Cliché it may be, but it was also true.
Roxanna: Would you like a proper thank you for the flowers?
His heart rate sped up as he recalled their kiss in her back room after she brought him coffee that morning.
Loyal: I would not presume to ask for one, but if you’re offering…
Roxanna: How long will it take to get your number-loving ass back up here?
He was out of his vehicle and back at her door in record time—and discovered he’d have won his bet about what she wasn’t wearing under her robe.
Saturday night, Loyal pulled into his brother’s driveway as big, fat snowflakes drifted down to dot the windshield. They were supposed to get up to three inches, though it was sure to all melt by the next day.
“Asher seemed better about everything today,” Roxanna said as he turned off the engine and reached for the bottle of wine down at her feet. “Less...protective.”
He understood the hope in her voice. She wanted this to go as smoothly as he did. “Maybe me asking about the flowers helped.”
“Or he’s going to use it against you.”
“Against me, or us?”
She grinned as he hurried around to open her door. “You,” she confirmed. “I’m like a sister to him, so he’s gonna stand up for me.”
He shuddered, his hand at the small of her back on their way to the door. “Don’t ever say that again.”
“What?”
“That you’re like a sister. I am his brother, and the last thing I want to do is think of you like a sister. That’s just…” He gave an emphatic shake of his head on their way to the door. “Ew.”
She laughed as the front door opened to reveal Honor slipping on her winter coat. The cake baker stepped out onto the porch and took hold of Roxanna’s arm to steer her back down to the sidewalk. “You have to come across the street with me.”
Roxanna frowned back at Loyal as she asked, “Now? Why?”
“My wedding dress came in, and I’m dying to show someone. Asher is on the back patio grilling steaks, Loyal.”
“It’s snowing.”
“Relax. We’re not going to eat outside,” she said.
He glanced at the door, then back at Honor urging Roxanna toward the driveway.
His future sister-in-law caught his look. “We won’t be long. Promise.”
“Divide and conquer,” Roxanna warned him. “Be prepared.”
Honor jerked her hand away from her. “Damn it. I always forget you can do that.”
She smiled before arching her eyebrows at Loyal.
“Oh, go ahead.” He forced a laugh past the tightness in his gut. “I can handle my own brother.”
He watched them cross the street through the falling snow, short and tall, redhead and brunette, then turned back to make a face at the door. Blowing out a heavy sigh, he went inside, but kept his jacket on as he set the wine on the counter, grabbed a beer from the fridge, and made his way out to the back patio.
“Hey,” he greeted when his younger brother turned at the sound of the sliding glass door.
Asher shot him a quick glance from the grill. “I wasn’t sure you guys would show.”
“We said we would.” He twisted his cap off the bottle and tucked it into his pants pocket. After a long pull, he asked, “What’s for dinner?”