They ate in silence for a few minutes, but Lucy could practically see him worrying about something. His shoulders were tensing again. The furrow in his brow was deepening. And the way his gaze kept flicking to her and then bouncing away told her he might have something he wanted to say, but wasn’t sure she was going to like it.
“Maybe while we’re at my place tomorrow,” he finally said, “we could not say anything about…anything.”
Nick looked so uncomfortable, Lucy couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled up. “So are we just ignoring your brothers? Or should we act out the conversations, like charades? Are we betting on which of us can make it through the whole cookout without saying anything?”
He dropped his fork onto his plate, that exasperated sigh she loved so much making her smile. “You know what I’m talking about.”
“Yes, I do,” she admitted. Toying with him was fun, but she didn’t want him to rescind the invitation. “I mean, we agreed it was a bad idea ahead of time. We just needed to get it out of our systems, so there’s no sense in telling anybody. I’ve been the subject of enough gossip in this town, thank you very much.”
“Exactly. I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
“And look at the bright side.” She waited for him to look at her, and then smiled. “At least neither of us will have to sleep in the shed.”
* * *
The most alarming thing about Lucy Macauley, as far as Nick was concerned, was how quickly he’d gotten used to living with her.
The second most alarming thing about Lucy was how much Nick had enjoyed kissing her and how much he wanted to do it again. And how much time he spent thinking about it.
Right now, sitting next to her in his truck on his way to the family home for a cookout, wasnotthe time. But remembering the feel of her lips against his had a way of sneaking up on him at inopportune times.
Minutes from introducing Lucy to all three of his brothers wasdefinitelyan inopportune time.
He should have waited to kiss her untilaftershe’d met his brothers. They knew him too well, and he wasn’t going to be able to hide the chemistry between him and Lucy. Actually, the harder he tried, the more they would notice something was up, and they’d start paying attention.
“Why are you antsy?” she asked from the passenger seat, breaking into his thoughts.
“I’m not.”
“You’re drumming your fingers on the steering wheel, and you never do that.” She pointed a finger in his direction. “You know, Lavinia hates that. Don’t do that at the Scuttlebutt.”
Nick was so confused. He was often around Lucy, but this was next level. “Who is Lavinia?”
“The ghost. At the bakery.” She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Her picture’s right there on the wall.”
“Right, the whoopie pie lady.”
He took a right turn onto a dirt road, and then a left into his driveway. Four trucks made parking tight, but he pulled into his usual spot—farthest from the door because he was nice like that.
“Wow, what a pretty house. It’s not what I was expecting.”
He looked at the classic sage green Cape with the deep porch, trying to see it through her eyes. The early-season perennials were starting to bloom in the beds around the foundation, and he thought it looked pretty. “Should I be offended?”
“I thought it would be like a square house, probably painted gray, with lots of… I don’t know—man stuff.”
“I don’t even know what that means, but we do have a grill in the backyard and a riding mower in the shed.” He glanced sideways at her. “Don’t ever assume the toilet seat’s down, though. My mom gave up nagging about that by the time Theo was out of diapers.”
“It must be really cool to have a home you grew up in. I guess Gran’s cottage is the closest thing for me, and, well, you know how often I got to come here.”
“It felt pretty small for a while. It’s a three bedroom with a full bathroom upstairs and a half bath downstairs. Sometimes, especially during our teen years, it didn’t even feel like we had elbow room.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “We did bunk beds, with me and Gray in one room and Beck and Theo in the other. Me leaving for college was one of the best days of Gray’s life.”
But he didn’t want to keep going down that conversational road because it dead-ended with Nick getting called home—and back to the room he shared with his brother—and realizing immediately they needed him to stick around.
“I’ve never shared a room,” Lucy told him.
And Nick’s mind started spinning. Likeever? Obviously she’d had relationships in the past, but had she ever lived with anybody? Hell, had she been married in the past? He wanted to ask, but it was also none of his business.
“I don’t remember having my own room, which I did until I was six,” he said instead. “But I remember the day they moved Gray into my room because Mom was about to have Beck.”