Ashley
I WAKE TO voices in the condo. Although I’m groggy, I know a woman’s laugh when I hear it. Goodness, is he out there with a booty call? Worse, is it someone he’s dating? Sooyin, maybe? No, it couldn’t be his gorgeous colleague—she made it clear she wasn’t interested in Julian—so it’s got to be the former. Or . . . Stop it, Ashley. It could be anyone. And you’re moving on, remember?
After groaning into my pillow, I turn onto my back and listen for a clue as to the mystery woman’s identity. I bolt upright when a fist pounds against my bedroom door.
“Get up, bacon breath. Your favorite brother’s here for a visit.”
I smile at the sound of Carter’s voice and yell back. “You’re my only brother.”
He continues to speak to me outside the door. “I’m confident that if you had more than one, I’d still be your favorite.”
“That’s conceit, not confidence.”
“Confidence, conceit. To-may-to, to-mah-to. Get out here. Tori’s with me.”
“Well, you should have said that first.” I pull back the covers and drag myself out of bed. Opening the door, I greet him with a genuine smile. “Hey, potato head.”
He peeks around me and scans the bedroom. “You good? Everything okay?”
His dark hair is in disarray, the tuft at the front that refuses to stay put sticking up in the air like a shark’s fin rising out of the water. We favor each other, except he’s got ice blue eyes like my older sister, Kimberly, whereas mine are maple-syrup brown. Seeing him now, it’s both easy and hard to believe my older brother makes people swoon when they see him on the big screen. To them, he’s a heartthrob. To me, though, he’s just Carter. My funny, sweet, and overprotective brother. I palm his face and push him away. “No, you can’t come into my room. Also, your snooping skills are weak. Didn’t Mom teach you the art of being subtle about your nosiness?”
“Must have missed that lesson.” He yanks on a lock of my hair—to distract me—and then he tries to wedge himself inside. “Along with the one about how to stop worrying about your pip-squeak of a sister.”
Ruthless in my mission, I tickle him in his ribs, and he backs away.
“Brush your teeth and get out here, stat,” he yells over his shoulder.
“Whatever,” I grumble on my way to the bathroom. Spinning around before he leaves, I tell him, “By the way, Kimberly’s my favorite sibling, just so we’re clear.”
He pretends to shove a dagger in his chest and stumbles out the room.
A few minutes later, I join everyone in the living room, where Julian and Tori are chatting on the couch and Carter’s swiping through his phone.
Julian notices me before they do, and my breath hitches when his gaze roams over my face and body. I’m tempted to call out, You want some of this, doncha? Getting a rise out of him would be fun. But given the way he’s looking at me, I bet he’s rising on his own just fine.
Tori glances at him, catching Julian’s lazy inspection, and a crease appears between her brows as she registers that she no longer has his attention because it’s focused on me.
Oh, Julian. You’re such a dope. If only you’d relax and live for the moment. Just once. Or twice. Or, hell, three times—so I get the full Julian experience.
After a shake of her head, Tori jumps up, her long, curly hair fanning around her shoulders as she crosses the room. She enfolds me in a hug. “Ahhh, it’s so good to be able to jump in a car and drop by to see you.”
I give her an equally effusive embrace. Tori’s quickly becoming one of my favorite people. I wish I could travel back in time, transport her to my childhood, and tell her my silly secrets as we paint each other’s toenails and listen to P!nk. “Well, the good thing is, now that I’m around, I can help with wedding prep if you need it.”
Her eyes go wide as she scrunches her brows, and then she cocks her head in Julian’s direction, as though she’s mentally telling me to keep quiet about the pending nuptials. Carter looks up from his phone, a stricken expression compounding my guilt.
“He knows.” My disclosure comes out in a pathetic wail. “It just slipped out in conversation. I’m so sorry.”
Their heads whip around, and they both stare at Julian.
Carter recovers first. “I hope you understand, man. I wanted you to be able to say you knew nothing about it. Especially with Dana, who will flip her shit when she finds out.”
Dana is Carter’s publicist, and from what I can gather, she gets miffed when Carter doesn’t inform her of matters that might—or in this case, should—get press attention. Her client’s wedding qualifies.
Julian, looking delectable in a black tank and his favorite gray sweats—and wearing underwear this time—waves his explanation away. “Are you sure you didn’t keep this from me because you thought I’d press you to make a big splash of it?”
Carter rubs the back of his neck. Busted.
