Free One Week with her (Ex) Stepbrother (Eden Manor #2) by Noelle Adams Page A

have a casual affair with Zach either. That would be the worst thing
of all.
    “Okay.”
She took a shaky breath. “Okay. I’ve got some more showings today, so I
probably won’t be in at the shop.”
    “I’ll
be out at Eden Manor all day today and tomorrow.”
    “Tomorrow
is Sunday.”
    “I
know. But we’re already behind, so I told Peter and Kelly I’d catch up this
weekend.”
    “Okay.
I won’t see you then. It might be a good idea for us to have some space. We’ll
talk again on Monday.”
    “Sounds
good.” He hesitated and then leaned over to brush a soft kiss on her mouth.
“Goodnight.”
    “Goodnight.”
    She
was trembling as she got into her car, but she managed to turn it on and drive
away without crying.
    She
cried a lot when she finally got home, though.
     

Sunday
     
    Missy
spent the rest of Saturday with her clients, and she was grateful for the
distraction, since otherwise she might have cried all day.
    She
wasn’t feeling any better on Sunday, but she was determined to go about her
life as if nothing catastrophic had happened.
    So
she showered and dressed and then headed over to her dad’s to have breakfast
with him. He was reading the paper, as he always did, and they talked about
only random things as she fixed eggs, sausage, and biscuits.
    They
were almost finished eating when he finally put away his paper. “What’s wrong
with you today?”
    She
blinked. “Nothing.”
    “Don’t
lie to your old dad.”
    “I’m
fine,” she said with a bittersweet smile. “It’s not been a great weekend, but
I’m fine.”
    “Does
this have something to do with Zach?”
    “Why
would it?”
    “I
don’t know. But he was down in the dumps all day yesterday, and now you are
today.”
    “We’re
fine.”
    Her
dad shook his head with a grumpy frown. “If you kids are going to get together,
you need to just do it. All this drama is giving me a headache.”
    She
gasped and put down her fork. “What?”
    “You
heard me.”
    “But
he’s like…like my brother.”
    “Who
do you think you’re kidding with that? No one thinks he’s your brother.”
    She
was almost panting as she stared down at her plate. She couldn’t believe even
her father had seen what was between them. What would he think if he knew it
had just been a one-night stand? “There’s not been any drama.”
    He
snorted. “There’s been drama for years. All those soulful looks he gives you.
It’s more than an old man can take.”
    She
finally raised her head to stare at him. “Soulful looks?”
    “Am
I blind?”
    “N-no.”
    “Then
do me a favor and figure things out with him. I’m way too old to have to deal
with this.”
    She
couldn’t say anything. She just sat in her chair, feeling confused and
embarrassed and excited again.
    There
was nothing to be excited about, of course. Except evidently Zach had been
looking at her in certain ways for a long time now.
    She
wasn’t going to jump the gun or assume that everything would be what she
wanted. But maybe there was more potential between them than she’d realized.
Surely her dad wouldn’t be imagining things the way she might be tempted to.
    Her
father was the most sensible man she’d ever known.
    She
made it through the rest of breakfast and cleaned up afterwards in an emotional
flurry, trying to figure out what she should do. They’d ended things pretty
clearly last night, but she’d been the one to initiate it.
    Maybe
she could somehow step things back a little—leave a tiny room for hope.
    Zach
was working at Eden Manor today. Maybe she could stop by. Bring him lunch.
    That
was it. She’d bring him some lunch, just to be nice, and she’d try to get a
feel for what he was thinking about them now.
    It
was worth a try. Zach was what she wanted. He was what she’d been wanting for a
long time now. He was what had been making that hole in her life, the one that
left her feeling so incomplete.
    She
stopped by the store to buy a few things, and she drove right to