Page 81 of Love Unspoken

"Since the night we were over for dinner for Nolan's birthday. You baked a cake, and you made that cauliflower dish. You kept looking at me, and I realized I knew you were looking at me because I was doing the same with you. But you were sixteen, and I felt like an asshole."

His back was resting against the headboard, and I was snuggled into him. His arm was around me, stroking the scars on my lower back like he didn't care they were there. A small part of me was starting to believe that he didn't care. Scary thought! Because if I was wrong it would destroy me just as badly as the accident had.

"Why did you keep looking at me?"

"I thought you were pretty."

"I fell for you way before that when I heard you talk to Nolan about how he treated me."

He stilled and continued. "Remind me."

I kissed his chest. "I think it was the first time you came over."

"Fuck, how old were you?”

"Thirteen."

"God!"

I smiled and licked his nipple and was rewarded with a sharp intake of his breath. "I was cooking, and Daddy was helping set the table while Nolan was hanging out with you and Hayes, and there was a girl there and another guy."

"Jackson was the guy and…I can't remember the girl's name. She was Jackson's girlfriend."

"Anyway, Nolan went to his room, and you followed him. I was outside the door, and you told him that he needed to get his act together."

"She's a fucking child, and she's cooking? Come on, man, you live here," Amias said to Nolan as he grabbed something from his room.

"She's the one who started cooking after our mother died, okay."

"So?"

"So, what? Amias, I can't be here taking care of the house. You know how hard MIT is."

"I know, Nolan. But she's a kid."

"Naya is fine."

"I don't know, Nolan. It doesn't feel right."

"Fine, I'll help more."

"That day, you helped clean up and stack the dishwasher. Every time you came over, you helped."

My crush only got more intense because of that. I knew Amias came from a wealthy family; Nolan had told us that he, Jackson, and Hayes were all trust-fund babies. He hated that he had to have a job to pay for his living expenses because Daddy paid for school. And, yet, Amias had no problem cleaning the table or throwing out the trash like Nolan did.

"And you fell for me?"

"Hard."

He nuzzled my hair and cupped my ass, stroking the crease in between, jumpstarting my arousal all over again.

"I saw less of you once Nolan moved into your place," I mused. "I missed seeing you, but you still came by with him once in a while. He loved living with you guys. He'd tell us about how great the house was; so much better than our place. It was expensive but he was so enamored."

"Nolan stayed for free in our house; we'd decided upon that because we knew his financial situation and⁠—"

I pushed up and sat, not caring my boobs were on display. "What?"

"What?"