by Violet Duke
Abby-Bee. He hadn’t called her that since undergrad. She smiled wistfully at the memories the nickname brought back…for about a second before the rest of what he’d just said registered.
She almost spewed out a mouthful of beer in his face.
After two quick blinks, she swore she could hardly recognize the man sitting beside her. Where was her warm, cuddly bear of a best friend? How did this hunk of a man with the scalding hot gaze get in her house?
And what on earth was she going to do with him?
“Brian—”
“Before you try to laugh this off and convince yourself I’m kidding, let me be clear.” He slid his hands through her hair and gently tipped her face up to his. “I want to kiss you at midnight, Abby.” He touched his forehead to hers. “All you have to do is let me.”
It took a while for her brain to register all that he was saying, even longer for her body to make heads and tails of what he was doing. She’d basically just entered a world where red was green and warm was suddenly un-freakin-believably hot.
She pulled back.
But her eyes couldn’t seem to stop staring at his lips. “You can’t kiss me, Brian. At least not how you’re suggesting.” Because I’m still hopelessly in love with your brother. “We’re friends.”
“Best friends,” he agreed.
“Exactly.” Somehow, she didn’t think she was winning this debate.
“Why can’t I kiss my best friend?” he argued back at barely a whisper. “Because she’s an incredible woman I respect, admire, love, and know better than anyone else in the world—the same way she knows me? Or because she’s the woman I’d just as soon cut my own heart out for before ever seeing hurt in any way?” He slid a thumb along her lower lip. “Or is it because she’s the woman who’s scared she might actually want to kiss me as much as I want to kiss her?”
Holy swizzle sticks. She was definitely losing this debate.
GOOD LORD, SHE WAS BEAUTIFUL.
Brian wasn’t blind, he’d always thought so. From the day they’d met, Abby had always been the sweet, gorgeous ‘nice girl’ with the soulful doe eyes, killer curves, and the smile that always made his day. Not classically stunning as Beth had been, but just as captivating in her own unique way. More than that, she had an unparalleled inner beauty and a trademark quirkiness that had immediately drawn him in, catapulted her to the status of his best friend practically from their first conversation.
Honestly, had his heart not been so utterly devoted to Beth every moment of their time together, Brian probably would’ve fallen head over heels for Abby years ago. But the simple fact of the matter was that his heart hadn’t been free then.
But it was now.
“Don’t you want to kiss me?” he teased lightly. “Haven’t you ever thought of me as just a guy, something other than your friend? Ever?”
“No.”
Ouch. Man, that was a mortal blow to his ego. Maybe he had it all wrong—
“Okay, that’s a lie,” she conceded warily. “I may have thought of you in friendlier terms when we first met. For a minute, tops.”
“Really?” A ridiculously pleased grin spread across his face.
“Maybe less than a minute,” she retracted, eyes narrowed now, her chin set at a stubborn that’s-all-you’re-gonna-get angle.
“Less than a minute?” He raised an intrigued brow. “Was I coming or going?”
Her nose scrunched up in the cutest look of irritation. “Oh stop fishing for compliments, Brian. You’re not exactly hard on the eyes and you know it.” She pouted grumpily at him. “You walked into that psych class we shared and I just about unrolled my tongue. I drooled over you all through class and the entire walk to the parking lot, which you insisted on accompanying me on since it was after seven when class got out.”
“So what happened? Did I say something idiotic to piss you off?”
She gave him a wistful shrug. “Nope. I stopped drooling over you the second your phone rang. To this day, I’ve never seen a man light up with a more serene, unfaltering look of love on his face from just a simple phone call. I knew right then that this Beth girl you were talking to had an untouchable hold on your heart, and that nipped my feelings of attraction to you right in the bud.”
He hated the way she said that with such finality.
No, dammit. They hadn’t missed their chance.
“I remember that day too, you know. I distinctly recall you being smarter than every other student in that class.”
A tiny laugh bubbled out of her. “I was not.”
“Were too. Here you were the lone freshman in a 200-level class showing the rest of us up by practically reciting the entire textbook during the professor’s opening discussion.”
She swatted him in the stomach. “You made that crack shortly after we met, too. Sometimes I wonder how we ever became friends.”
“I don’t.” He caught her hand in his and felt every male atom in his body sizzle to life at the reaction his touch had on her breathing. “You and I were two peas in a pod from the start, Abby. You’ve always been my kindred spirit.”
“No way.” She shook her head firmly. “That was you and Beth. She was your world. The way you two loved each other was epic. You and I never had that. Heck, I’ve never had that with…anyone.”
Not even Connor.
He heard the unspoken statement, and saw the stark flash of pain in her eyes. And for the thousandth time, he found himself starting to tell her exactly how Connor felt about her. To spare her all this hurt. To tell her the one thing that would effectively extinguish any chance he could have of making this work between them.
And for the thousandth time, he stopped himself just in time.
I’m giving you one chance, Brian—one chance that I think the universe has shorted you, one chance to make Abby happy. If it’s you she wants, I’ll understand…be happy for you two, even. But I’m not a goddamn saint. Don’t bring Abby up again unless it’s to tell me you’re ready to propose…or let her go.
