AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Does that mean you’re finally acknowledging our good taste?” Noah asked.
“I suppose I am,” I admitted.
“I kissed her,” Leo said off-handedly, not guilty, not confessing. Just letting us know. “And it felt like I’d never kissed anyone before in my life. I mean it was like my first time and I couldn’t believe how lucky I was that she was interested in me.”
“I kissed her over lunch in my office,” Noah said. Leo gave a nod.
“I only stopped kissing her because I didn’t want to take advantage of her, and I knew she was lonely. I also knew if I wanted anything with her, I couldn’t rush to hook up. If I wanted her for something real, then a fling was the wrong way to go about it,” Leo said.
“Same,” Noah said. “I wanted her but not just once, not a one-night stand.”
“You need to have a conversation with her about this,” I said. “And while you’re at it, tell her she can use my kitchen. If she needs to bake her orders while hers is out of commission. It’s not like I’m cooking.”
“You say that so casually, like you’re not trying to move in on Madison yourself.”
“I’m just offering to help her. You two are going to be away for the weekend to work on the farmhouse. I’ve got to stay here and do some drafting and about a hundred annoying Zoom calls this weekend. She may as well take advantage of the convection oven in my loft. God knows I don’t use it myself.”
“I’ll give her a call,” Noah said, taking out his phone, “as long as you admit that Leo and I have better taste in women than you do.”
“That’s not much of a confession,” I said dryly. “I admit this is the first time I’ve been interested in a woman you’re both attracted to. I give you credit for finding her and bringing her into our lives.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Leo chuckled and finished his beer.
I wanted to invite her over myself, but my brothers knew her better. I’d leave it to them to tell her she could use the kitchen however much she liked this weekend. Maybe it would help her out. I’d go to my office and stay out of her way. I was tempted to ask Noah to tell her that. But somehow I didn’t want to put all communications through my brother.
“Does it bother you that I said she could come over this weekend while you two are gone?” I asked Leo speculatively.
“No, why?” He asked.
Noah came back in from the kitchen with another beer. “She said thanks and she’ll text you about a convenient time. I gave her your number.”
I nodded.
“Hey, Noah, he asked if it bugged me that he was going to see Madison while we were out at the farm,” Leo said like it was a funny story. Noah shrugged.
“Why would it be a problem?”
“I know the two of you have never been jealous of each other. I just didn’t know if it extended to me,” I said frankly.
“You overthink everything,” Noah said. Leo nodded in agreement.
“You’re not wrong,” I said. But I admitted to myself that I was looking forward to seeing her, to having her cook in my kitchen and getting to know her better.
8
LEO
When I got to Ethan’s loft after work on Friday with two bags of Indian food, I was surprised to find Madison already there unpacking ingredients onto the counter. She had a cart full of stuff—pans, mixing bowls, what looked like two kinds of flour. I set the food down and helped her unload.
“Ethan has bowls. Did you think he wouldn’t have anything?” I laughed.
“I didn’t know what he had, and it was enough of a favor to let me use the oven. I don’t intend to use up his pantry staples or use his utensils and stuff.”
“Did you bring a mixer?”
“Yeah,” she said, not even sheepish about it. I lifted it out of the bottom of her cart. “This thing weighs like thirty pounds.”
“It’s a good mixer. I can get that. You don’t have to.”
