When Kacey’s couch arrived, it took her, Theo and me half the evening to put it together. When it was done, and the empty box and pages of instructions were thrown out, her apartment was complete.
“Well,” she said, surveying the finished product. “It’s definitely like one of those model rooms in the IKEA store. They should pay me for the free advertising.”
Theo mustered his version of a smile. He’d warmed up to Kacey—slightly—over the last ten days. His eyes didn’t automatically roll when she talked to him and he actually engaged with a couple of her teasing remarks.
Now, as we readied to leave, she threw her arms around his neck. “Thanks, Teddy,” she said and kissed his cheek. “Is it okay to call you that?”
It was definitely not okay. I braced myself for Theo’s harsh rebuke against being called Teddy, but he only muttered something about waiting for me in the truck, and slipped out.
Wide-eyed, I watched him go, then swung my gaze back to Kacey. “He hates Teddy. Nobody calls him Teddy.”
She grinned, shrugged. “Didn’t seem to mind it coming from me. Besides, it fits him. He’s got a soft side.”
“Yeah, he does,” I said. A short silence curled up between us. It happened often since she’d come back. The jokes and teasing fell away, and it was just Kacey and me in each other’s space, waiting for something to happen next. A word or a touch that might change everything…
But it can’t. I can’t take her down that road with me because eventually we’ll come to the place where I have to go on, and she can’t follow.
“Okay,” I said. “I’m going to head out before Theo throws a fit.”
Kacey put her arms around my neck and gave me a kiss on the cheek, just as she had Theo. I felt her body all along mine, and my breath caught. My own arms were stiff and careful, as if I might break her.
Or break me.
“Thanks for helping me out tonight and all the other nights,” she said, her hands gliding down my shoulders before falling away.
“You’re welcome,” I said. “Have a good night, Kace.”
“You too. Oh, hey, I was thinking about stopping by the hot shop some time this week. Can I bring you guys some lunch?”
“Again? That’ll be the fifth time in two weeks. You don’t have to feed us.”
“I know,” she said. “But I want to. Leave it to me, Fletcher. I’ll take care of you.”
It’s too much. Say no. Keep to the routine…
Fat chance. Kacey was here now, and part of my routine. I’d told her to come back to Vegas because I missed her, and wanted her in my life, but I had no idea how hard it would be to keep her at a safe distance. I was a starving man at a banquet, hungry every day for what was right in front of me.
“Sounds great then,” I said, and got the hell out of there before I did something stupid.
Theo sat behind the wheel of his idling truck. But instead of a scowl or a gripe about making him wait, he only watched me get in, studied my face as if he was looking for something.
“What is it now?”
Theo turned back facing forward. “Nothing.”
He drove us along mostly empty side streets in residential Vegas—apartment complexes and small homes on either side. The Strip wasn’t visible but I could see its glow above the rooftops.
We hit a red light and Theo said, “She’s into you.”
I stared at my brother, my mouth going dry. “You think?”
“It’s not obvious?”
“Enlighten me.”
He shrugged. “The way she looks at you.”
My heart jumped in my chest. I did my best to sound casual as hell and not like a kid in junior high. “How was she looking at me?”
Theo glanced at me sideways. “Like she can’t stop. And you’re just as bad. I’m amazed we got the couch built.”
I faced forward, my thoughts running rampant at this revelation. Of course, my eyes were drawn to Kacey anytime she was in the room. I couldn’t help it. She was radiant. But to hear she’d been doing the same to me…
A junior high warmth spread through me, a soft glow of hope that I’d been keeping tamped down.
“She’s afraid she’ll fail me,” I said slowly. “Pull an Audrey.”
“So you’ve talked about it?” Theo asked. “Being together? Is that why she moved back?”
“No, we’re just friends. It’s all we can be.” I rubbed the place on my cheek where Kacey had kissed me. “It’s hard enough.”
“But you have feelings for her,” Theo said. It was not a question, and his voice was curiously quiet.
“I… Maybe. I don’t know,” I said. “Sometimes I think I shouldn’t have told her to come back here.”
“But you did,” Theo said in that same low tone, “because you do have feelings for her.”
I sighed, partially in surprise that I could talk about this with Theo when I expected another lecture. It felt good to talk about this with my brother instead of being walled off by his worry.