Hard For My Best Friend's Sister(12)

“I want to make the past up to you tonight. All of the past. I treated you like shit, Dylan, and I’m sorry for that.”

“Yes, you did.” She took my hand and electricity shot up my arm. This woman could floor me with a single touch. “But I don’t mind the stuff that happened when we were all in elementary school so much. We were kids. We didn’t know any better.”

“Thank you for forgiving me for one thing, at least.” I looked into her eyes to try to determine if she was thinking about forgiving me for the rest of it, but she doesn’t let her expression reveal anything to me.

The valet took the car, and I led Dylan into the restaurant. I reserved a prime table in a quiet corner for us. I wanted to be able to talk to her properly without the rest of the restaurant drowning her out. Not that this place is very loud.

“Very nice,” Dylan said as she sat down in the seat I pulled out for her. I sat down across from her and tried to remember not to put my elbows on the table.

“How’s your brother doing?” I asked. I already knew, but I wanted to keep the conversation going between us without things getting awkward.

“He’s good. Getting married in the spring. But you already know that.”

I shrugged. “Maybe I want your take on it.”

The waiter brought a basket of bread sticks and a plate of olive oil. I thanked him quietly and waited impatiently for him to take our drink orders and leave. I wasn’t here for the food, I was here for Dylan.

She ordered a glass of red wine and I did the same. I’d read somewhere that copying increased empathy. Dylan gave me a tight smile. She was onto me.

“My take.” She picked up a piece of bread and tore it apart with her fingers. “She’s nice. A little more energetic than I expected. Strangely enough, I think he’s more grounded when he’s around her. Like she calms him.”

I did my best to focus on her words and not her cleavage. I hadn’t met Bryan’s fiancé yet. I was glad to hear she was good for him. He’d sounded happy with her when I’d seen him last on a business trip.

Keeping in touch would be so much easier if we all lived closer. It would also be easier if I didn’t have to step lightly around Dylan. It would be easiest of all if I was part of the family officially.

Whoa, too soon. I’d managed to get her out to dinner and I was already thinking about marrying her. I must have lost my damn mind.

“And your parents?” I asked.

“Planning their retirement on the beach. Dad wants to buy a boat.”

I laughed. “Your mother must hate that.”

“Yeah, she’s not so thrilled. But I think she’ll give in.”

I paused. Was she trying to tell me something? Her eyes met mine like she was trying to convey something to me. Hope rose in my chest.

“It’s hard to let things go, but I think it’s worth it,” I said.

She shrugged. “Sometimes.” She took a bite of bread and her eyes rolled back in her head. “This is fantastic. You have to try some.”

I grabbed a piece and swirled it slowly in the olive oil, analyzing what Dylan had told me so far. She might forgive me, but she might not.

If nothing else, I needed her to forgive me.

“How about your family?” Dylan asked. “How are your parents?”

I didn’t have any siblings or nearby relatives other than my parents, and they’d both worked all the time when I was growing up. That was probably why I’d ended up spending so much time at the Butler house.

“They took an early retirement and moved to the Bahamas.”

Dylan must not have been keeping track of me like I’d been keeping track of her because she flinched like she honestly hadn’t known.

“Oh. I mean, that’s good for them, but it must be hard for you to be so far away.”

“We email.” I wasn’t as close to my parents as she was to hers. I kept in contact with them and saw them every holiday, but it was nothing like Dylan’s family and all their get-togethers and meetups. She would consider her parents moving to another country to be a tragedy.

The waiter brought our wine and took our dinner orders. I sipped mine slowly and watched Dylan drink hers. She didn’t swirl it around and hold it in her mouth to taste it. She downed it like cheap beer. It was such a Dylan thing to do that I wanted to kiss her. She was nothing like the stuck-up pretentious women I’ve tried to date since moving here.

“How’s work?” I asked abruptly to try and get my mind off her lips and what I wanted to do to them.

“I love it,” Dylan said. “I put in way too many hours and my mom lectures me about being a workaholic, but it’s all worth it. I’ve been in line for a promotion for months now, and I really think I might get it soon.” Her face glowed.