I gave the side of his face a hard look. “No, we didn’t. I know you, Rigby. You avoided answering, which means we didnottalk about it.”
Rigby sighed, his jaw bunching. “I’m not going to put the moves on her, River. I wouldn’t fuck this up for you guys for a convenient lay. I barely know the girl.” That should’ve been reassuring, but I wasn’t lying; I knew him. He wasn’t done. “But if she comes onto me for anything serious, I’m gonna see where it goes. I feel this draw to her, man. I can’t explain it.” He took his eyes briefly off the road to stare at me. “You know, though, don’t you?”
I dragged my eyes from his face and back out the window. Was I attracted to her? Fuck yeah, I was. She was beautiful. All dangerous curves and those lips that were just this side of too pouty, so all you could do as she spoke was imagine what they’d feel like. And she smelled like something soft and feminine, something I could never identify.
“What the hell are you even talking about?” I grumbled, not looking at his face where his eyes could read all my secrets. I wasn’t sure why I was even friends with this bastard, but he’d weaseled his way into my life and I loved him as much as Dev now.
“True or false, River ‘I-have-no-feelings’ Cooper. You’ve pictured Nova naked at some point.”
“False.”
“Liar. You aren’t fucking dead. I bet you’ve jerked off to her in the shower too.” I flipped him the bird, and he huffed out a laugh.
“Doesn’t even matter, because what are we going to do? Draw straws for her? It's better for everyone if none of us touch her.”
Rigby snorted. “Okay, sure. So, say she stays. That’s what we want, right?”
“Of course.”
“She’s a beautiful twenty-four-year-old woman. So fucking beautiful. She’s not an old maid. Eventually, she's going to want to get laid. Find a nice boyfriend or something. Are you cool with her bringing men home, and then fucking them down the hall from you? Because the very idea makes my balls shrivel up.”
It made me irrationally mad. Possessive. Exactly what Rigby was trying to get at.
We pulled into the driveway of the house. “You have two options here, Coop. One, you can let yourself feel something. It's rough, and could lead to heartache, or it could lead to something wonderful.”
“You’d stand aside for me?” I couldn’t believe him.
He gave me a crooked smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I would do just about anything for you to be happy. Dev, too. If you haven’t realized that about me yet, I’m going to have to hug you more.”
Sometimes, I didn’t deserve this guy. I shook my head. “You’d be better for her. For them. At least you’re in touch with your emotions. I haven’t seen mine in twenty years.”
Somehow, the idea of her being with Rigby didn’t make me quite as angry.
“Don’t rule out Dev, either. He watches her like he’s hungry. I don’t know what it is about her, man…”
I didn’t, either. “What’s the second option?”
He chewed his lip. “You buy her a place of her own. Give us all a degree of separation. Because I can’t smell her shampoo, or watch that tight ass go up and down the stairs, or meet her sad hazel eyes without wanting things. To make shit better for her, either with my words or my dick.”
I shook my head. “We’ll see where it goes, man. I want her here where we can help. If she falls for one of you assholes, I’m okay with that.” But not a stranger. Not some other fuck that Huey would call Daddy.
Rigby gave me a long look, and then sighed heavily, getting out of the car without another word.
ChapterTen
NOVA
The guys had leftstraight after breakfast for training, but not Devan. Apparently, he didn’t need to be back in the office until tomorrow, so he’d spent the day entertaining Huey while I unpacked stuff. Babies had a lot of stuff, even though the guys seemed to have bought out an entire baby store before we got here.
Once I was fully unpacked, I came downstairs to find Huey in his car seat on the porch. His uncle was out in the drive, securing the base into a luxury SUV and swearing softly under his breath.
I watched him for a moment, unseen. He was really kind of beautiful for a man, and I wondered if he had some kind of Latin American ancestry, because those lips were made for kissing and his soft, golden skin was made for touching. He didn’t smile much, and he wasn’t overly chatty, but there was a quiet intensity about him that made him almost magnetic.
Which was bad. Bad, bad, bad.
I squatted down next to Huey’s car seat. “I’m in so much trouble, little man,” I murmured, but it didn’t matter—he was already asleep.
Devan must have felt my eyes on his ass, because he looked over his shoulder. He frowned a little and waved me closer. Casting one more look at Huey to make sure he was fine, I walked over to the black Range Rover.