“I don’t think that’s fair.”
She smiled slightly, then pulled away from me.
“Probably not fair but honest. I’m sorry. Maybe you’re still hanging out with me because we haven’t slept together.”
“Now you’re being mean.”
“I know.” Her devilish grin warmed my insides. “But we need to keep this professional, at least for now.”
I sat back against the sofa, feeling more than frustrated. “You were the one who eagerly wanted to give our first date a retry.”
“You were the one who said we needed to see this project through.”
“Can’t we do both at the same time?”
She laughed. “The next three weeks will fly by, and then we’ll either have something momentous to celebrate or horrible to commiserate.”
“That’s evening out the scales.”
“I can believe both at the same time. One of them will be the truth.”
“Let’s aim toward celebration.”
She picked up the file that lay forgotten on the coffee table and settled in against my side. It took every fiber of my being not to pull her into my arms—to bite and suck on her lower lip until she abandoned the file and kissed me back.
Instead, I picked up my own work and accepted that the next three weeks, no matter how fast they flew by, were going to be torturously hard.
Chapter Fourteen
Carla
I had spent so much time with Owen lately that when Devon told me Mr. Cooper had shown up to speak to me, I assumed it was him.
But it wasn’t; it was Paxton. I took a moment, or two, to remember that he was the Mr. Cooper who dealt with the Stevenson Mill, which made the fact that I was now, somehow, working with Owen even more bizarre.
When he popped his head through the doorframe, grinning foolishly, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I wasn’t expecting you. Something wrong with the order?” I asked as he let himself in and sat down.
He yawned and stretched like a cat before replying. “No, this isn’t a professional check-in,” he admitted. “I was in the area.”
“I thought you were working on Owen’s eco-friendly homes.”
“How do you know about them?” he asked.
“We’ve been talking since he came by the other week.” It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either. “I think he’s trying to make the effort to know who he works with now, considering the fact he was somehow completely and utterly unaware that I was, in fact, Carla, a woman.”
“I suppose that’s on me.” He laughed easily. “Though, maybe I never told him because I didn’t want him hitting on you.”
That came as a shock. I’d always thought Paxton was handsome but never considered him relationship material. “You have a crush on me, Cooper?”
He seemed to consider his words carefully. While Paxton often spoke freely with me, which it turns out was a compliment, he was always cautious with his words. “Well, yeah. Fifteen or twenty years ago,” he admitted. “I didn’t want him messing up our business relationship with the Stevenson Mill because he slept with you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think I’d sleep with him?”
“Good question. Although, thinking on it, not sleeping with him would almost make things more awkward than if you did.”
“Why, because it would hurt his ego?”
“Something like that.”
I chuckled, finding a conversation where I got to make fun of Owen highly amusing, especially given our current circumstances.
“I can’t believe he honestly went this long believing I was a guy, or that Rich had a brother. It’s not like Frazier Falls is a metropolis.”
Paxton shrugged his shoulders. “Carl, I didn’t realize you were a girl until, like, the end of middle school. And Owen never paid much attention to my friends. I more or less blended into the woodwork when I could. I was well into my twenties when he took notice that I’d grown up.”
“Somehow, I don’t believe that.” I laughed. “The part that you’re grown up.”
He gave his head a shake. “Rude.”
“I’m fairly certain he’s paid more attention than you give him credit for.”
“So much for a professional meeting,” Paxton said, pretending to be hurt.
“You said this wasn’t a meeting.”
“You’re utterly savage today, taking his side and tossing my words back at me. You and I have a history.”
“I’ve always spoken honestly with you.”
“I know. It’s why I had a crush on you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about it at the time?”
He looked at me as if the answer was obvious. “You were two years older, and then there was Bobby Flynn.”
“What about Bobby?”
“He was crazy about you, and way bigger than me. I told everyone you thought Bobby was ugly. Because of that, he set out to kick my ass. Eli stepped in to protect me and wound up in the path of Brady’s right hook. After seeing his bloody nose, there was no way I’d confess to my crush after that.”
“That was why Eli got punched?” I practically cried with laughter at the thought. “I heard he was mouthing off and made Bobby mad.”
“That was me. Shocking but true. Then there was Brady Huck. Eli punched him because no one got to pick on me but Owen and Eli. Their rules, not mine.”
“I get that. I’d fight tooth and nail for Rich.” I hadn’t heard from my brother in days, and it hurt. The last time we had a falling out like this was when our parents died. He wanted out then, and I begged him to reconsider. Maybe I hadn’t been fair to him. All this time, I’d been grasping at saving something. I thought it was the house, the mill, the town, but in reality, I’d been trying to keep the only person I had left in my family—Rich. Maybe I’d gripped too hard. Maybe I’d suffocated my brother to death, and that’s why he was avoiding me. He needed space to breathe.
He gave me a level stare. “I may be quiet, but I’m not a lamb.”
Paxton spun around in the office chair he was sitting on, looking altogether like an overgrown, idiotic child. So much for grown up.
