“
You okay?” he asked quietly.
“Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Brad. I know you were crushing on him, and now he’s packed it up and moved next door. I wanted to make sure you weren’t having trouble dealing with it.”
“I can’t believe Allie told you about my crush.”
“Give me a break, Kate. I’ve known since family weekend. When was the last time you wanted to take a picture of me? Document my freshman year? What? Do I have clueless tattooed across my forehead?”
Narrowing my eyes, I leaned toward him. “Yeah, I think maybe you do.”
Even in the shadows I could see him grin. This was so totally weird. Sitting out here, having an almost normal conversation with my brother.
“He’s not your type, Kate.”
I scoffed. “How do you know my type? I don’t even know my type.”
“Trust me, when you do figure your type out, you’re gonna realize it’s not Brad. I mean, I like him, and he’s a great roommate, but what I want in a friend and what you need in a boyfriend aren’t the same. He’d just end up hurting you. Then I’d have to beat the crap out of him.”
I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. “Would you really do that for me, Sam?”
“You know I would.” His voice was totally serious.
And I realized that he was so not joking. His revelation stunned me almost as much as Joe’s kiss. No, wait, nothing would ever throw me off balance as much as that kiss.
“You do know that, don’t you, Kate?” Sam asked. “You’re my sister and I . . .” He waved his hand. “That L-word. You know.”
“Love?” I asked.
“Don’t make me say it, okay? Just know it’s true. I know I give you a hard time, but hey, that’s what brothers do. It’s part of our genetic makeup, a little chip inside our brains that gets activated when our parents shove a screaming baby sister in our face.”
“Like you’d have a memory of that moment. You were only fifteen months old.”
“Whatever. Look, I’m out here right now because I’ve been a little worried about you, and I haven’t really been able to get you alone to talk.”
“You’ve been able to get Allie alone.” And for a lot more than conversation.
He grimaced. “Yeah, she told me you know about us. Are you okay with that?”
“What if I’m not?”
“Then tough. Get over it.”
“Some understanding brother you are.”
“I’ve got my limits.”
“So you really like her, huh?”
“Yeah, I have for a long time, but geez, she’s my sister’s best friend. How weird is that?”
“Totally weird. When she described the way you kiss—”
“What?” Horror echoed his voice. His eyes were wide, his mouth open.
“Payback for the snowball,” I said snidely.
“I already paid you back for that.”
“So? Maybe there’s a little chip inside a girl’s brain that gets activated when her brother is a jerk and erases paybacks as soon as they happen so we need a steady stream of them.”
“You’re definitely not playing nice, Kate.” I heard him heave a sigh. “You know, that’s part of the reason I’ve steered clear of Allie. I don’t want her discussing my . . . moves with my sister.”
“Yeah, like you’ve got moves.”
He gave me a cocky look. “Hey, I’ve got moves.”
I held up a hand. “Definitely don’t want to hear about them.”
“Definitely don’t want you to hear about them.
”
”