“That’s good news because Cole has been anxiously gulping his beer—”
“Whoa. Not so fast,” I interrupted.
Cole was one of the guys my brothers ran around with in college. I never understood what my brothers had in common with him and got even more annoyed when he seemed to show an interest in me. I think my father should have given Cole the pep talk instead of my brother.
Mason and Ayden both wiggled their brows up and down, and all I could think to do was punch them both in the shoulder.
“Don’t even think about it. You know how I feel about him.”
“He’s matured,” Ayden replied, dropping the act and Mason nodded in agreement.
“I don’t even think when he’s ninety, I’ll be able to handle him.”
“Our little sister, the heartbreaker,” Mason said, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, leading me into the house.
“Your presents are in the trunk, but if you try anything, I’ll take them right back.”
As soon as I got inside, I smelled the delicious aromas coming from the kitchen. I was able to sniff out my mom’s world famous meatballs, chicken wings, and something very garlicky. The entry hall carried on the tradition of helium balloons, and the staircase was wrapped in silver garlands with my brothers’ names spelled out in giant, cardboard letters. I started chuckling as I thought about the event I had just attended, put on by Gabby’s parents, and how horrified Gabby’s stepmom would be if our family volunteered to do the decorating. But, hey, it would have saved a ton of money.
“What’s so funny?” Ayden asked, coming from behind carrying both packages.
“Just remembering why I loved home so much.”
My mom came out of the kitchen, dressed in jeans and an oversized teal tunic, and held out her arms. “My baby.”
“Everything smells so delicious.”
My mom gave me a quick hug and kiss and trundled off to the kitchen with my brothers and me trailing behind her.
“Dad’s outside trying to get the barbeque to light. He’s put so much lighter fluid on the coals, I’m afraid the neighborhood’s going to go up in smoke.”
For some reason, my dad wouldn’t switch to a gas barbeque. We had tried convincing him that it would be easier, but he vowed he’d never do it. My brothers used to wet the coals just to mess with him. I glanced at both of them wondering if they were up to their old tricks again and judging by the sparkle in their eyes, I’d say yes.
“Poor dad.” I grabbed a cup and filled it with raspberry lemonade with a kick.
“Did your brothers tell you who was excited to see you?” my mom asked, stirring the meatballs and giving me a sideways glance.
“Not you too?”
“He’s cute and he’s doing very well for himself.”
“He could own or run the entire city of Seattle, and I still wouldn’t be interested. You know I’m not into that stuff. Besides, I’m not interested in dating. I need to concentrate on law school.”
“Is my girl in here?” Lily’s voice rang through the entryway. “I think I overheard something about law school and dating?”
Lily rounded the bend, beaming and gave both my brothers a quick hug. She had a pair of jean shorts on and a hoodie. She had straightened her hair for the occasion, and it looked really cute. She handed each of my brothers a silver gift bag.
“Is she babbling about Gabby’s long lost brother?” Lily rolled her eyes as I froze in place.
“Hadn’t mentioned it. Thanks for that.” I dropped my gaze to the floor.
My mom smiled and shook her head. “Long lost brother, huh? How does that work?”
“I guess he took off right after Gabby’s mom passed away. He was eighteen and just kind of disappeared until a week ago. Or so the story goes,” I said.
“That’s odd,” my mom replied, piling the meatballs into the warmer.
“Well, I happened to run into him last night and he is gorgeous,” Lily continued. “And wherever he’s been for the last ten years has certainly been productive.”
I furrowed my brows at Lily to make her stop, but she was having none of it.
“And how did you find this out since last night?” Ayden teased. “Do you do this to all potential victims?”
“First, I spotted what he was wearing wrapped around his wrist. Second, I asked one of my coworkers at the firm where I work. They would love to sink their teeth into his business. And third, I’m not interested. He’s got his sights set on our dear Brandy.”
I let out a groan and shook my head.
