Page 27 of Forbidden Kisses

"What's going on?" Mom asked.

"Trust me, you do not want to know," Knox said.

She nodded once. "Fair enough."

"Really?" Wyatt said, clearly astonished. "You're going to give up so easily?"

"No, but some things mothers don't need to know," Mom said wisely.

"Hear, hear," Griffin said, laughing at me with a shit-eating grin.

What was it with my brothers? Sure, I'd been a bit possessive when talking about Riley, but that could be due to a number of things. For one, she was spending time with my son, so obviously I wouldn't want any of my womanizer brothers making things awkward.

And second…

There was no second point.

I couldn't lie to myself, especially not after our time in the pool.

We'd been completely professional since then, but it wasn’t easy. She'd prepared dinner twice last week and had made an excuse for why she needed to leave both times. Then again,maybe it wasn't an excuse. The sexual tension between us was there.

Her work hours ended at six o’clock. She didn’t need to spend evenings with her employer, which was exactly what I was—nothing more and nothing less. I wasn't going to take advantage of that. My strategy was to be around her when Jeremy was, too, so I couldn't even be tempted bylookingat her in an inappropriate way.

Besides, she was nine years younger than me and probably wouldn’t even consider dating me. I needed to keep that possibility in mind. We were at completely different stages in our lives, after all.

You’re not dating anyone, Duncan. Why do you keep forgetting that?

"All right, I'm taking Jeremy to the city to buy some things for tomorrow," I said. "Mom, can you pack some brownies for him?"

"Sure. I’ll also bring some for your dad. I’ve made some with pecans especially for him.”

"Are you and Dad dating?" I blurted.

Mom froze in the act of putting tinfoil over the brownies. "Excuse me?"

"That's a good question," Knox said. There was an edge in his voice that I wasn't used to hearing from our youngest brother.

Not a single brother gave me shit or called me out on the question, which could only mean one thing: they were as interested in the answer as I was.

"You've been spending a lot of time together lately. We want to know what’s going on.” You could count on Griffin to always say what was on his mind. His honesty was refreshing. But he was also more impulsive than Wyatt, Chase, or me. That wasn’t always good. At least not in business.

"I thought you would be happy that your father and I are on good terms."

"We are," Chase clarified.

"But we'd like to know if there’s anything going on," I added.

Yes, it was their personal life, but still. If they ended up at odds with each other again, we'd have to pick up the pieces, and that was not a good time. Been there, done that.

"We're not dating, but…," Mom started. "Oh, it's weird to talk about it with my boys. I think we're flirting."

Knox winced. Actually winced.

Finn’s jaw hung open.

"Yeah. No, you're right, that is very, very weird. We do not need details," Griffin said.

I agreed, as did the others. Suddenly, everyone looked for something to do.