Her Best Friend's Brother

by Kay Stockham

  Ethan ordered a soda and shook his head. “I decided to wait until tomorrow morning, first thing. Mom’s exhausted from the wedding rush. She needs a good night’s sleep, not to have my antics dumped on her.” He leaned back to peer into the billiard room. “Come on, I see an open table.”

  Luke shoved himself off the stool and followed. “It would’ve helped if you would’ve chosen somewhere peaceful.”

  “Niger is where I’m needed.” Ethan shifted closer to Nick to not be overheard as they made their way to the billiard room in back. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll have a translator and an armed escort. I know what I’m getting into.”

  “I seriously doubt that, but I’m glad one of us thinks so.”

  Ethan’s eyebrows rose high on his forehead. “That’s cryptic.” He grabbed a cue stick. “Come to think of it, you don’t look so hot. Where’d you disappear to after the reception?”

  “I needed to get out of the tux.”

  “Ah. Shelby still not giving you the time of day?”

  Luke stiffened at the mention of Shelby, glad the two guys at the second table had finished their game and left the area before Ethan blasted that out for all to hear. What was it about family that gave them such clairvoyant power? “What do you mean?”

  His brother slid him an all-knowing glance and continued to rack the balls. “Anyone with eyes could see you searching the crowd for someone today. And I noticed Shelby took off every time you got close.”

  Luke shrugged stiffly and grabbed the chalk to give his hands something to do.

  “Was she really sick or just avoiding you after you hooked up last time?”

  “How’d you know we hooked up?”

  Another smirk. “Didn’t.”

  Crap.

  “Give me the chalk and break already.”

  Frustrated with himself because of his slip, Luke did as ordered and sent the balls scattering with a sharp crack. Two solids dropped.

  “Aww, man.”

  This time Luke was the one smirking. Perfect. Ethan was anal in that he always wanted to play solids.

  Luke rounded the table to position himself for the next shot.

  “Just so you know, I won’t say anything about how you’d better watch yourself because Shelby is Alex’s best friend and practically a member of the family.”

  “You won’t, eh?”

  “Nope. I’ve been tempted myself.”

  Prepared to make his move, Luke barely stopped himself in time to save the shot. “How tempted?”

  “Don’t we sound possessive.”

  “How tempted?” he asked again, hating the hot rush of temper he could feel crawling up his neck.

  “Calm down, lover boy. Not tempted enough to have Alex coming after me.” Ethan chuckled, shaking his head as though in sympathy even though he was clearly cracking up at the thought of Alex walloping Luke.

  He should’ve known better, yeah, but what guy would have turned Shelby down?

  Ethan was right about one thing, the whole family had known Shelby since Alexandra’s first day of kindergarten. Even then Shelby had been opinionated and bold. She was visibly off her game today due to the shock she’d received, but, man, she had pluck. Something Luke had always admired.

  “Ain’t got all day, Granny.”

  Luke jerked back to the present and ignored the taunt, lined up his shot and let a second or two of silence pass before he gave in to the temptation buzzing about his head. If anyone would be blunt with him, it was Ethan. “You think we’d be a mistake?”

  “Now there’s a loaded question.” Ethan’s gaze narrowed as he gave it some thought. “Depends. Let’s look at your history—”

  “You’re not performing surgery on me. Just answer the question.”

  “I’ve learned histories are important,” Ethan drawled with a too-serious doctor face.

  Why hadn’t he kept his mouth shut? Luke sent the cue ball flying and earned another turn.

  “Let’s look at this logically. You typically ask a woman out on a date, but only after you’ve gotten to know her fairly well and it’s a given she’ll say yes. If the evening is decent, you immediately go into a hot and heavy one-on-one. After a while, you break up, have a dry spell three times as long as the relationship, meet another woman and do it all over again.”

  Were all older brothers jackasses? Luke shook his head at himself and fudged the next shot just so it would give Ethan something to do rather than run his mouth. “Maybe I like quality over quantity and don’t feel the need to spread myself around—unlike some people I know.”

