“He’s just on the phone with a client, but you can come on in. Help yourself to some beer.”
I hugged my brother’s girlfriend. She’d been a part of the family for almost a year now, and we’d all accepted Lexi was here to stay.
When I walked into the kitchen, I heard Bas’ voice from his home office. I opened the fridge and took out two bottles of beer, one for each of us. I walked onto the balcony that overlooked the city and cracked open my beer. I leaned on the handrail and sipped the beer, waiting for Bas to finish.
Lexi came out to join me and sat down on one of the wicker couches that decorated the balcony. Bas never used to be out here, but when Lexi had moved in, she’d decorated the balcony with plants and wicker furniture, turning it into a small sanctuary. She did yoga out here too, Bas had said.
I could imagine the tranquility.
“How are you?” Lexi asked.
“I’m good,” I said. “How’s business?”
She shared a little about the wellness center she ran, and it was cute to see how passionate she was about it, the sparkle coming to her eyes when she talked.
It was the same kind of sparkle I saw in Emily when she designed my apartment, when she got lost in her art.
Passion was beautiful.
“How are you really?” Lexi asked after she finished talking about the latest news in her business.
“What makes you think I’m anything other than good?” I asked.
“Because you have that look on your face,” she said.
“What look?”
Lexi laughed. “The look that suggests you have a lot on your mind and nowhere to dump it.”
I shook my head. “You’ve hardly been here a year and already you know us all so well.”
Lexi shrugged. “I invest in family.”
Lexi had come from a tough background, growing up in a foster care system. The only person she saw as family lived in Miami. But Lexi had attached herself to the Conrads, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I met a girl,” I said.
Lexi’s eyes twinkled. “Someone you’d like to have around for longer than one night?”
I groaned. Bas was going to hear from me later about how he’d told Lexi about my way with women. But we all did it that way—hell, before he’d met Lexi, Bas had been the worst of us all.
“Yeah, but it’s not that simple. I mean, I’m falling for her. Hard. Except ... she’s Ryan’s sister.”
“Ryan ... the guy you had over at the house for a barbeque a couple of weeks ago?”
“That one,” I said.
Lexi raised her eyebrows. She didn’t whistle through her teeth, but she might as well have.
“Yeah,” I said. “Bad, right?”
“Are you serious about her?” Lexi asked.
“Serious about who?” Bas asked, walking onto the balcony. We bro-hugged, and he clapped me on the back before he took the beer I’d brought out for him and cracked it open.
“Parker met a girl,” Lexi informed Bas. “Anoff-limitsgirl.”
“Who?” Bas asked.