“No. I even tried Emma, but she’s tight-lipped too. I have no idea what’s going on. I was just told I had to be there at seven, and there was no way I was bailing on you again, so I invited you to come with me.”
“Invited me? Is that how you see it?” I challenged.
When Seth had asked me to come with him tonight, he’d been so super sweet it was impossible to say no. Not that I really wanted to anyway. He’d been busy drying his hair off with a towel when his phone rang on his shirt. When he’d bent down to pick it up, I had to rub my thighs together to try and ease the ache. It’d been hard enough keeping my hormones in check watching him trying to surf, seeing him trail his towel across his shoulders and down his abs was pure torture. Beautiful, unrelenting, torture.
Then when he stuttered, stumbling over his words, I knew I was agreeing with whatever he asked.
“I know you probably had plans for dinner already…” he began, slinging his towel over his shoulder. “But…”
“But you’ve gotta cancel?” I’d cut him off. Seeing the way my words affected him made me feel like shit.
“I don’t want to. And I’m hoping you’ll come with me so I don’t have to. I’m just wondering how set in concrete your plans are?”
Feeling like I had to give him something, I confessed quickly. “Plans are one hundred percent flexible. I was going to suggest fish and chips.”
“So, you wouldn’t mind coming with me to my brother’s instead?”
“Wait! What?”
“Bryce rang. Something’s up. I have to go to his place, and I want you to come with me.” Seth shrugged like it was no big deal. It was a big deal. A huge fucking deal actually.
“What! No! I can’t go to your brother’s house.”
“Please, Claire. Come with me. I don’t wanna cancel again.”
“It’s fine. We can just reschedule.”
“Or…you could come with me?”
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” I confirmed already knowing the answer. The look on his face said it all.
“You ready for this?” Seth asked, turning into the driveway of an incredible house and bringing me back into the moment.
“No,” I answered softly.
“You’ll be fine. Bryce is an arse, but Emma’s cool.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t necessarily believe him, it was more that I was nervous. I barely knew anything about Seth yet, something I was more and more interested in learning and here I was, about to meet his brother. I didn’t think I was ready for this. Fuck! I knew I wasn’t ready for this.
“Let’s go and get this over with. Maybe we can get out of here quickly and go find some ice cream.”
It was like Seth said the magic word. Ice cream. My biggest vice and worst craving and he’d unwittingly woken the beast. Now all I’d be thinking about for the rest of the night was getting a scoop of my favourite vanilla macadamia ice cream in a waffle cone. If I vagued out, it was all Seth’s fault, and I wasn’t even sorry.
Sliding out of Seth’s car, I tugged down my dress again only to look up to find Seth eye-fucking me. At least I think he was. I was quickly developing a love-hate relationship with his aviators. From the way he was licking his lips I thought he was checking out my legs, but I couldn’t see his eyes.
Without a word, he reached down, tangled his fingers with mine, and led me up the stairs. He didn’t even knock, instead he just pushed through the front door, calling out as we stepped inside the mayhem.
Entering the beautiful home, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Seth had told me his brother was a football player, not that I needed to be told. I knew exactly who Bryce Masters was and what he looked like. I wasn’t religious, but I’d worshiped at the altar of AFL more than once, and Bryce Masters was a key figure. He was one of Sydney’s poster boys for the sport, and as we rounded the corner I came face to face with the other. Hunter Mitchell was hot. There was no other way to describe him. Tall, lean, and with a beautiful baby, sound asleep against his chest. My ovaries exploded. If it was possible to get pregnant just by seeing something, then I was knocked up with triplets.
“We’re here!” Seth announced.
“Shhh!” Bryce said, narrowing his eyes at his brother. “Piper’s only just gone to sleep.”
“Sorry,” Seth apologised.
“You’re here!” a bubbly woman exclaimed, coming into the lounge room carrying a tray full of mini party pies, sausage rolls, and crispy spring rolls.
“Yeah, wanna tell me why?”
“First, how ’bout you introduce me to your girlfriend…”
“Friend,” I blurted out rudely.
