Jack stifled his amusement—somewhat. “I’ll take that as a no.” He paused. “The pork sandwich from this weekend?”
Less disgust now. Isla weighed her answer. “Hmm. I guess. No onion.”
“Wouldn’t dare. I’ll go order.”
After he’d disappeared into the kitchen, I returned my attention to my pregnant friend. “Anything I can do? Just name it, from foot rubs to more cookies.”
“I’m okay, but thank you.” She shifted in her seat and winced as she tried to get comfortable. “You should’ve seen how I freaked Jack out last night. He gave me the best back rub ever, so naturally I started weeping uncontrollably.”
I laughed softly.
“I read an article the other day,” I admitted a beat later. “This woman was at the end of her pregnancy, and she said the only thing that made her slightly comfortable was orgasms in a hot bath.”
“Way ahead of you,” she chuckled. “That would be Jack’s favorite way to help me.” Shocker! “But, huh, I should try a back rub in the hot tub. Man, just the thought of that. Definitely trying it out tonight.” She paused. “Enough about me, though. How’re things going with Adam?”
Not this again. “They’re not, and they never will,” I replied patiently.
“But, gah!” She threw up her hands in frustration. “Look, Jack thinks we should mind our own business and let you figu—”
“He’s smart,” I pointed out with a smirk.
She gave me a look. “You don’t know how stubborn I can be.”
Oh, sweet woman. “Jack?” I called, never looking away from Isla. “Who’s the most stubborn person you know?”
“Is my honesty gonna get me into trouble?” he hollered from the kitchen. “Never mind—it’s you, dear.”
I made a there-you-go gesture with my hand.
Isla narrowed her eyes. “Even more stubborn than me, Jack?”
Jack reemerged from the kitchen with a sigh. “Sweetheart, when Alessia was sixteen, she managed to convince her overprotective parents to let her move halfway across the world to live with her aunt here in Washington because Alessia ‘had a feeling’ she’d like it.” He paused. “When she was eighteen, she talked her teachers into raising two grades to As. At twenty-one—when Adam was in the middle of starting his business—she took on the actual government because Adam’s request for a liquor license was initially denied. She doesn’t fight often, but when she puts her mind to something, she doesn’t quit.”
“I get it, I get it,” Isla said irritably. “This is her and Adam we’re talking about—”
“And those two stubborn fools can sort out their own mess,” Jack told her.
“Hey.” I got a little defensive. And offended. “There’s no mess here. Can we stop talking about this? It’s private.”
I didn’t want Jack—someone I considered an older brother—to even know I had feelings for his twin. It was weird. In retrospect, I could see how Isla had figured it out. I became awkward when Adam was particularly affectionate with me, and she’d seen it at the restaurant. But men were supposed to remain oblivious.
“Private is excellent,” Jack agreed. “Isla, baby, looks can’t kill.”
Isla was sporting an impressive glare. “Make. Me. Happy.”
I stifled a surprised laugh.
Poor Jack. He rubbed his forehead, visibly tired, but he wouldn’t deny his fiancée when she was about to give birth to their two children.
He faced me and sighed. “I’ll tell you only one thing. Adam puts on a show when it comes to his…dating game, if you will. He stopped being a womanizer around the same time you two partnered up to run Coho.”
Wait, what? That was ridiculous. Adam had asked me to be his official partner shortly after I’d gotten him the liquor license ten years ago. He’d dated plenty since then, and I told Jack as much.
“This is why I don’t want to get involved.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t know what to tell you. All I know is that he’s put on a show. You’ve obviously seen what you’ve seen—the few times he’s introduced someone. But perhaps you should question the times he’s just talked. And that’s it for me. I’m done here now.”
He stalked up the stairs, muttering that lunch would be here in half an hour and that women were…something. I didn’t catch that last part. Instead, I slid my frown over to Isla and had no idea what to say.
“Adam tells me everything,” I stated. “I’m his best friend.”
Isla shrugged and smiled. Her mood had improved greatly. “Maybe he has some silly reason.”
I shook my head. None of this made sense to me. If they were trying to indicate that Adam felt more for me, I had news for them. They could not be more wrong. I seriously wasn’t his type.
He and I had made a quick agreement to never bring dates to the place we shared, or the apartment we’d rented together before, but we’d both spent nights elsewhere on occasion. Granted, it’d been a while. At the very least, four months for me, and Adam…I wasn’t sure. Our lives were hectic. We worked pretty much every day.