by Lauren Rowe
I’m in total shock right now. I knew Jonas was head over heels in love with Sarah, but I had no idea he was ready to marry her.
“You’re sure, Jonas?” I ask.
“Never been more sure of anything in my life.”
“That’s awesome, bro,” I say, my heart racing. “Does she know?”
“No,” Jonas says, suddenly looking anxious. “Am I supposed to ask her if I can ask her?”
I laugh. “No, Jonas, you dumbshit,” I say. “That’s not what I meant. I’m just saying if you’re gonna surprise the girl, then make sure you blow her socks off. This is the story she’s gonna be telling her grandkids one day. So don’t fuck it up.”
Jonas nods, but I’ve clearly put the fear of God into him.
I lean back in my chair, my mind reeling. I can’t believe it. My brother’s gonna ask a girl to marry him. And not just any girl. Sarah Fucking Cruz—a badass of epic proportions. A girl who doesn’t take any of his shit. A girl with a heart of pure gold.
All of a sudden, I feel an overwhelming surge of relief flooding my body. Jonas is gonna have a wife. Holy shit. Someone to love him forever—and someone for him to love in return. He’ll finally have someone (besides me) to take care of him, to listen to him, to rein him in when his thoughts start spiraling out of control. And he’ll finally have someone besides me to tell him he’s a beast every fucking day of his life.
If Sarah says yes, that is.
Oh my God. I clutch my chest. Sarah Cruz had better say yes to my brother. Oh, please, God, let that woman say yes. Let her look past Jonas’ fuckeduppedness and stupidity and constant Plato-izing and see what I see—the greatest guy in the whole fucking world.
“You’ve got to get a huge-ass ring,” I blurt. “So big, it sears her fucking corneas.”
Jonas nods. “Well, duh.”
“You say that but you weren’t already planning to do that, were you?”
“Yes, I was. I was already planning to get her a diamond so big she needs a wheelbarrow to carry it around.”
Uncle William laughs. “Good boy. He’s got it handled, Josh. Now leave the poor boy alone. Jonas loves her. He’ll do it right.”
“No, Jonas can’t be trusted to do this right,” I say defiantly. “If this were a business deal, sure, he’d be all over it and I wouldn’t say a goddamned thing. But this is a girl. Left to his own devices, he’ll do some crazy-ass metaphor that’ll either scare her or bore her to tears.”
Uncle William laughs and Jonas scowls at me.
“So what’s your big plan for the proposal, Jonas?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest. “Because it’s got to be rock solid, man, I’m telling you—it’s got to be a homerun. There’s absolutely no room for failure.”
Jonas runs his hand through his hair. “Jesus, you’re freaking me out. I thought I had the perfect idea, and now you’re making me doubt myself.”
I’m practically hyperventilating. If Sarah says yes, then she’ll live with him. In his house. Forever. Which means she’ll always be there to keep Jonas on track and make him laugh and, most importantly, I won’t have to worry about him anymore. Or, well, at least, not nearly as much as I currently do.
“Dude, listen to me,” I say, my voice spiking with sudden urgency. “We’ve got to pull out all the stops—trick Sarah into saying yes.”
Jonas looks indignant. “Fuck you. I don’t need to trick her.” He looks at Uncle William, apparently hoping for a little backup, but Uncle William doesn’t say anything. “Well…I’ve tricked her pretty well so far, haven’t I?” Jonas says, and we all laugh.
Sarah enters the dining room and Jonas’ entire face lights up like a bonfire.
“Hi, baby,” he says.
“Hi, love,” she replies, returning Jonas’ goofy smile and taking her seat.
Love? Sarah called my brother ‘love’? Oh my fucking God. Sarah Fucking Cruz is gonna say yes. Praise the lord—she’s gonna agree to become Mrs. Faraday. If I were capable of shedding a tear, I’d surely shed one of happiness right now.
Chapter 15
Josh
Dessert and coffee are done. And for the past thirty minutes, Uncle William’s been telling Sarah stories I’ve never heard before about his late wife, Sadie, (a raven-haired beauty who died in a car accident about a year before Jonas and I were born).
“Do you have any photos of her?” Sarah asks.