“Seth?” She eyed him warily.
“Emma, this is Claire. Claire, Emma. Emma’s Bryce’s better half.”
“Damn right I am,” she replied with a wink. “How are you, Claire?”
“I’m good. Thanks for having me,” I replied, remembering my manners.
“Absolutely no trouble at all. Has Stiffy introduced you to everyone yet?” Emma asked, setting the tray down on the coffee table.
“Stiffy?”
“Ah. Guessing Seth didn’t let you in on that little secret yet.”
“Emma! Did you have to?” Seth whined, grabbing a sausage roll and taking a big bite before bouncing around like an idiot, fanning his face because it’d burnt his tongue.
“Hey, Em?” a voice called out from somewhere in the house.
“Coming,” she replied before she started to scurry away only to stop and turn back to us. “Seth?”
“Yeah?”
“Get Claire a drink.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” he replied cheekily, pretending to tip his hat.
“Don’t be a dork. The good bubbles are in the pantry fridge.”
“On it.”
Taking my hand in his, Seth led me through the house, and I wasn’t sure where to look first. Everything was amazing. The ceilings were high, the lounge looked soft and luxurious and the perfect spot for a winter afternoon nap, and then Seth led me around the corner and my jaw hit the floor.
I don’t know which I liked more—my dream kitchen or the pool beyond the huge open doors. The kitchen was all marble and shiny, stainless steel. The huge island bench was buried beneath platters of finger food, chopping boards, and utensils while cute little trinkets lined the windowsill. It was every chef’s dream, and that was even before I stepped into the walk-in pantry.
When I paused, Seth turned back to me, a worried look on his face. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“You sure?”
“I’m never leaving.”
“Huh?”
“Seth, this place is incredible. The kitchen alone would have me offering to move in just to be the cook and maid.”
With a relieved chuckle, Seth exhaled. “Don’t let Bryce hear you say that. He might just take you up on that offer.”
“What offer?” Bryce’s head poked around the corner.
“It was nothing,” I brushed it off feeling incredibly awkward.
“Claire’s in love with your house. She’s decided she’s going to move in just to cook in your kitchen. I tried to tell her that meant living with your ugly arse, but…”
Ignoring Seth, Bryce winked at me before threading his arm through mine. “Well then, Claire, let me show you around.”
“You don’t have to…” I started to protest.
“Nonsense. If you’re moving in, then you’re going to need to know where to go. Oh, and, Seth, I’ll take a beer while you’re getting drinks.”
Seth grumbled something under his breath, and I let Bryce lead me from the pantry out through the massive glass doors onto the entertaining area, and I knew I wasn’t leaving. Stretched out in the distance you could see the beach, and up closer, the sound of the waterfall as it trickled down splashing in the pool was the most calming sound in the world.
“It’s pretty cool,” Bryce offered.
“It’s heaven,” I admitted qui
etly under my breath.
When I turned around to face him, I saw Bryce was watching me and not everything that was going on around him. I don’t know why. Compared to the palm trees, beds of thick green bushes, and lush green lawn, I was nothing to look at. And that was before you took in the gigantic pink flamingo floating on the crystal-clear water of the pool.
“So, how long have you and Seth been…” He let his words trail away.
“Oh, we’re not,” I clarified quickly. “We’re just friends.”
“Friends?”
“Yeah. I kinda pulled him out of the surf the other day, and we’ve been hanging out since.” I hated feeling like I had to justify myself, but the last thing I needed right now was a misunderstanding.
“Wait! What? You pulled him out of the surf,” someone asked from behind me, and I turned to find the sexy as fuck Hunter Mitchell standing behind me.
It wasn’t fair. Like seriously. This dream home was filled with sexy as sin guys and I never wanted to leave.
“Ah. Yeah.”
“Why?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“No. He didn’t,” Bryce growled, looking over my shoulder presumably for Seth whose neck he looked like he wanted to wring.
“Bryce! It’s time,” someone, I assumed Emma called out.
