Festive Fake

11 - Are you angry with me?

Crap. Did I do it again? Cracking my eyes open, I confirmed that I'd shifted in my sleep and attached myself to Nate like a horny barnacle on a sexy ship.

Maybe I could move without getting caught this time. My head rested on his chest. I carefully peeked up and found his sleepy gaze already trained on me.

"Morning," he rasped.

Rolling over to my part of the bed, I groaned. "Dang it, Nate. Why didn't you push me off if you were awake?"

"I just woke up, and you weren't bothering me, anyway." His hand slid down to his stomach and paused. "Well, except for the drool."

My mouth fell open with a gasp. "I did not!"

Flipping to my side, I rose up on my elbow to examine his shirt. There was nothing there, and he cracked up.

"Ha. Ha. It's all fun and games until I die of embarrassment."

"Aw, you'll pull through." He tickled my ribs until I laughed and smacked him away. "So, how did things go with Joby?"

As we laid there staring at the ceiling fan, I reflected on our conversation the night before and smiled. We'd told the truth, there was nothing to hide, we could be a part of each other's lives again.

Plus, I'd get to be Joby's wingman and find out what Nate thought of him. Joby didn't ask me to but he said I could tell him he's gay and we discussed Nate's all around hotness, so surely he wouldn't mind.

"You knew. Didn't you?" I asked.

"Knew what?"

I rolled over, and he gave me a blank, doe-eyed expression. "Joby's gay. He told me, so you can stop making that face."

"That's awesome." Nate nodded, seeming genuinely pleased.

"How did you know?"

"Well, I had a feeling." His eyebrows rose. "Then while we were working in the yard, I used the bottom of my shirt to wipe the sweat off my forehead. I didn't think about it until I caught him staring at my stomach, and the tops of his cheeks turned red."

"Stop! I've never seen him blush. That's crazy."

"It was pretty adorable, actually." Nate bit his bottom lip and studied the floor.

I leaned closer. "Oh my gosh, Nate! Do you like my brother?"

He shrugged and glanced away. "I mean, I don't not like him."

His reaction was so uncharacteristically shy I wasn't sure how to take it. Was he into Joby, but didn't want to tell me, or did he not like him and think I'd be offended? "I need more."

It took a minute for Nate to respond. "He didn't have a girlfriend, but he probably just got out of a relationship and..." He rubbed his chin and sighed. "This'll sound crazy after only spending a few hours with him, but..."

He trailed off again, and I wanted to shake the words out of him. Thankfully, before I could try it, he said, "There's something there. Joby's not someone I want to go out with just to help him get over an ex."

"So you're super into him!" I squealed.

He huffed. "You're making fun of me."

"I'm not. And they broke up months ago, he was lying to keep Mother off his case. He didn't seem sad about it at all."

"Really?" Nate brightened.

"Yep. Now, tell me why you like him, and I'll tell you what he said about you."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Come on, it's only fair." I said. "I've got good stuff, and I'm not giving it away for free." Plus, I wanted to be sure he was really into him.