“I’ll take that as a no.” Adam nodded at the doorman who let them pass and trained a firm eye on Ellie. “You know, it occurs to me that maybe we need to stop dicking around. Be a bit choosier.”
Before Braden could reply to that uncharacteristic comment, Ellie turned to them and grabbed hold of Adam’s arm. “What are you two whispering about?”
Adam shook his head, smiling tenderly at her. “Shop talk.”
Braden stared at his wee sister and best friend, warring between hitting Adam for even contemplating going there with Ellie, and reluctantly wondering if they might not be bloody perfect for each other. He wasn’t ready to deal with the idea.
“There’s Joss.” Ellie’s eyes lit up as they stepped into the low-lit space, their gazes moving to the bar area that was situated lower than the main floor. Four ridiculously misplaced steps led down to it. Drunken people must love that, Braden thought.
Club 39 was pretty quiet and Jocelyn and her male colleague were standing relaxed behind the bar with their backs to them, deep in discussion. As they grew closer, Braden’s body tensed at the cocky smile the bartender threw Jocelyn. Braden knew that cocky smile. It was his own ‘let’s fuck’ smile.
The bartender leaned into Jocelyn. “I’m bored. Want to shag me in the men’s toilets?”
A fierce wave of possessiveness hit Braden out of nowhere and he made a noise in the back of his throat, drawing Adam’s curious gaze. He didn’t look at his friend. His eyes blazed into the back of Jocelyn’s head, willing her to tell this idiot to piss off.
Before she could, Ellie suddenly piped up. “Well? Do you?”
Sometimes little sisters really were a pain in the arse.
Jocelyn spun around but Braden’s attention was on her colleague. Heavy disappointment filled his gut as it occurred to him that this colleague might in fact—no, probably was—Jocelyn’s boyfriend.
She had a boyfriend.
Shit.
“Um… what are you doing here?” She asked in that husky voice of hers. That’s all it took to capture Braden’s focus.
Double shit.
Her uniform was sexy. Simple but effective. A low-cut white tank top with Club 39 scrawled across the right breast. It nipped and tucked in all the right places, showcasing Jocelyn’s magnificent breasts and neat little waist.
He felt his skin tingle with the familiar heat she incited in him.
Braden was vaguely aware of Ellie answering Jocelyn’s question but he was preoccupied. Jocelyn had a boyfriend. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this disappointed.
“Adam is Braden’s best friend.” The amusement in Ellie’s voice drew Braden’s gaze. Her laughter filled the bar area as she glanced back at Jocelyn. “I would introduce you to Braden, but I believe you’ve already… met.” Struggling to stop his mouth twitching at Ellie’s perverse enjoyment of the situation, Braden turned an impassive gaze on Jocelyn. She narrowed her stunning eyes on him.
“You told her,” she accused as if he’d somehow betrayed her.
And yet, Braden wasn’t the one hiding the fact he wasn’t available.
“Told her what?” Adam asked, completely confused by Ellie’s hysterics.
Watching his sister giggle, and enjoying Jocelyn’s discomfort more than he should, Braden smirked and assessed Jocelyn’s reaction as he replied, “That I walked in on Jocelyn when she was wandering around the flat naked.”
“No,” she bit out, her eyebrows drawn together in annoyance. The lady was one furious little bundle of hotness. “I was coming out of the bathroom looking for a towel.”
“He saw you naked?” Her colleague/boyfriend scowled at her.
It was fun to irritate Jocelyn but Braden wouldn’t take the incident yesterday so far as to cause her problems in her relationship.
Attempting to be as civil and as friendly as he could towards the bloke lucky enough to have Jocelyn Butler in his bed, Braden held out his hand to shake the bartender’s. “Braden Carmichael. Nice to meet you. I have a girlfriend. I wasn’t putting the moves on yours.”
“Oh, Joss isn’t my girlfriend.”
The amount of relief those words produced disconcerted the hell out of Braden.
“Not for my lack of trying.” He grinned down at Jocelyn and Braden itched to tell him to back the fuck off.
