want them to get the wrong idea. “I’m not eager about tonight. It’s just dinner.”
Adrian scoffed but didn’t meet my eyes, suddenly all about selecting exactly the right chip from the bowl.
Jamie side-eyed him but turned to me. “Adrian’s right. It always starts with just dinner.” He waved a hand in a gesture dismissing the words. “Yeah, and just dinner suddenly turns into boning all over the house.”
Saint groaned. “Leave it to Jamie to lower the tone in here.”
“Yeah, but he’s kind of right, though.” Grady’s lips twisted into a smile, and his gaze suddenly looked far away, like he was lost in a memory he didn’t plan to share.
“Oh, for sure,” Saint agreed and Adrian laughed.
“You are such a goner, Leo. But please be careful.” Adrian looked at me with concern. “I feel kind of responsible for this, and if it gets messed up again…” He didn’t finish, but he didn’t need to.
I shook my head. “Don’t be dumb. You’re not responsible for anything to do with Shayne. I’m the only one responsible for me and my actions.” I trotted out the most important thing I’d learned in therapy and glanced at the clock. “Oh, fuck. He’ll be here in a couple of hours and I’ve just been sitting around listening to all of you and your inane advice while you eat my last bag of chips.”
“We’ll get going.” Saint stood up immediately, slipped his phone and car keys back into his pocket and pulled me into a quick hug. “I’m proud of you,” he murmured into my hair, and I warmed with his praise.
He dragged Adrian, Jamie, Mason, and Julian out of the door with him and that only left Kairo and Grady taking up room on my sofa.
“You guys know that my dinner with Shayne isn’t a spectator sport, right?” I drew my brows into a slight frown. “And I don’t need a pair of bodyguards for the evening.”
“Sure, but you’ve only got two hours to cook and get yourself ready, right?”
I swallowed my panic at the tiny timeframe and nodded. “Yep.”
“We can help.” Grady waved his hands at me. “You’ve got all the help you need right here. We’re ready, willing…and Kairo.”
Kairo laughed good-naturedly. “Hey, I know my way around a kitchen.”
Grady snorted. “Only so you can dump your take-out on a plate, dude.”
“If I had more time, I’d cook.”
I nodded. I got that. Kairo was really busy at work and always gunning for a promotion, too, always ready for that advancement up the career ladder, so he was almost living at the hospital these days. I was lucky he’d found the time to be part of this weird gathering of brothers, and I was grateful to have the opportunity to spend a little more time with him.
I waved them into my kitchen. “Then step into my parlor, little flies.”
All of my ingredients were fairly simple because I enjoyed quick, home-cooked meals that fit in around my fitness routine.
“Right, so I’ve planned a simple salad with a bleu cheese dressing to start, steak on a bed of stir-fried vegetables to follow, and—”
“Please don’t say fruit.” Grady interrupted me, his hand held up in the universal sign for stop. “You’re not trying to get Shayne’s five-a-day into this one meal, you know.”
I laughed as Kairo helped himself to a chopping board and knife. “No, I was going to say decadent chocolate mousse, actually.”
Grady’s eyes lit up. “Good thing Adrian didn’t stop to help. You’d be serving more of the mousse, less of the chocolate, with Mr. Sweet-Tooth doing his rounds.”
I grinned, thinking of my crazy younger brother, but I wasn’t entirely happy with how much worrying he was doing over Shayne and me. I’d just have to use this dinner to prove his fears wrong. It was absolutely my opportunity to put the past behind me and start to move on.
As we all started to chop different salad vegetables for me to toss together when Shayne arrived, Grady looked at me. “I know it’s not quite the same thing, but I know what it’s like to be in love with a friend and for that not to work out.”
I nodded. I couldn’t even start to count the years Gray had mooned over Eli, and how Eli had hurt Gray’s feelings in the end.
“You’re happy now, though,” I said as I thought of Rome, the guy who seemed to love Grady more than anything on this Earth. Really, Gray had everything I’d ever wanted but didn’t know if