Connor was right. It was best for all of them to see his plans through. To find out where Abby’s heart belonged once and for all.
“It’s true, Beth was my first love, the girl who taught me how to love since we both know my parents hadn’t. Hell, she and I grew up together. Loved, lived…and even died together. In a million different ways. For everything she was in my life, she will always, always have a huge, permanent place in my heart.” He caught Abby’s chin and pulled her closed gaze back to his. “But you…you’ve had a place in my soul that I never knew I’d been missing until I met you. You came into my life and we just…fit. You got me in ways Beth never did,” he grinned wryly, “and never wanted to.”
That had been a running joke he used to share with Beth, yet another thing she’d been grateful to Abby for. The weird habits he possessed that Beth had only tolerated, Abby used to get a kick out of. Shared some of them with him, even. Thus, the sheer presence of Abby in his life had made him considerably less annoying to Beth as a result.
His smile faded at Abby’s stubborn expression.
Letting out a harsh sigh, he charged on, determined, “Even if you don’t want me to kiss you at midnight—or especially if you do—you have to know that what you mean to me, how you fit in my life is never going to change. You’re always going to be my best friend, Abby.”
Abruptly she scrambled up off the couch and backed away from him. “Those are all the reasons we shouldn’t kiss. We’re best friends. Period.”
He closed the gap between them quickly, and watched her eyes drift back up to his lips again as if she couldn’t help it. Hell, this was torture. Brian knew that if his brother were standing here right now, he’d just swoop down and kiss first, ask permission later.
But he wasn’t his brother.
“Let me kiss you, Abby. Just one little New Year’s kiss. To help you move on.”
Right. Like he was just that altruistic.
Abby closed her eyes and slow
ly tilted her lips us to his. “Just a New Year’s—”
Brian didn’t let her finish. He cupped her jaw with one hand and edged her back against the wall while doing everything humanly possible to keep his other hand from straying higher or lower than her hip. He fit her body to his and marveled at the return of that same long-lost feeling he’d had when they’d first met years ago…they just fit.
The first brush of her lips against his stole his breath. The second, his sanity. Primitive and possessive now, his arms instantly banded around her, and his lips sought hers for a true and proper kiss.
That nearly brought him to his knees.
The only thing that stopped him from deepening the kiss more, from staking an even bigger claim on her right then and there was the sound of Skylar hollering at the top of her lungs from the guestroom, “Catch the pink rabbit and THEN the green one!”
Damn video game junkie.
Abby’s incredulous burst laughter effectively ended their brief moment.
“Here I thought everything was suddenly so different,” she confessed between chuckles.
“That’s the beauty of it,” replied Brian, twining his hands behind the small of her back, “everything is different.”
“Grab the amulet! Grab the amulet!”
He shook his head with a smile. “And yet utterly the same.”
CHAPTER TWO
ABBY GROANED at the early morning sunlight filtering into her bedroom and debated hiding out under the covers for the rest of the day. Not the standard response to an amazing New Year’s kiss—ditto on the way she’d fled the room like a bat out of hell shortly afterward—but then again, nothing about any of this was standard. Zero standard guidance was available for this situation.
Brian had kissed her last night.
Even worse, she’d kissed him back.
The second that realization had clobbered her after the kiss...the very moment she’d looked into his eyes and identified something far more than standard friendship there, she’d cut and run down the hall and locked herself in her bedroom.
Whispering a thousand silent apologies to Beth the entire way.
What the heck had she been thinking last night?
Plucking herself out of bed with a wobble to her step, she silently, stealthily shuffled out to the living room—quite a feat considering how hungover she felt.
Emotionally hungover, that is.
Brain-jumbled, gut-in-her-throat, still-a-little-drunk hung over…from the tall drink of perfection that was sound asleep on her couch.
Shirtless.
Lord, but he was beautiful. For well over a decade, Abby hadn’t allowed herself to acknowledge that fact. Not once. But she was definitely making up for lost time now.
Brian had always had that effortlessly charming farmer-boy-next-door look to him, complete with the infectious 'can Abby come out to play' smile and a generous heart worn right there on his sleeve. Not to mention the body of an All-American football god that belonged on a billboard selling grit-covered denim and boots like it was going out of style.
He was the perfect, unjust combination of strong and sweet.
And apparently, her immunity to the man had somehow worn off.
Her once impenetrable vaccination against things like that gorgeous hair of his? Gone. Now she absolutely noticed its kaleidoscopic shades of brown from all his time in the sun, tousled in that just-out-of-bed country-perfect ease, which usually made him look slightly overdue for a haircut…and all the sexier for it.
But that was nothing compared to the effect his eyes had on her. On all women, undoubtedly. Where Connor's were a piercing ice blue always deep in thought, Brian's were warmer, earthier, always rich with affection. The startling color of the ocean, his eyes had a depth of conquered pain that just sucked you in, made it difficult to look away. And if ever you caught those eyes smiling at his daughter, the fierce protectiveness and sheer determination for hope where his had clearly been through the ringer made it impossible not to get emotionally invested, inspired.
Captivated.