Jesus, he couldn’t remember the last time a woman made him this territorial.
“Customer.” Jocelyn pointed to a girl who’d approached the other end of the bar and seemed to slump with relief as her colleague sauntered away from them. He studied her reaction, wondering what it meant. Was this guy harassing her? Tension rippled through his entire body as he saw the disconcertion on her face. He felt an overwhelming need to protect this warrior woman, this seemingly strong, independent woman with perpetual sadness behind the eyes.
“Not your boyfriend?” Ellie leaned against the bar. “Really? Why not? He’s cute. And he certainly thinks you’re hot.”
Hmm.
“He’s a walking sexually transmitted disease,” Joss answered as she rubbed down the bar with a dishrag. Braden was gratified to realize she seemed to mean it but was still concerned by the bartender’s aggressive flirting. Was it making Joss uncomfortable at work?
“Does he always talk to you like that?” Braden asked.
“He doesn’t mean anything by it,” she assured him.
“Oh man, that break surely wasn’t ten minutes.” The interruption came in the form of a tall, gorgeous girl with long, straight strawberry blonde hair as she appeared in the doorway behind the bar. Braden’s eyes flicked over her as a silent exchange happened between her and Jocelyn—she smiled at Jocelyn and blew her a kiss. Catching sight of Braden, the tall blonde turned and leaned against the bar, her stunning green eyes shimmering happily in the light as she greedily drank him in. “And what do we have here?”
As Ellie introduced herself, the girl offered a polite greeting before eyeing Braden expectantly. He was used to her kind of forwardness, and with her tall, slender body and perfect face, she was also exactly his type.
Correction. Used to be his type.
Braden had no interest in her. His body didn’t even have any interest in her.
There was only one person he was interested in.
“Braden.” He nodded at the girl before turning his attention to Jocelyn. His gaze fell on her lips. He loved her plump mouth. It made him think of very, very bad things.
“Braden Carmichael?” the girl asked, interrupting his hot thoughts about Joss. He reluctantly turned to the newcomer and almost flinched.
Shit. She knew who he was. There may as well have been pound signs dancing in her irises. Not that Braden wasn’t used to it or even bothered by it. It was the way of the world. He just didn’t have time for it tonight and was in no mood to fend her off.
“Oh my God. You own Fire.”
“Fire?” Jocelyn asked. Her curious tone pleased Braden.
“The club on Victoria Street,” the girl supplied for him. “You know, just off the Grassmarket.” She smiled prettily at him. Braden was immune.
“I do,” he answered her non-question out of politeness, hoping his tone suggested more questions were not welcome. He checked his watch to emphasize his disinterest.
Apparently, it didn’t work. “I love that place,” she gushed, leaning over the bar to draw his attention to her pretty chest. “Maybe we could go together sometime? I’m Jo, by the way.” She giggled falsely and their eyes met. Braden saw a flicker of exhaustion in the back of hers. If anything could make a man cold, that was it. He didn’t know what Jo’s game was, that she’d flirt with him when she had little energy for it. ‘Gold digger’ seemed the most likely answer. ‘Trouble’ was the second. He had enough of the latter in the sexy American standing right next to her.
Braden nudged Ellie, wanting out of there even if it meant leaving Jocelyn but she was too busy talking to Adam to see the impatience written all over her brother’s face. Fuck.
Braden’s only excuse was Holly and yet he found himself reluctant to remind Jocelyn of Holly’s existence. Watching his American’s reaction, he shrugged apologetically at Jo. “I have a girlfriend.”
“So leave her at home,” came Jo’s saucy reply.
Bloody hell.
“Ellie, didn’t you say you guys were meeting someone?” Jocelyn asked loudly, rescuing Braden from having to reply to Jo’s impudence.
“What?” Ellie asked, confused at being abruptly interrupted from her conversation with Adam.
Amusement and gratitude rushed through Braden as Jocelyn gave Ellie a pointed look.
