“Man, I haven’t even had a chance to eat the breakfast Honor made me.” And it was starting to piss him off.
“Speaking of, do you mind? I didn’t eat before catching my flight.” He gestured toward the last three slices on the plate.
Asher threw up a hand. “Hey, yeah, why the hell not?” He inhaled a deep breath and turned to give Honor a tight, apologetic smile.
Loyal paused mid-reach for the plate, his gaze bouncing between them. “I’m sorry. Am I interrupting something here?”
Asher arched his eyebrows in disbelief, but before he could explode, Honor swiveled on her stool and slid off the other side. “Don’t worry about it. In fact, I should probably get going, too.”
No!
“I know you guys have a lot to talk about. I don’t want to be in the way.”
“You aren’t in the way,” he denied.
“She knows about the other brother?” Loyal asked at the same time.
“National news, remember? Everyone knows about the other brother—plus, we were at dinner when I found out.” Asher turned a pleading look toward Honor. “Please don’t let him run you off, too.”
“I really need to get started on the cakes for this week.”
“I thought you had the day off?”
“Not after I figured out everything I have to get done.”
He sighed his disappointment and got up from his stool again. “Fine. Come on. I’ll walk you home.”
“I can make it across the street on my own.”
“I know, but I’m still going to walk you.” He wasn’t taking no for an answer. If she was going to be as busy as she’d said, he wouldn’t see her much this next week. At least he sure hoped her telling him how busy she’d be was all about work, and not her giving him the brush off.
Her smile made him think she was pleased at his insistence, but she turned away before he could be sure.
“All right. See you around, Loyal.”
His brother nodded and smiled with a mouthful of French toast, and Asher rolled his eyes as he followed Honor out the door. A couple neighbors on the left side of his house were out in their yards, and he lifted a hand in greeting, not caring one bit what they thought of him and Honor together.
He took her hand in the driveway, and held tight on their way across the street. “I’m sorry about this morning. It was nothing like what I’d envisioned when I promised you brunch.”
She laughed. “It was definitely interesting. And kinda fun.”
“Sure. Right.” He squeezed her hand. “Hey, um, you know Rox and I are just friends, right?”
Her sideways glance met his through her lashes. “Yes.”
“Friends only. That’s all it’s ever been, all it’ll ever be.”
She swung their joined hands between them while facing forward again. “I admit, after what happened at the anniversary party I did wonder if she might be jealous, but today erased any last notion of that.”
“It did?” And here he’d feared the opposite.
“A woman would have to be either completely blind, uninterested, or a lesbian to not even try to sneak a peek of you in all your glory.”
“That doesn’t even sound right,” he protested with a laugh. “I was wearing underwear.”
“They weren’t hiding much.”
He bumped her shoulder with his arm as they approached her porch. “Sounds like you snuck a peek.”