Falling for the Good Guy (NICE GIRL TO LOVE)

by Violet Duke

  He always seemed to know just what she was thinking.

  “Want to go out and grab breakfast?”

  Case in point. “How do you do that?” She hadn’t even finished thinking about how badly she wanted to get out of the house.

  “It’s a gift. I know you as well as I know myself. Reason number eighty-seven why we should work on becoming more than friends.”

  That provoked her first smile of the day. Knowing Brian, he probably could recite a top 100 list if she asked him. He was just that adorable. “You’re not going to stop anytime soon are you?”

  “Nope.” He gave her an extra crooked grin.

  She sighed. “I’ll go get ready.” Both for breakfast and the battle of wills to come.

  “Let the battle begin,” sang out Brian as she walked away.

  Mind reading menace.

  HE FELT FIFTEEN AGAIN.

  And not just because that was the last time he’d been out on a date with anyone other than Beth. But because being with Abby made him feel primitively adolescent. For lack of a better term. In the last three minutes alone, Brian had gone from wanting to hold Abby’s hand for no discernible reason to practically snarling at the dick outside the diner who’d been checking out her ass on their way out after breakfast.

  Primitively. Adolescent.

  With a side of hopelessly romantic.

  Honest to God, he was doing his damndest not to rush this, really he was. But then he’d take one look at her laughing at one of his jokes—the kind only she seemed to get—or he’d find himself smiling like a buffoon when they did their familiar dance of her reaching over for the pepper shaker knowing he’d already be meeting her halfway…

  His jaw clenched tight. He couldn’t lose her, he just couldn’t. Not to Connor, not to anyone.

  Brian loved his brother, owed him so much. But he simply couldn’t step aside without knowing he’d done everything in his power to see this through.

  Maybe not even then.

  All these thoughts continued to percolate in his brain as they walked in comfortable silence down a few quiet blocks, neither of them needing to direct the other to where they were headed. It was a favorite for them both, the tiny little park just past the diner at the edge of Cactus Creek. Once there, she found a big flat boulder to perch on top of and look out at the desert horizon.

  “You ready for that big talk now?” he asked, quietly from below.

  “Stop that. Get out of my head,” she grumbled.

  He grinned. “Is that a yes?”

  She gazed down at him and shook her head slowly. “Brian...”

  Criminy. Already, he knew he wasn’t going to like what she was about to say.

  “We should probably just forget last night ever happened.”

  He hated being right sometimes.

  With supreme effort, he remained silent and let her finish.

  “I love you Brian, you know that. You’re right, in a way, we are kindred spirits.” She smiled softly, almost sadly. “But just as friends. Whether you want to admit it or not, your heart is always going to belong to Beth. And my heart…”

  “Belongs to Connor?” he asked, floored a little at how much the simple statement hurt.

  Eyes wide, voice shaking, she whispered, “Honestly, I don’t know…maybe.” She gave a little self-deprecating laugh. “I know you probably think I’m crazy for getting hung up on him.”

  The pain in her voice was tearing up his insides. “I don’t think that at all. In fact, if I’d known you were even remotely each other’s type, I’d probably have set you two up the first time I realized you had a thing for him back when he first moved back here after law school.”

  She groaned. “Was it that obvious?”

  “Only because I had two functioning eyes.”

  Her hands flew up to cover her now bright red cheeks.

  “Hey, I was kidding.” He pulled her down off the boulder and brought her hands down away from her face. “I only caught it by accident once. I was actually a little hurt you didn’t tell me you had a crush on him. You usually confide in me about everything.”

  “I didn’t tell you because Connor was way out of my league. I mean, c’mon, the man must have re-introduced himself to me at least six times over the course of nine years.”

  “No man is out of your league,” he growled, upset his brother had inadvertently made her feel that way.

  Her gaze shot back up to his, startled.

  “My brother’s an ass for not remembering you all those other times. Back then, he was way worse when it came to women.”

  Surprised filtered into her tone. “And still you would’ve tried to set us up if I’d asked?”

