Crazy Stupid Bromance (Bromance Book Club #3) - Lyssa Kay Adams Page 0,35
if she was afraid of it. “What is that?”
“A copy of the DNA test.”
Moments ticked by as Alexis stared at the paper. They didn’t really need to see it. Anyone who looked at the two of them next to each other could tell she and Candi were related. Still, she reached for the paper, slid it closer, and then unfolded it.
“Thank you,” she said.
“The transplant center isn’t very far from our house,” Candi said.
Alexis looked up quickly.
“So I was thinking that maybe . . .” Candi’s voice trailed off in an insecure whisper.
“Maybe what?” Noah said gruffly.
Candi tugged her hands into the cuffs of her sweatshirt. “Maybe after you do the blood test, you should come meet everyone. Dad. Cayden. The whole family.”
Adrenaline soured Noah’s stomach at the word Dad. Elliott Vanderpool was not Dad to her. He’d made sure of that.
“No way,” he said, setting his beer down harder than was necessary.
Alexis gave him another one of those looks. He clenched his jaw.
She turned back to Candi. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she said softly.
“But then you could meet everyone.”
“I just don’t know if I’m ready for that yet, Candi.”
“Then why did you—” Candi cut herself off again, this time with a frustrated shake of her head. Her bottom lip took the brunt of whatever emotion she’d bitten back.
“Why did I what?”
Candi turned and pinned Alexis with the most direct gaze since they’d walked in. “If you weren’t interested in meeting us, why did you allow your DNA profile to be shared with potential family members?”
And there it was. The question even Noah had been wondering but had been reluctant to ask. Alexis could have requested that her DNA results be kept private. They could only be shared with potential blood relatives with permission.
Alexis seemed just as reluctant to answer the question as Noah had been to voice it. She avoided it completely. “I think we should just start with the blood test and go from there.”
“Come to Huntsville,” Candi said, her voice a blend of desperation and exasperation. “Please.”
Alexis puffed out her cheeks and let out a long breath. “Look, I know what you’re hoping will happen here. That we’ll have some kind of big reunion with tears and hugs and stuff, but I think you should lower your expectations.”
“But don’t you at least want to meet your family?”
“They’re not my family.”
Candi’s eyes pinched at the corners, as if the words had struck a painful blow. Once again, Noah managed to feel a small twinge of pity for the girl.
Alexis let out a weary sigh, as if she regretted what she said. “We share a bloodline, Candi. That doesn’t make us family. It just makes us related.”
Candi’s lower lip took a beating again. She looked pitiful enough that Noah knew Alexis wouldn’t last much longer before agreeing to whatever Candi wanted. Noah stood and dug out his wallet. This needed to end. He dropped a twenty on the bar and rested his hand on Alexis’s shoulder. “We should get going.”
Noah handed Alexis her purse as she stood. Candi slid off her stool, hands clenched against her stomach. “I have to go back to Huntsville. I can’t leave without knowing what you’re planning to do.”
Alexis offered an empathetic gaze. “You know there’s no guarantee that I’m a match, right?”
“Does that mean you’ll do it?”
Noah held his breath as deeply as Candi held hers.
Alexis finally nodded. “I’ll schedule the blood test.”
Candi’s hand flew to her mouth, and her eyes got wet. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“I’ll let you know how it goes,” Alexis said, backing up until she collided with Noah’s chest. He gripped her hips to steady her.
They were silent all the way back to the elevator. When the doors closed, though, Alexis turned to him. “Thank you for coming with me.”
“Stop thanking me for shit before I get insulted.”
Before he could react, she stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. Every cell in his body collided as she leaned into him and pressed her cheek to his chest. They’d shared hugs before. Many of them. But this one felt different. At least to him.
He encircled her torso with his arms. She was hot and soft in his embrace. The ground tilted beneath his feet as a rush of tenderness and desire made his limbs weak and his breathing catch. Noah forced the air to keep moving in and out of his lungs and prayed she couldn’t hear the way his heart reached