love your brother so much, that means I love you, too. Of course, if you do hurt my best friend, I’ll have to cut you several times, but it will still be done with love.”
She said the words with a smile, so it took a moment for them to process in his brain. When they did, he laughed aloud. He also had no doubt what she was saying was true. He admired and loved the friendship between Sarah, Brooke, and Chloe. It was as tight a bond as he had with his brothers. And their love was born from friendship. They’d chosen one another. He had no doubt he would’ve chosen his brothers, though, even if they hadn’t been siblings.
“You definitely entertain me,” he said. “And trust me—I know you’d kill me.”
“I do what I can,” she said. She finally slid a plate of warm cookies and a large glass of ice-cold milk in front of him. “And I wouldn’t kill you, just harm you. There’s a difference.”
He laughed again. “Well, that’s a relief. I don’t have to sleep with one eye open,” he said as he eyed the cookies. “So what do you want to grill me about?” He was more than willing to answer anything she wanted after his first bite of a warm cookie. She was fantastic at making them. If there was any cooking skill at all he wanted, it was the ability to make mouthwatering cookies.
“I didn’t fail to notice how you bought your house pretty dang close to Chloe’s place,” she said. She slid her next batch of cookies into the oven, then turned to give him her full attention. He shifted in his seat.
“Yeah, that would be hard to miss,” he told her. It wouldn’t help him to lie. Sarah would see right through him, even if most people couldn’t. She was smarter than the average person.
“I should tell you to back off,” she said. He cringed. He didn’t want her to ask him to do that. He respected her and didn’t want her upset with him, but he wasn’t sure he could walk away from Chloe, not now, not until he knew what this was between them. Not when he felt they had a chance. “But I don’t think I will.”
Her words sent a zing of pleasure all the way through him. If her best friends were on his side, he really did have a shot with the girl. They did everything together, and they relied on one another. Maybe he could make both Sarah and Brooke his allies. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of doing that much, much sooner. Ideas were spinning in his brain. He knew honesty would be best with Sarah.
“I really do feel something for her. I can’t seem to stop myself from pursuing the woman,” he admitted. He didn’t want to be too cheesy or reveal too much, but maybe a little bit of soul bearing was what he needed to get her approval. He definitely wasn’t going to admit he’d kissed Chloe the night before if her friend hadn’t said anything about it yet.
“She might not feel the same way about you.”
“Did she say something to you?” he asked. He found himself holding his breath. He hadn’t wanted to ask that question. He feared the answer.
“She hasn’t talked a lot about you,” she said. He flinched.
“Ouch,” he said. Sarah smiled. “But I think she likes me,” he added while giving her his cockiest smile.
Sarah gave him a quizzical look. “How do you know that?”
“I can see it in her eyes. She’s guarded, but she likes me, and I like her, and that should be all that matters in the end. The rest we will work on.”
“If the world operated that simply, we wouldn’t have wars,” Sarah told him.
“Not everyone’s as smart as I am,” he said with a cocky lifting of his lips.
Sarah laughed as she joined him. He snatched a cookie off the plate and took a bite before grabbing some milk and washing it down. He got up and refilled the milk and grabbed a few more cookies before sitting again.
“Not everyone’s as foolish as you, either. If you aren’t careful, you’ll mess this up.”
“I don’t think so. I think being careful is what has us at a standstill. I think if the two of us go full force ahead, we’ll make a lot more progress.” It would certainly be more satisfying than sleeping alone every night. And every other tactic hadn’t worked