Page 85 of Love By Design

“At least he’s not thirty-five,” Hunter said, in a small glimpse of levity from the otherwise most serious one of us.

“Triplets would be a bit much,” I agreed.

That earned a snort from Finn but also had Smith shaking himself away from me and climbing out of the booth. I let him go, until Hunter glanced from Smith’s back to my face.

“You should go after him,” he suggested.

“I think he wants to be alone.”

“Yeah,” Finn said. “So did I.”

Remembering the destruction a very young Finn had brought into the house after Hunter’s arrival was enough to have me out of the booth, chasing after my brother. We shared genetics, but Finn was the one who’d inherited father’s temper. I always assumed it had skipped Smith, but after watching him leave, neither of the twins looked sure. I went after Smith, finding him in the parking lot of the restaurant with his ass propped against the hood of his car, hands jammed into his pockets.

“Hey, kid,” I said, standing beside him and leaning against the car.

He stared out at the street, a very tense frown on his face. It was strange to see him so unhappy. Smith had always been guarded of his emotions, stoic, falling somewhere between Finn and Hunter on the emotional intelligence scale.

“Is this what it was like when I showed up?” He kicked hisfoot out, scuffing some rocks before crossing his legs at the ankles.

“It was worse when Hunter and Finn showed up,” I admitted. “I was a lot younger, full of hormones and feelings I didn’t understand. I was older when you came around, but you were the one full of hormones and emotions then.”

Smith made a disgruntled noise in the back of his throat.

“You know there’s most certainly more than just the four of us, right?” I asked.

“Five.”

“More than just the five of us,” I said, letting him correct me. “Though, Andrew is hardly part of us, right? All we know is that we share half the same genetic make-up.”

“That’s all we used to share.”

“We were all kids.”

“You were almost thirty when you learned about me.”

I sighed, scrubbing a hand down my face. “What answer do you want, Smith? Do you want me to tell you that nothing is going to change and everything is going to stay the same? Or do you want me to tell you that everything is going to be different now that there’s another brother?”

“I don’t know,” he grumbled.

I knocked my shoulder into his, and the way he sagged against me confirmed my youngest brother needed a hug, not a tease. Slipping my arm around his shoulder, I pulled Smith into my arms and propped my chin on his shoulder.

“You’re still my baby brother. You’re still their favorite,” I said, referencing Hunter and Finn.

“Aren’t Iyourfavorite?” he mumbled against my shoulder.

“Of course.”

“What if the next brother is younger than me?” he asked.

“It won’t change a single thing about who you are.”

“Am I being childish about this?”

Smith tried to worm out of the hug, so I ruffled his hairand set him free. “You’re not being childish. You’re being human.”

He exhaled loudly and shifted back to rest against his car again.

“Do you want to go back inside?” I asked. “Finish your wine, get some dinner?”