“Dude, give me a heads-up when you’re going to stop like that, will you? Almost gave me whiplash. And Mom likes Tess very much. Which is why she’s concerned.”
“Because...?”
“She said you aren’t acting like a man at the early stages of a romance. She said she remembers how I was when I fell for Libby. Goofy. Distracted. Kind of hyper.”
“Young,” Scott added with a shrug. “You were just a kid when you met Libby.”
“I was in med school. Not that young.”
“A decade younger than I am now. I’m a little past the goofy, hyper stage.”
“You and Tess are hardly a couple of senior citizens,” Eli scoffed. “You’re both younger than I am—and trust me, Libby still knows how to make me go all goofy.”
Scott opened the door to their dad’s backyard garden shed. “You can spare me the details, thanks.”
Now that he thought about it, he was a little distracted today. He’d had to focus a bit more than usual on conversations because his mind kept wandering to a condo on the other side of town. He could hardly remember what he’d eaten at his breakfast meeting, but he still vividly recalled every touch, every taste, every sensation of making love to Tess. But that was only to be expected, right? He was a red-blooded guy with a healthy appreciation for great sex—and sex with her had most definitely been great. He wasn’t the type to kiss and tell—or bag and brag, as a few of his buddies termed it—so he wouldn’t discuss his intimate relationship with Tess even with his brother, but it had reinforced his certainty that he and Tess were well-matched in every way.
They stored the ladder, then brushed off their hands as they stepped back. “Anyway,” Eli continued, seemingly determined to make his point, “Mom is worried that you aren’t fully emotionally invested in this courtship, or whatever you’re calling it. She thinks you’re following your usual pattern of getting involved more because you think you should than because you’ve lost your heart.”
Taking after their dad in personality more than appearance, Eli had always been the most sentimental of the Prince brothers. He’d had his heart broken, or at least painfully bruised, a couple of times before he’d found his Libby. So was he expressing their mother’s concerns—or his own?
“You can tell Mom to stop fretting. My heart is exactly where it’s supposed to be,” Scott replied lightly. Losing one’s heart—what a weird saying, he mused. His beat steadily in his chest. It had most definitely raced when he’d made love with Tess, but he’d never felt in danger of “losing” it. He knew what the metaphor meant, of course, but it had just never seemed to apply to him.
“She’s afraid you’re going to hurt Tess.”
Scott heaved an impatient sigh. “Everyone keeps saying that. Isn’t anyone concerned that maybe the opposite could happen?”
“No, not really.”
“Thanks a lot. But you can all quit worrying. As I have said to anyone who’s expressed concern, I’m not going to hurt Tess. I would never hurt Tess. She and I have talked extensively and we both know exactly what we want, what we’re doing.”
“So you are thinking long-term?”
“Yes,” Scott replied simply.
“Okay, then.” Eli nodded and locked the storage shed. “I’m happy for you, bro. Tess is a fine woman who’ll fit right in with our family. You’re damned lucky she’s interested in you. Don’t screw it up.”
It might have been nice for his brother to have a little more faith in him, but still Scott was satisfied that his family approved of his choice. As Eli had said, Tess fit in well with the independent, capable women in the Prince family. Everything was falling into place very nicely. As he knew it would. When he had one of his brilliant ideas, he was very rarely wrong.
Which didn’t explain the odd feeling that had hovered in his belly since he’d left her place after making love with her Wednesday night. He still remembered that moment when the words “I’ll miss you” had left his mouth, before he’d even realized he was going to say them. When it had hit him that he would, indeed, miss her, even though he would be gone only one night.
He’d made trips before, several considerably longer than one night, and yet it seemed different now. Like an inconvenient necessity from which he couldn’t wait to return. What the heck was that?
He’d done it again last night. Blurted out a thought he hadn’t taken time to consider. He’d come close to suggesting that Tess move in with him. Granted, it was the logical progression of this courtship, but were they really ready for that just yet? He hadn’t been flattered by the way she’d all but jerked back from him in response to his hint. She kept assuring him she was on board with his long-term plan—and she certainly seemed more than amenable to exploring all the possibilities—but there had definitely been doubts in her eyes when he’d even hinted that they give up their separate homes.
He and Eli walked into the kitchen to say goodbye to their parents—then both recoiled in exaggerated horror at finding their mother bent back over their dad’s arm being soundly kissed.
“Jeez, I didn’t need to see that,” Eli grumbled, waving a hand in front of his eyes as if he’d gone blind.
“Get a room, people,” Scott muttered, copying his brother’s gesture.
Laughing, their parents straightened, though their dad kept his arm around his wife’s soft waist. “Holly just said she’ll make fettuccine Alfredo for dinner. I’ve had a hankering for that for weeks, and I’ve finally worn her down.”
Shaking her head i
n exasperation, his wife muttered about all the rich foods they’d be eating during the holidays, but she was already pulling supplies out of the pantry.
“And garlic toast on the side?” their dad asked hopefully. “With plenty of butter? Maybe a chocolate cake for dessert. I’ll make the cake.”