“Something came up.”
“What?”
My eyes volley between the brothers.
Duke looks at his brother like there’s a big secret he should’ve caught on to, but Grayson appears just as confused as I feel.
Finally, Duke sighs and shakes his head. “Stuff. I have stuff to do. Nora, sweetheart, are you sure you don’t mind helping?”
“Not at all.”
“Don’t call her sweetheart.”
Grayson’s words might as well have been a growl. I wonder what I have to do to get him to make that noise again.
“You don’t have to stay, Nora.”
“I don’t mind. Nick and Jessa are having dinner with her parents tonight, so I have zero obligations for the day.”
“Perfect.” Duke claps his hands together and starts backing toward the door. “Nora, it was a pleasure meeting you. I hope to see you again.” He turns to Grayson. “Bro, you are the luckiest son of a bitch I’ve ever met.”
Emma gasps.
Grayson frowns. “Duke, how many times do I have to ask you to watch your mouth around the kids?”
“Sorry, Emma Bear,” Duke says.
“Dat’s okay.”
And then Duke slips out the door and I’m left staring at Grayson, wondering what in the world I just got myself into. I don’t know the first thing about caring for one child, let alone three. I can play with them all day long, but it’s the actual care part that’s a little sketchy.
“You sure you’re okay here?” Grayson asks, grabbing his sandwich from the bag his brother brought in. “I could still be several more hours.”
“Oh, yeah. We’ll be fine. Take your time.”
“The house is unlocked if you need to go in for anything, and there’s a swing set out back.”
“Perfect.
He points to the bag. “There’s food in there for the kids.”
“Food. Right, because it’s lunch.”
“Did you eat?” he asks.
My stomach growls, answering for me. Grayson laughs, sets his sandwich on the counter and unwraps it. It’s huge and already sliced in half. He takes one part of the sandwich, wraps it in a napkin, and hands it to me.
“You don’t have to do that,”
I say.
“I know I don’t. Here.”
I take the sandwich. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. You’re helping me by watching my kids. I’d give you the shirt off my back if you asked for it.”
I’m tempted to ask, just to see if he really would, because, hello, have you seen this man? He’s gorgeous fully dressed. I can’t imagine what he looks like underneath all of those clothes.