Dropping The Ball - A New Year’s Billionaire Romance - Weston Parker Page 0,110

all sorts of things that friends didn’t typically do together.

Time would tell, but I was staying positive.

A pair of strong arms wrapped around me. Carter’s touch and masculine scent made me relax into his hard chest even before I’d turned around. “What are you smiling about?”

“Bart and Tani,” I said, leaning my head back on his shoulder and looking up at him. “I’m shipping them so hard.”

He chuckled and pressed a kiss to the exposed curve of my neck. “I know, baby. So am I, but they need to figure things out on their own.”

I sighed. “I just wish they’d hurry up and figure it out already. The waiting is killing me.”

Billy snorted, appearing at my side. Or maybe he’d been there all along. I’d been so lost in thought that I hadn’t paid much attention to who else was in the kitchen with me for the last few minutes. I also hadn’t chopped up any of the tomatoes on the board in front of me.

Oops.

“They’ve only known each other for a few months. You two, on the other hand, took twenty fucking years to get together. You might actually be old and gray before they eventually come around.”

Carter laughed and held me closer. “That was completely different and you know it. Besides, no one was watching us as closely as we’re all watching them.”

“Maybe I should’ve been keeping a closer eye on you two,” my brother said, but there was amusement in his tone.

“How do you think you’d have managed that all the way from Nashville?” I asked, grinning as I finally sliced through my fist tomato. “Unless you’re thinking about moving to New York?”

He shook his head so hard and fast that I was pretty sure he was in danger of sustaining a brain injury. “Nope. You guys can have that place all to yourselves. I’m perfectly happy where I am, thank you very much.”

“Are you, though?” I asked, cocking my head and glancing at him from the corner of my eye, watching his expression carefully.

Billy was always so vague when we asked about his life in Nashville. I still didn’t even know what was going on with him there or what had happened to make him say those things to Carter and me that he had.

He rolled his eyes at me when he saw me watching him. “Yes, Matchmaking Inspector Rylee. I am happy there. In fact, I might just have someone to bring home with me when we come for Thanksgiving.”

Carter reached out with one hand to clap him on the shoulder. “That’s great news, man. I’m happy for you.”

“I thought for sure that would be my line for today,” my brother said. Then his eyes flew wide open and he cleared his throat. “For our parents, I mean. I’m happy for our parents.”

Carter suddenly wasn’t even breathing behind me, only exhaling again when I felt him nodding against my hair. “Your parents. Of course. We’re all happy for them. I really am happy for you too, though.”

“Yeah.” Billy dropped the knife he’d been using to chop potatoes and made some excuse about needing to check something with my mother before practically running out of the kitchen.

I frowned as he retreated from us. “That was weird.”

“What?” Even Carter sounded distracted. “Oh, Billy? Yeah, a little. He’s probably got a lot on his mind. If he’s thinking about this girl he wants to bring home for Thanksgiving, he’s probably just a little preoccupied.”

“Rylee, darling!” our neighbor Mrs. Birch cried as she walked into the kitchen. “It’s so good to see you. Congratulations on your new show. Your mother assured me you’re as wonderful as ever.”

Carter finally let go of me and murmured that he was going to see if my dad needed any help at the grill. Mrs. Birch chatted to me for a few minutes, eventually getting to the question every older person who’d known you when you were a kid always asked. “So, when are you going to be starting a family? I heard you and Carter are officially an item now.”

Item? I smiled. “We are an item, but I don’t think we’re going to be trying to start a family for at least a couple of years.”

She sighed heavily as if this were some kind of personal slight against her. “I can’t wait to have little ones running around again. Do you think you’ll move back here when you do finally have them?”

I wondered if she realized how inappropriate it was to assume Carter