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“What the hell, Claire?”
I put on my robe, but from the shock and horror on my brother's face I might as well have been naked as far as he's concerned. I pull the material tighter around myself and try to work out what is happening. On any other morning, it would be wonderful to see my brother. I've missed him. And even if his blue eyes are angry and he's got a dark scowl on his face, I justwant to smile at him and tell him how pleased I am to see him. He was supposed to be in Queensland until next month, so him turning up at my door like this is unexpected.
Thus, I haven't worked out what to tell him about what I'm doing with Dylan. I've certainly spent some time thinking about it, but I haven't come to any firm conclusions.
“I need to wake up. Get your arse into the kitchen and let me make coffee,” I say, walking up to my brother. I give the giant hulking, scowling man in my doorway a kiss on the cheek. “It's good to see you.”
Dylan starts walking back to my bedroom, his gaze on mine as he walks past me.
I put my hand on his arm. “Are you planning on leaving?”
“And leave you alone with that crazy bloke?” He grins at me, but I can see how much it costs him. “I'm going to get dressed.”
“Yeah, you do that,” Austin says, practically snarling.
This is Dylan's worst nightmare and the guilt of pushing him into this confrontation weighs on me. Austin is his best friend, and while telling Austin about us at any time would be bad enough, having my brother catch us like this is by far worse than anything I imagined. The last thing I want is to cause conflict between the two men. I need to explain to my brother what's happening and make him understand that I basically forced Dylan into agreeing to our casual relationship.
“You should get dressed, too,” Austin grumbles, his eyes flicking over my dressing gown.
I nod. “I'll be out in a moment.”
“I should have let you answer the door. Serves me right for trying to be your knight and save you from an intruder,” Dylan says as I close the bedroom door behind me.
“Never mind. It had to come out sooner or later.”
“Later would have been preferable.”
Maybe it's supposed to sound humorous, but Dylan's look of misery means I don't feel much like laughing.
I go to him and wrap my arms around him. “I promise you I won't let this interfere between you guys.”
“You have no idea how much he's going to hate me for this. I've been preparing myself for this moment and I thought I was ready, but...”
“Dylan, I won't let him be mad at you. He can be mad at me; I can handle it. He has no right to interfere in this.”
Dylan shakes his head, clearly disbelieving me. He forces a smile before dropping a kiss on my lips. “It's all worth it.”
Is it? What if I'm wrong about being able to convince my brother that this is what I wanted? If their friendship does come to an end, will Dylan look back on our time together as the biggest mistake of his life?
My head and heart are both pounding as I walk with Dylan out to the kitchen. The kettle is already on and Austin is sitting at my dining table, glaring at the wall. His bad mood is so dark that I'm surprised the structure isn't wilting under his disapproving look. I need to convince Austin that Dylan hasn't done anything wrong here.
“So what are you doing back in Melbourne?” I ask, trying to keep the conversation light while the kettle boils.
“Annabelle had to come down for a couple of days for a premiere. Thought I'd take advantage of her time here to see my sister and mother. Didn't realise I'd be walking in on...on this.”
I look at Dylan in time to see him wince at the absolute disgust in my brother's voice.
Once his coffee is made, I take it over to my brother. “You need to let me explain, Austin. Things aren't quite the way you might think they are.”
Austin throws out a hand in Dylan's direction. “According to him, things are exactly what I think they are.”
“Yes, but you don't know why or—”
“I don't need to know why or anything else, Claire! The one man I trusted above all others has done the one thing he knew would break up our friendship.” He looks at Dylan. “I'll never forgive you for this. You had to have known that when you...when you...”
I've never seen my brother this angry before. I thought Dylan was exaggerating about Austin's potential reaction.
“Austin—”