“Why is that, by the way?” I asked.
He gripped my desk to stop the spin.
“Must get lonely all by yourself,” I added.
“It’s not like you’re leading the Frazier Falls Social Club.”
He was right. I stayed to myself. “I’ve kept busy with the mill. I catch up with my friends from college occasionally, and I have Rich.”
He scrunched up his nose. “That’s creepy.”
“Your best friends are your brothers, asshole.”
“Point taken. But even so, I know at times it had to be lonely.”
“I suppose it was …” Now that I was spending a lot of time with Owen, I realized how isolated I’d been. Having someone that wasn’t my brother to talk to was new and exciting. How stupid was I to insulate myself for so many years?
“Was lonely? Has something happened recently to change that?” he asked innocently.
“Um, I suppose so. Yeah, I guess.”
Paxton put his feet up on my desk—incredibly bad-mannered, but somehow, he got away with doing it without it feeling that way. “Some late-night swimming with my big brother, maybe?”
“I—what? How do you know about that? I can’t believe he would tell you.”
I realized my mistake as soon as the massive grin took over his face.
“Owen didn’t say a thing. Mrs. Rogers told me she thought she heard us down by the creek. Obviously, it wasn’t me, and it wasn’t Eli. Owen tried to pretend he was on his own, but he’s a terrible liar. Although”—Paxton’s smile only got wider—“still much better than you.”
“You’re an awful person.”
“Maybe, but at least now I know who he’s keeping a secret.”
Under normal circumstances I’d have been annoyed that Owen didn’t want his brothers to know about what had happened
between the two of us, but considering he was keeping the full extent of his Green House Project a secret from them, and the fact that I wasn’t telling my brother about him, I realized I’d have no leg to stand on.
“What do you plan to do with this information?” I unceremoniously pushed Paxton’s feet off my desk.
“Absolutely nothing,” he laughed. “I’m not much of a talker. I just wanted to know. I’ll probably tease Owen about it for a bit, but ultimately, I wanted the 4-1-1.” Paxton swung up to his feet, ruffling his blond hair with a hand before cracking his neck. “This has been a highly entertaining chat, but I should probably get back to Owen’s before he gives me trouble for slacking off.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Did you want to check on your lumber orders?”
“Nah, I know they’re fine.”
I pointed to the door. “Get out of here.”
“Let’s hang out sometime.”
“Only when you stop trying to trick me into telling you stuff.”
“Right. Have a wonderful afternoon, Miss Stevenson.”
“Go away, Mr. Cooper.”
The sound of his laughter hung in the air long after the man himself disappeared. He was exhausting, but in a good, lighthearted way.
Though he had come in and out like a whirlwind, he acted as the perfect distraction from the obvious—Rich wasn’t at work—again. He hadn’t been in since our argument. He wasn’t even staying at our house. I didn’t know where he was.
I picked up my phone and dialed his number. The call went straight to voicemail. I hung up without saying a word understanding that, while I needed my brother, he needed space.
I didn’t know what to do except to bury myself in work and spend time with Owen, something I was doing in liberal amounts. To be honest, it was a surprise that his brothers hadn’t worked out what was going on already. I supposed now that Paxton knew the two of us had spent the night together, we had a valid reason for Owen’s suddenly busy schedule. It didn’t feel like too much of an excuse when the two of us obviously wanted to take it to the next level.
Owen, Eli, and Paxton’s relationship sent a thread of jealousy twisting inside me. They all got along so well—even when they were insulting each other. Sure, Owen had one or two secrets from his brothers, but he had reasons that I was certain they would understand. If they knew something was going on, and Owen asked for time before he talked to them about it, I was sure they’d give him that.
It helped that there were three of them rather than only two. If it had only been Owen and Paxton, there was a possibility the two of them wouldn’t be as close given Paxton’s detachment and their age difference. They had Eli to bridge that gap.
Rich and I didn’t have anyone. We had to do it all on our own.
I sighed. For better or worse, I couldn’t wait for the next two and a half weeks of my life to be over.
Chapter Fifteen
Owen
I stood and looked out the window of my office. The orange glow of the setting sun reflected off the glass of the barbershop across the street. The lampposts that lined the street flickered to life, casting a glow on the pansy-filled flowerpots hanging from them. Except for the handful of restaurants and bars, Frazier Falls was rolling up the sidewalk for the night.
The office was as silent as a ghost town, with me its only occupant. Eli and Pax seemed to have given up for the day. That was when I realized I needed to go over something in my Green House Project with Carla.
I pulled out my cell phone and called her, but after a few rings, she still hadn’t picked up. I hung up and fired off a text instead. I waited another fifteen minutes, then called again. No answer.
A lengthy sigh emptied my lungs. Could it wait until morning? No, it couldn’t. We were running out of time before the exhibit, so every moment counted.
I picked up my keys, deciding I’d drive over to see her in person and realized I didn’t know where she lived.
