“How many countries have you been to?” asked Liam.
“On my own, seventeen.” Observing their faces, she added, “It’s not quite as momentous as you might think. There aren’t many places in the world that aren’t just a plane ride away. And trust me, if you had to deal with my mother on a daily basis, you’d be rolling in frequent flier miles, too.”
“Still,” Crosby said. “Is there anything you haven’t done?”
“I’m placing odds on Ethan,” Sawyer said with a smirk.
“No,” Liam argued. “His shirt was inside out.”
Rue grinned and winked at Ethan. “Was that Sunday? He did leave in a hurry.”
“Oh God.” Ethan probably would have turned and given the hell up, but Rue grabbed his hand. He pulled her off the floor, and when she came up, full-body contact happened.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, seemingly unaffected by their proximity.
“You’re one of them now,” he muttered. A deeply unfamiliar attraction shook him, almost literally, off his long-held belief that he wasn’t missing anything. Three weeks.
Still three weeks.
And still full-body contact.
“Who knew Ethan and a woman like this could be a thing?” Sawyer said. “You’re quite possibly the most boring person I know, and your girlfriend has punched a shark to keep it from taking off with her camera.”
Rue slid her arm around Ethan. His body stiffened, though he wouldn’t have thought it possible. He’d been frozen since the moment he’d felt how soft and warm she was against him. Realizing he’d probably assumed the stature of petrified wood, he tried to relax, but then she pushed her hand into his back pocket and leaned into him. Luckily, he caught himself before they both fell over, although landing in a pile on the floor probably would have done more for their charade than his lousy ability to handle the slightest contact with the woman. Rue, in a room full of strangers—Ethan included—flawlessly fit in, while he struggled at the mere concept of human contact. And that exaggeration was only slight.
Worse, his brothers now knew more about his so-called girlfriend than he did. Had she really fought a shark for her camera? Who was this woman?
He didn’t need the answer to that question to know he was in over his head. And he felt like an ass. She may have initiated the situation, but he’d dragged her into this, and he hadn’t bothered to show the genuine interest in her that his brothers did. Which definitely made him an ass—not just toward his wife, but toward his…girlfriend. He sorely needed to work on that word. Tripping over it at every turn wouldn’t go far toward convincing anyone of anything.
Neither would ignoring the conversation going on around him. Rue slipped away, leaving a void. The foreign urge to haul her close nagged, but he pushed it back. His life had become some kind of funhouse, so it was no wonder he didn’t recognize himself in any of the mirrors.
Twenty-one days.
All three of his brothers were brushing fresh paint on his walls while he stood there trying to figure out which end was up. He needed to be in there with them, but moreover, painting gave him a great excuse to grab some distance.
“I bet you haven’t jumped out of a plane,” Sawyer said.
Apparently, now they were trying to figure out what she hadn’t done.
“Twice,” Rue said. “The first time was a dare, and the second because I didn’t think to bring my camera the first time. But if it makes you feel better,” she added playfully, “it was in the U.S.”
Ethan forced a smile, mainly to chase away the grimace that formed at the thought of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane…twice.
“Did your parents instill this love of adventure?” Crosby asked.
She shook her head. “Absolutely not. It drives my mom crazy that I won’t head off with the highest bidder and become a society wife.”
“So your mom must really love Ethan,” Liam observed with a snort.
“It’s safe to say he drives us both crazy,” she said with a wink, “but for very different reasons.”
Oh, hell. He would never, ever hear the end of this. Instead of facing that particular reality, he dove into the painting. With the five of them working, much to Ethan’s relief, they finished in no time. His idea or not, he was just glad the meet and greet was over.