Inside Out - Lauren Dane [41]
The need to kiss her coursed through him. But he didn’t give in, instead enjoying the sexual tension.
“Can you drop me at my condo? I bused in today.”
Clearly she hadn’t expected him to say that. Her grin was wry. “Yes, of course.”
And then he dipped his head to take her lips, just a brief breath of a touch. She sighed into it, dizzying him with her response.
His phone rang, and he groaned at the ring tone. Ben’s home number, so he grabbed it and answered.
“If you two even think of leaving this building without coming up here to say hello, I’m going to pout.”
“Hey, Erin.” He looked to Ella. “Erin says she’ll pout if we don’t go up to say hello.”
Ella rolled her eyes. “All right. She’s such a baby.”
Overhearing the jest, Erin laughed and hung up as the car arrived on their floor. As they went inside, she tossed “Yes” back over her shoulder.
“Yes, you’ll go out with me?” Inside the elevator she was so close, so warm. He had sweats on, and in a short period of time, she’d know just how much he liked her being so close and warm.
“Yes, I’d like to go out with you for pizza and beer. It’s my last full day of school and my last day as manager at the café on Friday too, so that’s something else to celebrate.”
“I’ll pick you up at your apartment at seven.” He had to call on years of nonchalance to not sound like a stalker.
Luckily, she smiled. “All right then.”
Erin was in the hall with Todd when they got out. She waved. “Come on in. I just made cookies.”
He hung back, after seeing the look in Todd’s eye. The women went inside.
“What’s up?” he asked Todd quietly.
“Your dad called Ben a few minutes ago. He went to take the call outside, but he hasn’t come back in yet. If I go out, well, Erin will know there’s a problem.”
“On my way. Near the greenhouse?”
Todd nodded, and he headed to his left when everyone else had moved to the open kitchen on the right. He caught sight of his brother standing next to the hot tub enclosure.
“Got a cigarette?” Ben asked when Cope walked outside.
“No. Hang on.” He went back inside, quickly locating the French cigarettes his brother smoked occasionally.
“Here.” He handed over the sleek black case and a lighter. He braced himself, knowing it must have been very bad indeed to drive Ben to smoke.
Ben lit one, looking out over the city. “Dad called.”
“Todd said. What happened?”
“He wanted me to know he’d be happy to start a college fund for the baby.”
Knowing there was more to it than that, Cope leaned against a nearby bench. “That so?”
“Yeah. As long as I get a DNA test to ensure the baby is mine, everything will be just fine.”
Cope blew out his breath. “Jesus. What the fuck? Why would he do that?”
“Mom and I had lunch a few days ago. She wanted to be sure Erin had what she needed. She came to look at the nursery, all that jazz. She must have talked to him about it.” Ben shrugged, but Cope knew his brother’s eyes, and there was pain there, far more than the DNA comment would have caused.
“Ben, what is it really? Not that the comments about the DNA test don’t suck, but you’re upset, like really upset. What else did he say?”
“He said if I was thinking like my old self, I’d be finding myself my own woman or not watching so carefully when Erin went up and down stairs.” Ben’s voice thinned at the very end as Cope’s head nearly blew off.
Cope didn’t really know what to say. What could he say in response to that? He grabbed his brother’s arm. “You know this is not right. And frankly, it’s not about you at all.”
“I know my father intimated I’d be better off if the love of my life fell and lost the baby. I never . . . I don’t even know how to process that.”
Cope’s head reeled at what had been said, at the damage his father had done. “I don’t either, to be honest. But I do know he’s out of order, Ben. He is wrong, and you need to step back before this goes any further. This is not healthy for you. I love you, Mom loves you, Todd, Erin, all our family, blood and not, you have people who wish you only the best. At some point, you’re