  “Of course. You know I’d do anything to make you happy, sweetheart.” Except tell you the truth about why Connor is staying away. “Back then, I would’ve done even that for you if it was what you really wanted.”

  “Nice caveat with the ‘back then,’” she said ruefully. “Now, I bet you’re glad you didn’t.”

  “No, now I still want you to be happy.” He tugged her a little closer. “With me.”

  There was a slight catch in her breath that gave him a glimmer of hope…before she took a hammer to it with another bout of logicizing.

  “There are unwritten rules against this sort of thing, Brian. Actually, there’s probably a written one about this: You don’t hook up with your best friend after his wife passes away, especially not when the wife was also a friend.”

  She tried to turn away but he wouldn’t let her.

  “Abby, by that logic, you and I would never get to see where this could lead.”

  “Precisely.”

  “I refuse to accept that,” he growled, hauling her into his arms. “I don’t care what the rules say. Everyone should have a chance to fall in love. Hell, we’re both halfway there and apparently, the world knows it—”

  Startled, he paused his diatribe at the sudden horrified pallor of Abby’s face. “Honey, what’s wrong?”

  Turning, he saw what she was staring at with such tension and swore viciously under his breath. Gabriella. One of Connor’s particularly unwise one-monthers. Her family had been friends with theirs for years, and Gabriella had chased Connor nearly the entire time.

  Damn it all to hell. He’d heard the story from Connor—how Gabriella had tried and nearly succeeded in tearing Abby down by assaulting her with the cruelest possible verbal torture. “Hold it together sweetheart,” he whispered in her ear, “don’t let her get to you.”

  “Well, well, if it isn’t Connor’s little charity case.” Hell, just by the woman’s voice alone, a blind man could pick her out from a litter as a purebred bitch. Gabriella barely spared Brian a glance before baring her teeth and spewing out even more nastiness at Abby. “I’m glad to see you found a Sullivan more your speed, though it’s a shame you had to ruin Connor in the process.”

  An evil sparkle twinkled in her eyes when Abby’s breath caught. “Oh no, honey, don’t get your hopes up. I didn’t mean to imply he was hung up on you. I just meant he seems to have developed a thing for goodie-two-shoes like yourself. At least judging by the girl he’s with now.”

  What? Brian studied Gabriella’s expression and didn’t get any hits off his bullshit radar. She’d no better than to lie right in front of him about something like this. Could Connor really be dating another nice girl? That certainly wasn’t the sort of comment anyone had ever mistakenly made about Connor before.

  “Glad I found out he had a thing for bottom-feeding before I made the worst mistake of my life,” continued Gabriella, flashing the huge diamond on her ring finger. “Daddy found someone far better suited for me than Connor. Sucks to be you though. It must be awful to get replaced by someone just like you…but better.” Her smile was positively waspish. “I hear this one’s even lasted longer than a month.”

  He felt Abby stiffen beside him and he shoved himself between the two women to put an end to this. Gently, he cradled Abby’s face in his
hands. She looked so hurt and lost, it was breaking his heart. “Come back to me, sweetheart. It’s just you and me here, no one else.” He brought his mouth down on hers and pulled her into his arms, shielding her as best he could from all the ugliness Gabriella was attempting to sling her way.

  He pressed gentle kisses to her eyelids, her cheekbones, and kept whispering, “I’m right here, and I won’t let anything hurt you. Open your eyes, honey.”

  When she did, he took her lips again, coaxed her, cherished her.

  Until finally, she responded.

  A slow burn sizzled through his veins and exploded across his senses when her mouth opened up to his fully. Heart pounding, body flush against hers, for a few deep, mind-melting moments, there really was no one else in existence besides the two of them.

  He barely heard Gabriella huff and stomp away. And he hardly registered the fact that it had begun drizzling all around them.

  What he did notice, what he felt in every fiber of his being was that this was the most intense kiss he’d ever experienced. It was perfect. She was perfect.

  Eyes closed, he exhaled her name like a prayer.

  …And felt her stiffen suddenly and leap back, hands covering her mouth in horror.