  “Scientific studies show sex reduces stress.” Ethan took his shot and missed. “Gotta be the stripes.”

  Luke laughed at his brother’s declaration. “I thought I was bad. You’ve got issues way worse than me.”

  Ethan popped a handful of peanuts into his mouth and chewed, grinning unrepentantly. “Nah. My only problem is that no woman has ever met all my requirements.”

  “Requirements? As in a list? You actually have one of those?” It reminded him of Shelby. She made lists, too. One time she’d come to spend the weekend with Alex and had a list a mile long, marked out hour by hour on what she thought they should do. After she’d left, he’d made fun of Shelby for doing it and Alex had told him Shelby made lists whenever she got nervous. Turned out that was the weekend Shelby’s parents had split up for the fourth time. The list had been her way of coping. Which meant she was probably at home right now writing out all the pros and cons of getting it on with him. He wished he could read it. Maybe then he could come up with rebuttals and know how to deal with her.

  “Why not? A guy’s gotta have standards. So, what’d you do? Ask Shelby to go steady?”

  Luke made a face, unamused. No more throwing the game after that comment. He scowled and bent over the table. Some of Galaxy Games’s staff meetings took place around a pool table in the break room. It was how they unwound and stirred stalled creative juices. And since he spent more time in those meetings than anyone else, he’d gotten pretty good over the years.

  “Come on, I’m just giving you a hard time. What’s going on?” Ethan grabbed another handful of nuts.

  Luke sighed and took his pick between two shots. How sad was it that the only person he could talk to was the brother who hadn’t had a serious relationship in his life? He should have gone to Garret’s. “Shelby’s pregnant.”

  Crack!

  The balls smacking together and entering the pocket with force drowned out the sounds of Ethan choking. By the time Luke straightened and noticed, his brother was coughing and wheezing and drawing the attention of everyone around them. A bruiser of a guy moved in their direction as though to help, but Ethan lifted his hand and waved the guy off. He downed half of his drink and coughed some more, and since he was obviously breathing, the customers went back to what they’d been doing.

  “Did you say pregnant?”

  Luke glanced around to see if anyone had heard. “Keep your voice down.”

  Ethan continued to cough irregularly, his expression one of utter horror. The idiot. Luke should have known better than to tell a guy who couldn’t keep track of his pants. Luke almost hoped Ethan would wheeze his way unconscious. At least then he’d stay quiet.

  His brother finally hacked up a lung and cleared his throat. “There’s, uh, no good way to ask this but—” Ethan sent him a questioning stare “—is it yours? Ah, man, where are you going? Come on, give me a break, okay? I nearly died from the shock while you just stood there.” Ethan closed the distance between them. “I’m only saying…maybe it’s not?”

  “The baby’s mine.”

  “You mean you actually asked?” Ethan blinked a couple of times. “And you’re still able to stand upright?”

  “Knock it off.”

  He held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry. I’m impressed as hell. What’d she do when you popped that one on her?”

  Shelby’s face flashed in front of Luke’s eyes and his gut knotted.
“She looked…hurt, which made me feel like a jerk. I apologized, blamed the shock and then we started arguing about what to do now.”

  Ethan whistled softly. “Pregnant. It’s like trying to imagine Alex with a kid.” A slow smile spread over his face. A chuckle erupted next and before long Ethan was leaning on his pool stick and wiping away tears, laughing so hard everyone was staring again.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Don’t tell me you don’t remember? Come on, when the girls had to take the Life Sciences class and bring home those battery-operated babies? The things cried and peed at all hours of the day and night. You don’t have nightmares about that?”

  Now he remembered. But he also wished Ethan hadn’t brought it up. Luke grabbed the chalk and nearly broke the thing in two when he shoved it over the tip.

  “And then—” Ethan gasped for breath “—Shelby took hers back and asked for an F.” That sent Ethan into another round of guffaws. “She stomped around all weekend thoroughly pissed because they had to drag the car seats and babies to the big dance.”

  The weight on Luke’s shoulders increased. “It wet on her dress and ruined it.”

