Derrick’s shoulders went from stiff to relaxed as he looked at the intruder. “Spence?”
She didn’t have the same reaction as she worked in double time to line up her shirt buttons and get them closed again.
The other man held up a hand but he didn’t try to hide his smile. “I can leave.”
“Of course not.” Derrick glanced at her over his shoulder. His gaze bounced to her shirt and he nodded before stepping to the side and helping her from the counter. “Ellie Gold, this is one of my brothers, Spencer.”
She grabbed for her skirt and tugged it down before she gave his brother an unexpected show. “Right.”
Heat flamed in her cheeks. She could only imagine the force of her blush, but she pushed through and gave him eye contact. She should have done that first because she would have known the two men were related.
Spencer was a slightly stockier version of Derrick. They both towered over her and were blessed with that’s-almost-unfair good looks. The Jameson family had a heck of an impressive gene pool. Their father might be a jerk but he churned out dark-haired hotties without trouble.
Spencer’s smile reached his eyes, which made her think he did it more than his brother. That might also explain the lightness about him. Derrick walked around as if he carried the responsibility for the world on his shoulders. Spencer didn’t give off that vibe.
“I’m Spence.” He held out his hand. “The middle Jameson brother.”
Derrick snorted as they shook hands. “The one with the shitty timing.”
“I didn’t know… See, Derrick never really brings… Okay then.” Spence made a hissing sound. “I’ll stand here and not talk.”
His stumbling eased her discomfort at having been caught like a naughty teen on prom night. “What were you trying not to say?”
“He’s pointing out that I’m not in the habit of bringing women to my house,” Derrick said.
Spence nodded. “Yeah, that.”
“Ellie is different.” Derrick picked up one of the water bottles off the counter and offered it to her. “She’s moving in.”
Spence’s eyes grew even wider. “Really?”
She waited for Derrick to explain about the agreement and Noah and all the trouble they were trying to fix. When Derrick didn’t say anything, she glanced over at him. “And?”
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “We’re still fighting over the date.”
Her mind jumbled again. “Wait…”
“Ah, now I get it,” Spence said.
That made one of them. She was still lost. “Want to explain it to me?”
Derrick moved then. He put down the water and reached for his suit jacket. His keys jangled in his hand a second later. “Let me run Ellie home then we’ll catch up.”
Spence frowned. “She’s the one who should stay.”
She wanted some air…and an explanation. “No, it’s fine.” She glanced at Derrick, sending him a we-need-to-talk glare. “You ready?”
If she knew her way around the house she would have taken off without him. Instead she followed him along a hallway and a set of stairs to the bottom level of the grand three-story home.
Her head was pounding too hard for her to concentrate but as soon as they were in the garage with the door shut behind them, she spun around to confront Derrick. “Your brother doesn’t know.”
He had the nerve to stare at his keys and not her. “About what?”
She put her hand over his. “That this is a fake arrangement, Derrick.”
“It didn’t feel fake a second ago.” He hit her with intense eye contact. The kind that made her breath catch in her throat.
“I refuse to regret that.”
“I hope not since I’m planning on finishing it very soon.” He blew out a long breath. “Look, if you can’t tell your brother, I can’t tell mine. That seemed fair to me.”
He said it as if the logic made perfect sense. She didn’t buy it. Jackson knew. She had every intention of telling Vanessa when they met for lunch tomorrow as planned. She had no idea how she held it in this long, except that Vanessa had gone away on a work trip for four days.
No way did Derrick’s brother need to be kept in the dark about something this big. He should know he wasn’t really about to get a sister-in-law. “I hate when you sound reasonable because it convinces me you’re hiding something.”
“I think our agreement makes it clear we both are.”
It was hard to argue with that. “Okay, but when it comes to this agreement and what we both get out of it, we’ll be honest with each other, right? We need each other, and I’m not talking about the kissing.”