  Her face was ash-white again but this time, it looked as if she’d just seen a ghost. She whispered a pained apology and he was mystified as to what just happened, what she could be possibly be saying sorry for.

  “Abby, sweetheart, what’s wrong? Why in the world are you apologizing?”

  She looked up at him with eyes that clearly knew something he didn’t, saddened to a degree he’d never seen in her before. “Please take me home, Brian.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  BRIAN HAD NO IDEA why Abby was acting so withdrawn this past week.

  After the whole Gabriella incident, Abby had become increasingly distant—unheard of in all their years of friendship. Their regular phone calls during his lunch hour and in the evenings after Skylar went to bed have been polite at best ever since. And no matter how many times he asked, she still wouldn’t explain why she’d looked so stricken before their drive back home from Cactus Creek that day. It was driving him crazy. He hated thinking something was bothering her, and he really hated not being able to help her through it.

  It was time to break out the big guns.

  “Seriously, dad? An ambush? Isn’t this a little unfair?” Skylar shook her head disapprovingly at him as she climbed in the car and buckled her seatbelt.

  “A little? Are you kidding? This is enormously unfair. That’s the point. I’m going to lavish Abby with all her favorite things until she cracks and tells me what I can do to fix whatever it is I broke. Sushi, truffles from that little chocolate shop she loves in Mesa, board games, beer—”

  “And me?” She gave him a knowing smile.

  He chuckled. “Yes, you’re the biggest secret weapon in my arsenal.”

  “Okay,” she sighed theatrically, “what do you need me to do?”

  “You just be yourself, munchkin. We both know she just puts up with me so she can hang out with you.”

  “What are you guys fighting about anyhow? Is it Uncle Connor?”

  Brian whipped his eyes over to her and nearly swerved off the road. “What do you mean?”

  She gave him a hooded look. “I know Abby and Uncle Connor had a thing. I saw some of her books and stuff at his house a few months ago. And I caught her sneaking off in her car a couple of times just before I got there.”

  For cryin’ out loud, Abby was the only person on the planet who seemed to think no one could recognize her POS clunker with all the duct tape holding it together. “Honey, she was just trying to keep her relationship with Connor private. She would have told us if it became serious.”

  A mocking snort shot out of his normally very tame daughter. “Uncle Connor doesn’t do serious.” An unforgiving frown clouded her expression. “He broke her heart, didn’t he?”

  “Skylar, that’s not fair. We don’t know—”

  “Yes, we do know. Abby’s been sad since like September and Uncle Connor gets fully weirded out now whenever her name comes up.” Arms crossed, she burst out bitterly, “Why’d she have to hook up with him anyhow?! She’s too good for him. He’s a total player that shouldn’t—”

  “Hey! I get that you’re upset but you don’t ever have the right to talk about your uncle like that, you hear me young lady?” Honestly, what had gotten into her?

  Her eyes rounded to the size of saucers before she quickly looked away. “Sorry.”

  “You should be. Do you have any idea how much he’s done for us? How much he’s sacrificed for me and for this family over the years?”

  “Yes,” she whispered. “I really am sorry, dad. You know I love Uncle Connor. So much.” Her shoulders fell in a deep slump. “But I love Abby too. I can’t help but be mad at him for hurting her.”

  Brian sighed. “For what it’s worth, I know for a fact that he never wanted to hurt Abby. He cares about her a lot.”

  Skylar’s mouth dropped down at the corners again with worry. “Do you think she’s in love with him?”

  Damn, that nailed him in the gut every time. “If she is, that’s between them,” he managed to get out without sounding affected.

  “So you’re not trying to stop her?”

  Is that what he was doing? “Why would you think that?”

  “Because you’re in love with her too,” she said simply with a very matter-of-fact shrug.

  After a shocked moment of silence, a wry grin tipped the corner of his mouth up. “It’s that obvious, huh?”

  Abruptly, she turned to him and blurted out, “So why don’t you tell her?” With the candid wisdom that could only come from a child.

  Brian pulled into a parking stall in front of the restaurant where their take-out order was waiting and studied his daughter carefully. “Sky-bug, tell me the truth. Are you upset about Abby dating your Uncle Connor because you want her to end up with me?”

