Page 41 of Your Place or Mine

We sat for a while in the kind of silence only brothers could manage—comfortable, half-sarcastic, and full of unspoken commentary.

Finally, Drew leaned back and took a sip. “So. Lydia.”

I didn’t look at him. “Nope.”

“You can’t ignore her forever.”

“Watch me.”

“She owns your building.”

“Which means I can absolutely ignore her.”

“You’re impossible,” he said, laughing. “She’s not even doing anything yet. You’ve just decided she’s a villain because she wears boots that don’t have mud on them.”

I scowled. “They were too clean.”

“God forbid someone shows up without hay on their shoes.”

“She had that look, Drew.”

“What look?”

“The look of someone about to slap white subway tile on everything and call it progress.”

He snorted. “You mean the look of someone with a plan? Yeah, terrifying.”

I rolled my eyes and leaned back, taking a long pull from my beer. I wouldn’t admit it out loud, but yeah…I’d noticed more than the boots.

I’d noticed the eyes, too. The way they crinkled at the corners when she smiled. And the soft fall of her hair when she leaned over her coffee like she wasn’t even trying to look good, and somehow managed to make my jaw clench anyway.

It was irritating.

And unhelpful.

And none of Drew’s business.

“She’s already making friends,” I muttered. “Had a whole town meeting in the damn coffee shop.”

“That’s not illegal, Callum.”

“She’s infiltrating.”

Drew shook his head, clearly amused. “You know, you keep talking like she’s some invading war general, but you haven’t once mentioned how hot she is.”

I looked at him. “Are you drunk already?”

“Nope. Just observant. And also, I was there when she smiled at you yesterday, and you forgot how to speak for a full five seconds.”

“That didn’t happen.”

“You blinked like you got hit by a tranquilizer dart.”

“She was holding coffee. It was disarming.” I frowned. “I didn’t want her to throw it at me.”

“Sure, man.”

We both drank in silence again.

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