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“Home?” I asked, caught woolgathering. I squeezed his hand, letting the rush of warmth bubble through me as my thoughts turned to getting Ty alone.

Jimmy couldn’t let Ty’s word choice go. He stared at me. “Do you have something to share with the team, sis? Are you and Sheldon shacking up now?”

“Nope.” I answered promptly, trying to hide my pleasure. I didn’t need to tell my nosy brother that we’d compared lease end dates and started looking at apartments together.

My immediate denial didn’t convince Jimmy, judging by his skeptical expression. I spent more time at Ty’s than my own place lately, but my address hadn’t changed.

Ty’s lips twitched, but he supported me. “You know, anywhere Andi is, it’s home to me.”

“Aww …” The peanut gallery singsonged, saving us from too sober a moment, but I hugged his words close to my heart.

Every day I fell a little further and discovered the bone-deep contentment that came from sharing my life with Ty. And it had nothing to do with him being bone-deep in me on the regular. I kept the smirk off my face with effort, afraid my expression would telegraph my dirty thoughts. Thinking about Ty’s “bone” in front of my brother would be a sure recipe for further teasing.

***

Ty seemed oddly nervous about dinner with his sister, and as I noticed his tense jaw on the drive across town, I felt my own nerves grow progressively more strained. Did Julie secretly hate me? It wasn’t like either of us was an unknown quantity to the other—we’d gone to high school together, albeit briefly. I was two years younger than Jimmy, Ty, and Chase, while Julie was a year older. We’d only overlapped a single year, when she’d been a senior.

The anxiety Ty telegraphed through his body language had me second-guessing his family’s opinion of me. I’d met Rosie. She was a cute little girl, nothing to be nervous about. Julie and I hadn’t exactly run in the same circles, but we didn’t have any bad blood I was aware of. As far as I remembered, I’d never met her wife before, but that didn’t explain his apprehension.

I trailed a hand down one tense arm, ignoring the way my libido revved as I registered his firm, corded forearm sprinkled with hair.

“What’s wrong?”

Ty swallowed as if building courage. He didn’t meet my eyes.

“Tonight’s important to me.” He turned his face to mine briefly, as if to reassure me, but his smile looked forced. “I’m close with Julie and her family, and I want dinner to go well.”

“You think I’m going to do something offensive?” Meeting the family was always fraught, but I believed Ty knew me well enough, trusted me enough, to take this step. The bright star I’d been carrying around in my chest since Ty had extended the invitation dimmed slightly. Was our trust one-sided? I’d been excited for tonight, thinking it represented a progression of our relationship. So why was Ty acting like it could be the end? I searched my memories, thinking back to any stray comments or interactions with Julie. Had I done something unforgiveable? Teenage girls could be shitty. Especially as we were figuring out who we were, how we fit. I liked to think I’d been a garden-variety doofus in high school, but did Julie view me as something different?

“Does Julie not like me? I barely remember her from high school.”

Ty placed a hand on my knee, squeezing gently.

“Julie likes you just fine. It’s not that.”

“Then why are you so nervous?”

He pulled up to a small house painted a creamy yellow. The wide front porch shaded a set of wicker chairs, and the little girl hopped up from one as the SUV slid to a stop.

“Uncle Ty!” Rosie squealed.

“It’s not you, it’s me,” Ty rushed to reassure quietly before he pushed open his door and scooped his niece up in a bear hug.

I watched the tableau play out as I paused in the truck. Ty’s love for his niece was obvious. Her face lit up in his presence, reinforcing my impression that they were close. I pushed open my door, stepping with leaden feet to Ty and Rosie. Ty relaxed under his niece’s influence, and I questioned again why he’d been so tense earlier. What more did Ty have to tell me?

I debated confronting him, but a conservatively dressed blond pushed open the door to the house, a welcoming smile on her face. “Hello, you must be Andi. Come in, come in, I’m Kirsten, Julie’s wife.”

I shook hands with Kirsten and complimented their home. It was lovely. Cottagecore come to life, with lots of delicate prints and houseplants tucked into every nook and cranny.

Rosie and Ty came in behind, Rosie tugging on his hand and talking a mile a minute about her week. I couldn’t help but feel a pang for the rapt attention Ty paid her, the love clear on his face.

“They’re adorable, aren’t they?”

Startled, I cast a guilty smile at Kirsten. She’d caught me mooning over Ty.

I cleared my throat to push away the bubble of emotion seeing them together had wrought. He was lucky to have so much family. I’d only had Jimmy and my grandma after my parents were deployed overseas. Growing up without a large safety net had drawn Jimmy and I closer, but I still missed my folks and that special adult and child bond. More so since our grandma had passed.

“Yeah. He’s a great uncle.”