Chapter One
“This party is insane!” Bonnie told me, as we walked into the mansion that was packed with people. I smiled at my best friend as I tried not to think about the project that was waiting for me back at our apartment and focus on the celebration that was only just beginning. Our brothers were going to the Super Bowl with their Seattle team after only playing in the NFL for four years after college, and the entire house was vibrating with the excitement. They’d worked so hard all through high school and college but still managed to stay best friends, just as Bonnie and I were. “I wonder if we’ll even be able to find Nick. I know all too well how he likes to celebrate.”
Bonnie’s brother Nick Harmon was a player. He’d always been a player, and it was just how things were. Bonnie accepted it, but I had a long-running, invisible crush on him. My brother Brandon James had his fair share of female fans, but I thought that he respected them. At least I hoped so.
We managed to make our way through the crowd to the living room, where each of us stared at some of the celebrities that were there in awe. Bonnie focused quickly on a hockey player who played for the Colorado team and I figured that she’d make every effort to make the best of the next several hours. I saw Brandon in the kitchen. I also saw Nick, who was sitting on the counter with a redhead between his legs and her arms around his waist.
I ran my hand through my red curls, which I’d recently colored, and frowned as she leaned up and smiled at him. He was gorgeous, with dark, messy hair and sea blue eyes and that damn crooked smile of his. Who wouldn’t want him? I saw him glance in my direction as I heard my name called out, and his eyes darkened before I looked at my brother. “Mel, I am so glad that you could come!” Brandon pushed forward and hugged me tightly as he spun me around. “Nice hair. I see that art school is getting in your blood.” We once had the same shade of chestnut hair, though we still had the same light green eyes. “You look beautiful, though. I mean that.”
“Of course I’m here. You’re going to the Super Bowl! I am so proud of you, Bran,” I gushed, as I pulled away from him and looked around. “This crowd. It’s mad and wonderful, and you’ve hit your dream.”
“Winning is the real dream,” Brandon assured, me as he heard his name called from across the room. “It’s so crazy tonight. We’ll talk later?”
I nodded and watched as he ran into the living room and took a deep breath. I had worn a denim skirt and a green shirt with some boots after agonizing over my choices. It didn’t hold a candle to most of the women here, with most of them dressed in next to nothing and looking like super models. The ones that weren’t dressed that way were beautiful regardless, and I looked over my shoulder to see Bonnie coming my way with a smile on her face. “Drinks! Then dancing.”
We found the bar in the formal dining room and loaded up on some sweet cocktails as we discussed the party. “Did you see Nick?” I asked Bonnie, and she rolled her pretty topaz eyes.
“Yeah, he was a little busy. I’ll talk to him later. Fucking quarterbacks,” Bonnie said, before she tossed her third drink down and grinned at me. “Let’s dance!”
Bonnie was a light in my life. I’d always grown up in Brandon’s shadow, and though I loved him, nothing I did would ever be as good as his accomplishments. Look at tonight. I was looking at a couple more years in art school to have maybe a gallery showing in a matter of years if I was lucky. Painting and drawing happened to be my passion and I wanted to surround my life with it in every way possible. Brandon just happened to be extremely athletic, and his calling was playing center in football, so well that he was snatched up right after graduation from the local college. Nick as well. They were happy to be playing for the same team, and they even shared this house together.
I knew that I’d be happy, even if my name wasn’t in lights like Brandon’s was.
Bonnie and Nick had lost their mother in a car accident when she was twelve, and she still moved through life with so much positivity. I watched as she walked towards the makeshift dance floor in the living room and took a place on the edge as a great new song came on. I didn’t think that Nick was as positive, but he managed in his own way, and he was a great player.
We danced to every song that played and I felt the alcohol coursing through my body as I lost myself in the beat. I loved to dance as much as Bonnie did, and the hours passed quickly in between dancing and drinks. Some of the players would speak from time to time as the crowd screamed their names and cheered. It was getting wild in here and I laughed as I looked around.
There was no sign of Nick at all and I assumed that he was off with the redhead or some other woman. I tried not to think about it as I danced and bumped against the people that were joining us on the dance floor. After a while, I got too hot, and told Bonnie that I needed some fresh air.
I wandered to the back of the room and slipped through the sliding glass door that led to the backyard. They had a big deck for barbecues out there and a pool, and I wandered over to one of the chairs by the water and sat down with a fresh drink. I’d managed to grab it from the main fridge and I sipped from the bottle as I took in a slow breath. There was the sound of a door closing and I turned my head to see the redhead from before stumbling towards the house as she fixed her red dress around her very generous breasts.
I glanced at the cottage by the pool to see the door ajar and I raised an eyebrow. Nick used that a lot. I stared up at the stars as I heard footsteps and felt someone sit on the seat beside me. “Mel. I like the hair,” Nick said in his husky voice, and I told myself not to shiver. God, I loved his voice.
“Thanks,” I said, as I lowered my eyes to glance his way. His jeans fit him well and he was buttoning his shirt as I watched quietly. “So you make them leave after now?”
Nick shot me a dark look as he finished with his blue shirt before he shook his head. “She’s just mad that I won’t give her more than…that.” He raised his hand and gestured towards the cottage and a frown crossed his face. “I have the game to think about now. I don’t have time for a commitment.”
“Okay. Why are you telling me this?” I asked him, as I watched his beautiful eyes lock with mine. There was something different in his face, and I realized how long it had been since I’d actually spent any time with Nick. “I’m not asking you for anything.” I leaned back in the chair and crossed my feet together as I sipped my drink. “Are you okay? I mean, this is a huge time for you and you seem kind of down.”
“I guess I wish that Mom was here to see this.” His words sobered me, and I nodded before I looked at him. “She’d be the one planning the parties and doing all of this.”
“You’re right about that. I think you two did just fine. It’s a great party,” I assured him, as I allowed myself to stare into his face.
“Only because we hired everyone. Do you remember our parties back in school?” Nick asked, and we both laughed together.
“Brandon barely knew that there was going to be one until the house was full of people and we needed food for them. Mom and Dad made a terrible mistake traveling so much,” I remembered wistfully, as I shook my head. “We’d scramble for some chips and something to heat up, but the show always went on, didn’t it?” I kept looking at him. “How did you do it?”
“Brandon was always there for me, just like you were. You guys are the best,” Nick replied, with that smile of his that made goosebumps cover my exposed arms.
“You’re in a reminiscent mood, aren’t you?” I asked, as I noticed him shift in his seat.
“Something like that. Thanks to Lara’s attitude, I’m feeling something more.” I stared as he spoke and watched Nick shake his head. “I just want something familiar tonight. I don’t want those groupies that just want the name to drop around to impress the other groupies. I want something real. This is all happening so fast.” I just listened as I heard the pain in his voice that I’d heard ten years before. He sounded like the same broken boy who had just lost his mother.
“Nick, this is your dream. You’re twenty-five, and this is what you’ve worked for your whole life. She sees every bit of this. I promise.” I looked at him as he leaned forward and looked into my eyes.
“Can I ask you a favor?”