Page 42 of A Magnolia Move-In
Which would be weird. He was my brother’s best friend after all. We had a long history. I’d known him since I was a kid.
Besides, I had Walker. And he was walking back into my life very soon.
I didn’t have time to wonder what Colten’s ulterior motives were.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I said as I turned and folded my arms.
Colten chuckled as he pushed me toward his car that was parked behind the house. “I really would like to know,” he said softly.
For a moment, I wondered if he meant for me to hear that or if he was just thinking aloud.
I decided not to respond. This really wasn’t a conversation I wanted to get myself wrapped up in. However, by the time we got to his car, my mind was swirling with wonderment.
What did he mean? He’d never been interested in my relationship status in the past. Was he just asking to be polite, or did he really want to know?
Why did I care so much?
He opened the passenger door, and I couldn’t help but glower at him. I hated that he made me feel so confused. Walker was coming back, and I was pregnant with his baby. My focus should be on rebuilding my relationship with the father of my child, not being confused by my brother’s best friend who had an uncanny ability to flirt with anything that moved.
“Ready?” he asked, suddenly appearing next to me. Before I could respond, he wrapped his arm around my back as he slipped his other arm underneath my legs. I was airborne before I could utter a word.
He lifted me like I weighed nothing. He pulled me close to his chest, and I could feel his heartbeat and his lungs expanding and contracting. I felt tiny against him.
“What are you doing?” I whispered, my entire body responding to his proximity.
He glanced down at me. That movement brought his lips inches from mine. I’d never realized until now how perfectly formed his lips were. Or the dusting of freckles he had across the bridge of his nose. His cologne assaulted my senses again, but this time, I wasn’t met with the samereaction. This time, I breathed it in, and it made my stomach lighten.
“I’m helping you into the car,” he said.
I needed to get away from Colten. Right now. “Put me down. I can get into the car myself.”
His eyebrows went up. “What?”
“I” —I waved toward my chest— “can get in the car without you” —I motioned toward him— “picking me up.”
He paused but then moved to set me in the passenger seat. “You could just say thank you,” he said as he shut the door before I could even respond.
I sat there fuming as he made his way around the hood of the car and into the driver’s seat. He started the engine, completely ignoring the death glare I was shooting at him.
“I was just helping, Nerdy Nomie,” he said as he put the car into drive and headed down the road.
I growled, and he just laughed. I folded my arms, feeling like a petulant child who wasn’t in control of her own body. Colten had an uncanny way of making me feel like I was his best friend’s little sister with just a statement and a look.
“I’m capable,” I said as I glanced out the window. I loved my brother and his friend, but I hated how they always treated me like I was some helpless girl who needed their help. I’d built a life for myself, and sure, I was in a pickle right now, but that didn’t mean I was always going to be like this.
Eventually, I was going to get back on my feet, and I was going to do it without their help.
“I know.” Colten’s voice had changed. There was something to it—a depth that had me holding my breath.
I peeked over at him only to see that his smile had faded. He was staring out the windshield with his wrist resting on the steering wheel. He looked like he meant what he said.
So, if he knew that I was a capable woman, and he no longer saw me as his best friend’s little sister, why did he continue to treat me this way? Picking me up. Calling me Nerdy Nomie?
Why did he always return to childish ways when I was around?
Felling emotionally spent, I pushed those questions from my mind. I knew my physical therapy session was going to be taxing enough, I didn’t need to show up exhausted before it even began.
Whatever was going on with Colten was going to have to be solved another day. Right now, my focus was on getting better so that Walker and I could pick up where we left off.
