Page 37 of Late Nights

“Uh-huh, sure,” he said with a smile.

“But it doesn’t matter anyway,” she said. “Because it’s obvious he’s smitten with Demi.”

“It’s true,” Halle chimed in, looking at Demi. “He only has eyes for you.”

“I don’t care if he only has eyes for her,” West said brusquely. “I don’t want him flirting with Demi. His job is to take care of this place and be our wilderness guide, not to get involved with my sister.”

“I agree,” I said, not able to keep quiet any longer. This whole conversation was ridiculous. And since when was being a lumberjack sexy? “He needs to be more professional.”

“Says the overprotective brothers,” Halle said, emphasizing the word brothers and throwing me a quick glance.

My jaw clenched at the use of that word. When I watched the way the corners of her mouth barely tipped up at my reaction, I knew she’d done it on purpose.

“There’s nothing wrong with us wanting to protect her,” West said, gesturing to where Demi sat.

“Enough,” Demi exclaimed. “I can make my own choices when it comes to who I do and don’t flirt with. Neither of you”—she paused, looking deliberately at me and then West—“get a say in that.”

I cast my eyes down while she and West stared at each other in a silent battle of wills.

Great. Now she was mad at me.

Although maybe that would be a good thing. I needed all the help I could get in keeping space between us.

“Who’s hungry?” Kate cut in, trying to ease the tension in the room. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving.”

Dinner went well, the conversation about Gavin forgotten. Jax, Demi, and I had sat and talked in the kitchen while Kate, Halle, and West had done all the cooking. Once we’d finished eating, it was only fair that the three of us who hadn’t cooked should clean up, but I’d told Jax not to worry about it so I could use the time alone to talk to Demi. I needed to apologize for overstepping. He must have understood why I’d given him a pass because he gave me the bro nod and walked out of the kitchen.

Demi and I worked side by side, cleaning up the food and doing the dishes, the silence heavy. She was annoyed, but I was too. I was annoyed Gavin was interested in her and that she wasn’t opposed to the idea. But I didn’t have any right to be annoyed, so I swallowed it down.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” I started, leaning my hip against the counter. “I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s not my place to comment on your dating life.”

She rinsed a plate before putting it in the dishwasher. “Glad you know that.”

“I’m only trying to look out for you.”

She stopped doing the dishes, leaning against the counter, mimicking my pose as she looked at me. “So I’m allowed to flirt with you, but no one else?” she asked, giving me a pointed stare.

Her words caught me off guard, but they shouldn’t have. We had both been doing our fair share of flirting under the guise of friendship. I was more surprised that she was bringing that fact out in the open between us.

I hurried to mask my surprise and gave her a cocky grin. “Preferably.”

A flicker of shock flashed in her eyes as she fought to keep her smile from appearing, but it was no use. “You’re incorrigible.”

“That smile of yours tells me you like it,” I said playfully.

“We both know it’s pointless for me to disagree,” she said, rolling her eyes.

I let out a low chuckle, sliding closer to her. “Does that mean you’re not mad at me anymore?”

She tilted her head. “Hmm,” she hummed. “That depends. Are you going to stop interfering with who I want to flirt with?”

“That depends,” I said, using her same conditional words. “Are you going to be flirting with Gavin?”

This time she slid closer to me. “Maybe,” she dragged out the word, looking up at me through her lashes. “I could have a good weekend with him.”

I slid closer to her again. We were close enough that she had to put her head back to look up at me. I slowly placed my hand on her hip. A barely audible gasp escaped her at my touch.

“You’d have a better weekend with me.”

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