“Your sister and I were talking about weddings,” Mom says.
My brother laughs a little too hard and I narrow my eyes at him.
“What’s so funny?” I ask.
“You. Marriage. When was the last time you were even on a date?” he smirks.
“She went on one last month,” Briar answers before I can.
Briar Short. Admittedly my favorite of my brother’s hounds. I’d like to say it’s purely for his sweet and mysterious persona…but he’s also incredibly hot. My dad is tall, my brother is tall, and my mother’s short stature did not save me from the tall gene. I’m six-foot and Briar is a half foot taller than me. Tall-tall.
There’s nothing wrong with a short-king, I’ve dated several men shorter than me.
But looking up at Briar when he smirks it certainly takes a woman’s breath away. Pile that on top of lion-like hazel eyes, freckled cheeks, and amber hair and a ginger stubble, and this girl specifically becomes jelly-legged.
He met Kaidan in high school when he’d moved here from somewhere. It’s been nearly a decade and I still had no clue where Briar was originally from. Unlike Kaidan, Briar was done with school, he’d gotten himself a Bachelor’s in Business and was running his late father’s masonry company.
Why on earth do I know all that though?
I’m the big sister of Kaidan’s gang. When he needs a ride, a DD, a responsible adult, he calls on me. I’ve been babysitting his shenanigans since he had his first beer. And I’ve been there for Briar’s first beer, too.
No one but me bats an eye that he answers for me. I raise my brows at him, and he shrugs, offering a bright white, and blindingly handsome smile.
“According to mom, you’ve landed a hot doctor, when are you proposing?” I ask Kaidan.
Briar snickers as Kaidan smacks his head on the inside of the fridge.
“Mom!” Kaidan complains, like he used to when he blamed me for bullying him growing up.
“Don’t tease your brother, Jordan,” she warns me, but she sounds too pleased with herself. She wants to know, too.
I glance around the room and find Briar still looking at me. I tilt my head in a silent question, one I don’t get an answer to, as Kaidan finds his beverage of choice and heads upstairs with his loyal dogs in toe.
Briar trails behind, snagging a handful of popcorn from the bowl I was using to feed my popped garland. My heart flutters, giving me a strange sense of pain and excitement, as he winks at me with a mouthful and vanishes from the kitchen.
It’s not the first time he’s done this. And the more he does it, the more I let it make my mind wander a little too whimsically into dreamland. I used to roll my eyes and shrug it off, mainly because he used to be in high school when I was in college. But after he turned eighteen, he didn’t stop making eyes at me. There’s no way I should be interested. He’s my brother’s age, and I should be treating him like a brother.
Should.
And yet, can you blame a girl!?
I have needs, wants, desires…and Briar is so high up on those lists.
But he’s young and he’s my brother’s best friend. Those needs, wants, and desires of mine mean nothing with those factors in place.
“That boy is too handsome for his own good,” My mother’s voice startles me out of my thoughts. She smiles to herself. “I wonder if he likes winter weddings too?” she asks as she exits the room.
Me too…
CHAPTER2
Briar
If I had a roommate like Jordan, I’d be home a lot more than I currently am. My condo goes untouched these days, feeling like a hollow tomb without life in it. I’ve been considering getting a cat or a roommate—those are equivalent right?—to make it a little more welcoming.
Maybe I should try the girlfriend thing? That would certainly give some life to my cold wasteland of a condo. Admittedly, it isn’t hard for me to date, women even approach me. But I’ve become picky.
I compare them to one woman in particular and that isn’t fair to them. Plus with my Short Masons business, I have plenty to occupy my time.