voice and I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what this favor was.

I sighed. “This is gonna piss me off, isn’t it?”

“Probably.”

“What is it?”

“Remember I told you last week that Blaire is trying to turn into Suzy Homemaker? Well, she’s hosting a party and doing all the cooking to show off her new … skills.”

“No,” I shot back before he had a chance to continue.

“Come on, Brody. Don’t make me suffer through this by myself,” he begged.

Driving all the way out to Andy and Blaire’s house was bad enough, but having to fake through an evening of pleasantries and eating her cooking was going above and beyond.

Before I could answer him, he sweetened the pot. “Why don’t you bring Kacie with you? I’d like to meet the girl who has turned my best friend’s brain into a pile of shit anyway.”

Smiling at the sound of her name, I responded, “When is this grand dinner?”

“Next Saturday night. My house. Cocktails and hor d’oeuvres at six, dinner at seven. You in?” He sounded excited, clearly expecting me to say no.

I sighed. “Yeah, I’m in.”

“Kacie too?”

“Yes. It’s going to take some convincing on my part, but I’ll get her here.”

Convincing, begging, whatever.

“Awesome. Thanks, bro. It means a lot to me. By the way, you might want to eat before you come out here, but don’t tell Blaire I said that.”





“You busy?” Kacie’s voice was soft and sexy, tempting me to jump into my truck and drive back to her house right then, just for one more kiss.

“I am busy actually, but I’d drop just about anything for you.”

Wow. Okay, way to sound like a lame teenager, Brody.

“You’re sweet, but stop it or you’re gonna make me like you even more.” She giggled.

Challenge accepted.

“How’s your morning been?” I asked.

“It’s been full of Lysol and laundry detergent.” She sighed. “Both girls have the stomach flu. I was actually calling to warn you. I hope you don’t get sick.”

“Eh, don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine, I’m more worried about you.”

Hmm, getting sick might be a blessing. It would get me out of Blaire’s fake ass dinner.

“I’m okay. I think between the girls and all the people I’m exposed to at the inn, my immune system is made of steel. I almost never get sick.”

“Never say never,” I teased her. “So, let’s assume for a minute that I did end up with a raging case of the stomach flu. Would you come down here and take care of me?”

Silence on the other end of the line.

“I’ll take that as a no.” I laughed, trying to break the tension.

“No, that’s not a no. I just haven’t really thought about the whole coming to your house thing yet. It caught me off guard,” she said quietly.

“Funny you should mention that...” I said matter-of-factly.

She inhaled quickly. I could feel her anxiety through the phone.

“Before you freak out, nothing has changed, we’re still taking things slow … but I have a dinner party to go to next weekend and I was hoping you’d be my date.”

“Oh. Wow. Coming to your house…” She paused. “Um, I don’t know.”

“That’s not the answer I was hoping for. I was looking for something more along the lines of: ‘Why yes, Brody, I’d love to spend the weekend at your house having copious amounts of crazy, sweaty monkey sex.’”

Silence.

“Kacie, I’m kidding. Look, if sleeping here makes you nervous, I have a spare room with its own bathroom. You are more than welcome to sleep in there. I won’t be offended. No pressure, remember?”

“Okay.”

I could tell she was smiling now, thank God.