“Of course,” he says. “I’ve got our entire wedding album upstairs.”
“Oh my gosh,” Sarah breathes, her cheeks flushing. “May I see it?”
“Of course. And I’ve got a whole bunch of pictures of Jonas and Joshua from when they were little I’ll show you, too. You’ll get a kick out of those.”
Sarah squeals. “And do you have photos of yourself as a little boy, too, Uncle William?”
“Sure, I might be able to dig up one or two,” Uncle William says, standing up from the table with Sarah. “Boys? Care to join?”
“Come with us, baby,” Sarah says, holding out her hand to Jonas.
“Sure,” Jonas says smoothly—shocking me for the billionth time today. He takes her hand.
I never would have predicted Jonas would say yes to voluntarily going down memory lane. As Jonas well knows, almost all of Uncle William’s photos of Jonas and me as happy little kids include Dad—and normally, like me, Jonas bends over backwards to avoid seeing a photo of that bastard every bit as much as I do. But, damn, I guess up is down and right is left when my brother’s in the presence of little Miss Sarah Cruz.
Uncle William looks pointedly at me and I shake my head.
“I think I’ll sit on the veranda and look at the Hudson for a bit,” I say.
My reply can’t possibly surprise Uncle William. As far as I’m concerned, if I never see Dad’s face again, it’ll be too soon for me—and Uncle William knows it.
“Okay, son,” Uncle William says softly. “Katya’s got the blue room in the back all ready for you. Just make yourself at home, as usual.”
“Thanks,” I say. “I appreciate it.”
The trio walks toward the far hallway, Sarah’s arm threaded into Uncle William’s.
“I bet Jonas and Josh were the cutest little things,” Sarah says happily.
“Oh, they were adorable little buggers,” Uncle William says, just before they exit the room. “Oh my, did those boys climb every rock and tree and chair and piano. I remember this one time, I found Jonas and Joshua...”
They’re gone.
I smile to myself. I so rarely see Uncle William outside of a business context. I’m not used to seeing him acting like this—so relaxed and nostalgic. I can only assume he’s acting this way thanks to Sarah. Our crew’s fearless leader puts everyone at ease, doesn’t she? Especially my high-strung brother. She’s like aloe vera on a sunburn for Jonas—a soothing balm for his soul. And anyone can see it. Uncle William obviously has.
I didn’t detect even a hint of skepticism about Sarah from Uncle William, not even a whiff he thinks Sarah’s a gold digger. His demeanor toward her has been one-hundred-eighty degrees from the cold way he reacted to Amanda when Jonas brought her here that one and only time—and Jonas had been with Amanda almost a year by then, I’m pretty sure. And now he brings Sarah here after a fraction of that time, and Uncle William falls all over himself to make her feel like part of the family? Wonders never cease.
I get up slowly and stretch, groaning, and then amble toward the French doors leading out to the veranda overlooking the river from on top of the world, patting my stomach as I walk. Damn, I’ve got to start hitting the gym like a madman when I get home. I’ve been a glutton this whole week in Vegas. Shit, especially now that fitness is gonna be my business, I’ve got to kick it up a notch, take a page out of Jonas’ book. I certainly can’t let my stupid brother show me up in the gym. Ha! Oh, fuck, I’m excited. I’m so fucking excited, I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. My awesome life’s about to get a whole lot more awesome. Sayonara, Faraday & Sons, I won�
��t miss you.
I inhale deeply as the cool night air on the veranda hits my face and settle myself into one of the cushioned wicker chairs overlooking the shimmering river in the distance.
I’m just so flabbergasted at today’s turn of events, I can’t process. Jonas is gonna get engaged to a girl he’s basically just met—and Uncle William is thrilled about the idea. Shit, Uncle William just encouraged Jonas to do it. I never would have predicted that in a million-trillion years. And that wasn’t even the first time Uncle William shocked the hell out of me tonight: he absolutely floored me with his reaction when he found out both Jonas and I are leaving Faraday & Sons, too. I thought for sure he’d try to persuade us to stay—maybe talk about honor and obligation and how much it meant to our father to have his sons carry the mantle of Faraday & Sons. But he didn’t say any of it. All he did was look both of us in the eyes and say, “I’m proud of you boys. Always follow your hearts.” I swear to God, wonders never cease.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I grab it and grin at the text message on my screen.
