Read Online Too Close to Resist by Nicole Helm - Free Book Online Page B

SPRAWLED on Jacob’s bed, painting her fingernails a bright purple. She was not thinking about Barry. She was not thinking about losing it at the gym. And she definitely wasn’t thinking about Kyle being understanding and nice. About how he was more complex, more kind, more fascinating than she’d ever given him credit for.
    Instead she was thinking about how she was going to wring Jacob’s neck for ditching her again so she’d felt compelled to go to the gym with Kyle. Maybe he’d thought she’d have Mom for company, and maybe at the time she’d been happy he was giving her lots and lots of space, but still. He was a grown-ass man, and would it kill him to stand up to his girlfriend?
    So a little payback was in order. Step one: fill his room with nail polish fumes.
    Grace studied her purple nails and smiled. Mission accomplished. Step two: wait for him to get home and poke and prod him over being such a wimp when it came to women.
    Jacob opened the door and immediately scowled when he saw the nail polish bottle. “Okay, what did I do this time?”
    “Oh, I don’t know. Ditch me every night this week ring any bells?”
    He threw his keys and wallet onto the nightstand. “First, I thought you wanted space. Second, I know.” Jacob sighed and kicked off his shoes. “I suck.”
    Grace frowned. It wasn’t like him to give in to her so easily. “What’s up with you?”
    “You and Kyle will be happy to know that I broke up with Candy.” Since she was sprawled across his bed, he took a seat on the floor, leaning his back against the wall.
    Part of her did an inward jig, but putting on her big-sister hat, she remained outwardly neutral. “It’s not like you to do the breaking up.”
    He tapped his fingers on his knee, frowned at the floor. “Even I can be forced into breaking up with someone when there’s an ultimatum involved.”
    “What was the ultimatum?”
    Jacob closed his eyes, bounced his head against the wall. “Idiotic.”
    “Ah, so it was about me.”
    He opened one eye and studied her. “Self-absorbed much?”
    Grace only had to lift an eyebrow to have him deflating.
    “Okay, maybe partially about you, and me wanting to stick around the house more than take her out.”
    “I know I should keep my mouth shut—”
    “But you’re not going to.”
    “She was awful.” Not nearly good enough for her brother. He had a bad habit of being unable to do anything alone. She couldn’t remember a time since high school when Jacob had gone more than a few weeks without a girlfriend. “She wasn’t even nice.”
    “You’re right.” Jacob nodded solemnly. “I don’t know. I just...” He shook his head. “It’s not fun being alone.”
    “You’re not alone.”
    “You know what I mean.” He gave her a pointed look. “We seem to have opposite fears.”
    She folded her arms across her chest and flopped back on his bed. “It’s not fear. I like being alone.”
    “You like not taking a risk.”
    She shrugged and stared hard at the ceiling. “So what?”
    “So Barry was one guy.”
    Grace knew that. Intellectually. But the intellectual part didn’t always win. She’d grown up with Barry, had known his family; going out with him should have been safe and easy.
    But it hadn’t been, and the fear that it could happen again meant even the prospect of a date made her break out in hives. The prospect of something new left her feeling like an insecure teenager.
    Knowing it was so damn stupid didn’t change how she felt, though.
    She wondered how much Kyle dated. His trauma had stemmed from his family, but in all the years she’d known him, she couldn’t bring to mind any women in his life. Maybe the mention of a date, but never a girlfriend.
    Maybe he was gay. She smiled a little, thinking of the moment in the kitchen when he’d been awfully close, and just as affected as her. No, she didn’t think that was it.
    And wasn’t it interesting that when she thought of that moment and Kyle, she