Again

  Sydney smirked now. “Lynn—”

  “I’m just saying.” She smiled a little too smugly. “She never has. And then your mom talked about how often you mention Em and how you seem happier. It wouldn’t be unheard of, you know. You don’t have to get all defensive about it.”

  “I’m not getting defensive about it,” he said, taking a bite of his fish taco in an attempt to not sound as bothered by this as he really was.

  He chewed slowly, swallowed, and then took a swig from his water bottle. “And I know it’s not unheard of. It’s just not true,” he said simply.

  “Good enough,” she said.

  But it wasn’t and Sydney knew it. Lynn wasn’t going to let this go. Only now she had him thinking. He thought he’d imagined Emi being a little too quiet about their Lucy talk. Lynn had noticed too? He dared not ask her. He could already see the wheels in her head spinning.

  ~~~

  Since Lynn and Valerie had been there all morning, they left with their husbands less than an hour after Sydney and Emi arrived. A good thing too because Liv had left before them, and Emi promised she’d go by her place later that evening before heading to her brother’s home.

  If Lynn knew Sydney would be spending the next few hours strolling the festival with Emi then heading to her sister’s to hang out with them since Liv had invited him too, he was certain Lynn would be smiling smugly again. Especially since slipping his hand in hers as they made their way through the crowds happened several more times. A few times he left it there even after they’d broken through the crowd. Their eyes had met during one of those instances, but neither said anything, and Sydney refused to make more of the twinkle he’d thought he’d seen in her eyes.

  They ate until they couldn’t eat anymore then watched a few of the bands playing. Sydney tried not to think about his conversation with Lynn. He also made note of what his mom had said and would make sure to tone down how much he mentioned Emi from then on. He hadn’t realized he’d done it so much his mom was questioning it. But he seemed happier?

  So she was fun to hang out with. Big deal. He was seeing Cheryl. Was no one listening? He was certain he’d mentioned Cheryl to his mom at some point.

  They’d talked about many things during their time at the festival: the food, the music, and Sabian signing with the Padres. Sydney had been right. Emi said all her siblings were excited about the guy signing and the season that just started. She’d gotten a few texts from her brothers during the festival. They were all jazzed about it.

  Curiously, it wasn’t until they were in the car, putting on their seatbelts, when she brought up the setup between him and Lucy the next day.

  “So if you hit it off with Lucy, is that it for Cheryl?”

  Sydney glanced at her casually, cursing the fact that his talk with Lynn today along with the innocent hand-holding they’d done made Em’s question—one that normally would’ve felt like any of her other questions—feel different.

  “I don’t know,” he said, pulling out of the parking spot. “I guess it all depends. I’m not looking forward to meeting her like this. They pretty much put me on the spot. It feels like a blind date—something I hate—but what was I supposed to say?” He shrugged with a frown. “We’ll see how this goes. But if you’re asking if I’d see them simultaneously, no, I don’t do that. I’m sure Cheryl wouldn’t appreciate knowing I’m dating someone else on the side.”

  “You know when I go out with other guys it’s only when Darren and I are on a break.”

  Sydney nodded, not sure why she felt the need to clear that up, but he supposed his comment made her want to.

  “Okay,” he said.

  “What does that mean?”

  He turned to her with a smirk, but she wasn’t smiling. “What do you mean? It means okay.”

  “Are you getting all judgy on me?”

  “Judgy?” he asked, feeling oddly amused because she’d never gotten pissy with him before. “No. When have I ever gotten judgy with you?”

  “It just sounded like you were trying to say something with that ‘I don’t do that’ comment and then your ‘okay’ like, ‘whatever you say.’”

  Now he had to laugh. He’d thought her adorable on many occasions, but he never thought someone’s pissy side could be adorable. “I didn’t say it like that.” He turned to her as they came to a stop. She stared straight, ahead her brow sharply arched. “Are you seriously upset with me?”