“Hi, Playboy!” Kat’s message says. “Wanted to give you a little update on what your generous donation to the Kat and Hannah Hedonism Fund has bought you!” She adds a string of emojis: red hearts, clapping hands, a champagne bottle, a donkey and handcuffs. I laugh out loud. “We’re having SO MUCH FUN!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you, my dearest, darlingest Playboy!!!! You are the most generous man in the whole wide world! And the sexiest, too!!!!!!! MEOW!” She adds a dog emoji. I don’t know what the fuck that’s supposed to mean, especially in light of her “meow,” but I laugh anyway.
A second message comes in right on the heels of the first one. “Oops. I meant...” She adds a cat emoji. “The dog and cat were right next to each other on the emoji menu and I pressed the wrong one. The cat is me! MEOW! I’m Kitty Kat and this is you.” She adds a muscled arm emoji. “Because you’re so big and strong and sexy!! And together we’re...” She adds an emoji of a fireworks display.
I can’t wipe the smile off my face. Something tells me Kat is drunk-texting right now. And I love it. I’m about to write a reply when I get another message from her.
“And now—dooh-dooh-dooh!!!” Kat writes, followed by a trumpet emoji. “It’s time for a slideshow created especially for you, my dearest, darlingest Playboy with the Heart of Gold! Here you go!”
A photo of Kat and Hannah by the pool, toasting the camera with fruity-looking drinks, hits my screen. Kat’s holding up a white napkin with the message, “THANK YOU, JOSH!” scrawled across it in black ink.
There’s no time to reply. Another photo lands on my screen: Kat and Hannah in fluffy white bathrobes, sitting on an overstuffed white couch, toasting the camera with what looks like ice water. They look like they’re in a spa waiting room. Again, Kat’s got a napkin with a message written across it: “YOU ROCK, JOSHUA WILLIAM FARADAY!”
Another photo. Kat and Hannah draped around a shirtless, greased-up, tanning-bed-muscle guy, all three of them standing under a neon sign that says “Thunder from Down Under.” I laugh out loud at the expressions on the girls’ faces in this shot. They’re both making “O” faces. The writing on Kat’s napkin this time is too lengthy and small to read, so I touch my screen and zoom in on the napkin ’til it’s legible. “This man just impregnated both of us, Josh!” the napkin says. “Your money hard at work!” I burst out laughing.
If the glistening guy in the photo didn’t look so completely gay, I might blanche at this note. But, what am I thinking? Probably not, actually. Kat’s fucking hysterical, no matter what she does. She just kills me. And I must say, Hannah seems to be quite the sidekick for my adorable little terrorist—a great girl through and through. Henn sure thought so when the four of us had a three-hour dinner and then went dancing last night. Talk about instant chemistry—Henn and Hannah clicked like they’d known each other for years. Same sense of humor; same quirky-hipster-cool dorkiness; and, oh my God, what a comedy duo on the dance floor those two turned out to be.
Yet another photo lands on my screen. This time it’s Kat and Hannah sitting at a table in what appears to be a high-end restaurant, holding up wine goblets and a napkin that says, “To Josh Faraday, our generous benefactor!”
I can’t help smiling. I can’t believe this is the same girl who didn’t chase me even once during my last trip to Manhattan a couple weeks ago. She played it so fucking cool that whole week, didn’t she? Doing nothing but replying to my few, brief douchebag-texts to her, always making sure not to say a damned thing to reveal her interest in me. I knew her game, of course—since it was the same game I was playing with her—but, still, it surprised the hell out of me she could hold out so long without revealing a single crack in her hard-to-get armor.
This time, though, the woman’s got no game whatsoever. And I love it. She’s been peppering my inbox with adorable and affectionate texts almost nonstop since even before I boarded my flight for NYC. And I’ve been doing the same to her, pretty much nonstop. I can’t help myself—I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Kat since I kissed her goodbye early this morning and headed to the airport. Man, that was one bed I was sorry to leave.
