Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“Okay.” He looks between my mom and me as he picks up two boxes. When he easily carries the heavy load out the door, I start to ask my mom what she was going to say but cut myself off, thinking maybe it’s better if I don’t know.
CHAPTER 8
Bax
“So, Olivia,” Talon prompts casually as he and I work together to reframe the window we just installed in Kourtney's guest room while Olivia’s dad and Liam install motion-sensor lights across the back of the house.
“Don’t fucking start,” I mutter, not quite under my breath, then sigh when he starts to laugh.
“Start what? She’s cute.”
She’s not cute. She’s gorgeous.
Well, okay. She’s cute as fuck too. But she’s also funny, and whenever I’ve had my arms around her, she seems to fit against me perfectly, like she was made to be right there.
“How pissed is Liam going to be when you start dating his sister?” he asks, his voice nonchalant.
“Are you done?”
His gaze locks on mine as his expression turns serious. “She’s the one, isn't she?”
I shake my head, even though I’ve been ignoring my own thoughts about that being the case. “How could she be? I knew her for years when she was a kid and didn’t feel shit.”
“Like you said—she was a kid. You never saw her as anything other than that.” He glances toward the door. “And you just said you ‘didn’t’ feel shit. Do you feel something now?”
“You said it yourself. She’s cute.” I don’t know why I’m not admitting to what I felt the moment I saw her in the bar over a week ago. Maybe because it wasn’t something that just hit me, it didn’t smack me in the face. There was no explosion. It was just… some kind of weird recognition—something that I assumed had to do with the fact that I knew her, even when I thought I didn’t.
“I’m not Liam. You don’t need to lie to me. I see the way you look at her.”
I tense. “I don’t look at her in any way.”
“Bro, you look like it’s killing you not to touch her anytime she’s close.”
Fuck.
“If she is who I think she is to you, I’m just telling you, you can’t fight the inevitable,” he says seriously.
“She’s young,” I finally spit out the main thing that keeps popping into my head… besides the fact that she’s my best friend’s sister.
“Jesus.” He laughs. “You say it like she’s in high school. How old is she?”
“Twenty-six, twenty-seven, I think?” I shake my head.
“She’s not young.” He rolls his eyes, motioning for me to hand him another piece of trim.
“She's years younger than I am.”
“And?” he prompts.
And… I don’t fucking know. Because her age doesn’t really bother me. I just feel like it should. Maybe it would if she was immature, but she’s not. She’s smart, and she has a career and goals for herself. And honestly, now that I really think about it, she’s not that young.
“Just admit it’s the fact that she’s Liam’s little sister that is throwing you off.”
“Hey, guys.”
He and I turn toward the door, where Olivia stands now dressed in a pair of leggings and a long-sleeved top that crosses in the front and is so short I can see a strip of her stomach that I’d like to be better acquainted with. When her gaze pings between my brother and me, and then her brows drag together slightly, I wonder if I have the same look on my face that I saw on hers when I walked into the house earlier while she and Amy were talking quietly. Like I just got caught doing something I wasn’t supposed to be doing. Which now makes me incredibly curious about what she and her mom were discussing. “I ordered pizza. It just got here, if you want to take a break and come eat.”
“Thanks, doll,” Talon says, and her eyes come to me.
“We’ll be out in a couple of minutes,” I tell her.
“Okay.” She looks from me to the window. “It almost looks like nothing ever happened.”
“Once we finish, you won't even be able to tell it was broken,” I assure her. Then ask, “Did Kourtney ever return your call?” She tried to call her earlier but never got a hold of her, so she just left a message asking her to call back when she had time.
“Yeah, but we only spoke for a couple of minutes. She was on her way to work. She was worried but relieved that no one actually broke in. She’s going to have a couple of security companies come out to give her some quotes when she gets back to town.”
“That would be good. In the meantime, the new outside lights will help,” Talon tells her, then adds, “And if you get scared, I’m sure Bax won’t mind you staying with him next door.”