“Right. I’m sure you would turn him down.” Mason raised a brow at Lily and grinned. He knew her well.
“What? I did this strictly for business. I always have to be on the lookout for new clients.” Lily and my mom laughed.
“Well, Gabby has a bike now and she’s riding that thing everywhere,” I said, switching the subject.
“She finally got one?” Ayden asked.
“Her dad surprised her with one. And she happens to be dating the guy who built it.”
“Is that why she didn’t show up?” he teased.
I nodded. “I wish she wouldn’t ride it. It’s so unsafe and with everything she’s been through, I would have thought she’d be more careful.”
“It’s probably because of everything she’s been through that she wants to live a little,” Lily chided in. “A new heart might do that to a person.”
I smiled and knew it would be a losing battle. Just because I was afraid of those machines didn’t mean the world had to be. It didn’t help that I woke up last night from a nightmare where the bike was the main attraction either. And it wasn’t the first time.
“Well, I’m proud of her for not only riding but allowing herself to dabble in the love department. We could all learn a thing or two,” Lily said.
And with that, I grabbed the pot full of meatballs and began my escape plan with my brothers right on my heels.
Walking through the family room and out the open sliding glass door, I beelined toward the picnic table that had all of the food spread out on it. I quickly grabbed the extension cord and plugged in the pot. I glanced around the backyard, noticing the tiki torches stuck around the patio and lanterns dangling from the trees.
“So what’s the story with this mystery man?” Mason said, his overprotective ways emerging.
“There is no story. He’s Gabby’s brother. Therefore, he’s off limits.” I spotted Cole sitting with a beer at one of the tables taking selfies and rolled my eyes. Mason and Ayden turned to follow my gaze and their laughter rang throughout the yard, but it still didn’t interrupt Cole. He was obviously on a pursuit to find the perfect self-portrait to post to our poor unsuspecting world. He was the only man I knew who would make friends take pictures down if he didn’t think he looked perfect.
“Need I say more?” I laughed. “Do you really think I want to date a guy who is so concerned with getting a flawless shot to share with Facebook? I mean look at him. He’s actually positioning the beer bottle perfectly next to his grinning chops.”
“Do I hear my baby girl?” my father turned around, lighter fluid in hand.
“Daddy, you really ought to think about switching to a gas barbeque.”
“Enough of that out of you and give me a hug.”
He wore his Barbeque Master apron with pride, and I couldn’t help but love him for trying. Unfortunately, Cole spotted me heading for my dad and quickly stood up.
I gave my dad a quick hug so he could get back to the task at hand and backed up with my brothers.
“So we may have to be on the watch,” Ayden told my father.
“For what?”
“Brandy’s still blushing from a mere mention of some guy, which tells me it might not just be some guy.”
Turning quickly, I could feel my cheeks blazing as I socked him one in the arm. Suddenly feeling like I was back in high school, all I could blurt out was to shut up.
“Is that so?” my father asked,
as he tended to the unlit coals.
“Dad, have you ever wondered why you have such bad luck with your coals?” I took a step away from my brothers, but unfortunately, it landed me closer to Cole.
Ayden and Mason quickly exchanged glances. Mason’s mouth opened, but he shut it quickly when my brow shot up daring him.
“That’s part of the challenge,” my dad answered.
“You might want—”
“To let us buy you one of those stainless steel barbeques that even has a burner,” Ayden interrupted me.
“So who is it that Brandy’s interested in?” Cole asked, taking a sip of his beer.
I saw Lily come outside with my mom and another group of my brothers’ friends. I hoped she’d see the desperation in my face and come save me.
“Yeah. What’s his name?” Mason grabbed a beer from the cooler just as Lily settled into our expanding circle.
“Who?” Lily asked.
“Gabby’s brother.” Mason knocked the cap off of the bottle and took a chug.
“Aaron,” she replied, completely oblivious.
“Aaron who?” Cole asked, his hazel eyes flicking to Lily’s.
