I think I had some of her shots.And that would explain the brain fog.
“You bailed early though. You find someone to take home?”
They sound like they’re in another room.
Opening the door slowly, the hallway is clear. I take a few steps out and tread softly, feet bare on the floor.
“Uh, yeah,” Briar says, and I swear I can hear the shrug of his shoulders, or I’ve just seen it so many time that I imagine it. “Kelsea was nice.” Briar changes the subject and I hear the creak of a chair’s springs.
“Oh man, Kelsea was the best. She played DD since Jordan bailed on me. Can you believe that? All these years and she’s choosing now to bail on us? I bet she’s puking eggnog and regretting everything with a pounding headache. You know once you’re that old you can’t handle shit.”
Old. I was old and my brother was painting it beautifully. I kissed Briar with my drunk eggnog and Irish coffee mouth, and he was still kind enough to make sure I made it home safe.
Make it safely to his place. Not home. He knows where I live.
Why did he bring me here?
The thought sits with me as I steal rain boots from the rack beside the front door, slipping them on as I turn the knob slowly. He isn’t doing too good of a job getting Kaidan out, so I need to vacate the premises.
I look back a moment and my eyes meet Briar’s. He’s leaning in the entranceway to his living room, still more naked than clothed. His lips tilt into a half smile and he winks at me before I vanish out the door, too worried Kaidan might see me.
Was the question of ‘why had he brought me here?’ really that impossible to answer? If I’d been less drunk, would the night have been more than a few kisses?
CHAPTER5
Briar
Jordan left more than a soiled sweater and freshly laundered clothes at my place. She left her purse, phone, keys, all of it. She would be back. It didn’t even take a day. I couldn’t have planned it to go better.
I finish buttoning up my flannel when I hear the knock on my door. Her things are neatly piled on my dining room table. Just far away enough from the front door that she can’t do a grab and go.
Before she can knock again, I open the door, her fist raised mid-air.
“Hello there,” I drawl out, leaning into the doorframe.
She’s not wearing my clothes anymore and she’s showered. Fresh waves of cinnamon and apple hit my nose and I can almost float on the scent like when a cartoon smells a pie cooling in a window. She’s traded out my sweater for a turtleneck, a high waisted jean skirt, and tights accompanied with boots and tall socks. She looks as though she belongs with a book in her hand by the fire while I rub her feet and we listen to Christmas carols.
“Briar,” she greets stiffly, shifting from one foot to the other.
“I would’ve called you but your phone—”
“Is here. I know,” she mumbles. She nervously chews on her lip and glances around hastily.
“Kaidan isn’t here,” I reassure her.
“He’s at home with Kelsea.”
“Wow, two days in a row with the same girl? He might actually be serious about this one.”
“Kaidan has always wanted a sugar-momma, a future-doctor probably will do that for him. He is pretty good with kids,” she adds, to not paint her brother like too much of a bastard. He’s not. Spoiled and slightly self-centered…yes.
“Can I come in?” she asks, looking up through her lashes.
I nod but don’t move, forcing her to scoot past me. As she does, I press into her, stopping her and reminding me of our close encounter outside the pub the night before.
“Briar,” she breathes out slowly, caught between the frame and me.
I’m not losing this chance a second time. This woman has me tangled up inside and I’m thinking she’s the only one who can unravel me.