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“You look beautiful.”
Do not blush, I told myself firmly, but still I felt my cheeks heat as I brushed by him, my fingers trailing along his arm as I dragged us both to his truck. “I don’t want compliments, I want food.”
Knox laughed and reached around in front of me, opening the passenger door and offering a hand to help me up. “That I can do, but the compliments won’t stop. Besides,” he said when he went around and jumped behind the wheel. “Your ass in those jeans?” he mouthed a silent “Wow” and slid the gearshift into reverse.
“So, what’s for dinner?”
Knox’s house was cozy and I was instantly in love with it. Only one floor, the living room was spacious and flowed right into the kitchen that had gleaming black granite counters.
“I love this,” I said as I walked through the house for the third time, this time with a glass of wine in my hand. “You can see the harbor from your deck.”
“I know,” he laughed from the kitchen, his shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows - a look which was universally attractive - and exposed forearms that I wanted to bite. Literally bite.
My bare feet padded across the hardwood floors as I moved up next to him. “How’d you end up here?” I asked, leaning against the counter while he boiled pasta.
“Mom and I didn’t know that dad was saving up in case God forbid something happened to him. I wanted to split it right down the middle but, uh, of course she refused just like she refused to leave that damn house,” he scratched the back of his neck and stared down at the stove. “She insisted that I use the money to get my own place. I still put some away for her even though she told me not, but this is what I got,” he waved a hand around. “It’s not much but it’s mine.”
“Dammit,” I muttered and put my wine glass down before crossing my arms.
“What?”
I pressed my back harder against the counter and he moved to stand in front of me, sliding his hands up and down my arms. “I wish I’d been here. For all of this.”
Knox smiled and tilted my head up, our eyes meeting. “You’re here now. You need to stop being so hard on yourself. Stop looking for reasons to blame yourself for what happened with us. We were young and dumb. Besides,” he moved in a little closer and I straightened, seeing the mischievous look in his eye. “I like having you in my space.”
I smiled and couldn’t help but slide my hands over his shoulders and loop them around his neck. “How much do you like it?”
He opened his mouth to answer when a loud hiss sounded from the stove. The water had boiled over the top and splashed against the element, causing steam and a few curse words on Knox’s end.
I grabbed my wine and moved out of the way, taking a seat at the small kitchen table and watching as he got our plates ready.
“Chicken parm!” I exclaimed as he put my plate down in front of me. “My favorite.”
He sat down across from me with a proud smile on his face, flashing straight white teeth and those laugh lines I loved so much. For a few minutes we sat in comfortable silence other than me moaning about how good the food was. The whole meal was perfection personified for a girl with an appetite like mine.
“So,” he said and placed his fork down. “Did your brothers tell you not to come out with me?”
“I’m twenty five years old. Robbie wouldn’t tell me what to do and… Logan doesn’t know.”
He burst out laughing. “Logan hates me. Man, if looks could kill…”
I knew he was just messing around, but guilt still tugged at my heartstrings a little bit. Knox may have said some nasty things back in the day, but so did I. We could have communicated more or tried to fix things, we were just too stubborn not to. Like Knox said, we were young and dumb. Our breakup wasn’t solely my fault just like it wasn’t solely his. I appreciated my brother’s protective nature but I needed Logan to back off a bit.
“It won’t take long for him to hear about this.”
“Don’t care,” he quipped.
“No?”
“No,” Knox said and met my eye from across the table. “What’s he gonna do, kick my ass? We’re grown men now and I can hold my own.”
“I’m not saying you can’t, I just don’t want to cause problems.”
He smiled and shook his head, casting his eyes down. “You were the best problem I ever had.”
I didn’t have a response so I continued to eat quietly, risking a glance his way every now and then. The last few weeks had been filled with surprises, but Knox was a pleasant one. Maybe what we were doing was crazy and maybe it would end in disaster, but it was worth a shot, wasn’t it?
Knowing I needed a little liquid courage, I drained my second glass of wine and took a deep breath. “I want to kiss you again.”