Made it impossible not to want to love him with every inch of your soul.
Abby didn’t know when her feet had walked her over to the couch, or why her eyes were now running along the lines of his body in a way she’d denied herself for as long as she’d known him, but here she was. How did this happen? How could her reaction to Brian be this different after just one night, one kiss? The way her skin tingled now at the mere thought of his name was pitching her toward a minor panic attack. She could hardly breathe.
“You’re going to give me a big head if you keep staring at me like that.”
She gasped as one of Brian’s thickly muscled, sleep-warmed arms wrapped around her waist and tugged her down on top of him. Abby hesitated for a brief second before eventually letting him pull her in the rest of the way for a head-to-toe good morning hug.
If she were being totally honest with herself, she’d always adored the feel of Brian’s massive arms wrapped around her in one of his ‘I’m here for you’ python squeezes. It was addicting, as was the way he’d hold her close whenever she’d fall asleep on him during a DVD.
Now feeling his arms around her when they weren’t both upright...this was a whole new kind of addicting.
When she opened her eyes—funny, she didn’t remember closing them—she saw Brian looking at her with a sleepy combination of humor and hunger. “Why are you tiptoeing around me today, woman? I was expecting my usual pillow in the face wake-up call.”
Sugarplums, had his voice always sounded this sexy? She averted her eyes…which ended up being a lateral move as she was now staring directly at his chest. “I was giving you a few extra minutes; you looked more tired than usual,” she mumbled into one hard pec. All mostly true. “Didn’t you sleep well last night?”
She could feel him smiling against her temple. “Not exactly.”
Frowning, she tipped her head back and looked at him in concern. “But you always sleep like a coma patient on this sofa.”
“The sofa was fine. I, on the other hand, was less so.” He dragged his fingers through her hair in long strokes. As if he were petting a cat.
She almost purred. “Wh-why?” A fully enunciated word. And in a near-normal tone with barely even a stutter. She was so proud of herself.
“Let’s just say I was a little…uncomfortable,” he murmured, shifting over so she could stop imitating a human blanket and instead wedge herself between him and the backrest of the couch.
Another lateral move.
“You should‘ve told me. I would’ve had you sleep in my bed—”
“Do tell,” he teased, deliberately making that innocent sentence sound dirty.
Abby felt her cheeks burn. “I meant I would’ve slept out here.”
“Spoilsport.” He grazed a knuckle over her hot skin. “And like I said, that’s not the kind of ‘discomfort’ that was keeping me up.”
“Oh.” She dragged a corner of the quilt draped at his waist up to cover her face. Or did smothering only work on extinguishing cooking fires? Everything he was saying was simply more kindling to the most dangerous kind of fire. “Brian, I appreciate the effort,” she mumbled from under the quilt, “but truly, you don’t have to work this hard to help me get over Connor.”
Before she could so much as yelp, she went from being simply wedged to being thoroughly hot-dogged—a more apt description here than sandwiched—with a very intense-looking Brian launching a now full-body interrogation of her every reaction to him. From the rapid rise and fall of her chest against his, to the way her fingers instantly flexed into his obliques when his fingertips skimmed over her shoulder blades, she could see the fireburst of sea green around his pupils flare with every new bit of damning data her body revealed to him.
“Is that all you think this is, Abby? Don’t you feel what’s happening between us?”
She felt something alright. And she was trying her damndest not to move her hips at all lest she
wake it up even more.
Something in her expression must have given her thoughts away.
With an incredulous headshake, Brian let out a low, throaty chuckle. “I’d ask you what you were thinking just now but I’m not sure I could handle it.”
Honestly, she wasn’t too certain she could handle it either. The saying about big hands? Apparently very, very true…
“Sweetheart, I’ll give you exactly two seconds to come back to me or else I’m going in after you,” he warned, gripping the couch cushion in a way that belied the smile in his voice.
Who knew watching a man’s forearms flex at close range could this mesmerizing?
“And…time.”
“I’m back, I’m back!” she exclaimed, yanking her gaze back up to meet his.
“Aw, just as things were about to get interesting,” he pouted, somehow managing to make even that look masculine.
Mentally, she smacked herself. This was Brian for goodness sakes. Wonderfully sweet Brian. Lovably brawny Brian.
Achingly sexy Brian.
Crap.
Near desperate now, she reached for the safest lifeline she could conjure. “I better get the waffles started. Skylar’s probably going to wake up soon.”
There, that ought to cool things down.
Brian studied her for a moment before levering himself off the couch and holding out a hand to help her up as well. “Skylar isn’t here, hon.” He gave her a warm peck on the forehead and headed down the hall. As if they hadn’t just been belly to belly. “She got a call from Becky early this morning. Becky’s folks wanted to take the girls up north for the day so I dropped her off an hour ago.”
Illogically, the theme song from an old game show began humming in her head as she watched him walk away. Well, this was awkward. Precisely what she’d been worried about to begin with. That kiss last night was already messing with their friendship.
“Stop thinking all this to death, Abby.” Brian grabbed a t-shirt from his pile of spare clothes in the linen closet. “That kiss didn’t change anything between us. At least not in a bad way.”
