be thinking about. I just . . . look. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to make a move or she’ll end up hooked up with another loser like Roger. Is that what you want?”
Zach stared at the wall that held some of the work he’d done, but he wasn’t seeing any of the pictures, any of the designs he’d done on his own.
He was seeing Abby. The way she’d looked as they stayed out on the deck Saturday night, watching the sun set over the mountains. Neither of them had been wearing a damn thing, just laying on the lounge with a blanket pulled over them. He was certain it had been the most perfect moment of his entire life.
“Let me worry about my love life, Zane,” he said gruffly.
“That’s the fucking problem. You don’t have one. You just—”
He hung up on Zane and lowered his head to stare at the worn toes of his boots, trying to think, trying to figure out why he hadn’t just told him. Out of all of his brothers, he was closest to Zane and if he could tell any of them, it should have been Zane.
But just then, he couldn’t imagine telling anybody.
And he knew why.
Once he told people, it would become real.
And when it became real, it would be too easy to break . . . to see it end, to see it fall apart.
She hadn’t walked away once he’d owned up to what he’d done. That was the worst thing he could imagine happening . . . at the time. But there was something far worse and he had to face it.
Abby was already planning for it to end and if he couldn’t get her to fall in love with him, it would end.
Absently, he reached up and ran his thumb over his heart, wondering if she’d noticed it at all. Nah. If she had, she would have said something.
“Zach?”
Lifting his head, he saw Keelie standing in the doorway. The look on her face was nervous and he sighed, turning away and heading back to his desk. He just didn’t have time for this today. Dumping the phone back in the cradle, he said, “I’m busy, Keelie. I’ve got several custom designs I still need to get done and I’m sure my asshole brother will be calling my other brothers so I’ll have more fun conversations for later on.”
Bent over the sketch, he tried to block her out, but she didn’t seem to take the hint.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
Sighing, he leaned back and met her gaze. She had unusual eyes, one pale gold, almost the shade of whiskey. The other was pale, pale blue . . . almost ice blue. She’d forgone the heavier makeup she often wore and her face looked almost naked. Frowning a little, he sighed and asked, “Are you okay?”
She shrugged and edged a few feet into his office, turning to stare at the design board. “I shouldn’t have said anything to Zane when he came by. I knew he’d give you a hassle. Dunno why I didn’t think about that.”
“Don’t worry about it.” The last thing he needed was Keelie feeling all guilty because his brother was acting . . . well. Like himself. No reason for her to feel guilty that Zane was just Zane. When he put his mind to it, Zane could charm a fucking cobra and while Keelie seemed as mean as a damned snake sometimes, she wasn’t. Not really. It was a problem that Zane seemed to have developed a thing for her and Zach figured he needed to step in and make his brother back off.
He smiled a little. He could do it this weekend. They were all getting together for the twins’ birthday and he could pick a fight with the jerk . . . the mood he was in, it would be fun. He should feel bad, he figured, thinking about picking a fight with one of his brothers at a family get-together, but . . . well. It was going to happen sooner or later anyway and he figured his mom and dad were used to it.
“Look, Keelie, Zane is just being Zane,” he finally said. “Don’t worry about it.”
She shrugged a little and toyed with the sleeve of the formfitting black shirt she wore. “He wanted me to come to the thing at your folks’ place up in San Diego.”
Zach blinked. What?
Zane didn’t invite women to family things. Period. Ever.