Chapter 5 – Violet
Butter chicken was too lavish to cook for just myself, but staying with Lee gave me a good excuse for whipping it up.
He needed the comfort food, even if he’d never admit it.
I scraped the leftovers into a container and stowed them in the fridge while the popcorn popped, keeping a careful ear out.
I hated the smell of burned popcorn. There were few things worse than scorched kernels and butter.
Something about the microwave bag turned the combination into nuclear waste.
I’d half expected Lee to claim he needed to get more work done and boot me upstairs after dinner.
Being friends with Lee Murphy was a little like befriending a hedgehog.
He looked so cute and cuddly on the outside, but he was easily spooked.
And those spikes… He’d tell me I was totally wrong about hedgehogs.
All the book research he did meant he could pull obscure facts out of thin air when he wanted to.
He was dedicated to his craft. To his career.
It was one of the things I admired about him, even as I despaired.
Getting him to notice anything outside of his immediate bubble was nearly impossible.
Like the fact that I was interested in more than friendship.
A situationship with Lee would be complicated.
My brothers. Our small town. His drive, bordering on workaholic territory.
The man didn’t know when to quit. It was admirable. And frustrating as hell.
He kept so much of himself private, it was hard to know what he was thinking. Feeling. But something told me cracking his tough exterior would be worth the effort. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but I could swear he’d softened toward me. Opened to me, just a bit.
I liked to think I’d become more than just Drew and Zach’s little sister. But how much more? And if he ever turned that quiet intensity on me, really looked at me that way, could I handle it?
A shiver skittered under my skin, too electric to ignore.
Easy sex was one thing. But nothing would ever be simple with Lee Murphy. He did complicated for breakfast. Maybe not in his love life, but everywhere else? Absolutely.
I shook the swirl of what-ifs before they could take root. He’d agreed to a movie. Popcorn. That was it.
I dumped the popcorn into a bowl and grabbed a couple of sodas from his fridge and an ice pack, before loping downstairs to find him flushed.
“You okay?” I asked.
He wrinkled his nose. “Apparently trips to the bathroom are almost more than I can manage. My ankle is throbbing.”
“I’m sorry, Lee.”
He shrugged. “It is what it is. I’m mostly just annoyed at myself. But if I haven’t said it enough, thanks for taking care of me. Contemplating tackling the stairs to get an ice pack on my own makes me want to cry.”
“Well, we can’t have that.” I held out the squishy blue compress. “Here. Let’s get you settled.” I helped Lee stretch out, his right leg propped on the coffee table, before frowning. “That can’t be comfortable. Shall we just get the bed pulled out? Then you don’t have to do it later.”
“Sure.”
I tugged Lee to his feet, and he hobbled to his desk chair while I scooted the table to the opposite wall and pulled the cushions off the couch to access the fold-out mattress beneath.
He kept a set of sheets on the pullout, so it only took a moment for me to tuck cushions in the gap between the mattress and the back of the couch.
“I’ll be back with more pillows. Need anything else while I’m upstairs?”
Lee grimaced. “My toothbrush and paste, plus some sleep pants if you don’t mind. They’re in the top drawer of my dresser.”
“Got it.”
I returned a few minutes later, arms full of fluffy pillows, his toiletries and clothes tucked under one elbow. Lee had flopped down on one side of the bed, legs extended, remote in hand.
“Thanks.” He said it almost grudgingly, but I couldn’t blame him for being irritated. For a man used to living alone and moving around under his own power, relying on anyone else had to be tough.
“No problem.” I tucked one of the pillows behind him and dropped his other items on the coffee table before scooping up the popcorn bowl and sliding onto the bed beside him.
It wasn’t until we were seated shoulder-to-shoulder, legs outstretched, that I realized how intimate it felt.
How warm. I slipped out of my sweatshirt, tugging my tank top in place.
His gaze dipped briefly to my cleavage before sliding away to the TV. “Any requests?” Lee rumbled softly beside me as he flipped through screen after screen of movie options.
We finally settled on an action movie I hadn’t seen. I dug into the popcorn, nibbling on kernels I’d doused liberally with our Island Salts popcorn blend. The nutritional yeast gave it a unique flavor.