“I’d imagine his last name is Sullivan,” Lily replied, grinning.
“Aaron Sullivan? The Aaron Sullivan?” Cole started laughing viciously and my insides began to ignite with fury.
“What about him?” I asked, narrowing my gaze on him.
My mom was moving a bunch of the balloons to the far side of the yard so they wouldn’t keep interfering with the food table, but she stopped to glance at me. My voice must not have been as calm as I’d hoped.
“Only that he’s the king of players. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with the same date twice.”
I could feel the blood pumping mightily through my veins.
“And when exactly is it that you’re bumping into him? I wouldn’t guess you two to be running in the same circles.” My brows shot up.
“Ouch,” Cole said, grinning. “Believe it or not my MIS degree is paying off. And yes, we do frequent the same functions quite often.”
“It doesn’t matter to me. He’s a single guy and can date whoever and however many he wants.” I walked over to the cooler and grabbed a hard cider, twisting the top off.
Cole came up behind me and lowered his voice. “Look, I get that you’re not into me, but this Sullivan guy is bad news. I just don’t want to see you getting hurt.”
I turned to face Cole and couldn’t help but soften. “For that I thank you.”
“Truce?” he asked.
“Truce. But enough with the selfies, Cole.”
Chapter Seven
I had spent the last couple weeks on autopilot and was relieved to go that long of a stretch without having any accidental run-ins with Aaron. I was back at my desk and buried in Monday morning madness, looking forward to getting some chapters read later in the afternoon on formatting legal pleadings when I heard a laugh from Gabby’s office. It had to be Jason on the other end of her phone. A nagging feeling of envy began to rear its ugly head, and I squashed it quickly. What I needed to do was concentrate on getting all the calendars updated and airline reservations made for the team. Once I got all that out of the way I could sneak in some reading and shake these ridiculously unfounded feelings. I wanted to start law school with a bang, and the only way I saw that as a possibility was to begin reading the textbooks ahead of time.
Gabby was softening on her brother, and I was positive Jason had something to do with that. Whether Gabby recognized that or not, I didn’t know, but at least she was willing to consider the possibilities. It was nice to see a genuine smile on Gabby’s lips since Jason came into her life. And her laugh was definitely signaling a turn in the relationship. I’d almost bet money that pieces of the wall around her very guarded heart were actually beginning to crumble.
My email bleeped, and I looked up from the files I’d been sorting through. My heart started pounding when the letters came into focus.
How could this be?
To: Brandy Rhodes
From: Aaron Sullivan
Subject: Cole
Ms. Rhodes:
It was a pleasure bumping into you a couple weeks ago. I’m surprised our paths haven’t crossed since. I want to express my astonishment at what a small world it is. Beyond the obvious connection we seem to share, it seems the universe has a mind of its own.
I was playing golf with Cole on Sunday, and he mentioned running into you at a function. Can you believe that? It sounds as if you two certainly have a history. Is it…
My cheeks ignited. What history? There was no history with Cole. What in the world did Cole tell Aaron? The preview screen cut the remainder of Aaron’s message from view. But that was completely fine since I was in a frozen state of shock. How did Aaron get my email? Sitting motionless at my desk, I slowly rose from my chair, popping my head over the cubicle walls, and scanned the top of everyone’s workspaces on the off chance Aaron was on the floor, spying on me. He didn’t seem to have any scruples when it came to tracking me down. I looked around the room and saw no sign of sexy-as-hell-stalker-man and sat down quickly.
Okay, I had definitely turned crazy on this one.
I stared back at the screen not wanting to open the message fully. I refused to engage with him, and something told me that a control freak like him would have tagged it to see if his message was read. I knew I would have. But it was killing me to find out how he got my email address. Who would have given it to him? I positioned my cursor over his name very carefully and right clicked the properties. My mouth dropped open as I saw the same parent company where I worked in his email stamp. The bastard worked here, and I bet Gabby had no idea.