Another photo lands on my screen. This time, the photo is Kat all by herself, alone in the same bed I left her in this morning. She’s wearing her barely there white tank top and G-string—the same clothes she was wearing this morning when I kissed her goodbye. Her hair’s tousled. Her eyes are half-mast and full of arousal. Man, that’s the look that makes my cock tingle—the same look she gets right after she comes. I’d bet anything she took this photo right after getting herself off—and, hopefully, thinking of me while she did it.
But that’s not even the best part of the photo. The best part, the thing that’s making my heart pound painfully in my chest, is what Kat’s napkin says this time: “Wish you were here.”
“Me, too,” I say aloud into the darkness of the night. In fact, there’s no place I’d rather be than in bed next to Katherine Ulla Morgan. I take a deep breath, my mind smelling her phantom scent all around me. Damn. I miss her.
I touch the button on my phone to call her, my skin buzzing, my heart panging—but before the call connects, the French door behind me opens and Jonas walks onto the veranda. I quickly disconnect the call.
Chapter 16
Josh
“Hey, bro,” I say to Jonas, glancing behind him to see if he’s alone. He is. Good. I’m eager to talk to my brother man-to-man for a bit, just the two of us.
Jonas hands me a bottle of beer and takes the wicker chair next to mine, overlooking the moonlit river. “Uncle William’s moved on to showing Sarah photos of his fly-fishing trips,” Jonas says.
“Aaaah! Run away!” I say.
“As fast as my legs would carry me.”
I take a sip of my beer. “That man sure can talk about fish.”
“He sure can.”
“Even a fish would get sick of Uncle William’s stories about fish,” I say. “They’d be like, ‘Dude. Talk about humans occasionally. Please. You’re hurting my fish-ears.’”
Jonas chuckles. “The man loves his fish.”
“Do fish have ears?” I ask.
“Sort of,” Jonas says. “Fish don’t have traditional ears, but they have ear parts inside their heads that pick up sounds in the water. Functionally, they’re ears, even if not technically so.”
I laugh. “You’re a fount of useless knowledge, Jonas Patrick Faraday.”
He swigs his beer, smiling. “I really am.”
There’s a long beat as we both drink our beers and look out at the spectacular view of the river.
“Uncle William sure handled the news of our double-departure awfully well,” I say. “He shocked the fuck out of me.”
“I know. I thought it’d be like jumping off a cliff to tell him, and it was more like stepping off a curb.”
“It almost seemed like he was expecting it, didn’t it?”
“Totally,” Jon
as agrees. “I had that exact same thought.”
We gaze out at the lights on the Hudson forty floors below for another long moment, drinking our beers.
“I can’t wait to get started building our baby,” Jonas finally says. “I have so many ideas for Climb & Conquer, my head’s been going a mile a minute.”
“As opposed to when?”
Jonas laughs.
“I’m pumped, too,” I say, laughing. “Telling Uncle William felt like getting freed from a lifelong cage.”
“That’s exactly how I felt,” Jonas says. “I feel like I’m floating.”
“Me, too. Exactly. To Climb & Conquer,” I say, holding up my beer. “And to the Faraday twins—two fucking beasts among men.”
“Hear, hear,” Jonas says, clinking my beer with his. “Fuck yeah.”
“Fuck yeah,” I agree.
“I’ll finalize the press release on my flight home. We can release it on Monday.”
“Awesome,” I say.
“Fuck yeah,” Jonas says.
“Fuck yeah.”
We look out at the river for a moment, drinking our beers, each of us apparently lost in our excited thoughts.
“So Uncle William sure took to Sarah right off the bat,” I say.
“Oh my God. You should have seen him when we first got here last night,” Jonas says. “I kept warning Sarah before we arrived not to take it personally if Uncle William was kinda standoffish or super formal, you know?—but he acted like she was his long-lost daughter the minute he laid eyes on her. Just fell totally and completely in love with her.”
I chuckle. “Just like you,” I say.
Jonas grins. “Just like me.”
“Congrats, by the way,” I say. “She’s perfect for you. I don’t know how you managed to find her. She’s a needle in a haystack.”
Jonas beams a smile at me but doesn’t reply.
“So you told her?”
Jonas looks at me funny, obviously not catching my meaning.
“The three little words?” I clarify.