  “I’m just wondering if all this time you’ve thought less of me for seeing other guys while I’ve been off and on with Darren. Makes me wonder what else you’ve been judging about me.”

  “I haven’t been thinking less of you,” he assured her. “And who am I to judge you? You’ve said from the beginning you’re not looking for anything serious with Darren. You’re young. You should be weighing all your options, playing the field. Good for you. Things are just different with Cheryl and me. That’s all I meant by ‘I don’t do that.’ Trust me. As open as our friendship has always been, I’d think you’d know if I was judging you.”

  She finally turned to him, the corner of her lip tugging slightly. “Oh,” she said then winced. “Sorry. Defensive much?”

  Sydney shook his head but laughed. “You’re too much.”

  Within minutes, they were back to their usual banter. But something felt different. It was irritating as hell. Were a few comments from Lynn and something as meaningless as holding her hand—albeit it sped up his heart rate every time—really going to have him analyzing everything Emi said from here on? He’d since decided whatever reaction she’d had to them trying to set him up was a fluke. She’d teased him a few days ago about not admitting he was feeling more for Cheryl. She’d known about every date he’d had in the last year. Not once had he noticed any strange reactions or mood swings from her about it. Just like he’d never had issues when she told him about Darren or any other guys she dated. Why would this bother her?

  Clearly, Lynn still had his mom’s thoughts in her head and, like him, was probably watching Emi too closely now. He refused to. It was ridiculous.

  Her sister’s home was bigger than he’d expected. She lived in a gated community with nothing but other huge homes in it. But then Emi explained Livi didn’t just have overbearing brothers to deal with now. Her husband Lorenzo was just as protective. “Like with my apartment and because of what our family endured with my mom and all, he too wanted to make sure Livi and the baby are in a well-secured area when he’s not home with them. Lorenzo runs a highly successful business, so he spared no expense.”

  “A.J. already has a photo shoot scheduled with Sabian,” Livi said as soon as they were in her house and she’d hugged Emi again.

  “You’re kidding me,” Emi said just as giddily as she’d been about this at the festival earlier that day.

  Livi’s husband, Lorenzo, invited Sydney to come watch television with him while the girls chatted in the kitchen. It made this feel even more like what his mom and Lynn were insinuating. He hated to admit it, but the thought didn’t seem like such an implausible one anymore. Still, he focused on the game Lorenzo was watching.

  Emi and Livi walked in the room. Emi held a baby in her arms. “Hey,” Lorenzo said, smiling big. “Little man’s up?”

  “He sure is,” Emi said in a coddling voice. “He’s excited about the whole Sabian thing too.”

  Emi sat next to Sydney, and he leaned in to look at the little chubby dude. He couldn’t be more than a few months old. “He looks like you,” Sydney said to Lorenzo.

  “Yes, he’s a Moreno through and through.” Emi sighed as if disappointed. “He even has a dimple. I’ll see if I can get him to smile so you can see it.” Emi started cooing.

  “You know,” Liv said, smiling big, “I saw a photo of the last two girls Sabian dated. They both had something in common.”

  Emi glanced up from the baby and stared at her sister. “What’s that?”

  Liv tapped her behind, and Sydney could see now what Emi had
meant about her and her sister having the same bubble butt. “Big booties.” Her brows bounced up and down, reminding him of Valerie today.

  “And?” Lorenzo asked, not even trying to hide the annoyance.

  Liv laughed. “He’s only twenty-three, perfect for Emi, honey. She does have a lot of booty for him to notice.”

  Lorenzo rolled his eyes. “Here we go.”

  Liv sauntered over and sat on her husband’s lap, kissing him sweetly. “I’m just saying. It could happen. Imagine that? We’d have two ballplayers in the family.”

  Emi laughed then gasped. “Oh look! Look!” she said, pointing at baby Enzo.

  Her laughing had made him smile, and there it was: just like Lynn’s husband and all his siblings, a dimple deep into his chubby cheek. Only difference was he had just the one. Angel and his siblings all had two, one in each cheek. Sydney had spent years hating dimples. But he smiled now at Little Man’s. On him, it was cute.

