Page 12 of Just Our Secret

“Ready for grub?” Connor asked, edging toward the door to our living quarters.

“Give me five minutes to put my turnouts away and I’ll meet you in there.”

“Sounds good.”

I shucked my turnout boots and pants and had the fleeting thought that I wished I could’ve kissed Andi without them. There’d been too much between us, though I suspected anything at all would feel like too much. The idea of being that close to her was not helpful, especially with my stupid body taking as long as it did to calm down.

“Get your head on straight, Baker,” I muttered under my breath. In another world, I’d be seeking Connor’s advice on how to handle this. But he was the exact person I couldn’t talk to—I couldnevertell him about this.

I needed to focus. Connor would know something was nagging me if I sat across from him at dinner with all this crap in my head. He was my best friend, and I couldn’t lie to him. But I absolutely couldn’t tell him what happened between me and his beloved sister.

Honesty was important to me. I’d always prided myself on being a good man like my dad. I took pride in being someone with integrity. We needed people to do the right thing, and I wanted to be one of those people. That didn’t happen by making the wrong choice when shit got hard.

There’d been times when my attraction for Andi had nearly strangled me, and only her indifference and my damned moral compass had kept me from doing something about it. Apparently, when given a hot look and an unoccupied corner, my compass broke.

What the hell was I going to do now?

SEVEN

ANDI

Liam and I arrived at Connor and Wade’s apartment no less than thirty minutes after we said we would. That was becoming my default for anything other than my classes or Liam’s school. For those, I was as punctual as humanly possible. For everything else, the Hot Mess Express rolled in whenever it could.

“Sorry we’re late,” I said to Connor when he opened the door with a wide grin for his nephew.

“Late? The party doesn’t start till this guy arrives, right little man?”

“Right,” Liam agreed, high-fiving him on the way inside.

“You okay?” Connor asked me when I stepped in and dropped my purse on the table by the door. “You look weird.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“Not like,you look weird, but you just look like you’re stressed or something.”

I rolled my eyes. “Neither of those are good things. But I’m fine.”

“Fine. Whatever. Come have a beer.”

Following him into the kitchen, every single hair on the back of my neck stood up, wondering where Wade was. We hadn’t talked since the other day at the fire station, and I almost didn’t even come tonight because the idea of being around him after that kiss, and in front of Connor, totally freaked me out.

I was terrified that Connor would see how much had changed between his sister and his best friend. Because to me, everything had changed. But I’d shown up. If I didn’t come to our new Sunday dinner routine, Connor would know something was off. Plus, Liam would be crushed.

Connor opened the fridge and took out a beer, cracking it open and handing it over. I took a sip, then winced when Wade walked in right at that exact moment, the sight of him causing the carbonated liquid to go down sideways.

“Wade, hey,” I said, wiping the corner of my mouth as I tried to act like I wasn’t instantly turned-on at the sight of him.

“Hey, Andi,” he replied, jamming his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

Liam came charging into the kitchen then, karate chopping Wade with an exuberant “hi-ya.”

“You hungry?” Connor asked me.

I tore my eyes away from the sight of Wade play-fighting with Liam and nodded at him. “Starving. What did you make?”

“Spaghetti and meat sauce.”

“I love spaghetti,” Liam said, bouncing over to us. “Can we eat now?”