“You’re treating her differently than you have your entire life so, yeah, I think you’re sleeping with her.”
One of the things that had occurred to him after he lost his battle to keep his hands off Katie was how his brothers might react if they found out. Despite how he felt about Rosie, Josh had always seen Katie as his friend rather than practically a sister. But Mitch and Ryan, being older than her, might have seen her differently growing up. Mitch, the mistletoe-hanging bastard, was obviously okay with it. Ryan? It was hard to tell with him, but lying wouldn’t help his case any in the long run.
“Christmas Eve.”
Ryan didn’t look surprised. “That dress was…as an almost married man, there’s nothing I can really say about the dress.”
“Believe it or not, it was a tank top and boxer shorts that lit the fuse. The dress just blew the top off.”
“I bet it did.”
“I’m surprised Mitch didn’t tell you.” Josh shifted the box’s weight in his arms. It wasn’t light.
“Mitch knew?”
“I assume so. He knew I wanted to and he knew I was less cranky after Christmas than before it, so he probably figured it out.”
Ryan nodded. “We all knew you were going to eventually. We just didn’t know when, until I saw you with her today. I thought maybe it was Christmas Eve. Does this change anything? With the lodge, I mean?”
“Katie and the lodge are two separate things. What’s going on with me and Katie doesn’t change how I feel about the Northern Star.”
“That’s kind of messy, don’t you think?”
And it wasn’t going to get any less messy with the entire family in their business. “Yeah, it is. And this box is kind of heavy, so I think we’re done here.”
*
There was no way they could unpack the boxes as fast as the men unloaded, so Katie and Lauren focused on digging the essentials out of the pile. It was kind of fun, actually, like a scavenger hunt, and they worked well together. Plus she had plenty of energy since she’d napped most of the ride down, though she felt kind of bad about that. She’d have to make it up to Josh.
Maybe in the barn tomorrow night. Between the driving and the boxes, she knew they wouldn’t do anything but fall into bed—each in their own beds—when they finally got home. But by tomorrow night they’d be ready to scratch that itch again. And, surprisingly enough, the pile of older comforters Josh had snuck out of the lodge’s backup supply was comfortable enough. Maybe not as good as a bed, but better than the living room floor.
They were unpacking a box marked Under Bathroom Sink when Lauren finally broached the subject she’d been hemming and hawing around since they’d started. “So, you and Josh, huh?”
Once Lauren decided to stop beating around the bush, she really went for it, Katie thought. “Yeah. Me and Josh. That obvious?”
“You’re both relaxed, which means you probably stopped fighting the attraction. It also means that was one hell of a dress.”
Katie laughed and split the tape on the Bathroom Drawers box. It was a small box because Lauren had had a small bathroom, but looking around Ryan’s gorgeous master bathroom, she didn’t think space was going to be a problem. “Now I get why women pay too much money for bras and don’t wear jeans and sweatshirts on a date. I definitely got his attention.”
“What does Rose think of you two being a couple now? She must be so excited.”
Katie sat back on her heels, reminding herself this conversation was probably going to happen a few more times with the various family members and she couldn’t let it slice at her like emotional razor blades. “We’re more in a friends-with-benefits space right now. Not really a couple, and my mom doesn’t know.”
Lauren snorted. “Sure she doesn’t.”
“Okay, she’s pretending she doesn’t know and I’m pretending I believe that.”
“You never know what’ll happen in the future,” Lauren said, giving her a look that clearly said she didn’t believe the friends-with-benefits thing for a second. Not surprising, considering Lauren knew how Katie felt about Josh. But it seemed like everybody underestimated just how strongly Josh felt about leaving.
“How’s Nick doing?” she asked, desperate to change the subject. “With the move and you getting married and all?”
“It’s a lot of change all at once. Sometimes he’s okay and sometimes he’s not, but we’ll get through it. I think once he starts school and gets back into a routine, it’ll help. And he likes Ryan, so everything else just has to work itself out with time.”
“Is he having a good visit with his dad?”
“Yeah. Dean’s been really reasonable about us moving down here, which makes a huge difference. I hate to give the bastard credit, but if he’d chosen to be an ass about it, I can’t imagine what that would have done to Nick.”