Page 7 of Heat Transfer
I met Ollie’s gaze. “Help is on the way.”
For the next half hour, we took turns pacing and fiddling with our dead-as-fuck desktop until a knock sounded at the door. Except that would be way too fast for Felix to get here, especially in rush hour traffic.
Ollie moseyed over, a twinkle in his eyes, which told me who’d arrived. He flung the door open to Liam standing in the entryway, paper bags of takeout in hand. The guy was a cute blond twink, the perfect contrast to Ollie, who was built like me—dark brown hair, thick beard, all brawn. Except Ollie, like the rest of my siblings, had some ink and piercings, courtesy of our youngest brother, Rory, and his relentless nagging. I stayed a blank canvas solely to piss him off.
“Hey, baby.” Ollie planted a solid kiss on Liam’s lips. Envy thumped a solid beat in my chest as the two leaned into their kiss, so fucking in love it was ridiculous. However, they’d always been way closer than friends, even though Ollie had been too dense to realize it and had been married to the wrong person for more than a decade.
My phone buzzed again.
This time, the message wasn’t from Felix.
My chest sank. Should I even bother opening the text?
“I brought burgers.” Liam plunked them down on the desk, between the old receipts and crinkled invoices. “Figured you guys would be hungry.”
“I’m always hungry.” Ollie patted his stomach.
Liam gave him a flirty look. “I know.”
“Ew,” I said, reminding them I was in the room too. I leaned against the side of the desk and checked the text.
You left your shirt here. It still smells like you.
Fucking Luke. It probably just smelled like sweat and dirt. I’d feel worse if it hadn’t been a month since we broke up…over a monthlong relationship. He’d come on strong, and I’d been into him until I realized he planned out a happily ever after without even grasping anything basic about me, like my unreasonable loathing for saltines.
Nothing like being a prop to make you nope out of a relationship.
“Here, your burger.” Liam pushed the bag at me. He and Ollie already had the foil-wrapped goodness in hand, and I reached in to snag mine. My stomach rumbled at the mouthwatering scent of meat and cheese.
I sank my teeth in and held back a moan. Goddamn, I’d been starving. Within minutes, the burger was a fucking mess, but I wolfed it down.
Another knock sounded at the trailer door.
“I’ll get it.” I walked over, wiping the grease around my mouth with my sleeve.
“He doesn’t want us to embarrass him in front of his secret lover,” Ollie said in a stage whisper.
I threw up my middle finger.
When I opened the door, the sight of Felix smacked me in the sternum.
He wore a pale blue button-down and gray slacks that looked all business professional, and combined with the glasses, fuck, Felix hit every one of my buttons. His dark hair was teased with product, the curls the perfect length to tug on, and the crisp scent of his cologne made my nose tingle. Having him all up in my space, our worlds colliding, was messing with my head.
Hell, the fact that he’d dropped everything to come here and help flipped me on my axis.
“Gonna let me in or just stand there and stare?” He winked at me, this mixture of geeky and charming that fuckingworkedfor me.
“Staring isn’t going to fix our computer,” Ollie said. My fucking brother.
“If that were the case, you guys would’ve had it repaired a half hour ago,” Liam commented.
I stepped to the side and let Felix in, my fingers twitching to reach out and touch him. Thankfully, he inserted himself in my space as per usual, resting his hand on my shoulder like it belonged there.
“So, what’s the issue?” he asked.
“That.” I pointed at the old desktop that held court among its sea of invoices and other garbage.
“I hate to be the cliché…” He started on over to the desktop.