Page 40 of Enemies with Benefits (Finding the Right Brother #1)

I watched as Micah anxiously bounced from one side of us to the other.

He hadn't started chattering yet, but I knew that the word vomit was bound to start at some point.

I liked to joke that he was eight going on eighty, but there were still times when he was the little kid he was supposed to be.

On my one side, Moira was watching him with a small smile, while on my other, Jace was watching him with his normal stony expression.

Well, that wasn't completely right. For whatever reason, I could see a twinkle in Jace’s eye that wasn't normally there.

Not that I blamed him, the trip to the Museum of Natural History had been his idea for Micah's sake.

We hadn't even made it inside yet, and the kid was already losing his mind from excitement.

It was easy yet difficult to get Micah to stop acting like a dignified adult and be an actual kid who got excited because his biological father had discovered the museum was having a once-in-a-lifetime exhibit on reefs and their wildlife from around the world.

Of course, the kid didn't know Jace was his dad, just a new friend of the family, but that didn't matter to him because his newest obsession was being fed.

Along with the group assigned to us, we stopped at a set of closed doors.

A woman came strolling out, apparently our guide, and began talking.

A projector overhead came to life, showing footage of reefs, colorful and swaying in the underwater currents, while schools of brightly colored fish flitted in and out of cover.

Crustaceans scuttled about in the safety of the coral.

The footage switched between different reefs as the woman gave an overview of their ecosystem and what we could expect from the upcoming exhibit.

Micah was enraptured, and I glanced over to see that Jace was watching the kid more than the woman. He still had that same serious expression on his face, and I nudged him. “You're allowed to smile, you know."

His brow furrowed. “What do you mean?"

I chuckled softly, keeping my voice down so I didn't interrupt the people around us. "You always look so serious. When I know damn well you're excited that he's excited. It's okay to show it."

"I'll leave grinning from ear to ear to kids...and idiots like you."

Christ, I was beginning to understand why he and Moira had been attracted to each other and also why they hadn't worked out.

Both were so damned serious, and expressing happiness was not something that came easily to either of them.

Sure, it made them naturally responsible people you could rely on to get shit done, but it also meant they had to have an outside force act on them to make sure that they had happiness and some whimsy in their lives.

It would have made for a solid relationship, but it would have been a relationship with no real spark.

For Moira, that had been alleviated for the most part by her family, especially me.

There were more serious people in our lives, like Arlo and Elijah to an extent, but she always had people like me and Milo who wouldn't let her get dragged down by her seriousness.

Back in school, I didn't think Jace had anything of that sort, no lighthearted balance to his more serious nature.

Now, though, I could see that his partner and best friend were the perfect balance for him.

As if summoned, Kayden appeared over my shoulder with a quiet, “Sorry I'm late. Traffic was a...well, it was rough."

Moira glanced over her shoulder, brow shooting up. "What...what are you doing here?"

"I invited him," Jace told her. "I figured since you had your plus one, I’d get one too."

A dirty fucking liar is what he was, but he was a dirty fucking liar with a straight face.

There was not one thing on his face or in his tone that gave away anything but exactly what he'd said.

I hadn't known that he'd invited Kayden, but I knew damn well he hadn't done it for himself.

He would have been perfectly happy with what we had, even though he was right in saying that Moira had asked me to come along.

Personally, I thought she was still trying to make sure Jace and I were getting along, clearly not aware that Jace and I had found our own way to make peace with each other.

Lots and lots of peace.

Kayden's presence, however, had nothing to do with being Jace's best friend and everything to do with including him for Moira's sake.

The two were still trying to keep what was going on between them a secret.

I couldn't fault them since Jace and I hadn't exactly been public about.

..whatever it was we were doing. At the same time, though, they weren't nearly as subtle about it.

Funnily, it was Moira rather than Kayden who was giving them away.

By all accounts, he was still the same goofy, laid-back guy who enjoyed the company of other people and just happened to be around Moira a lot.

