Breathless (Steel Brothers Saga 10)

“Sure it is. You’re as involved in this as any of the rest of us.”

“Don’t remind me.” He rubbed at his chin. “So are you, though. Why aren’t you in there?”

“They’re not going to talk about anything I don’t already know. To be honest, I need a break from it all. It’s been a rough day.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. How did your talk with Colin go?”

“It didn’t. The timing overlapped with Dale, so we canceled.”

“Oh.” He gazed around my room absently, as if trying to zero in on something but not quite finding it.

“Honestly,” I went on, “with this new development with Dale, I’m not sure talking to Colin is the best thing for Jade.”

“You might be right.”

I lifted my brow. I hadn’t expected that response from Bryce. He’d been all in on getting information from the Morses previously. “Oh?”

“Yeah. I’m not sure the Morses have anything of value for us.”

“That’s right. You talked to Ted today. It didn’t go well?”

“He’s just looking for a payoff,” Bryce said. “He doesn’t know anything.”

“Oh. That’s good, I guess. We don’t need anything else going down right now. Not with Dale being troubled and Jade still having a rough pregnancy.”

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat.

Now what? He made no move to leave. I wanted to spend time with him, but I could hardly make a move when my entire family was in the house. “So…uh…you’re welcome.”

His forehead wrinkled. “For what?”

“You came in to thank me for dinner. Remember?”

“Oh. Yeah.” His cheeks went pink.

Damn, he was so good-looking! I wanted to cup those rosy cheeks, let his sandy stubble prickle my fingertips. Kiss those firm lips, touch those broad shoulders.

He still didn’t move.

I bit my lip. “Well…good night.”

No words, and no movement.

“Bryce?”

He turned and met my gaze, his blue eyes sparkling. “I can’t get you out of my mind.”

My skin tightened around me as I warmed all over. I bit my lip once more.

“Nothing to say?” he asked.

“What do you want me to say? You’ve made it clear that there can’t be anything between us.”

“Yeah.”

“So there’s nothing to say.”

He walked toward me, taking my hand. “But there is.”