“Come on inside. Let’s get this over with,” he grumbled before ushering Hunter and I back in the door, my eyes plastered on Hunter’s taut arse.
When someone nudged me, I turned and saw a woman with the cutest little pixie haircut standing beside me. “It’s a nice butt, hey?”
Oh. Fuck me. I’d been caught checking out Hunter Mitchell’s arse. Kill me now.
“I…I…” I had no words.
I should apologise. I really should. But I wasn’t actually sorry. Not in the slightest.
“Don’t sweat it. You’re not the only one who does that.”
“I’m not?”
“Not at all. I’m Sienna, by the way. Hunter’s wife.”
10
Seth
Claire looked spooked. Like she was getting ready to bolt, but before I had a chance to make it to her side to find out what bullshit my idiot brother had been filling her head with, I heard Mum’s voice. Spinning around, I saw Mum and Dad covering Bryce’s entire sixty-five-inch television. While Mum looked nervous, Dad was shovelling corn chips into his mouth by the handful.
“Bryce!”
“Geez, Mum! You don’t have to yell. We can hear you,” Bryce replied, rubbing his ear.
“Yeah, and we can mute you too,” I added.
“Right. Now everyone’s here,” Bryce began looking sweaty and nervous as Emma moved towards him and slipped under his arm. “The reason we wanted to get everyone together tonight was to tell you all at once that…”
“You’re retiring?”
“Emma’s leaving your sorry arse?” Hunter taunted.
Unable to stop myself from getting in on the act. “Yeah, for a younger, better-looking version?”
Not to be outdone, Dad chimed in. “Or an older more distinguished model?”
“You’re all a bunch of arseholes,” Bryce reminded us. Like we needed reminding. “But no. We’re pregnant.”
Mum squealed. Dad rubbed his ear. Sienna jumped up and down on the spot. And I couldn’t stop grinning.
“That’s awesome, man,” I moved towards Bryce before wrapping him in a bro hug.
“Yeah well, before you all get too excited, we should probably tell you the rest,” Bryce’s words silenced the room.
“The rest?” The worry was thick in Mum’s voice.
Beside me, Claire sunk into the lounge chair and sipped her champagne. Part of me felt like an arse for bringing her, but on the other hand, I was really glad she was here.
“We’re actually having twins,” Emma filled in the gaps.
“Twins?” Sienna squawked, and Hunter just shook his head. I guess he was used to the two of them by now.
“Yeah. The IVF worked a little better than we were hoping and well, yeah. Twins.”
After the excitement died down and congratulations exchanged, I headed out and sat by the pool waiting for dinner. I was starving. Sure, I’d been stuffing myself on chips, dip, and cheeses since we’d arrived, but now Bryce had the barbeque going, all I could smell was meat and onions. Emma and Sienna had commandeered Claire, and God only knows what bullshit they were telling her, I didn’t even want to know.
“What’s wrong?” Bryce asked, dropping onto the step beside me.
“Nothing.”
“You excited about being an uncle?”
“Sure.”
“That wasn’t very convincing. Wanna try again?”
“What does an uncle even do?”
I had no idea. What was he expecting from me? What did he think I was going to do? He was the one having a kid. Or kids. I’d buy them noisy toys, feed them junk food then give them back to their parents. Until they could run around and kick a ball, I had nothing. God, I hoped he had boys. I might not have a clue what to do with a kid, but I had even less idea if it was a girl.
“An uncle loves them. He protects them. He watches out for them when I’m not there.” Bryce shrugged casually. He seemed so calm about it. It was freaking me out.
“Yeah, I can do that,” I confirmed. If that was all he wanted, I could do that. I’d be the best damn uncle those kids could ever wish for.
“I know you can,” Bryce confirmed, slapping me on the back.
“I didn’t even know you were trying,” I admitted, feeling bad. If they’d ended up going down the IVF route, something I had no clue about but I knew it wasn’t easy, or cheap, then it wasn’t their first option.
