Huge Deal by Layne Lauren

Author:Layne, Lauren
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-02-12T05:00:00+00:00

Kennedy knew it was the coward’s way out, but he waited until his brother was alone before making his move.

“Hey,” Jack said, grinning when he saw Kennedy. “Where the hell you been? I haven’t seen you since we first got in.”

“I’ve been making the rounds,” Kennedy lied. “So much for this being a small get-together.”

“Classic over-the-top Mom party, right?” Jack said, snagging a stuffed mushroom off a passing tray. “Hey, sorry to hear about Claudia. She seemed nice.”

“She was. Just not . . . You know.”

“Yeah, I know. Unfortunately.”

Jack’s sardonic tone gave Kennedy pause. “Do you?”

“Yup.” Jack popped the mushroom in his mouth. “Got the old let’s be friends talk from your girl Kate.”

“What?” Even as hope flared, he cared enough about his brother to be bothered. “She dumped you at our parents’ anniversary party?”

“Nah.” Jack picked up his glass of champagne from a table. “We had ‘the talk’ earlier this week. Decided we were better as friends and all of that.”

“Who decided?”

“She brought it up first.” Jack lifted a shoulder. “But I’d have done it if she hadn’t. Sucks, though. She’s one of the good ones, but the physical chemistry was off. It was a little too much like kissing my sister.”

“You kissed her?” Kennedy’s question came out short, angry.

Jack had lifted his hand to wave at someone across the deck, but his gaze snapped to Kennedy’s, and his hand lowered. “Whoa.”

“What?”

Jack studied him for a moment, then sighed and shook his head. “You’re an idiot.”

“You get dumped by an amazing woman, and I’m the idiot?”

Jack didn’t rise to the bait, just gave Kennedy an irritated look. “I had my suspicions, but you had Claudia, and . . . Damn it, Kennedy. You should have told me she was off-limits.”

“I did,” Kennedy ground out. “I very distinctly remember telling you that Kate was off-limits, that we had a pact—”

“Forget the stupid pact. I meant, you failed to mention that she was off-limits because she’s yours.”

“She’s not a possession, Jack.”

“I’m aware, Kennedy. But don’t pretend not to know what I mean. You like her.”

“Of course I like her.”

“You know what I mean. You want her. Nothing to do with friendship. Or work.” Jack stated it as a fact.

And hell. Hearing it out loud . . .

“No. I don’t know. It’s complicated.”

“See, that’s always been your problem. You act like you want everything to be simple and straightforward, but you spend so much effort trying to simplify every damn thing that you end up with a situation that’s a hundred times more complex than if you’d just gone with the flow.”

“All right, Aristotle, calm down,” Kennedy snapped, grabbing Jack’s champagne and taking a large swallow, since it was the closest drink around. “If you two are broken up, why is she here with you?”

Jack shrugged. “Like I said, we’re friends. I asked if she still wanted to come, and she said sure.”

“Where is she?”

“Restroom,” Jack said. “Apparently there’s a long line. Boats aren’t exactly known for bountiful facilities.”

“Maybe that’s why she dumped you,” Kennedy said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.