It took me half the film to realize that Lee’s attention was on me, not the movie. “What is it?” I asked, not used to him staring.
“I love your intensity.” His lip quirked up at the corner, his voice husky, a hint of teasing edging his tone. “I think you’ve lost at least a few kernels to your cleavage, but you haven’t missed a beat.”
My cheeks felt hot. His gaze drifted to my neckline, making my chest flush. I glanced down. Sure enough, a few pieces of popcorn decorated my bra, nestled between my breasts. Self-consciously, I dug them out.
“Hazard of being a clumsy woman with a low neckline.”
He chuckled, the soft sound making the red stain on my cheeks flare brighter. Something about Lee made me feel like a clumsy teenager again. Not the confident woman I’d become.
“Don’t mind me, I’m just jealous.”
My eyes narrowed. “Jealous because, apparently, I can’t find my mouth with my hands?” I asked dryly.
He shook his head. “No. That’s not it. Forget I said anything. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
He seemed genuinely remorseful, and I let it go. But his attention made me aware of each time our hands brushed in the popcorn bowl. Instead of becoming more careful, my fingers fumbled, my cheeks reddening as I dropped yet another kernel into my shirt.
I cast Lee a glance from the corner of my eye. Had he caught that last bobble?
He kept his focus squarely on the screen. I exhaled, letting a slow, even breath out.
“If you need some help with that, I’ll gladly volunteer.”
Dammit. He turned toward me, his thigh pressing mine, eyes mischievous. A relaxed smile drew his lips up, a little too slow, a touch too smug.
“Lee Murphy. Get your mind out of the gutter.”
He clasped a hand to his chest, arching his brows. “Vi, what are friends for? Here I am, volunteering to give you a hand after you’ve been so graciously helping me, and you’re turning me down?”
“Are you flirting with me right now, Murphy?”
Lee Murphy didn’t flirt. At least, not with me. So this mood? A whole new kind of trouble.
His gaze turned calculating. “Maybe. You say that like it’s a bad thing. I can stop.”
“I never thought you saw me that way.” He’d surprised me into honesty.
Immediately, I wished I could pull the needy words back.
I didn’t want to change things between us.
We were good. With all the changes in our friend group, the last thing I wanted was to alienate Lee by making him uncomfortable.
My feelings were mine. He wasn’t responsible for the misguided crush I had on him.
“Oh, honey… No, I see you.” He said it so intensely, I paused. His gaze drifted to my mouth. He licked his lips, rubbing them together. Shocking me with the sensual motion. Like he was holding back. Never in my life had I thought Lee wanted to kiss me.
I could be oblivious to men at times. Especially the shy ones.
Some guys were so over-the-top and in your face, they were impossible to miss.
See: Zach. Other men were subtler. Lee never hinted that I was anything to him but a friend.
His best friend’s little sister. Sure, we’d hung out on our own.
Especially lately, with Drew and Zach both busy with their girlfriends.
But he’d never looked at me like that. Or had he?
For him to pull an “I see you” out of thin air stunned me into silence.
“Full disclosure, I took a pain pill while you were upstairs.”
Great. He was loaded. Any thoughts I had of exploring his supposed attraction fizzled. He was in pain and medicating. I couldn’t hold Lee to anything he said tonight. But he’d stirred something up inside me. An old longing, long buried. For him to see me as more than a friend.
I grimaced, making it ugly on purpose. As if the quick contortion of my face could wipe away the memory of him telling me he saw me. “Watch the movie, Murphy. No one wants your stoned confessions.”
Except I did. But it would be taking advantage. And I doubted I could trust them.
“How about my sober ones?”
I tossed a piece of popcorn at him, laughing when he caught it in his mouth with a pleased grin.
His dark eyes twinkled. His hair flopped over his forehead, adding a boyishness I didn’t usually associate with him.
But any claims of sincerity were overshadowed by his meds. It was best to shut this down.
“Knock it off, Murphy.”
“Whatever you say, Cupcake.”
The nickname landed with a quiet thud in my chest. Sweet, unexpected… dangerous.