“Yeah, well,” Bryce ran his hand through his messy hair, “we didn’t want to tell anyone in case it didn’t work. The first time…”
“Wait! What? This isn’t the first time?”
“Nah. It’s our third. But you know what?”
“What?”
“It doesn’t even matter anymore. Emma and our babies are healthy, and as long as they stay that way, then everything is all good in my world.”
“Fair call.”
“And speaking of the women in our lives…Claire?” He left his question hanging. I think he was hoping I’d fill in the blanks and give him the details. Idiot.
“Claire is…” Looking over my shoulder, I saw her sitting at the bench, sipping a glass of wine, her head thrown back as she laughed at something Sienna was saying. “Absolutely none of your business,” I finished, pushing off the step and heading inside towards them.
“And what are you ladies laughing at?” I asked, eyeing the three of them warily.
“None of your business,” Emma told me. “How’s dinner coming along?”
“Depends if Bryce cremates it or serves it while it’s still edible.” I shrugged.
“I better go check on him.” Emma huffed, and all I could do was laugh. I guess she’d been served one of Bryce’s dried, charcoaled steaks before.
After dinner I managed to extract Claire from Emma’s clutches and shoo her out the door. Not before they exchanged numbers and promised to be besties for life. Women! I didn’t understand them and I was pretty sure I never would.
I waited until we were in the car and back on the road before I asked, “Okay. On a scale of one to ten, how bad was that?”
“How bad was what?” Claire replied, and I wasn’t sure if she was yanking my chain or not.
“Dinner at my brother’s. Sorry. I had no idea that’s what we were going to be walking into. I mean, the babies, my parents on TV. Hunter. I know it’s a lot.”
“Are you sorry you brought me?”
“Should I be?”
Claire went quiet, and I assumed that meant I’d fucked up. I should’ve known better than to force her to go through that shit, but the truth was I couldn’t get out of it and the last thing I wanted to do was bail on her, so this was the best I could do.
I rolled to a stop at the traffic lights and looked over at her. Fuck she was hot. I don’t know what it was exactly that had me on my knees, but there was something about Claire. Maybe it was because it was just so easy. She wasn’t easy, but being with her was. Maybe it was because of the way we met. She hadn’t been trying to get into my wallet, but instead trying to keep me alive.
“Depends,” she taunted.
“On?”
“I’m pretty sure you promised me dessert.”
This chick was evil. While I stared at her like an idiot, she pointed out the windscreen. “Light’s green.”
Damn it!
Why was it when I wanted to look cool and impress her, I ended up somehow making myself like the world’s biggest chump? Maybe it was just how talented I was.
The song changed on the stereo and next thing I knew, I had front row seats to Claire’s one-woman show. There were dance moves I wasn’t entirely sure should be legal, singing so bad it’d offend dogs, and even some dashboard drumming. Chuckling to myself, I headed for home.
Forty minutes later, I somehow managed to snag a park on the main road along the beach. It was late, and there weren’t many people around, but up on the corner, the front of the building was lined with smokers, getting their nicotine fix while the music from the upstairs club pounded out into the night air.
“Ice cream work for you?” I asked Claire as I killed the ignition.
“We don’t have to…”
“Sure, we do. I promised you dessert and I’m a man of my word. But it’s pretty late so our options are ice cream or we go down to the servo and see if they have any donuts left.”
“Ice cream. Definitely ice cream.”
Walking down the street beside Claire was hard. I was hard. I wanted to reach down and take her hand in mine but started second guessing myself. Stepping into the ice cream parlour, the dude behind the counter heaved an annoyed sigh and set his phone down. He was obviously over it and wishing he was somewhere else. Anywhere else. We ordered our ice cream cones, strawberry for me and death by chocolate for Claire before arguing over who was paying. If Claire thought for a second that I was about to let her pay, she’d soon learn. It mightn’t be the old days where the guy was expected to open car doors and pick up the tab, but my mum taught me manners. Manners she’d kick my arse if she found out I forgot.
Rookie (Playing The Field Book 2) Page 6