“Because if you’d consulted me about it, I would have at least had you consider the potential for getting your name out there in a big way that makes you even more marketable than you are now. And it wouldn’t have to be a big—”
“Julian,” Carter interrupts, raising his voice. The tightness in his eyes hints at his annoyance.
I’m not accustomed to witnessing tension between these two, and Tori isn’t either, it seems. We exchange worried glances and wait.
After several seconds of taut silence, Carter sighs heavily. “Just be happy for us, okay? This is what we’ve decided to do.”
Julian’s chest rises as he draws in a slow breath. “Fine. And of course I’m happy for you.” He grins, but his gaze remains cloudy. “But let’s keep my knowledge between us, okay? Quinn will be on my ass if he thinks I didn’t dissuade you from doing this.”
Carter nods, his expression softening. “Deal.” He clears his throat. “Hey, listen, do you think your parents would come?”
It’s a peace offering, and Julian accepts it.
“For the wedding? I’m sure my mother would love to.”
I suspect no one missed that he didn’t say anything about his father.
Tori, who’s been chewing on her bottom lip with a vengeance, sighs in relief. “I’m so glad we can be open about this now.” She turns to me. “You do have something in mind to wear, yes?”
“Not yet, but don’t worry. I won’t show up naked.”
Julian coughs into his hand, and Carter pats him on the back. “You all right, J?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little parched.” He rushes to the sink and fills a glass with water. Leaning against the counter, he chugs until his watery eyes clear.
Tori quirks an eyebrow at him and returns her attention to me. “Anyway, you’ll be arriving Thursday, right?”
I stare down at my toes. “Um, no. I don’t think I can.” Glancing at her confused expression, I try to shove away my guilt. “But I’ll be at the wedding, of course. And you’ll be so busy you won’t even miss me.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Julian staring at Tori and me.
Carter, who’s now slouching in a chair, straightens and pins me with a questioning gaze. “You don’t want to be there?”
“With you guys, yes. In Harmon, no. The outer layers of our clan are more than I want to handle. And it’s not just Lydia. It’s Uncle Richard and Aunt Carol, who’ll undoubtedly have hundreds of questions about my love life.”
“Carol is Lydia’s mother?” Tori asks.
“Yes,” I say.
In fact, every time I see Aunt Carol, she asks me whether I’ve “sown my oats yet,” probably because Lydia’s spun a tale about my sexual exploits that bears no resemblance to the truth. It’s gross, and annoying, and I don’t want to deal with it. So yeah, I’ll show up for the wedding, make nice with my extended family for Carter and Tori’s sake, and spend time with my true loved ones another time. But I’m not staying any longer than necessary.
Carter chuckles. “Well, I’m guessing Lydia will be busy flirting with Julian, so you probably won’t have to deal with her.”
Julian pushes off the counter and throws up his hands. “Was I the only one who didn’t know Lydia had a crush on me?”
Carter and I answer at the same time. “Yes.”
Tori laughs. “If it’s any consolation, I wasn’t aware of it, either. But of course, I didn’t know any of you then.”
Julian smirks at her. “Oh, you’ve got jokes now, too.”
Carter stands and pulls Tori to his side. “You should be happy about that. It means you’re in her inner circle.”
Because pettiness sometimes gets the best of me, I can’t help emphasizing the painful experience Julian shouldn’t be looking forward to. “Now that Lydia’s broken up with her high school sweetheart, she’s . . . how did my mother put it . . . oh, right, she’s a free woman and raring to go.”
Julian winces and grips the back of his neck. “This is beginning to sound like a nightmare. And you know what? I’m not sure I’ll be able to take off that much time. It’s a well- known fact that agents never rest.”
Carter’s eyebrows snap together. “You told me you’d already worked out your vacation schedule.”
This time Julian’s the one who’s busted, and he wears a sheepish smile to prove it. “Right.”
“Just tell Lydia you have a girlfriend,” Carter offers, his fingers tapping away at his phone. “It’s not like she’d be able to call you on that.”
I snort. “You say that like an out-of-sight girlfriend would make a difference to her. I assure you, it would not.”
Tori studies Julian and me, her gaze swinging between us, and then her eyes go wide. She thumps Carter on the chest several times. “Wait. I have an idea.” She holds out her hands in a hear-me-out-first stance, her eyes glittering with mischief. “What if you two pretended to be dating? Just for the weekend?”
When I see Julian’s stricken expression, I slap a hand against my mouth to stem the cackle waiting to burst from my throat.
That’s an excellent question. What if, Julian?