“How the hell did that happen?” I grumbled aloud, sitting back down at my computer to search the Cooper Construction files for it, but it wasn’t listed. The only address registered for the Stevenson’s was their mill.
I bet Paxton knows. I pulled my phone back out and gave my brother a call, then jumped in surprise when a ring sounded from the main part of the office.
“If you were more observant, you could have looked through your open door and realized I was still here.” Pax’s voice echoed between the phone and in person with a slight delay.
I hung up without saying a thing, then got up and headed out of my office.
“I didn’t realize anyone would be in,” I admitted.
Pax shrugged his shoulders. “What are you doing here when you have an office at home? Seems pointless coming all the way here only to sit at a desk in front of a computer.”
“There were files I needed.” I lifted up the folders in question to prove my point. “Besides, I was restless.”
“I suppose that’s fair enough. Cabin fever is no laughing matter,” Pax said with absolutely no hint of seriousness to his voice.
I rolled my eyes. “What about you? I’ve never seen you in the office this late before. You’re usually the first one out the door, even when we have plans together.”
“You’ve never seen me?” Pax spun around in his chair before looking at me. “Doesn’t mean I don’t come in.”
“I guess you must do all your paperwork at some point because you sure as hell don’t do it during the day.”
“No, because I’m out at sites building your houses. Besides, some people are more nocturnal than others. No need to judge.”
“No judgment from me,” I replied, holding my hands up in surrender. “So, as long as everything gets done, I won’t complain.”
There was an odd silence between us for a few moments where Pax twirled a pencil between his fingers. With the dying sun dropping its last rays through the window, his skin appeared naturally tanned. So much darker than my own, he hardly looked like my brother at all.
“You know, when you and Eli were younger, I was convinced you must be an alien, or maybe adopted,” I eventually admitted. “Eli was more conservative on the matter, but I could tell he thought the same thing.”
Paxton sputtered with laughter. “Because being blond and tan is so alien? You pushed the adopted thing a bit too much.”
“You think?”
“You had me convinced I was for at least a year. I ran to Mom and Dad in tears when I was five, asking why my real parents hadn’t loved me enough to keep me.”
I didn’t know if I should laugh or feel awful. “I was terrible,” I confessed, taking the seat beside him and stealing a swig of his soda.
“Hey, that’s mine.”
“What’s a soda between brothers?”
“You’re a bully.”
“And you’re a brat.”
“Nothing I can do about being half a decade younger than you.”
I ruffled his hair. “I guess that’s true. Eli and I gave you a hard time.”
“Mainly you. Eli was hot and cold toward me when we were in school.”
“That’s Eli in general.”
“The two of you were always close. He’s the only one you speak to.” His voice sounded sad as if somehow, he’d missed out on something.
“I had a tough time in New York. Let’s leave it at that,” I said, glancing at him. “Eli happened to be there when it was bad. It’s in the past, and there’s nothing to talk about anymore.”
“I guess …”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I think you still see me as too much of a kid brother to talk to seriously.”
It was true. In my eyes, Pax was still a child. “I treat you like a kid when you act like one.”
“That’s not nice.”
“Maybe, but it’s true. I keep thinking one day you’ll grow up.”
“You’ll be waiting from the grave.”
There was some
thing enviable about retaining one’s youth, and then again, there was something annoying as hell. I supposed everything had a time and place. Maybe I’d been taking life too seriously, but how could I not, when I was the oldest and therefore supposed to be the mature one? “Who’s to say I’ll die first? Knowing you, you’ll get run over trying to fulfill a dare or in a freak skydiving accident or something crazy like that.”
“When have I ever gone skydiving?”
“Never, I suppose, but you would, and you’d drag Eli along with you.” Now I was sounding like our father, who used to tell us to think with our brains, not sit on them, which was a nice way of telling us to pull our heads out of our asses.
“You’ve got us confused. Eli would be the one who wanted to do it in the first place so he could give everyone something to talk about. It would give him a break from gossiping about everybody else.”
“That’s not a nice thing to say about your brother.”
Pax huffed in annoyance. “I’m only repeating what everyone knows. I’m the quiet one, Eli’s the judgy one, you’re the … the grumpy one.”
“Who’s everyone?”
“Carl Stevenson said the same thing a couple days ago.”
I paused before speaking. The tingling in my spine told me this was a trap, the kind that Pax excelled at laying out to gather information.
“I didn’t know you’d been up to the mill recently.”
“Yep, I went up when I wanted to slack off from your eco-house project.”
He’d told everyone he had a headache and was heading home for a nap. “You were feeling fine, you liar.”
He grinned foolishly. “I needed to check in. Carl and I had a bit of a catch-up, so it was pretty fun.”
I eyed him carefully. “I didn’t know the two of you were close.”
“We ran in the same group in high school, but we haven’t been friends since. That’s a shame, I suppose. She’s freaking great.”
“Do you like her?” I hadn’t considered the possibility that my younger brother could have set his sights on the same woman as me, but now that I was thinking about it, I realized how stupid I’d been to overlook who Pax’s friends had been growing up.
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