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“Noted. I’m glad I’m the brave type. The buildup is intimidating.”

“Hah. Tell me about it. I’m a firm believer in going after what you want. Patience isn’t my strong suit.”

We pulled up to the house, and everyone piled out of their vehicles. “Why don’t you direct traffic?” I suggested.

“You just don’t want me to overdo it.”

“Guilty. But I also want things to end up where they should go, and we talked about where we wanted everything. Think of yourself as the project manager today. Goodness knows I’m better suited to be the muscle.”

She gave me a once-over, and I tried to be subtle with my flex. “Yeah, you are,” she said with a wink.

Great. Even that was enough to make my blood rush. I pretended to search for something in the car while I waited for my body to cool down. Twelve days was going to be an eternity with a constant hard-on.

Andi’s sharp voice effectively cut through my fog of desire as she appeared out of seemingly thin air for a hug. “Bro. You did good.” I tried to conceal my surprise at the sincerity in her words. “Congratulations on the house.”

“Thanks, Andi. I appreciate you coming out to help.”

She snorted. “You think I’m here to help? That’s cute.”

“Yeah, whatever. You can go help Melena supervise if that’s more your speed.”

She nodded. “How’s the wifey?”

I groaned. “Probably feeling murderous if she heard you use the term ‘wifey.’”

“What?”

I shook my head. “I’m hardly enlightened, and even I cringed. Melena’s good people. Try to pretend like you want her in the family.”

“She’s not family yet.”

My gaze met hers, and I sobered. “She is to me. Knock it off and give her a fair chance.” Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t comment. “Come on, let’s get to work. That’s what you’re here for, right?”

She shook her head with a twist of her lips. “So cute. It’s a good thing you’re pretty.”

By four we’d made two trips to my place and two to Melena’s, and our assorted friends had helped cart everything into the new house and stage it in the appropriate rooms. Melena ordered pizza, and we cracked open the beer in the fridge to toast the new house with our friends.

By the end of the day, we’d accumulated all the usual suspects, my old neighborhood friends, Andi, my coworkers, and Lisa from Melena’s office with her husband. I could never have fit this many people at my apartment. Having friends and family help us move cemented what I hoped this would be: a welcoming home, full of love and laughter. “Thank you all for coming and helping today. Melena and I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Wecould,” she corrected. “It would have taken forever and not been nearly so fun. Thank you all for coming.”

Mark smiled at her. “We’re glad to get to meet you and help Jimmy out. It’s nice to see him settled.”

Andi muttered into her bottle. “So long as you don’t drag him under.”

I wanted to reach out and pinch her. Hard. But I wasn’t twelve anymore. I had noticed her checking out my co-worker, Steve. He had a Captain America thing going for him, and if I knew Andi, she was both interested and repulsed, so my revenge took a different direction.

“Steve, have you met my sister, Andi? She loves to hear about our work. Will you tell her about the job you caught a few weeks ago? The vehicle accident between the semi-truck and the Cooper Mini?”

Steve blanched. He was a genuinely nice guy. “Really?”

I nodded. “Sure. Be specific. She can take it.”

There was no way she could take it. Maybe that would teach her not to speak up out of turn. Melena tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to her and murmured, “Hey, what’s up?”

“I got a text from my mom. They’re dying to see the house. Now they’re talking about everyone coming here for Christmas or sooner.”

I searched her gaze, trying to get a clue as to what my response should be. Did I want a bunch of strangers in our space? Of course not. But it was Melena’s family, and I was beyond curious to meet them. “Okay. Maybe we can talk about it tonight while we’re unpacking?”