  They all talked sports, the food festival, and the baby, and Sydney hadn’t even realized the talk of Sabian and Emi’s and Liv’s enthusiasm about meeting the guy were beginning to irritate him until he caught himself rolling his eyes. Luckily, no one else had caught it.

  As it got later and they began talking about leaving, Liv turned to Sydney. “Where are you staying, Sydney?”

  “I’ll get a room,” he said.

  “What?” she asked, surprised. “With everyone you know here?”

  “I’ve always gotten a room.”

  Not necessarily true. One time way back he stayed at Lynn and Angel’s until he decided he’d feel more comfortable at a room on his own.

  “I used to travel so much I accumulated a lot of free nights with different hotel chains, mostly the Hyatt. And there’s one right by here.” It was the same line he’d been feeding Lynn for years. Liv still seemed unconvinced or like she felt bad. “From where Emi says your brothers live, it’s right by there actually, so it all works out.”

  They said their good-byes and left. Sydney kept having to squash the thought of how much it felt like he and his girlfriend—one he’d just spent an awesome day with—were leaving her sister’s house. Worst yet, it felt more comfortable than any other girlfriend’s family he’d ever visited. Visiting Sheena’s family had never felt this pleasant and comfy either.

  Halfway to her brothers’ home, Emi turned to him. “It does seem silly that with my brother’s place being so huge you’d waste your free nights at a hotel.”

  No way.

  Sydney turned to her, not sure how to respond to that, but he had to draw the line somewhere. This was too much.

  “I mean if you thought my sister’s house was big my brother’s is even bigger. A.J. had no choice but to invest his money. With no write offs, he was getting killed with taxes. The beach spread he bought is enormous. And tonight all my brothers are gone. I’ll be in that ginormous house all by myself. Only reason I didn’t stay at Livi’s is because I was looking forward to having breakfast ready for them tomorrow morning when they get home like old times. But you’d actually be keeping me company if you stayed there with me tonight.”

  She made a silly pleading face that had him laughing nervously. Even that expression was adorable on her, damn it.

  “I don’t know,” he started to say. “Won’t your brothers mind that I stay with you overnight?”

  “It’s not like we’ll be sleeping in the same bed,” she said, her voice too cheery as if she already knew she was getting her way with this. “There’re plenty of empty guest rooms you can choose from. It’ll be fun,” she added with a big smile, “like a sleepover.”

  Great. Just what he needed. But as usual, Emi’s smug smile said it all. She already knew it. This was happening. Like all the other decisions and rules he’d made when it came to his relationship with Emi from day one, he was about to go against his better judgment and go along with whatever she instigated. Because it was all a part of this innocent friendship.

  Damn it all to hell.

  Becoming your friend was a choice . . .

  Chapter Eight

  Emilia

  This was the first time Emi had brought a friend back to this house since her brother had purchased it last year. Escrow closed just weeks after she’d moved to Los Angeles the first time, so not even her high-school friends, who she’d pretty much lost touch with already, had seen it. And she didn’t trust any of her new friends to let them in on this part of her life. Well, none but Sydney.

  It was what she loved about the dynamic of their friendship. It was free of any complicated what-ifs. She didn’t have to worry—like with Darren—that things might sour someday and she might have to deal with a hateful ex who might spread stuff about her family’s private lives. But it was what she loved about Sydney all around. Even if things would somehow sour between them, she knew in her heart he didn’t have a hateful bone in his body. Already she could say with all certainty he was the best friend she’d ever had.

  Emi pushed the less certain, yet gnawing, thought away, the one that made her invite him to stay overnight with her in the first place. She was trying to make up for the knee-jerk reaction she’d had in the car just after leaving the festival. She wasn’t even sure why she’d reacted that way to his “I don’t do that” comment. Except for the times he’d slipped his big hand into hers, which had her insides going nuts, the rest of day had felt off for some reason, despite the great time they’d had at the festival.

