Page 30 of A False Start
He chuckles and goes to pull out plates for us, and I’m pretty sure I won’t be using one just to spite him.
“Where is Mira?”
“She fell asleep with Silas. They’re so sweet all cuddled up together.” My brother’s face takes on this soft look that I never used to see on him before he met Mira. “I don’t have it in me to wake her. She’s been working so hard between the clinic and Billie and everything else. She overdoes it.” He puts a few pieces of her favorite—Veggie Supreme—on a plate and covers it with plastic wrap. I bet he’ll bring her a midnight snack in bed or something equally romantic. That’s the type of dude he’s become.
I shove another massive bite of pizza into my mouth. A deep chortling sound rolls in from beside me, and when I peek up, Griffin has taken the seat beside me and has his fist covering his mouth.
Unsuccessfully trying to smother his laugh.
“Yeah, yeah. Yuck it up, Sinclaire. You’re the one who stranded me with no food.”
Stefan leans back against the counter opposite the island with his plate of pizza. “He did what to you?”
“Did Mira not tell you that Griffin bought me a horse?”
My brother’s eyebrows shoot up, and Griffin clears his throat.
I roll my eyes. It’s not like I just told him we made out in the pub bathroom.That would go over poorly for sure.
“Sounds like a good story.” Stefan takes a bite of his pizza, chewing thoughtfully as his eyes flit between the two of us sitting at the island.
“So, there was this total asshole at the track. Mira made Griffin go with me because she knew what kind of dude he was—”
Griffin cuts me off. “He was going to send a perfectly good horse for meat and was gawking at your sister like she was a piece of candy.” He wipes one hand across his mouth before looking back down at his plate. “I stepped in.”
“I’m going to pay him back,” I blurt out as my cheeks heat. I don’t know why it feels like we’re in trouble. It’s probably because we’re both sitting here keeping secrets from my brother. We did nothing wrong—not this time anyway.
Griffin’s intense gaze catches on the side of my face for a moment, but then he turns to my brother and shrugs. He doesn’t bother correcting me.
Another secret for us to keep.
“Well, Nadia, sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you. Congratulations on your new horse.”
I push more pizza in my mouth and smile as the two men talk about some hunting trip they’re planning for the fall. Their conversation is full of laughs and inside jokes, and I listen to the words that Griffin uses. The ones he thinks he stumbles on but doesn’t in the company of a good friend. An observation that both warms my heart and makes it clench.
I thought we could play it cool around my brother.
I was wrong.
Zoning out, I startle when my brother addresses me. “How’s the boyfriend, Nadia?”
My shoulders tense.Fucking Tommy.“He’s not my boyfriend.”
Stefan chuckles. “Oh, yeah? Did you tell him that, man-eater?”
I suck in a deep breath. I hate that I’m perceived that way, whether or not he means it as a joke. Have I settled down with one guy? No. But that’s changing soon. I crave the security of something more serious—I want what my brother has found—and I don’t want it with Tommy.
Something I’m going to have to tell him next time we talk.
Instead of sharing that with my brother, I roll my eyes. “We haven’t done a lot of talking.”
Stefan guffaws, and my hand lands over my mouth. I peek over at Griffin, who has stopped with his pizza part way up to his mouth. Frozen. But only momentarily.
“That’s not what I meant.” The laughs keep coming from the opposite side of the kitchen and my cheeks burn. “Stef! Shut up! I just mean we haven’t been in touch.”
He holds a hand up in surrender as he shakes his head. “None of my business. Just enjoying watching you get all shy about a boy. It’s cute.”
“You know what’s going to be cute? How you look after I shave your eyebrows off in your sleep.”
