Page 67 of Love It or List It
Starling hummed in acknowledgment, like Joe hadn’t provided her with the most damning piece of information that anyone could have uttered.How was Joe supposed to stay strong in the face of that?
“Don’t justhmat me.”
“What would you like me to do?”
“Offer advice.”
“For what?”
“My problem.”
“Which is?”
Joe let out an agonized groan.“That Austin is incredibly hot and sexy and cute and I’m living with him and will fall in love with him.Starling, I can’t fall in love with him.That would be a horrible idea.Absolutely horrible.”
“Oh, absolutely,” Starling agreed dryly.
Joe groaned and buried his face in his free hand.This was disastrous.He couldn’t be in love with Austin.He didn’t want to be in love with anyone right now, let alone with the worst possible candidate.Between the living together and working together fixing the house they owned together, he was a bad idea on paper.And that didn’t even get into the fact that Austin wasn’t interested in dating or relationships.
Falling in love with Austin would lead to heartbreak.
Joe told Starling as much.
Well, he tried to.
But he might not have expressed himself very clearly, since Starling just hummed once more and didn’t offer much by way of horror or advice.
Finally he got fed up with her lack of response and huffed indignantly.“Starling.”
“Joe,” she parroted in the same tone.“Are you done being dramatic?”
Joe gaped.“Dramatic?”
Oh, wait.He heard it now.
He huffed again.“Fine.Yes.So done being dramatic, Starling.”
“Watch the sarcasm,” she shot back, amused and warm.“Joe.Tell me honestly you didn’t see this coming.”
Joe swallowed.“You already know the answer to that.”
“I do,” Starling agreed.“We’ve had this conversation before.Has anything changed since then?”
He let his body sag against the wall, tilted his head back so he was staring up at the ceiling.He was looking forward to having that light fixture work, for sure.
Had anything changed since the day after Joe let the red wine do the talking?
Well, Austin had met Joe’s mother, for one.Built the dog a prosthetic.Started looking at Joe with fond, hot eyes.Brought home dinner.Debated over wine pairings with red ears, like he was thinking about what the red wine did to Joe.
“Yeah,” Joe admitted, a little hoarse.
“Have you talked to Austin about those changes?”
Joe made an indignant noise.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought, dumbass.”He could hear her rolling her eyes.“Here’s a thought.You don’t actually need my advice.”
This was not something Joe ever expected to hear from her.“I don’t?”
