very neighborly. He’d been raised better than that. His manners wouldn’t allow him to shut the door in my face.
Just as I’d predicted, he stepped back and held open the door, but he didn’t look very happy about it. Channing, who was used to visiting Bentley, trotted into the condo and made himself right at home.
I wondered if I should drop off the food and leave so he could rest. But I quickly dismissed that idea. He’d had two months of getting through this on his own. Besides, he’d moved next door to me. He’d agreed to keep an eye on me. I didn’t do those things. He did.
As I walked past him, I couldn’t resist inhaling deeply. Even when we were kids, Holden had always smelled like a mixture of Irish Spring soap, fresh laundry, and musk. I wasn’t sure how he pulled that off at seven, but he had. When the scent that was uniquely his hit my olfactory system, my lady parts fluttered. A tingle spread across every inch of bare skin on my body. Goosebumps broke out on my legs.
The energy between us was electric, and it boggled my mind that he didn’t feel it. How could he be so unaffected? I heard him inhale and wondered if maybe he wasn’t. Maybe, just maybe, he’d missed the way I smelt too.
“Is that your mom’s famous fried chicken?”
Or maybe he just missed my mom’s cooking. I’d called her for the recipe as soon as I’d left the diner and I’d spent all afternoon cooking. I figured even if he didn’t want to see me, there was no way that he’d turn away my mom’s fried chicken.
“Yep. I wasn’t sure when the last time you had a home-cooked meal was.”
“It’s been a long time.”
His deep voice sent a thrill racing down my spine, but I did my best to ignore it. I walked straight back to the kitchen. Channing followed along his tail wagging. He circled three times before plopping down in his corner. The dog bed Bentley had bought for him was still sitting in his area.
“Have you eaten?” If he said yes, then I’d know he wanted me to leave. But if he said no, then I knew he wanted me to stay. I held my breath waiting for his response.
“No.”
My lips curled up in a smile as I set my bag down on the butcher block island and started pulling plates out of the cabinets.
“Make yourself at home.”
If anyone else was saying that, my social graces would kick in. But since it was Holden, and this was my brother’s condo, I didn’t feel anything but justified in my actions.
I glanced over my shoulder, armed with a snappy comeback to fire at him, but when I turned my head, I found him standing directly behind me. My breath caught in my throat and I froze.
Holden always had a magnetic energy about him. From the time I was a little girl, if he was around, I was next to him. People joked that I was my brother’s shadow, but the truth was, I was Holden’s.
It had been so long since I’d experienced having all of his attention directed solely at me that I’d actually forgotten what it felt like. Now that I was in the same space with him, and we were alone, I found myself a lot more nervous than I’d anticipated. I’d spent the last five hours thinking of all the things I was going to say to him, but as I stared up in his eyes, I couldn’t remember a single one of them.
His jaw clenched, and he inhaled through his nose.
“Are you in a lot of pain?”
“Not right now.” The way he was looking at me made me feel like there was some significance to his answer, but before I could figure out what it was, he moved to the side and opened the fridge. “Beer or pop?”
“Beer,” I answered as I continued grabbing what we’d need for dinner.
Within a minute or two we were sitting down to eat with plates full of chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans.
“Did you cook all of this?”
“Yep.”
“Damn,” he said, looking impressed as he surveyed his plate. His eyes lifted to mine. “This looks good.”
“It tastes even better,” I said confidently.
“I’m sure it does.” His voice dropped several octaves causing the aforementioned thrill to become a full-blown tremor as it travelled down my back. The tiny hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I