Olly nodded, falling so quiet that I thought he wouldn’t say anything, but then he did. “There’s this girl, Lexie. It all started with her really.” He shook his head, and the gesture somehow reminded me of how much he’d changed. How much older he looked now. “It was a bet. I was trying to impress her and… it turned out to be fun. More fun than I thought. And the money was good. That movie isn’t lying.” He chuckled bitterly. “I made enough to come back the next night. But it was because of her that I went back every night after that. To keep an eye on her.”
I swallowed, processing everything he was telling me, coming up with a hundred questions. But the one that seemed to matter the most was, “Is Lexie okay now?”
He nodded. “Yeah, we’re… it doesn’t matter. I got her out of trouble, Rosie. That was why I didn’t want to do it anymore.” His expression turned heavy. “Jimmy is the owner’s right hand, and he wasn’t happy about me quitting. I apparently attracted a good… audience. But I knew that if I involved you, he would let me walk away. He wouldn’t want to attract too much attention or trouble. Calling you was selfish.”
“Oh, sweetie.” I sighed, my heart aching. “I’m your sister. Asking for my help isn’t selfish.”
“But I got your boyfriend hurt. You could have been, too.”
Lucas reacted then, and what he said was, “Jimmy did, not you. And I’d never let anyone hurt Rosie, Olly. Just like I told you earlier.”
“Thanks,” Olly whispered.
Other than that, my brother didn’t say anything else, and neither did the amazing, selfless man nestled between my legs. So, I continued playing with Lucas’s hair for a long time, scratching his scalp gently. And even when his body slumped against my legs, and his chest rumbled against my skin, I still kept going. Because as much as touching Lucas usually left every cell in my body tingling, I was beginning to understand that touching someone you loved was about much more than just that. It wasn’t always about the sparks and the fireworks. Not exclusively. It could also be about the peace it brought you. The comfort. And for all the romances I’d read and the one, almost two, I’d written, I hadn’t known that. I would have never imagined that touching a man could light me up inside and quiet every worry and every noise in the world.
We stayed like that for a long while, none of us paying any attention to what was playing on the TV. Only when Olly’s breath deepened and snores sounded from his side of the couch did I lean forward to whisper in Lucas’s ear.
“Let’s go to bed.”
I moved around him, standing up and offering him both hands. With a tired expression that told me he’d been about to follow my brother’s example, he took them, letting me pull him up.
And just like it happened every time I came within hugging distance of this man, I ended up wrapped in his arms for a long, heavenly moment.
His head dipped. “You did so well tonight, Rosie. So well.”
It felt like I hadn’t done a single thing right tonight. Or lately.
I shook my head and turned around, making my way to the bed.
“Rosie?” Lucas’s hushed voice reached me from where he was, still at the foot of the sofa. “I think that if you help me”—his features hardened as he seemed to think about something—“maybe we can get your brother into the bed.”
“Come here,” I whispered back, throwing open the covers of the bed. But he hesitated, not moving. Turning that tender spot in my chest even softer. “Leave Olly. You sleep here tonight. With me.”
His jaw tensed.
“Lucas Martín,” I said, hearing the edge in my voice, even if hushed, “if you don’t get in this bed, with me, right this second, you’re going to break my heart. And I don’t think I will be able to take it. Not tonight.”
I wasn’t even joking.
Because only a few hours ago, I’d been in his arms, and he’d been kissing me. And as much as we hadn’t talked about it, something had… opened between us. Something more.
All of that must have been written all over my face because Lucas’s hesitation melted away.
Choosing not to ask him for the hundredth time if he was in pain, I joined him in bed and threw the covers over us. I rolled on my side with a long and deep sigh, and faced him while he remained on his back, his head turned toward me.
“Are you comfortable?”
“As much as I’ll ever be, ángel.”