She startled and turned. “Oh, hi, uh.” She swallowed. Her fists tightened around the pencil in her hand.Shewas nervous. “I’m, uh, just doodling. What’s up with Andy? He said he didn’t feel well.” She examined the closed door that led to the front room before she looked back at him questioningly.
He nodded as he placed the plastic bag from the store on the counter. “Stomach.”
Aly eyed the soda he pulled from the bag. “Throwing up?”
He didn’t want her to panic.
“Don’t know yet.” He stuck the box of electrolyte popsicles in the freezer. He put the white Gatorade, applesauce, and the ginger ale in the fridge and then stuck the saltines in the cabinet.
“You’re stocking up like he is.” Aly narrowed her eyes.
He shrugged. “I like to be prepared. I also got Motrin, cold medicine, and cough drops just in case. Give me a second. I’m going to change, and I’ll be right back.”
She finally met his gaze full on, and it sizzled for one beat before she glanced away, fisting her hands. The way her shoulders pulled tight told Will she was on edge, and he needed to explain his behavior.
When she was focused on her sketch pad again, he headed up the stairs and rapped his knuckles on Andy’s bedroom door.
“Yeah?” The boy’s voice was muffled.
Will opened the door to the dark room, finding Andy burrowed under blankets on the lower bunk. “You going to want anything before you go to sleep?”
“No.”
It was only seven thirty, but Will wouldn’t push him to eat. “I’m going to crack the door, and if you need anything or if you get sick, call me. I don’t give a crap about puke—got it?”
“Got it.”
He left the door ajar and then went to his room to get out of his quarter zip and bathing suit. He tossed on gray sweats and a T-shirt, pausing to glance at the king-size bed in his room. With Andy already in bed, Will had Aly to himself tonight. Just as his mouth pulled up in a smirk, the realization hit him.
What the actual fuck was wrong with him? Andy was sick in bed, and Will was mentally making plans for how to get his sister naked. Damn, he was an asshole. Words he didn’t want to hear echoed through his head, and he hated when Luke was right. Will needed to slow down and breathe. Order and control were important to him, and everything about Aly made him feel out of control. He needed to step back. But how the fuck did he do that, especially when he’d been the one to kiss her earlier?
When Will made it back to the first floor, he found Aly still at the table.
“Andy has to be my number one priority.” The words were out of Aly’s mouth before the swing door had closed behind Will. As he moved toward the table to sit, the soft scent that was so Aly flooded his nose. She was such an odd juxtaposition. All day, he’d cued up episode after episode of her show on his phone. He watched her successfully complete tasks most would label masculine, but yet she was the softest, most naturally feminine creature he had ever met. Something about her had Will acting crazy, but every time he laid eyes on her, a warm wave of calm rolled into the pit of his stomach. And just the sweet cadence of her voice had his dick surging in his sweats. She revved him up, calmed him down, and turned him inside out. He’d never met a person who could do all three so effortlessly.
She continued, unaware of the turmoil swirling inside him. “I don’t want to mess things up even more with Andy. I know that’s ridiculous because I keep doing it. And I’m well aware that you have some kind of natural magic with him that I don’t possess, but—”
“It’s not magic,” he interrupted, wanting her to know it wasn’t completely her.
She opened her mouth to start again, but he continued.
“I’ve been the constant in his life for the last few years. Through your mother’s sickness and nurses coming in and out; through his teachers at school changing year to year; through all the nannies—I’m the one person he saw almost every day because of swim practice.”
She frowned.
“I’m not saying this in judgment. I understand that you can’t quit your job. But he clings to me because I’ve been the only one constantly here. And he and I already had a bond because of swimming. I was just like him—talented and driven—and he knows that. On top of that, we both lost our mothers to cancer, and I know how that feels too.”
Aly sighed and fisted her hand on the wooden tabletop next to her sketchbook. “And you’re just good at this stuff.”
He placed his hand over her small fist and rubbed his thumb along her soft skin. For someone who worked with a ridiculous number of large tools, she sure managed to keep her hands silky smooth and callus-free. How would they feel running along his chest, dipping into the waistband of his sweats—
Focus.He blinked out of his lust-filled haze.
“I’ve been through what you and Andy are experiencing. Clayton wasn’t even eight when my parents died, and Joey was barely eleven. I went from the fun older brother to a parent figure. And I didn’t do it all right.”
“I doubt you did it as badly as I have.” Aly pressed her teeth into her bottom lip.
He locked on to the movement. Oh, that plump lip had been heavenly between his. He slowly brought his gaze up to her sad gray eyes. He longed to wrap her in his arms and take away the heartache.