  Her lower lip quivered. “Is that so bad? You guys act like you’re practically married already. And…”

  He watched her wind a long lock of strawberry blonde hair around her finger. Just like her mother used to. “And what, sweetie?”

  “And, well, it’d be kinda cool for me to have her as a…you know...”

  As a mom.

  “Yeah…” he agreed softly. “That would be pretty cool.” God, he hoped he wasn’t wrong about all this. If he and Abby couldn’t make it work, without a doubt, there would be two hearts that would get broken in the process.

  “Hey, do you need help winning her over? I could totally be your inside man!”

  That startled a gust of laughter out of his chest. The kid could spin topics on a dime. “I don’t think we need to gang up on her, hon.”

  “Dude, have you seen Uncle Connor? No offense. I mean, most of my friends totally think you’re one of the hot dads and all but Uncle Connor has got some serious game.”

  Very true. Meanwhile, the last time he’d used any moves on a girl had been in his sophomore year in high school. To be fair, he did end up marrying the girl. That had to count for something right?

  Looking at his daughter doing her silent, pleading, bouncing-in-place claps, he shook his head wryly. He wasn’t really considering taking dating tips from a middle schooler was he?

  Sadly, he was. “Yeah, okay, what do you got?”

  “Try and find a way to take your shirt off whenever you’re around her.”

  “What?” He wasn’t sure what was more disturbing, hearing that ear-burning advice coming out of her mouth or acknowledging that her advice sounded markedly like the only set of moves he’d had when he was fifteen.

  “I’m serious. That’s going to work, trust me. I heard Abby and mom talking about how they both had a thing for guys with strong arms, and big, muscular chests.”

  “What?” he repeated again. And then, “When?”

  “I’m not sure exactly. But it was wh
en mom could still talk so I must have been around six or so, I guess. I do know it was at the care center because I remember they were watching a movie on that TV in the wooden cabinet I used to keep my toys in. They were talking about the actor in it while I was playing. I asked mommy if she thought you had strong arms and big muscles on your chest, and she told me, ‘You betcha. That’s why I married him.’”

  Brian smiled. That sounded like Beth.

  “See, so you should just keep showing Abby your arms and chest,” she nodded vigorously.

  He chuckled, again, still dramatically disturbed by the words. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Then he shot her a look. “While we’re on the topic, you’re hereby not allowed to talk about any guy’s muscular chest again until you’re twenty-one.”

  “Oh, dad.” She rolled her eyes.

  “Keep it up and I’ll make it thirty.”

  She giggled.

  “Okay, just leave everything to me,” reassured Skylar as Brian rang the doorbell.

  He wasn’t sure whether to be scared for Abby or himself.

  Abby opened the door with a look of surprise and Skylar immediately launched her attack. “Hey Abby! We brought over sushi for lunch. You didn’t eat already did you?” It was like listening to the rat-tat-tat of a machine gun. “We got all your favorites! Did I tell you I got an A- on my last book report? The one you helped me with?” Skylar was already in the house before Abby could even open her mouth to reply. “Ooh, what’re you watching?”

  Brian hid his grin. His daughter was good. Definitely an excellent inside man.

  With no choice but to let him in since Skylar was already planted on the couch, Abby helped Brian with some of the things he was carrying.

  “Chocolate truffles?” she asked quietly. “You’re playing hardball today.”

  “Damn straight,” he tossed back, staring into her eyes, saddened over the wariness he saw blanketing her features. “Do I at least get a hello hug?”

  It was an awkward hug—the only one in their history as friends. He had to get to the bottom of this.

  “Ohmigod, you guys,” exclaimed Skylar, stretching and yawning like a baby lion. “I just remembered I’m sooo tired. You were right, dad, I shouldn’t have stayed up so late last night.” She gave another outrageously huge yawn. “Abby, could I take a quick nap in the guestroom for like an hour before I go to Becky’s? Pretty please? I don’t want to fall asleep on her. That would be sooo rude.”