Page 53 of Nothing to This

“Is he here?”

Getting with it, she stepped forward, holding the door close to her back.“You know better than to just show up here.”

“Things didn’t end right between us last night.I want us to deal with this as adults… I want to meet him.”

“You can’t meet him,” she whispered.

Heart racing, adrenaline drove her to panic.JD was in the apartment.If he thought his sister was there and not going away, he’d come to the door to either invite her in or scare her off.

“Why?Why not?”he asked, his eyes trailing down over her again.“Is he looking for his boxer shorts?”

“Don’t do that,” she said, scowling at him.“Do you think I’m more likely to let you in if you start that crap again?You’re not coming in because the kids are here.You know you’re not allowed inside when the kids are home.”

“You have to let me meet them sometime too,” he said.“What the hell is going on?We were fine before he showed up.”

Baxter must’ve come with good intentions; it hadn’t taken him long to become unreasonable.Though, she had to admit, answering the door in a rumpled state didn’t help matters.What an idiot.Her, she was the idiot.

Taking a deep breath, it was on her to deescalate the situation.“Bax, the family is going through a lot of changes.We’re trying to find our feet.”

“All I’m asking is to be part of that family, Ry.I want to be involved.I don’t want to be pushed out.”

What should she say?What could she say to make him feel better?They’d been on completely different pages if he thought they were serious enough to—how could he think they were serious?They only talked or texted to arrange dates and barely knew each other.Had she misled him or was he making up their connection in his own mind?

“Babe, what’s taking so—”

When the door was yanked open, she stumbled backwards and came up against JD just learning his sister wasn’t their guest.To steady herself, she used his form, and, great, yeah, that was when her hand landed on skin.

Twisting, she gasped at the sight of him shirtless.“Shit.”

He’d probably seen her progress to the door, and figured he wanted to get in on the joke of teasing Brenna.Backfired on both of them.Now the joke was on them.

“What happened to your shirt?”Baxter said, cold and blank, with more menace hanging in the air around him than she’d ever seen.

Giving in to the inevitable, she closed her eyes and took a breath before speaking.“Jamison Dawes meet—”

“Baxter Ames,” JD said and put one hand on her hip before extending his arm around her to offer his hand.“Right?”

“Yes,” Baxter said, somewhat disarmed by JD’s indifference as they shook hands.

“It’s a pleasure.”

Once he’d let go, JD snagged one of his jackets from the hooks just inside the door to drape it over her.

“You’re covering her up?”Baxter asked, regaining some of his bristle.“What for?I’ve seen her in less.”

Baxter had a point.Seemed like an odd gesture given she was in a short cotton nightdress with straps of only an inch or two, she wasn’t near naked.She’d shown more skin on dates.Still, it gave her back just a sliver of dignity.

“Who hasn’t,” JD said.While she recognized his sense of humor, Baxter wouldn’t.She jabbed an elbow back into JD’s stomach causing him to half laugh, half recoil.“Right, uh, we won’t invite you in.Our kids are four, there is always a chance of them popping up any time.We don’t have strangers in their home at night.”

“Strangers?”Baxter said, scowling at her.

“Yes, strangers,” JD said.

Baxter still fixated on her.“I want to meet them.”

Though she opened her mouth, JD spoke first.“That’s not going to happen tonight,” he said.“Sure won’t happen without a ring on her finger either.”He shunted her forward, using force that was probably payback for her elbowing.“Take Ry.”He prodded her once in the back.“Finish your conversation here.I’ll put your wine in the fridge.Shout if you need me.”

With that, the door landed against her back and stopped without latching.