  Bringing Sydney back to her brother’s place seemed like a good way to end things on a more positive note, one that would dispel any possible notion he may have that she’d been upset with him in any way, for any reason. God forbid he should think that, after a few instances of handholding, things were already changing in their friendship.

  Her plan had almost worked. It’d been late when they got back to her brother’s house. By the time she was done giving him the grand tour of the place, it was way too late to stay up and keep chatting, so she’d showed him to one of the guests rooms, and they called it a night.

  Emi decided to take a shower in her room and hadn’t bothered to close the bedroom door since she’d planned on changing in the bathroom. It wasn’t until halfway through her shower that she realized no towels were in that bathroom.

  “Damn it,” she muttered after standing in the shower, trying to drip dry for a few seconds before stepping out.

  She grabbed the only things she had to cover up with, her pj’s: a short set and her undies. But she didn’t want to soak her pajama shorts and camisole, so she put on her panties only and stepped out into her bedroom quickly.

  “Whoa!”

  Sydney’s voice made her freeze and clutch her hands in front of her. He was at her door and for a moment stood there staring at her as stunned as she felt. Then he seemed to snap out of it and turned his back to her immediately.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said as she scrambled to grab the bedspread and cover herself with it. “I went out to get something from my car and got lost trying to get back to my room. This place is huge.”

  “It’s okay,” she said, trying not to sound as befuddled as she felt. “Your room is two doors down to the right on the right-hand side.

  “Thanks,” he said, taking a step then stopping but not turning to face her. “Again, Em, I’m sorry.”

  “No worries, really.”

  After the weird day they’d had, Emi didn’t want things to feel even weirder when they awoke. So she threw the cover-up she usually wore over her bathing suit over her pajama shorts and camisole and walked over to his room. His door was half open, and a light was on in his room, but she still knocked. “Come in.”

  Emi almost froze again when she entered. He was sitting on his bedspread, wearing basketball shorts and nothing else. His bare chest and abs were just as she’d imagined—as perfect as everything else about him. But she was here to make things less weird not worse, so she tried not to react or stare too hard.

  “Listen. I just wa
nted to make sure you’re not feeling weird or bad about walking in on me. I know it was an easy mistake. It took me a while to get used to this place.”

  “Well, I did feel pretty stupid”—he smirked—“but I’m glad you know it wasn’t intentional.”

  “Oh, I know it wasn’t,” she assured him, still unwilling to just say good night and leave.

  A part of her was so tempted to walk all the way in, sit with him, and chat as she knew they could easily do for hours. But another part of her, the one making her so confused lately, didn’t trust herself to not want to do something inappropriate. Like touch him. Not just his hand either as she’d done today at the festival. The thought of running her hands over those abs and chest had her lady parts tingling—again.

  “Okay,” she said when she realized she’d zoned out staring at his abs and he wore a strange smirk now. “Glad we got that straight. See you in the morning downstairs for breakfast.”

  The smirk morphed into a sweet smile. “Good night, Em.”

  Emi said good night and walked out, rushing toward her room. “Yeah, that fixed things right up,” she muttered under her breath.

  ~~~

  The next morning she’d been up early so she could get breakfast started before her brothers got home. Thankfully, no lingering weirdness remained between her and Sydney. He’d ambled into the kitchen, and to her relief, everything felt just as it always did.

  Her brothers had been pleasantly surprised to see her and the grand breakfast she had for them when they did arrive but were even more surprised to see Sydney with her. Emi had been quick to explain when she saw the expressions on their faces after she informed them Sydney had spent the night.

  “I thought it was silly for him to pay for a hotel when we had more than enough room here for him. Might as well get some use out of all those guest rooms.”