  “She didn’t diaper it right.”

  “Like you’d know how?”

  Ethan shrugged. “All I know is that teacher had a wicked sense of humor. Those babies kept us from having to kill one of those asses the girls chose as their dates for prom.”

  Luke squeezed the back of his neck and fought the sinking sensation swallowing him up. He’d forgotten about the Life Sciences class. Was that why Shelby had reacted so strongly to the news? Surely she’d spent time around babies—real babies—since then? Didn’t most women want to have kids?

  “Have to say, of all of us, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

  Luke bit back the response that leaped to mind. He wasn’t going to fall for Ethan’s typical older brother baiting. He aimed and—Aww, crap. He’d missed by a mile. “Had what in me?”

  Ethan snickered. “Thanks for the setup. Now don’t take this the wrong way,” he drawled, bending and squinting his eyes to focus in just so, “but out of all the brothers, you’ve always been the good one.”

  Oh, for the love of—

  “That’s not an insult.”

  Yeah, right. “You think?”

  “Hey, you were the one who never got into trouble, unless it was to take up for Nick when he got in trouble.”

  “I wasn’t a Goody Two-shoes.”

  “No, but face it, any test you bombed, any class you skipped, anything you did, was usually so Nick wouldn’t be the only one in hot water. You, my brother, were the official golden child with all your good deeds and heroic acts of stupidity. Now this shocking turn of events of getting a woman—” Ethan lowered his voice “—with child? You bloomin’ late or what?”

  “It’s not a joking matter, Eth.”

  Ethan took a long look at him and gave in with a sag of his shoulders. “Okay, okay, we’ll get serious. She’s in the family way. So the question is—what are you going to do about it?”

  CHAPTER SIX

  “I WANT TO MARRY HER. It’s what any one of us would do.” The noise of the restaurant faded into the background.

  Ethan’s eyebrows rose high on his forehead. “Shelby’s agreed to pack up and move to California?”

  Wanting to marry her so that they could raise their child together was one thing, but the reality was quite another and that hit home with Ethan’s question. Shelby had made her feelings clear and wasn’t going to step foot on California soil. So what to do now? Did she honestly believe the pregnancy changed nothing?

  “She’s turning the mill house into a restaurant.”

  Ethan looked surprised. “Good for her. That’s a great spot for one. Not far from the highway, adjacent to the golf course. But that means she’s wanting to stay here, am I right?”

  How could he do the right thing when she’d never agree to move? “We postponed the decision making until Friday. I told her I’ll fly home again and we’d decide then.”

  “You’re coming home two weekends in a row after years of once-a-year visits? That’s going to raise suspicions.”

  That it would. He studied his options on the table and bent when he made his choice. “When do you leave?”

  “Eleven days.”

  “Then the official reason is that I’m flying back to attend your going-away party.”

  “Niiice. Glad to be of service. Make sure it’s a good one.”

  Luke laughed wryly, amazed he could find anything funny at the moment. “Will do.”

  Ethan scored his next shot and moved near Luke.

  “Shelby thinks it was a huge mistake. I was one of those pathetic losers that got left behind in the hotel room the morning after.” The words came out of nowhere. Why had he just admitted that? And to Ethan?

  Ethan stilled, but other than the telltale reaction to the humiliating moment, his eldest brother acted like it wasn’t a big deal. “She steal your wallet? No? Ahh, see? Then you’re one up on me. Having a great night in the sack and getting left behind after your wallet’s gone, that’s the ultimate in Loserville.”

  “That never happened to you.”

  “No, but that is the ultimate.” Ethan turned his attention to the table. “Why does she think it was a mistake? Other than the surprising result, I mean.”

  Luke shook his head, wishing he knew the answer. The real answer, not the one she’d given him. “I know she’s scared. I could tell.”

  “Can you blame her?”

  “No. We took things too fast but it’s too late to change things now. Now we just have to do what’s right.”

  “She’s got to be worried about Alex and the family, too. Shelby knows we love her, but that had to be weird, waking up next to her best friend’s brother, you know?” Ethan spared Luke another glance. “Things were…good?”

