Wrapped in Love (Boys of Jackson Harbor 4)

“I’ll get out of your hair.” Sara shifts awkwardly, clearly not wanting to leave us yet, then meets my eyes. “I hope we can get that meal together. I’ve been waiting for your call.” With a tiny wave, she turns around and heads back to the restaurant’s main dining room.

Ethan gives me a long, hard look, and I just shake my head, letting him know I don’t want to talk about it. Then I’m saved by the buzz of his phone. He pulls it from his pocket and laughs at whatever he sees. “Lilly and Nic made a giant pillow fort—pardon me, castle—in the basement, and Lilly begged to sleep in it.” He turns his phone to show us Lilly, her mouth hanging open in sleep. She’s surrounded by a toppled pillow fort and has a tiara on her little head. “She didn’t want to take off her crown because she’s a princess tonight.”

“Excuse me.” Jake scoffs. “My niece is a princess every night, brother.”

Ethan chuckles. “Of course she is. My mistake.”

“Nic’s home? Isn’t the bachelorette party tonight?” Carter asks, his eyes a little glazed from the booze.

“Not until Thursday,” Ethan says. “That’s the only day the girls’ schedules aligned.”

Carter smirks. “I wonder what they’re doing.”

Ethan squeezes the back of his neck, as if just thinking about it stresses him out. “Veronica’s planning it,” Ethan says, referring to his fiancée’s twin sister, “so Nic is preparing for the worst.”

“The worst being mostly naked, oiled-up men rubbing on your fiancée and her friends?” Carter asks.

Levi laughs. “You volunteering to do the honors, Carter? I hear women love the firefighter fantasy.”

“Screw you,” Carter says, but there’s no venom in his tone.

Ethan shrugs. “I don’t know what the plans are, but I’m not worried about it. I just want her to have fun.”

“Ellie said Veronica has been very tight-lipped about it,” Levi says.

“Poor Nic,” Ethan mutters.

“Speaking of Ellie,” Jake says, swishing his bourbon in the bottom of his glass. “That all worked out? You two are good?”

Levi drags a hand through his hair and nods. “We’re great. The last month . . .” He takes a sip of his drink, then studies the glass as if looking for the words. “It was hard, waiting for her to be ready, but it was good, you know? I jumped in too fast when she and Colton split, and then I was there again before Ellie could even remember everything. I think we both needed to know that we could wait and be okay. That this feeling between us isn’t something we have to rush to hold on to. It’s not going anywhere, and neither are we.”

Ethan grins. “Did my little brother just drop a wisdom bomb on my bachelor party?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Levi says. “I voted for the strip club.”

“Of course you did,” Jake mutters.

“Fuck, I think this means I’m about to be the last single Jackson brother,” Carter says. “Lord help me.”

Jake and Ethan laugh, but Levi frowns and points a thumb at me. “Are you forgetting about perpetually single Brayden here?” His gaze darts to the doorway where my ex just disappeared, and his eyes go wide. “Fuck, you didn’t get back together with Sara, did you?”

Ethan coughs on his bourbon.

I shake my head. “No.”

“He’s still avoiding her,” Carter says.

Jake grunts. “Can’t blame him there.”

“I’m not talking about Sara tonight.” But, fuck, I do need to call her and set up a meeting. Maybe coffee or something. I’ve thought about it some, weighed the pros and cons of letting her say her piece, and then got distracted. Tonight was a rude reminder.

“So it’s safe to say that wasn’t Sara’s robe on your kitchen floor this morning?” Carter asks.

Jake jabs an elbow in his side. “Hush. If he wanted us to know what he was doing, he wouldn’t have been hiding in the pantry.”

I scowl at my brothers. “You all need to learn to knock.”

Jake puts his drink down and holds up both hands. “I promise, after what I think I almost walked in on, I’ll be knocking in the future.”

Levi frowns, and I could laugh at the confusion on his face if I found my situation with Molly remotely amusing. He’s been so busy with the opening of the tasting room and his new Jackson Brews marketing responsibilities—never mind the distraction of getting back together with his girlfriend—that he seems to be the only one who’s oblivious to my unrequited love for my roommate. “Molly?” he asks softly, almost as if he’s afraid I’ll be offended if he’s wrong. “Shit. You and Molly? I thought that was a one-time thing. When did this happen?”

“It didn’t,” I say. “Don’t listen to these idiots. Molly and I are roommates. That’s it.”

“Roommates who fuck in the pantry?” Carter asks.

I shoot him a glare, and he ducks his head and holds one hand up in surrender. He knows better than to say more, though I can tell he’s tempted.