Ellie’s gaze switched from Jocelyn to Jo and she immediately recognized the predatory look on the young women’s face. His sister nodded and shot him an apologetic look. “Oh yes, we better leave.”
“Don’t you—” thankfully he’d never know what Jo would ask because her male colleague yelled down the bar for her help. With one last wistful but weary look, Jo wandered down the bar to assist him.
“Sorry.” Ellie bit her lip in sympathy. Braden waved off her unnecessary apology and stepped back, gesturing for her to take the lead out of the club.
“Bye, Joss.” She waved at her flatmate, smiling brightly. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Braden recognized the affection in Ellie’s expression. She was already growing attached to the young American. He could only hope Jocelyn deserved her regard. More than anything, Braden wanted this woman to deserve it. For both his and Ellie’s sake. He wanted it so much, the strength of it took him aback.
As Adam led Ellie out of the bar, Braden watched Jocelyn smile goodbye. Her gaze lingered on his sister and friend for a moment, and then she visibly stiffened before her eyes met Braden’s. Something visceral sparked between. They really had to do something about that.
Taking a step toward the bar, Braden left nothing out of his expression hoping it would incur a reaction and force her to reveal how she felt about him. “Thanks for the rescue.”
“Not a problem. Jo’s a sweetheart, and she doesn’t mean any harm… but she’s a blatant gold digger.
He merely nodded, having surmised that for himself.
Silence fell between them as they stared at one another, the tension thickening in Braden’s blood as Jocelyn’s lips parted. It as though she felt a little breathless. Her mouth mesmerized him and he fought the sudden urge to drag her across the bar so he could taste her. When Braden eventually gained control over the impulse, he lifted his eyes to hers and found her expression had transformed.
She was angry.
Angry about their attraction? He had no idea. All he knew was that he somehow had the ability to make this woman squirm, and damn if that didn’t do his ego some good. Braden grinned and stepped away from the bar.
“What?” Jocelyn scowled at him. He wanted to press a kiss to her brow to smooth it clear.
But in that moment Jocelyn didn’t need sweet from him. Sweet would send a woman like her packing. What she needed was shoved off her high horse and into his arms, and the only way he could think to do that was to annoy the hell out of her. School playground tactics. It got a reaction at least. “I don’t know what I like better…” he stroked his chin in thought, “the naked you, or you in that tank top. D’s right?”
Braden waited, the laughter bubbling up inside of him as it took Jocelyn a moment to work out what he was referring to. He knew the moment she realized he meant her bra cup size because her lips pinched. Then she threw a dishrag at him.
Braden laughed, dodging it. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Still chuckling, he turned and left the bar before she could verbally respond.
He enjoyed having the last word. Mostly because he suspected that him having the last word would niggle at her for the rest of the night. And if Jocelyn Butler spent the rest of the night thinking about him, well… Braden was more than happy about that.
4
Braden’s POV – For Ellie & Jocelyn
ON DUBLIN STREET
It would be unbearable to lose either of them, Braden thought, standing in the doorway to his sister’s bedroom, and it didn’t seem possible he could lose them both.
His eyes swept over Ellie and Jocelyn as they laid sleeping together, heads tucked into each other, their hands held tight. Even now he could see the tear tracks on both their faces.
Braden’s chest burned with an ache so deep and dark it took all the strength within him to push back at the ache, to tell it to fuck off. He wasn’t ready to grieve.
Yesterday, he’d been delivered the worst news of his life when the doctor told his wee sister she had a tumor in her brain. That they wouldn’t know more for another twenty-four hours horrified him. When the possibility of losing someone you loved hung in the air, twenty-four hours might as well have been twenty-four years.
The whole time sitting in the cab with Ellie as he took her home, holding her small hand in his, he’d held it together for her. He held it together for her even after Jocelyn stormed out of the flat, leaving them to deal with the news alone. He’d held it together right up until Jocelyn had broken up with him hours later, so paralyzed by her own fucking issues and fear she’d selfishly trampled all over him to keep herself safe.
For a moment there he’d even believed her when she told him she didn’t love him.