  Luke tensed. He might not have his older brother’s vast experience but he knew a good thing when he and the woman he was with experienced it. Shelby had enjoyed herself. “Things were better than good.”

  “That’s my boy. Can’t say it’s surprising after all those years you lusted after her. It’s a wonder you didn’t self-combust.”

  “It wasn’t just me. She enjoyed herself, too.” Her upset had changed with that kiss and Shelby had gotten so worked up, she’d taken over. Kissed him, stripped him and climbed aboard while he focused on bringing her pleasure. No way could her moans of satiation have been faked.

  “Look, don’t overthink her leaving. That morning had to have been awkward. You’ve liked her all these years but Shelby was probably feeling strange about it. She woke up, got embarrassed and bailed. You did the whole next-day-call thing women expect, right?”

  “She wouldn’t answer her cell so I left messages. I thought if nothing else we could dance at the wedding, talk, you know? But then she avoided me. After the accident happened with Matt, everything got shoved aside.”

  “Wait a minute. Are you saying that until tonight, you haven’t talked to her since the day before Garret and Darcy’s wedding? Didn’t you try to call her again once you were back in California?”

  Did Ethan really think he hadn’t tried? “Of course I did,” Luke muttered the words, careful to keep his voice low even though no one was around to hear. “I left a couple of messages but when she wouldn’t call me back, I stopped calling.”

  “That’s cool then. You tried. Sounds to me like you did your duty. It’s her loss.”

  Luke pinched the bridge of his nose. “Not considering she’s pregnant now, it’s not. You’re not helping.”

  Ethan tugged at his ear. “Sorry, little brother. Women are complicated creatures and I can’t pretend to understand them. But I gotta tell you, this thing with Shelby doesn’t sound good.”

  He’d spilled his guts to have that as a diagnosis? Luke pointed to the corner pocket.

  “You know, it might help if you moved back here.”

  He’d
just lined up and begun the hit when Ethan said that. As a result, Luke missed his shot by a good three inches. Move back? No way. Beauty was great to visit and would always be his hometown, but until he moved to California and began working in the industry he loved, he’d felt like he was being suffocated. It had been hard growing up as Nick’s twin, never able to be himself because to do so made Nick’s inability to do well in school and sports look worse. People, even his family, didn’t understand the bond twins shared. When people compared them and Nick came up lacking in grades or whatever, Luke also felt the pain, and he’d always felt partially to blame. Who wouldn’t, considering as kids Nick had told Luke he hated looking at him? That’s why he’d started keeping his mouth shut in class, not doing his homework or doing it wrong.

  Nick was finally happy and slowly rejoining the family fold. It was good, all good. But Luke wasn’t going to inflict more pain on him by suddenly returning now. He’d found a home in California, a place where anonymity had given him strength and the courage to try new things. People, his peers, took him at face value because they didn’t know his geek-ridden past, his family or his twin, and because of that, they didn’t make comparisons. In California, he was his own man. He wore his hair longer, surfed, and donned shorts for work, something his father considered play and didn’t take seriously. “I couldn’t give up my job.”

  Shelby’s accusations came to mind and guilt stirred. He wouldn’t give up his life but he wanted her to give up hers? That was fair? Could he really expect her to relinquish her dream when he wasn’t willing to do the same? “You’ll keep this quiet, right?”

  “Yeah.” Ethan grabbed his soda for another drink. “Man, it’s going to be tough, though. Things are going to get really interesting around here. Too bad I won’t be here to see it all go down.”

  SHELBY PULLED DOWN the car visor and glanced at her appearance in the mirror. The noonday sun was especially harsh in detailing her faults. She’d tried to disguise the ravages of her sleepless night, but no way would her mother—a woman who believed concealer was second only to lipstick—not notice the bags under her eyes. It was inevitable. But if she canceled their standing Sunday lunch date, her mother was sure to come after her to find out why. She’d learned a long time ago she’d rather face the guillotine than the Drama Queen.