Page 4 of Make Me Stay

This time.

Chapter2

Lexi

Once the game was over,Kai helped me clean up while my brother took care of the metric ton of sawdust on our front lawn.

We kept bumping into one another in the kitchen. Before he stepped foot in it, I’d have called it a big one, but everywhere I turned, he was right there, sudsy hands and all.

God, he was stupidly attractive. Kai Murdock had been in and out of my life since I was a kid. He never treated me like the annoying little sister like my brother did sometimes. Probably because a little girl was an anomaly in his ridiculously testosterone-rich family.

“Will you have a problem with me living here for a bit?”

I paused with a dish towel and plate in hand. “Living here?”

“We got distracted with hockey and dinner and I didn’t get to ask. Living at the farmhouse is...itchy.”

I put the dry plate away, gobsmacked at the idea of him being under the same roof.No!It was right there on my tongue, but I shrugged instead. “Not sure what itchy means.”

“My mom is always asking where I’m going, when I’ll be back, what happened during the day. Feels like I’m back in grade school.”

“She probably just misses you.”

He sighed. “I know. I just don’t want to start snapping at her, you know? She doesn’t deserve that, but I’m not used to having anyone care about my whereabouts.”

I leaned on the counter and crossed my arms. “I get it. Why I asked to split rent with Wyatt. Living home again, plus the pitying looks...” I turned back around, not wanting to see it in Kai’s eyes, either. I picked up another plate to dry. My breakup with Duane had been ugly.

Mostly because he didn’t want to lose his meal ticket, not because he cared about me. It wasn’t as if he’d touched me in months, and when he did, it was perfunctory at best.

I brushed against Kai’s hip and the skin under my dress pants burned.

He frowned down at me. His sunshine and sweet spice scent made me want to close my eyes and take a deep lungful of him in. “Why would anyone pity you? Everyone has had a shitty breakup.”

A laugh rolled out of me. “Because I’m me.”

“Don’t talk like that.” He took a step closer and took the plate from me. “His loss, not yours.”

“How do you know?” I pressed my hand into his chest. “Never mind. I’m sure my brother said something.”

He curled his fingers around my wrist. “He didn’t need to.”

“But he did.”

“You take care of us at the warehouse and we’re just dirty mongrel-type guys. I can only imagine how you treat a guy you thought you loved.”

“How do you know I still don’t?”

“I don’t see any tears talking about him. Not that the jackass deserves a single tear.”

The way his voice growled made my heart race, while his was so damn steady under my hand. Kai was just being his usual big brotherly self. There was no way a man like him could get worked up over someone like me.

“Thanks, Kai.” I backed away from him and went to the fridge for my wine. I was parched and not from the warmth of the day. I refilled my glass and took a fortifying sip.

“I mean it.”

“You can stay. You don’t need to butter me up.”

He gripped my shoulders and turned me around, taking the glass from me. “If you don’t want me here, I’m cool with it. I know you gotta see me at work too.”

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