My sister, however, was not equipped to hide those moments when emotions got the better of her, which meant anyone paying attention would have seen that her surprise at Kayden's presence barely managed to cover her pleasure at seeing him again.

Moira shot Jace a searching look, but he was doing a good job of pretending he was concentrating on the worker's speech as she prepared to open the doors. I suppose in some ways, I’d underestimated how sneaky Jace could be.

That was exactly the sort of setup I would have arranged if I’d been in his shoes.

I had to wonder if maybe he’d loosened up over the years or if a lot more than my dick was starting to rub off on him.

"I like nerdy stuff like this," Kayden offered with a shrug, giving Moira a smile that was as shy as it was warm—something I made sure to pretend not to notice. "Plus, it's always fun to watch kids have a blast. Well, and someone has to make sure Jace here actually has some fun."

"You can leave, I won't mind," Jace grumbled, but not one person was fooled by his grumpiness. I could say several things about Jace, but I’d never accuse him of being fake.

Kayden probably got on his nerves at least half a dozen times before noon every single day, but there was no way he would ever choose anyone else as his best friend.

The asshole was a giant softy under all that grumpiness, and he was stupidly fond of Kayden.

Why else would he have arranged for his best friend and his ex-girlfriend to spend time together without the slightest suspicion from them?

Not that anyone would give a shit that they were dating, but my sister had always been ridiculous when it came to expressing herself.

"So before I let you all loose to explore to your heart's content," the worker said, stepping between us and the doors as the projector turned off.

"Remember, you can visit all the stations at your own speed, and if you thoroughly explore them, you'll find a token at each.

If you collect all the tokens, there's a special prize at the end.

So make sure to use those eager minds to gobble up as much as you can.

Knowledge is its own reward, but that doesn't mean there can't be extra benefits too! "

"You know, I know I don't have room to talk about being a ray of sunshine," Kayden muttered with a laugh as the double doors automatically swung open to let the group in. "But she's kind of making my teeth hurt."

"I think they're all made in a special factory," Jace said, his expression revealing that he not only agreed with Kayden but had worse things to say, but was holding back.

"Behave, children," Moira muttered as we walked forward. Not out of eagerness, but because it was the only hope we had of keeping up with Micah, who had taken off without so much as a glance backward. "Micah!"

"Let him have some fun," I said with a laugh as he immediately darted for the first exhibit.

It was small, just a cylindrical tank that reached the ceiling with colorful coral at the bottom, and green seaweed flowing back and forth.

There was a digital display with pictures of everything inside, with English and Latin names, and a brief description. "He knows better than to go too far."

"Not always," Moira sighed.

Jace grunted. “Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him."

Moira glanced over at him, and part of me felt a flare of annoyance at the way she immediately accepted his words with a nod, her shoulders losing a bit of tension.

She trusted me, that much I knew, but she hadn't even tried to argue or look wary at his words.

I guess there was something to be said about being the responsible sort.

Like knew like, but that didn't mean I had to enjoy that my damn sister trusted someone else immediately and not her own damned brother.

"Oh shit," Kayden said brightly. "They have a jellyfish tank."

"I haven't heard him talk about jellyfish much," I admitted as I looked around.

The entire area was filled with tanks, some with wildlife.

I had to wonder how much money had gone into what had to be a temporary but reliable construction, as well as the careful transportation that came with moving living things.

The exhibits were cast in hazy blue light that created their own light show of undulating patterns on the floor, ceiling, and walls.

"Kayden likes jellyfish," Jace added, his eyes already drifting to a tank where a small school of fish flitted about, curiously staring at the onlookers. "Likes the way they move."

Kayden looked at him in surprise. “How do you know that?"

Jace shrugged. “Your sleep tablet at home is set to show jellyfish videos when you have a hard time sleeping. I always thought you liked them because of the way they moved, like it was calming or something."