Reaching Hearts - Faleena Hopkins Page 0,21

such a rare thing, that I wanted him all to myself. But then it began to feel odd, like I was a secret. And I was not okay with that at all.

We’d spent most of the afternoon in bed so I was wearing only his white button-up shirt and my pale pink panties as we watched Highlander that night. I enjoyed introducing him to movies from my generation that I knew he’d love. Blade Runner. Ladyhawke. And now this.

Mark was in his bedroom, but a loud, boisterous knock at the front door brought him out. Brendan didn’t move to get up. He was happily tracing the bare flesh on my thigh and staring at the screen.

The two of them had an unspoken ease to their home. I don’t think there could have ever existed a better roommate situation anywhere. They cohabited without strife and often communicated without words. And I, ever the quiet observer, watched it with envious fascination.

“Macallan 18! How ‘bout it! How you like me now?” a voice boomed.

Brendan and I both looked to the sound.

Holding a bottle of scotch, in walked a guy with the personality of five men. “You guys wanna play a game?” He had sparkling eyes, a lopsided grin, stood around 5’10,” and his body was obviously brewed by many, many hours at the gym. As soon as he saw me, his eyebrows sprang up and his smile faltered for a second as he looked from Brendan to me. I couldn’t help but think he was adorable.

“Well, hello there.” Hand held out, he walked straight up to us. “Tommy.”

I shook his hand, but I felt Brendan’s fingers wrap tight around my leg.

My father always said, You’re a lady, Rebecca. And a lady can get away with anything. So I smiled and held my head high. “Rebecca. Nice to meet you. Sorry, I didn’t dress for company.”

Tommy grinned and asked Mark, “I think she’s dressed perfectly. How about you?”

Mark smiled with the patience of one who knows his friends very, very well.

Tommy looked over to the sounds of battle coming from the T.V.

“Highlander? This is a classic!”

“You’ve seen it?”

“Seen it? I own it! And yet still, if it comes on cable, even though I own it –”

“—You have to watch it anyway! Me too!” I laughed.

Then we both said the famous line at the same time. “There can be only one!”

I glanced happily to Brendan, but the look on his face melted my smile away fast. I settled back against the back of the couch and leaned into him. His eyes were like stone, but his hand held my leg like I was his property, a noteworthy observation, I thought.

Tension was high and Mark saved the day by grabbing his jacket from the back of a chair. “Let’s go to Knockout, Tommy.”

Tommy’s surprised glance looped around everyone’s faces. “Oh right. You guys want to be left alone.”

I explained, “It’s just I’m in town only for the weekend, so we don’t have a lot of time.” Brendan looked at me and I couldn’t read his face, so I squeezed his hand.

Mark had already gone and Tommy was about to follow, but he turned around and slid his hands casually into his pockets. “Oh, hey Brendan, you know we’re meeting at the office tomorrow with the search engine tech guys, right?”

Brendan searched his memory. “On a Sunday?”

“Yeah. Noon. So don’t sleep in.” He flashed a charming smile. “Nice meeting you, Rebecca.”

“You too.”

As the door closed, I heard him crying out with a Scottish brogue, “There can be only one!!!”

I smiled and looked at Brendan whose face was still troubled. “What was that about?”

“What?”

“You got so tense.”

I watched him evade the subject as he flipped me over and took me right there on the couch.

He was showing dominance. I got that loud and clear. He didn’t like how Tommy had looked at me, and this was how he acted on that.

Who was I to argue?

We walked to Lolinda afterward because I needed some iron and their Filet Mignon was divine. The walk was nice, but we didn’t hold hands. We rarely did. And our phones were constantly going off with emails and texts that couldn’t be ignored. I teased him that we worked too much, that we couldn’t take a break even for a weekend, that something was wrong with us. He smiled because he knew I loved keeping busy just as much as he did.

At one point during dinner, he raised his hand to get the server’s