Page 29 of Wreck Me
At her nod, he said, “Nate Gentry is your brother? He’s had an amazing season. Even if they did get beat in the playoffs.”
She sighed and swung her legs faster. “Yeah. I don’t tell a lot of people because they get weird about it when they find out. But I should have known you’d pick up on it.”
He held up his hands, one holding his beer bottle. “You don’t have to explain it to me. I get it.”
She sent him a look that saidyeah right.
“My brother Del is Delaney Reynolds.”
“Property Ace,” they said at the same time. Her eyes went wide as saucers.
“Are you serious? I love him!”
Aidan chuckled and looked down. “Yeah. Most women do.”
“I didn’t even make the connection. See, this is why you’re the lawman and I’m the…civilian or whatever.” She laid a hand on his arm. “Wait, my brain’s working now. He liveshere?”
Okay, maybe he’d pegged Megan wrong. Maybe she would be a stalker chick.
“Yeah, with his fiancée, Addison.”
Megan bounced and a hand covered her heart. “I saw that episode. Oh my God, it was so romantic. I’m not sure I’d want to get engaged on live television, but it was still one of the most romantic proposals ever.” She sighed and hearts practically flew out of her eyes.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, well. I’m just saying I get it. I understand the not wanting to tell people about your famous sibling. It’s a pain in the ass.”
She dropped her hand and laughed, all heart-eyed emojis gone. “It really is. My ex found out—I didn’t tell him—and after he chewed me out for not telling him, he was always trying to hit Nate up for tickets. Ugh. He was such a douche.”
“So why did you marry him?” Aidan barely got the words out before he laughed.
She wagged a finger at him. “Nah, nah. I’m having too nice of a time with you here to go into all of that. I don’t want to ruin it.”
Aidan’s chest tightened at her words, but he kept the smile on his face. “Fair enough.”
Megan clinked her almost empty bottle against his. “To beautiful moonlit nights and pain-in-the-ass famous siblings.”
He lifted his bottle. “And not talking about douchey exes.”
“Amen.”
They settled into a comfortable silence that was broken by the far away sounds from the woods and the soft lapping of the water against the dock.
When Megan shivered, Aidan wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into him before he even thought about it. She stiffened for just a moment before relaxing against him. The scent that he was quickly beginning to associate with her, lavender and vanilla, wafted around him. Before he could get too far down that road of wanting something he couldn’t have, he released her.
Hell, what was he thinking? He was already halfway down that road.
“Ready to go in?”
When she nodded, he got to his feet and held out a hand to help her up. His hand dwarfed her small, softer one, and he held on to it for longer than he should have before they walked down the long dock and back to dry land.
“Aidan, I just wanted to thank you again for putting up with me. I know I’m not always easy.”
He raised a brow and shot her a sideways glance. “Your ex tell you that? You’ve been pretty easy to deal with so far. Outside of the mess you made in the kitchen,”—he grinned—“you’ve been pretty clean and you only talk a little too much at certain times.”
She chuckled, wrapping one arm around her middle, the other at her side with the beer bottle dangling from her fingers. “You’re not wrong. It drives Nate insane. He’s pretty quiet. Like you.”
Did she just put him in the brother zone?
It’s right where you need to be, buddy. Focus on the conversation.