Damn him! Damn me for not figuring it out sooner.
Even though the curiosity was pounding through my veins to take a look at his email, I highlighted his message and clicked the trashcan.
There!
That made me feel a whole lot better. I wanted to tell Gabby, but that wouldn’t be a brilliant idea because she’d wonder how I’d found that piece of information out.
I turned around to see the receptionist bringing me a bouquet of flowers, and my stomach dipped to my toes. No way!
“These are very pretty,” she cooed, placing them on my desk. “Great date last night?”
My heart was beating so fast. How could he do this when his sister was bound to see them?
“No date at all,” I said, searching for the little card and only finding one with my name on it and no sender.
“Well, they’re gorgeous,” she said, before turning around.
I shoved the arrangement to the corner of my desk and tried not to focus on them, but the thought of the weird texts and phone calls that I’d recently received made me a little uneasy. But I was sure these came from Aaron. The timing was too impeccable and I was just being a worrier, reading too many thrillers late at night.
I heard a male’s voice calling for me down the way and almost panicked mistaking the tone for Aaron’s. This pins and needles thing was really getting tiresome. Decker came into view, and my insides did a conflicting tumble as disappointment and relief duked it out.
“Hey, Brandy. You doing okay?” he teased, leaning over the cubicle.
Decker transferred to our division around the same time as I arrived, and I enjoyed his sense of humor. His dark hair, chiseled features, and hazel eyes weren’t bad to look at either.
“Yeah. Why?” I glanced back at my email to see if any new messages arrived and it looked all clear.
“You kind of look like you saw a ghost.”
“Just got a random email that was meant for spam.”
Decker started laughing, and I couldn’t help but notice how strong his forearms looked in the rolled-up shirt he wore. “Some of those can be pretty spicy. Just don’t click on them…whatever you do.”
“I’ll try to remember that.” I grinned.
Why couldn’t I be into Decker? He�
�s available, friendly, and hot…in a newly-minted college graduate kind of way. Aaron, however, exuded an entirely different persona. He was full of confidence, and he wasn’t that much older than Decker. Somehow, Aaron’s mannerisms conveyed an entirely enticing way of thinking and being. I also had to admit to myself the deception was a little intriguing, which added mystery in a way that wasn’t explainable…
And shame on me!
I had done great all last week.
“I was just checking to see if you’d like to do lunch? A new pizza place opened up that offers lunch specials by the slice.” Decker smiled, and I noticed the flicker of more behind his eyes.
“Totally. What time you wanna head out?”
“11:30 work?”
“Perfect.” I gave him a quick wave and watched him wander back to where his cubicle was hidden.
Exactly what I needed. I turned my attention back to the file I was organizing that contained everyone’s itineraries as Gabby came out of her office beaming. I couldn’t help but smile. There was no way I was envious of her, only confused about my own choices.
“Nice conversation about cheese?” I teased.
She leaned over my cubicle, a dreamy expression plastered on her face as she rested her elbows on the plastic wall.
“There is something so familiar about Jason. Like we can talk for hours and it never gets old.”
“Sounds like how it’s supposed to be,” I reminded her.
“I know I’m still in the honeymoon stage, but I hope that it never ends.”
“Something tells me it never will.”
“Wanna do lunch today?” Gabby asked.
“I would but Decker just asked. You want to come with us?”
She smiled and nodded knowingly. “No. I don’t want to be the third wheel.”
“It’s not like that,” I whispered. “It’s totally professional.”
She shrugged, still grinning. “Listen, who knows when and where love will…”
“Enough.” I shook my head. “Not happening with Decker.”
“Well, when that attraction does happen, don’t ignore it, my friend. We’ve only got one shot at this life.” She patted her chest where her borrowed heart resided, and I had to push down the lump that formed in my throat. She really did have a different view of things than most.
Spring Fling Trio- Beyond Love Starter Set Page 30
