Casey walks up beside me and looks in, but I’m already turning away to walk around the building. I estimate it’s about eight-thousand square feet, seventy-five hundred of which is easily devoted to the garage bays. There’s a back door that leads to a smaller parking lot, outside water and air hookups, as well as a gas pump.
Trotting behind me as I circle the entire building, Casey asks, “Are you thinking of this for your bike shop?”
Shrugging my shoulders as I round the front of the building, I say, “Maybe. I mean… depends on price.”
“But don’t you want to be in Raleigh… closer to Zoey?” she asks as I stand on my tiptoes and try to look inside the small, squared windows on the first garage door. Unfortunately, it’s too high for me to see.
“Is that panic in your voice?” I ask her drily with a cocked eyebrow. Can’t help it… for all the strides Casey’s made, she still radiates a resounding skittishness over anything remotely resembling commitment. “Afraid I might be moving here to be near you?”
“No,” she exclaims quickly, but I’m not buying it because of the pink tinge of embarrassment on her cheeks. “I just know that the reason you’re relocating to North Carolina is to be near Zoey. She’s in Raleigh, ergo, I thought you’d live in Raleigh.”
“Well… I’m thinking I might move to get primary custody of Zoey,” I say absently as I turn and head toward my bike. “And if I do that, doesn’t really matter where I live, right?”
Casey’s hand snags ahold of one of my belt loops and pulls me to a stop. I turn to look at her, and her eyes are apologetic. “I really didn’t mean anything negative about you looking to live here, Tenn. Despite what you may think about me, I am trying to be open about all of this.”
I immediately wrap my hand around the back of her neck and pull her in close to me. Her arms go around my waist, and I have to tilt my head way to the side to place a kiss on her neck since she’s still wearing her helmet. “I know,” I say with a breath of apology. “You’re trying hard, and I appreciate it.”
And she is.
She’s let me into her home, she’s let me take her out on dates, and she’s even opened herself up to me personally. She’s trying hard.
But the mere fact that she has to try hard worries me, because that means this whole concept of having a relationship is still foreign and frightening to her. It’s still very much a struggle to Casey.
“Man… you scored one smokin’ hot prime piece of—” Kyle says as he punches me on the shoulder.
“Don’t even fucking go there,” I warn him in a low voice as we both sit at the bar and watch Casey as she plays pool with Gabby.
Andrea’s party is in full swing and the bar is packed, which is testament to just how well she’s fit into this community in a short time. The entire “gang,” as Casey calls them, is congregated at three tables that sit along the wall right beside one of the pool tables.
They’re tight knit. You can tell at first glance, the way they carry on easy conversation, give hugs to each other, and playful smiles. They look like a fucking episode of Friends or something, and it reminds me very much that I am an outsider even though they were all perfectly nice when Casey introduced me to them. And past that introduction, Casey made one valiant attempt to encourage me to come over and hang with them, but she hasn’t tried again since I told her I was fine just sitting at the bar with Kyle. He’s going to be heading back to Wyoming tomorrow, so I wanted to spend a little bit of time with him tonight.
Which irks the shit out of me. Irks me that Casey is part of a group that I’m not comfortable with but within which she is very secure, which means she really has all of the support she needs. But mainly it pisses me off to some extent because Casey isn’t trying harder to include me.
Logically, I get that. This is all new for her, and she’s forging unchartered territory. So she’ll be cautious with every action she takes.
But it still drives me bat-shit crazy that she just can’t give into it… whatever it is that we’re developing. I know she can feel it… the ease with which we come together in conversation and even in quiet times. The physical connection… I know she feels that too. I know she feels it harder and deeper than she’s ever felt it before, because she as much told me that last night.
I fucking feel it in every fiber of my body. I’ve never felt it before with another human being. It’s a feeling that feels so fucking good, that I’m actually considering setting up a business on this island and making it my home so I can be near her. Now, how fucking insane is that?
“Dude… you two have it bad for each other,” Kyle says with a smirk on his face.
“Oh yeah?” I ask in skepticism. “What makes you say that?”
“Because you two may be sitting on opposite sides of this room, but you can’t keep your eyes off each other. You… well, you’re just staring straight at her and not bothering to look anywhere else, and Casey… well, she keeps sliding covert glances at you when she doesn’t think anyone’s looking.
I snort with a jerk of my head because that’s Casey… keeping our relationship in a dark and dirty closet, not wanting to admit to the world that she’s making a change in her life.
“I gotta take a leak,” I mutter and launch myself off the stool, mainly in an effort to get away from Kyle’s keen perception.
The men’s bathroom is empty, so I have my choice of urinals. I unzip my pants and get to business when the door opens behind me. One figure steps to my left and another to my right, just three men now pissing out our beer.
“You’re awful antisocial,” the guy to my left says and when I turn to look at him, I see Hunter standing beside me. When I look to my right, Brody’s standing there. At least I think it’s Hunter on my left and Brody to my right, but that’s only because the guy on my left had his tongue down Gabby’s throat about twenty minutes ago.
I grunt an acknowledgment, shake my dick, and zip it away. A quick flush to the urinal and I head over to the sink to wash my hands.
“So what’s the deal with you and Casey?” Brody asks as he comes to stand beside me at the other sink. I rinse, shake my hands off, and step to the side to grab some towels while Hunter squeezes in to wash his hands.
“What do you mean ‘what’s the deal’?” I ask Brody as I ball up the wet towels tightly and throw them in the garbage.
“He wants to know what your intentions are with our little sister,” Hunter supplies helpfully.
Oh great. I’m getting the concerned older brother speech. While I top each of them by a good two to three inches and a good thirty pounds, there are two of them and just one of me.
Which makes it pretty stupid when I say, “Not really any of your business.”
“Well, yes… see it is,” Brody says affably as he claps me on the shoulder and then gives me a push backward into the wall. I stumble briefly and right myself. He tries for another push, but I’m ready this time and I don’t budge an inch.
“Strong fella,” Hunter chuckles and Brody actually grins at me.
“Yeah… I guess I could see why Casey would be attracted to him,” Brody adds on as he eyes me up and down. “He’s got this whole bad-boy image going on.”
“And those eyes,” Hunter says and then fans himself mockingly. “To die for.”
My eyes flick back and forth between Hunter and Brody while they continue to banter back and forth about my attributes. Finally, just to stop them prattling, I grit out, “What the fuck?”
Brody blinks at me innocently, and Hunter says, “Oh… sorry… were we going on a little too much?”
“You two sound like high school girls at a slumber party,” I mutter.
“He’s hilarious,” Hunter says as he loops an arm around my shoulder and starts walking me toward the door. “And here’s a secret… we like you, dude. I’m not sure exactly what brand of mojo you’re packing, but you have got our little sis to actually start acting like a normal woman.”