Page 7 of Flipping the Script

“I won’t,” I assured her as she hurried past me to run interference, the same as she had since we were kids.

Hannah got her share of lectures, but those were mostly about her wanting an education and planning a career instead of locking a suitable man down and starting a family.

Wait until she found out Hannah didn’t want kids.

“I’ll be right back.” Adam patted Jesse on the shoulder and strode away.

Jesse glanced after his brother, then at me, his face blank under his sunglasses.

“So,” he started awkwardly. “How have you been?”

“Are we really going to do the small talk thing?” Using my foot, I pushed the bag with my shoes in it under a nearby table so they were out of the way.

“You’d rather stand in silence?”

“Is that really worse than pointless small talk?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Whatever.”

“Whatever?” I smirked. “Are we twelve?”

He crossed his arms, the material of his shirt pulling tight over his biceps and chest.

I’d always had a thing for bigger, confident guys, and Jesse was exactly my type with his powerful body and cocky attitude that made me want to wipe those stupid smirks off his face with my fist.

And it wasn’t like I was specifically attracted to assholes. Confidence was hot. Arrogance was an instant turnoff.

Except when it came to Jesse.

He’d been confusing the hell out of my dick since we were teenagers, even before I’d realized I was bi.

Thank fuck I was wearing sunglasses. The last thing I needed was for him to catch me checking him out, especially since no one in town knew I was into men.

“If we were twelve, then you’d be a foot shorter and seventy pounds lighter.” He smirked.

The reminder that I’d been a late bloomer and hadn’t caught up to him until high school didn’t sting as much now as it did when we were kids.

Jesse would always be more muscular and taller than me. He’d been the star shortstop on our high school baseball team, and he’d obviously kept his athletic habits because he was even bigger now than when we graduated.

I wasn’t small by any standard, but I was about an inch shorter than him and probably twenty pounds lighter. It didn’t matter what I did or what I ate; I couldn’t bulk up and had been around the same weight for most of my adult life.

That used to bother the hell out of me. Not so much anymore.

“Resorting to ad hominem attacks?” I asked, keeping my tone light.

“Nope, just stating facts.” He shot me a tight-lipped smile. “Not my fault you took them as an attack.”

“You always have to have the last word,” I said before I could stop myself.

Jesse was the only person who could crack through my ironclad control and make me lose my shit. Well, him and Aunt Meredith.

“Not always.” Another crooked grin.

An uneasy feeling settled over me. I tore my gaze from Jesse’s stupidly handsome face and looked to my left.

“Fuck,” I muttered.

My mother and Aunt Meredith were headed toward us, with Hannah trailing behind them like she was on her way to her own execution.