Top Shelf (Seacroft Stories Book 1) by Temple Allison

Author:Temple, Allison [Temple, Allison]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi
Publisher: Allison Temple Books
Published: 2019-05-19T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

Seb slid into the driver’s seat and pulled the car back onto the road. He’d been looking forward to having Martin to himself since the moment he’d finally kissed him. In the week that followed, he’d flirted outrageously. Martin, predictably, adorably, blushed and stammered, but in small stolen moments at the back of the store turned out to be a decent kisser. They’d only been caught once, by Cass, whose eyes had nearly bugged out of her head before she’d squeaked and hurried away.

It was either his good mood, or possibly the underlying tension from the idea of seeing his family, but Seb didn’t notice Martin had barely spoken—even less than usual—until they were on the highway, leaving Seacroft in the rearview mirror.

“Want to pick some music?” Seb asked. Martin wordlessly flipped the radio on, scrolled through the dial for a moment, and then went back to staring out the window.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” Martin sighed and leaned his head back against the car’s leather headrest. “Except it’s possible I haven’t been the best brother in the world lately.”

“Well, you’ve had some shit to work through. And as far as you’ve told me, he hasn’t exactly been a poster child for big brother of the year either.”

Martin fiddled with the knobs on the car’s dash, turning the fan up and down until he turned it off altogether. “My brother’s having a tough time. Ending a marriage is never easy, but I think it’s harder on him than I realized. He said some things, just now, that I wasn’t expecting to hear. Makes me wonder what else he hasn’t told me since he’s been too busy taking care of me.”

“Hey.” Seb put a hand on Martin’s knee. “At least he’s talking to you. That’s more than most of my entire family will do.”

Martin gave him a glum smile. “But you’re going to see them now.”

“Call me brave or stupid. I’m just glad Oliver tracked me down to say my grandmother was sick.”

“Are you closest to your brother then?” Martin grazed his fingers over the back of Seb’s hand for the briefest second before he quickly folded both his hands in his lap. Seb grinned. He was a tactile person, always had been. Now he had the option to touch Martin freely, and he wanted the connection pretty much all the time. Wearing down Martin’s reserved restraint would be fun.

He ran a finger over Martin’s ear, smoothing down a curl of hair threatening to fly free.

Martin shivered under the touch. “You’re avoiding the question.”

Seb growled and put both hands back on the wheel. “Ollie and I were close when we were growing up. He was my big brother. Whatever he did, I wanted to do it too. He played sports, I tried out for the team. He got elected senior class president, I ran to get on the student council too. I wasn’t always successful—sports were never really my thing—but I wanted him to see me, you know? To know I saw him and how amazing he was, and that I wanted to be the same.

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