attempt at them. You looked like a bad imitation of the Cheshire Cat.”
I gasp dramatically. “Take that back. I looked like a sexy kitten!”
He buries his head in the crook of his arm while I knock him out with my otherworldly strong punches. He’s laughing as he says, “More like someone who just ate something nasty and is trying to keep on a polite smile until they can spit it out.”
I rip my feet away and shoot up out of my chair so I can stand in front of him and purple-nurple him. He doesn’t let me. He wraps his arms around my thighs and rear end to pull me up close to him. “I love your bedroom eyes.”
I squint an eye and run my hand through his blond waves. Gosh, he has really fantastic hair. Such a shame to have natural highlights like this wasted on a man.
“You’re just trying to butter me up to avoid my incredibly intense punishment.”
“You have the strength of a baby. Levi could arm-wrestle you and win.”
“Such a charmer,” I say, pushing my hands firmly through his hair so his face has to tilt up at me. I bend and drop my head to lay a soft, polite kiss on his lips. “Thank you for being here today.”
His arms coil tighter around me, contracting like a boa. “Always. I’ll be here always.”
“That’s quite a promise.”
“Mmhmm.” He hums in a self-assured way that leaves no room for argument and makes my belly fill with heat.
Somewhere in the middle of him kissing me, the door to the hospital room opens and in steps Drew holding an obscene number of balloons.
I’m kissing Lucy’s neck, then suddenly she pulls away and pushes her open hand onto my face, shoving me back. “Ow—what was that?!”
“Drew!” Lucy says by way of greeting, and I drop my arms from where they were wrapped around her.
I turn my head to find Drew standing motionless in the doorway, eyes bouncing from me to Lucy to Levi asleep on the bed and back to me. I think there’s going to be a big fight. I set my shoulders and prepare for battle, then Drew sighs and steps in farther. “I’m sorry.”
Neither Lucy nor I expected that—not after three weeks of silence and then not hearing from him once over the past few hours of Levi’s surgery. Therefore, we both stay quiet, stunned.
Drew runs the free hand that’s not clutching enough balloons to carry a small child into space through his hair. He then takes three big, fast steps forward, shoves the balloons into my hands, and grabs Lucy to pull her in for a bear hug. “I’m so sorry, Luce. I’ve been the worst.”
“I’m glad you can see it too,” she says, stiff in his arms, not yet ready to reciprocate the hug. He doesn’t seem to care, though, just holds her tighter.
“I would have been here sooner, but my phone was in my locker at the hospital while I was attending a birth, and then when I was finally able to check it, it was dead. I didn’t have my charger, so I didn’t realize Levi was in the hospital until I showed up at home to your friend I’ve never met before ready to fight me in my driveway.”
Lucy pulls away to look at him. “Jessie?”
“Yeah. She’s scary. And this was definitely the first time I’ve ever had a pregnant woman threaten to use her baby bump as a weapon.”
“Oh my gosh. I love her.”
His face skews up. “Really? Can’t say I’m a big fan. And she seemed to really hate me.”
Lucy laughs. “Yeah, she does not like you.”
“That was definitely communicated.” He pauses for a moment, and his face turns serious. “But she was right about a few things. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” I say, standing and inserting myself into the conversation. I can see that Lucy is wavering and her arms are itching to give in and hug Drew, but I’m not there yet. He pissed me off, treating Lucy the way he did these past few weeks.
Drew lets go of Lucy and turns to face me. He looks remorseful, but I’m ready to fight him anyway. We’re about the same height, so it would be a fair match. “I know. I’m sorry. It started with good intentions of protecting Lucy and Levi, and then…” He shrugs like he’s embarrassed. “I might have gotten my pride hurt a little that you went behind my back. In the beginning, I really was worried that you didn’t have it in you to commit, but then I think I started to worry more about what would happen if you guys split. Then, admittedly—and thanks to Jessie for so violently pointing this out to me—I don’t think I liked the idea of losing my wingman to my sister. No offense, Luce.”
“Lots of offense taken,” Lucy says in a dry tone that makes my lips twitch.
I stare at Drew for a heavy minute, because my feelings are twisting together. Anger is fusing with understanding, and the large part of me that hates confrontation is just ready to move on. If he sees the error in his ways, I’m good with that. Sometimes men need time to process, so I’ll let it go. “Cool,” I say, reaching out to do a bro-high-five-hug thing. Our hands clasp, and our shoulders bump against each other, and we’re good now. Water under the bridge.
We pull apart to find Lucy standing directly beside us, hands on her hips, eyes blazing. “That’s it?! After everything we’ve all gone through, y’all are just going to do whatever that was and move on?”