There. That was clear.
That was obvious.
That was seizing the day.
Only, the furrows in his forehead didn’t ease, and something entered his eyes that she didn’t like, really didn’t like. It had worry clawing through her belly, knotting her insides, instinct telling her to brace.
Crap.
“You’re asking me to go on date with you?” he asked incredulously.
Yup. Incredulously.
Double crap.
“I…um…” She swallowed a few times in order to get the words out. “Yes?”
“Is that a question or an answer?”
His question was sharp, not at all like the way he normally spoke to her. Not warm or soft. Instead, it was all cold and frosted with sharp, barbed edges.
She wanted to turn on her heel, to run inside.
But…she’d started this. She should finish it.
“An answer,” she told him, lifting her chin again. “I want to go on a date with you.”
“Why would I do that?”
More sharp. More frost-filled.
Her gaze dropped. “Um…”
C-r-a-p. Crap. Why couldn’t she get the words out? Why couldn’t she tell him she thought he was good-looking and smart and nice—except he wasn’t being very nice right then, was he?
No. He wasn’t.
And that was making it difficult for her to think and speak and generally act like a normal human being.
She’d had all the reasons she wanted to date him in her mind.
But he didn’t seem to have any of those same ones, and that…was devastating.
“You don’t want to go on a date with me,” she said, hating the hurt in her voice, but unable to completely mask it.
A beat, one long moment where she thought he would explain that this was a misunderstanding, and he’d gotten his wires crossed, and on the heels of that newfound clarity, he’d tell her that, of course, he wanted to go out with her.
That he liked her as much as she liked him.
Bam. Done.
Riding off into the happily-ever-after sunset.
But then Ash shattered her hope like it was the most fragile of vases.
One push and it hit the ground, exploding into a thousand shards of glass.
“No,” he said, all sharp edges to his tone. “I definitely don’t want to go on a date with you.”
Then he spun on his heel, the sliding glass door thumping closed behind him, and she was alone on the deck, standing under the star-filled sky, the night’s cold creeping in.
At least it cooled her pink cheeks, dried the tears clouding her vision.
It was the emphasis on definitely that really got to her.
It was the definitely that stuck with her after she’d pulled herself together, made her feet carry her into the kitchen, and she sat at that wooden table across from Asher as they battled it out in a round of UNO.
She avoided his eyes because…well, for obvious reasons.
Not wanting to see that definitely reflected at her.
It was already bad enough that she kept hearing it as she excused herself at the end of the round and drove home, as she worked until she was exhausted and then crawled into bed.
It stuck with her as she decided she was done dreaming about Asher and fantasies and men who were too good to be true.
She needed to find something real.
So, that definitely also stuck with her as she downloaded the dating app and started swiping.
Something she would come to regret.
So, so much.
Two
Asher
Jer’s gaze was glued to Mel as she excused herself and left.
That right there told Ash he had done right by his brother.
And right by Melody, even though she probably wouldn’t see it that way.
“You should probably check in with her later,” he told Jer as they cleaned up the cards. “She seemed upset.”
“Who?” Jer tore his gaze from where Mel had disappeared.
“Mel,” Ash said, rolling his eyes. “She was upset.”
Yeah, because of you, asshole.
Not the point.
“You should probably check in with her,” he added when Jer glanced away from the now-closed front door and frowned. “Just to make sure she’s good.”
Jer snagged a few cards. “Why don’t you check on her?”
Jesus Christ. Jer needed to stop fucking around and make a move. “Because you’re the one who wants her, man,” he snapped. “Get your thumb out and do something about it already.”
Jer’s brows shot up and the pile of cards he’d been organizing hit the table. “I don’t want Mel.”
Ash blinked, a sick feeling beginning to swirl in his stomach. “What?”
Jer studied him, that frown even more defined. “Why the hell would you even think that?”
Because they’d gone on fucking double dates together? Because they were chummy and meeting up at Molly’s all the time? Because she and Jer were always sneaking off to talk?
How about any of those reasons?
But he didn’t exactly want to get into why he’d noticed, why those reasons had stuck with him. Why he’d used them to turn down the sweet, shy woman who’d asked him out.
Because that might mean he’d fucked up.
Huge.
So, instead, he grasped at straws. “I just thought the whole twin thing was going to come into play.”
Jer rolled his eyes. “Just because my twin is dating her twin doesn’t mean that Mel and I are going to get together. We’re friends and only friends.”
Fuck.
Fuck.
That sick feeling grew.
“No Twin Powers?” he forced himself to joke, still grasping at straws.
Jer just shook his head. “You all and fucking Twin Powers.”
“You and Wyatt have super-secret communicating abilities,” Ash pointed out. “Don’t even try to deny it.”
Jer rolled his eyes. “You’re a dumbass.”
A shrug. “A dumbass who’s right.”
Jer went back to stacking the cards. “Twin Powers would only be helpful if I could put them to use on Teresa.”
“I…what?”
Jer shrugged, straightened the cards.
He blinked at his older brother. “You and Teresa?”
Teresa was his other brother, Rafe’s, partner, and she had made it her life’s mission to give Jeremy shit—mostly because his older brother had a protective streak that went into high gear around her, and she had no patience for someone treating her with kid gloves. So basically, they fought all the time, and—
Oh. Oh.
Fucking hell.
How had he missed that?
Because he’d been obsessing over Mel and what she might mean for his brother and trying to pretend he hadn’t been dreaming about talking his way into her bed from the first moment he’d met her.
“We’re together.” Jeremy shook his head. “Or I’m working on convincing Teresa that’s a good idea, anyway.”
Shit. Shit.
How the fuck was he such a dumbass? Saving Mel for Jer like she was a package they could pass around and her opinion meant nothing—yeah, he’d had his reasons, but clearly Ash couldn’t trust his instincts.
Not when he fucked up so royally.