Until he knocked on Elodie Nichols door and she led him inside. Ellie’s mum had always been a surrogate mother to him. She’d been there for him when his dad passed away leaving him angry and bitter that there hadn’t been enough time to rectify their relationship. She’d been there for him when Analise betrayed him with Gavin, making him feel like a fool for the first time in his life, not only because he’d been blinded by her, but because in the end he’d married a woman he lusted after more than he loved.
And now Elodie had been there for him again when he finally couldn’t hold it together anymore. For the first time since his father had died, Braden shed silent tears while Elodie stroked his back and offered him her counsel. Growing up, Braden had had no one. It was a lonely childhood with a negligent mother who didn’t love him and a controlling father who had no time for him until he’d reached his teens.
Then Ellie had come along when he was seven. Elodie had tried from the very beginning to be kind to him, but he was wary of women because of his mother. Ellie was a different story altogether. As soon as Douglas had impatiently put a baby Ellie into Braden’s young arms and introduced her as his little sister, Braden had claimed her as his family. His only family. From that point on he’d been there to teach her, to protect her, and to love her. She was one of his best friends. His mission in life had been to watch over her, shielding her from the world’s hurt, shielding her from their father’s indifference. And she loved him with a pure and utter adoration that an unloved young boy had needed. He truly believed Ellie and Adam had saved him. Moreover, over the years, Elodie’s unwavering affection toward him broke through Braden’s protective armor, and he had more to thank Ellie for—for giving him Elodie, and eventually Clark, too.
Els was a part of him. She was in his blood, in every breath— a basic, essential part of his very being. The thought of losing her was agonizing. But he had to be strong for her, because as terrified as he was, he knew she must be a million times more so.
With Elodie, he could finally break. They could break together.
Braden Carmichael was not a man to shed tears, nor a man who easily let his emotions show. He had too much of his father’s arrogant pride in him. But he wasn’t embarrassed to shed tears with Elodie. Not for Els.
After he’d wiped the tears from his face, he’d told Elodie in a hoarse voice everything that happened with Jocelyn. He didn’t have to say it out loud for her to know that his heart was shattered. The pain Analise had caused him with her defection was nothing compared to the furious grief Jocelyn’s retreat had caused.
Then as t
hey talked it over, as Elodie gave him her perspective, the emotions of the day began to grow calmer, and Braden saw everything that little bit more clearly.
He’d been right the first time with Jocelyn. She loved him. He knew that deep in his bones. There was no way he could feel so much for her and not have that reciprocated. It was the kind of love that could only come with truly knowing someone, and Jocelyn wasn’t the kind of woman that let anyone truly know her unless she loved that person.
She loved Ellie.
She loved him.
So gone was the loss and back was the pure anger.
Anger he had to keep tight to his chest for a little longer so he could make sure his sister got through this bloody awful day.
Quietly, trying his hardest not to look at the grief etched into Jocelyn’s sleeping, beautiful face, Braden walked over to his sister’s side of the bed. Unfortunately, his eyes strayed to his girlfriend (he would not call her his ex-girlfriend) as she clung to his sister in her sleep.
Compassion nudged at the ache his chest.
Jocelyn was too young to have lost so much. A mother, a father, a sister and a best friend. And now she was facing the possibility of losing another. It was ridiculous. It was a colossally sick joke. He got it. She was terrified. Terrified if she admitted she loved him and something happened to him, she’d be fate’s bitch all over again.
He got it.
So why didn’t she get that he loved her and he wasn’t going anywhere if he could help it. Why didn’t she get that right now his world was coming apart at the seams, too, and he needed her.
Pushing his frustration aside, Braden gently nudged Ellie awake.
Her eyes, eyes that matched his own, opened slowly and he tried not to inhale sharply at the redness in them, at the bleakness in the depths of them. Braden wished he could do something. He wished this were happening to him instead of her. Not to Els— one of the kindest, warmest, sweetest gift life had ever given him.
ON DUBLIN STREET: THE BONUS MATERIAL Page 3
