Come to Me Softly (Closer to You #2)(13)
Author: A.L. Jackson

Shaking her head, Aly scoffed, her tone sarcastic but filled with all the tenderness she held for her brother. “And you can’t even begin to imagine how much I appreciated being put through that awkward moment. Believe me, I’m scarred for life.”

I tried to suppress my laughter, but there was no containing it because this girl was just so damned cute, so sweet and funny.

Smart, too.

I knew what she was doing, making the statement to her brother that we were now an us, and he was going to have to get used to seeing the two of us together because there was no tearing us apart. And he had nothing to say about it.

Like my laughter triggered it, Christopher busted up. Apparently he couldn’t hold it in, either, and Aly was f**king grinning between us like she’d won some sort of prize.

I guess maybe she had, getting us all to laugh like that together again. It had been a long time.

Christopher shook it off. As if tossing me a casual hello, he lifted his chin toward me. “So I need you two tonight, the Vine . . . seven o’clock.” He glanced behind him into the kitchen at the clock glowing from the microwave. “You have twenty minutes to get ready.”

Going to the Vine sounded like about the last thing I wanted to do. I hugged Aly to me. “Not up for that kind of shit yet, man. Aly and I have . . .” My eyes drifted over the lines of her face, that perfect body still plastered to mine. Lust curled in my stomach. I was pretty sure I wasn’t letting her out this door until I’d explored her body for about the next fifteen hours. “. . . catching up to do.” That was about all I could say, because I sure as hell wasn’t going to give her brother details on what I did have planned for tonight.

“You’re supposed to be my best friend, remember?” Christopher drew out, all cynicism and snark. Funny, he did sound a whole lot like the friend I used to have. “And you don’t have to stay long,” he continued, nonchalantly tossing his wallet to the bar. “But it’s Cash’s birthday, and the ass**le went and got himself a girlfriend, and I refuse to be third wheel in that fiasco. He wants us to have dinner and a couple of beers to celebrate, then the two of them are heading out. Pretty sure I’m gonna need backup.”

Chuckling, I lifted my head to meet his eyes. “What, so you want to play fifth wheel with us instead of third?”

He pointed at me. “Fuck you, dude.”

I laughed.

Aly quickly twisted to her side, her thigh burning into mine as she sat up and looked at her brother. “Wait . . . what? Cash has a girlfriend?”

“Ridiculous, right?”

“Poor girl. That’d be about as tragic as you coming through the door and announcing you had a girlfriend.” Aly shook her head with the tease. “I’d have to talk some sense into her.”

Christopher rolled his eyes. “Ha, like that’s gonna happen. Not a chance you need worry about that.” He smirked. “I refuse to look at some chick the way this ass looks at you. Don’t need all the shit that comes with it.” He shot me a mocking glare before he slanted a soft one on Aly.

Disbelieving laughter built in my gut, but I held it back. Fucker was a good guy underneath all the ass**le. “Whatever,” I said, my smirk just as big as his.

Aly tsked. “I take it back. Maybe a girlfriend to keep you in line is exactly what you need, Christopher.” Playfulness saturated her tone, though there was no mistaking the point she was really making.

Christopher caught it, too. “Instead of riding my ass, why don’t you get off yours and get ready? ’Cause I’m not leaving here without the two of you. I haven’t met his girl yet, Aly, and I need you to run interference.”

One side of Aly’s mouth lifted in question as she turned to me. “I’m actually kind of hungry and don’t feel like making dinner. You up for it?”

“Whatever you want, baby. You know I’m game.” Wasn’t really. I just wanted to stay here, curled up on the couch with her. But if my girl was hungry, then I figured we’d better get her fed.

Aly hopped off me, dipped down to peck me on the lips just as fast. Her expression was tender when she pulled back. “All right, then. Let me get ready, and then we can get out of here. Sound good?”

I touched her face. “Yeah, sounds good.”

Aly disappeared into her room and reemerged thirty seconds later with a wad of clothes balled against her chest, grinning the cutest grin as she passed back by and into the bathroom so she could finish getting ready.

Sitting up on the edge of the couch, I raked a flustered hand over the top of my head while I stared at the space she’d just inhabited. How could one girl affect me the way she did? Control me? One glance from her was an outright provocation, her barest touch a switch.

Motherfucking trigger.

“You okay, man?” Christopher’s voice was low, without even a hint of the contempt he’d directed at me this morning.

Tipping my head, I looked up at my oldest friend. I shrugged, not because it didn’t matter, but because I really didn’t know. “Don’t know what I am, Christopher. All of this is f**king overwhelming. That’s about all I know.” I lifted a single brow. “That and the fact I love your sister.”

He smiled, all cool and casual, the way he always did, as if that was the only answer I needed. “Good thing. That’s what she needs. Aly has all the rest of that shit together.”

Awe filtered out from me in a weighted sigh as my gaze burned into the wall that separated us, to the place where Aly was changing, the goodness in her presence enough to fill up the entire apartment. “Guess she probably does, doesn’t she?”

Urgency clouded his relaxed demeanor. “You know, the whole time you were gone, she just kept telling me she didn’t want to do it alone.” His throat bobbed as he swallowed, and he shifted his attention to the ground before he lifted it back to me like he was weighing his admission. “I don’t want her to have to do it alone, either.”

For a flash I turned away and scrubbed my palm over my face, nodded hard. Because I f**king got it, what he was saying. “Wasn’t lying to you earlier, Christopher. I won’t leave her.”

He just pursed his lips in acceptance, then shoved the intense moment off as fast as it’d come. “Gonna get changed.”

He headed down the hall. I climbed to my feet, went into Aly’s room, and dug around in my bag. Seemed strange, all my shit in here. I pulled on a fresh tee and pushed my hair back with both my hands before I went back out in the main room and plopped down onto the couch to wait.