“Leah, wait,” he called as she pressed the button for the elevator. “Are you all right?”
She turned and faced him, a forced smile if he’d ever seen one painted on her face, but at least she wasn’t crying. He never knew exactly how to handle crying women.
“Peachy.”
“I’m serious. What Harry—”
Behind her the elevator doors opened. “Really, I’ll be fine, Gavin, but thanks for asking. And while finding out like this stinks, it’s better I learn what a jerk Harry is now before I waste any more time on him.”
Half brother or not, Gavin could’ve told her the day she walked into his condo what an asshole Harry was when it came to women and relationships. No doubt about it, the guy was following in their father’s footsteps. The only real difference between them was that Donald Kincaid cheated on both his wives and girlfriends while Harry had been wise enough to keep away from the altar.
“Have a nice weekend. And don’t forget to try taking a vacation sometime. I think you work too much.” She stepped inside the elevator and gave him a little wave. “See you later, Gavin.”
The doors closed before he could offer up a reply. Crossing the hall, he entered the condo in time to hear Amy call his half brother a dirtbag. An appropriate if tame name for Harry. Soon after she stormed across the living room dressed in her own clothes.
“Amy, c’mon, wait a minute. I can explain,” Harry called, following her into the room still only wearing his jeans.
After grabbing her sandals, she continued toward the door without even stopping to put them on. “Yeah, I bet you can,” Amy tossed over her shoulder before opening the door and walking out.
“Damn it.” Harry raked a hand through his already disheveled blond hair. “I need a drink. Do you want one?”
“You need a drink?” Gavin advanced on his half brother, his hands clenched into fists. He never resorted to violence, but damn he wanted to punch Harry. “Your girlfriend just walked in on you with another woman, and you’re the one who needs a drink? How the hell do you think Leah feels?”
With a shrug, Harry entered the kitchen and went straight for the fridge.
Pain shot through Gavin’s cheek, and he relaxed his jaw as he stormed into the room. “If you feel a great need to take after Dad in some way, try emulating his boardroom skills instead.” Their father had a lot of faults, but he knew how to run a successful multimillion-dollar business.
“Who do think encouraged me to stay with Leah this long anyway?” Harry opened a beer and took a swig. “If it’d been up to me, I would’ve dumped her weeks ago. She might be pretty, but she’s a prude. Why do you think I’ve been hooking up with Amy or Satin whenever Leah’s not around?”
He’d known Harry was lazy but hadn’t realized he was stupid too. Gavin had been attracted to Leah Sherbrooke from the moment he met her at a Clean Water Matters fundraiser a year ago. Unfortunately, at the time she’d been involved with someone. When Harry showed up at the condo they were temporarily sharing back in January with her on his arm, Gavin couldn’t believe his rotten luck. If he had known Leah was single, he would’ve reached out to her long before her cousin Tory introduced her to Harry.
&nb
sp; Despite her being with his half brother, Gavin’s attraction hadn’t disappeared. In fact it had grown over the past two and a half months. Thanks to all the time she’d spent at the condo, he’d gotten to know her as a person rather than just another member of the wealthy and powerful Sherbrooke family.
“Dad wanted you to stay with her?” As far as he knew, their father had never cared whom any of his children got involved with.
“Yeah. Since we were together, he expected to finally have a connection to the Sherbrooke family so he could get Culloden restaurants into their hotels.”
At times like this, Gavin wondered how it was possible Donald Kincaid was his father.
“He’s going to be pissed when he finds out we’re no longer together.” Harry swallowed another mouthful of beer. “Do me a favor and don’t say anything to him. I’m not in the mood for one of his friendly chats.”
Gavin had been on the receiving end of Dad’s chats, and he knew there was nothing friendly about them. All things considered, he couldn’t think of anyone more deserving of one than Harry, but he was a little old to be tattling on his younger brother.
“I’ll leave the honors to you. But let me know when you plan on giving him the news, so I can turn off my phone.”
Since they were living together, Dad would find some way of placing part of the blame on his head—as if he’d ever been able to influence Harry’s decisions. Regardless, ever since they’d been kids, whenever Harry screwed up, Dad found a way to transfer some of the responsibility onto Gavin’s shoulders. Maybe if Dad had forced Harry to deal with things more, the guy would be more of a responsible adult today.
“Hopefully I can convince Leah to give me a second chance and keep Dad off my ass.” Harry opened the fridge and pulled out a pizza box. “I’ll give her a few days to cool off and then stop by her house.”
His half brother had a better chance of reaching the top of Mount Everest naked in the middle of a blizzard than of convincing Leah to take him back. Other women might fall for Harry’s promises, but not her. Unlike a lot of the women Harry dated, Leah had a brain in her head.
“Good luck with that,” Gavin called out as he walked past Harry. And thank you, he silently added.
As much as he hated the reason why Leah had dumped his half brother, with Harry and Leah’s relationship over, it meant he could now do what he’d wanted to do since he first met her. Ask out Leah Sherbrooke.
Chapter One