“A month!” I cry and grab a pillow and hug it tightly to my chest. “Talk about overstaying your welcome.”
“This is Bryce’s house as much as yours,” dad grits between his teeth, “and his friend is just as welcome here as he is. From what Bryce has told me, his friend is very influential. A very important man.”
“How so?” I ask, slightly curious now.
“He’s the head of the Imperial Society of Chemistry.”
Rolling my eyes, I put the pillow away and get up because we’re done for the day. The clock rings in the hallway and I sigh to myself. Now I got two issues on my hands.
One: Winter is coming.
Two: So is my stupid brother and his friend.
Safe to say, I do not look forward to the month I have ahead of me.
****
I’m curled up in the window frame, nose deep in a book about a highlander and his busty and fiery lass when there’s a ring on the door.Oh goodie, the prodigal son has returned.Groaning, I close the book and I can’t help but sulk when dad stumbles down the hallway and throws himself at the door.
“My boy!” he cries with the kind of ferocity a mother has when saving her child from a burning building. “My son, my one and only son!” His voice is filled with a joy I don’t think I’ve ever brought him in his life and I jump down from the window. Leaning against the wall, I look on in silence as dad grabs Bryce, shoves him into the warmth and wraps his arms around him. He floods Bryce with terms of endearment while Bryce chuckles and pats dad on the back.
Envy stings in my chest when I look at them but I try ignoring it.
Bryce struggles to get out of dad’s death grip and then his eyes go to me. He’s the same as always. Tall and gangly, with a superior and spoiled expression on his face. Guess nothing’s changed. “Hey Bryce,” I murmur, hating myself a little bit when I realize I’ve missed him despite the two of us not getting along. “Good to see you.”
Unsurprisingly, Bryce ignores my attempt at pleasantries, acting like he couldn’t care less and he turns to our father with a proud look on his face. “Dad, I’d like to introduce you to myverygood friend from college.” He sounds like he’s about to announce a king and I do an eye roll on the sly, but I do wonder why this friend of his keeps lingering on the porch out in the cold. “Nathanos Huntington-Graves I’d like you to meet my father...” he trails off as the stranger steps into the warmth.
My jaw slacks at the sight of him, time stops, the world tilting on its axis and the hallway lights flicker above my head. I gulp when my heart dips, landing somewhere on the oriental carpet and I bite my lip to not let out a moan. Staring at him as if transfixed, I twirl a piece of hair between my fingers, numb because I have never seen a man this striking.
His bronzed hair is tousled from the harsh wind, his lips red and contrasting against his pale skin and high cheekbones. He doesn’t look real, more like he’s been sculpted by a sculptor that was trying to create a man but failed and created a divine being. The stranger’s broad shoulders move under his cape coat when he reaches out with his hand.
“Mr. Mallow, it’s a pleasure,” he smiles, his teeth flashing white and I go weak in the knees.
“P...pleasures all mine,” dad stutters and he’s just as in awe of the man as I am.
What has my brother even brought into this house?
This man isn’t just a “friend.” He’s someone I want to worship and I flood with guilt because I thought he’d be an obnoxious bore like Bryce.
“And who do we have here?” Nathanos asks, still smiling and his eyes land on me. My vision narrows as everything disappears and I don’t see anything but the man. I flood with mortification as he curiously inspects me while my hair is a mess, my body covered in an old pair of pants and an oversized sweatshirt that’s soiled with ice cream stains. To make things worse I’m wearing mismatched fluffy socks, one black and one pink.
Feeling like I don’t even deserve to be in his presence I look down when Bryce drawls like he’d rather starve than introduce me, “That’s Amabella.”
“Ah...so that’s the baby sister,” Nathanos says, his voice tinged with warm interest and my cheeks heat. My heart pounds when he walks over to me, holding out his hand and my own trembles when I take it. I flinch when our skin touches. He’s so incredibly cold it takes me off guard and I drop the book I’ve been pressing to my chest.
Choking on a groan, I look on in horror as Nathanos bends down and picks it up between his strong and slender fingers. I stop breathing when he turns it around and looks at the title, “Possessing her innocence,” he reads and I want to die because this couldn’t be any more embarrassing. “Sounds interesting. You’ll have to tell me all about how it ends.”
Not knowing whether he’s serious or joking, I snatch it back and stutter, “It’s not my book. I just borrowed it at the l...library because there wasn’t much to choose f...from.”
Nathanos’s brows rise in surprise.
Bryce snorts, “Sure there was, Amabella would just rather read a bodice ripper than fine, thought-provoking literature. Isn’t that right, sis?”
I want to kill Bryce when Nathanos chuckles but then Nathanos gives me a wink that makes me feel like he’s my confidant and not my brother’s and I flush. I’m dumbstruck, dizzy from meeting Nathanos and the memory of my hand in his. His grip was so strong, so reassuring and cold...
Above all it was cold.
Yet all I want is to touch him again and I look at him beneath my lashes as he gets ushered into the house by dad. I fill with a small sense of pride that our place is so beautiful. A bit rundown sure, but nothing to be ashamed of in front of someone of Nathanos’s caliber. Built in a colonial style, everything’s perfectly symmetrical and classical, and the pilasters and Venetian windows give it a decorative touch that’s simple and tasteful.