“Smart man.”
“Big plans tonight?” Kyle asked.
“Spend some time with Cherry.”
“Nice.” Kyle got quiet. Too quiet for Brody’s liking. The guy never shut up long enough to breathe.
“Something on your mind?”
“You won’t like it.”
“Try me.”
“It’s Sydney McKnight.” Yeah, Kyle was right—he wouldn’t like that at all.
“What about her?” he asked, trying to keep his tone conversational. No need to kill the kid before his probationary period was up.
“I was thinking of asking her out—maybe to the Fireman’s Auction, but, uh... since she’s your best bud and all, I wanted to check with you first.”
“Like I’m her dad?”
“Yeah. Exactly,” Kyle said, clearly happy. “I mean, she’s a little older than me, but the body is—”
“Don’t finish that thought. Keep it safely tucked away in your brain,” Brody practically growled.
Kyle cleared his throat. “She’s a great-looking woman and has a personality to match.”
“She’s seeing someone,” Brody snapped. He couldn’t help it. While Kyle might be a good guy, he was still some kid looking to get laid. As Sydney’s best friend, it was Brody’s job to keep guys like that away from her. She deserved better, and he knew for a fact she wanted more than that.
“Who?” Kyle asked. “I checked her Facebook page, and it says she’s single.”
Son of a gun. Reason number five hundred not to like social media. Nothing was private. “That’s because she hasn’t updated her Facebook page in six months. This is fairly new.” So new that Sydney didn’t even know about it.
“Well, damn. Guess I’ll ask Apple McCoy, then.”
“Yeah, ask her. She’s... available.” Or at least he thought Cherry’s sister was. Either way, Kyle could set his sights on another woman.
“Dude. We could double date, and then later, once Sydney discovers how awesome I am, I’ll gently let Apple down. Then we can hang out and you can give your blessing. Like the Pope.” He made an ah, ah, ah sound, like he was singing in a church choir.
First, Kyle compared him to being Sydney’s dad and now he morphed into a celibate religious figure? This conversation was quickly going downhill.
“We could, but we won’t,” Brody said. Twenty, the kid was barely twenty, he reminded himself. Too young to know better. Too young to recognize that he needed to shut up about Sydney. “And I’m pretty sure comparing me to the Pope is blasphemous.” Brody wasn’t Catholic, but even he knew you didn’t say stuff like that.
“Nah, this Pope is cool. He’s Super Pope.”
Brody rolled his eyes. “If you say so.”
“Maybe once my probationary period is over and I’ve earned it?” Kyle asked hopefully.
Feeling like a first-class jerk for lying, Brody forced himself to nod. “Yeah. You have to earn it first.”
“Sweet.” Kyle picked up the scanner and called into dispatch to let them know they were headed back. “You’re positive about Sydney?” he asked. “I really like her. She’s so easy to talk to, and it feels right being around her.”
Brody’s jaw clenched. The kid wasn’t giving up—a trait that had been one of the main reasons Brody had hired him. “Sydney has that effect on everyone.” Including him. “There isn’t a man alive who can’t see himself with her.”
“Except for you,” Kyle said. “Best friend zone and all that.”
“Yeah.” He gave Kyle a sidelong glance, wondering if he was trying to needle him or honestly felt that way. But, Kyle’s face gave nothing away, mostly because he was on his phone. “Except for me.”
“Good thing you’re dating Cherry. Because, dude, I’d seriously violate that best-friend zone and ask her out if I were you.”
Brody’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel, but he had to admit Kyle had a point. He was dating Cherry, if only casually. It worked for them. No real commitment, yet she was someone he could always count on. Just like he was for her.
People assumed they were serious, which was fine with him. Even if it really wasn’t. Even if he couldn’t see himself settling down with Cherry, but rather another woman with big blue eyes and shoulder-length blonde hair... and a laugh that made his gut clench.
But, because he didn’t want to hurt Cherry’s reputation—the world being what it was—or risk hurting the other woman he wanted, but could never have, he kept his mouth shut and did what was expected of him.
Because that’s what heroes did.
Chapter Two
Sydney McKnight was tired of being the woman every man in the town of Jessamine wanted...To be friends with, that was.
But, that was the problem with living in a small town. Once you were labeled, you were stuck. And boy, had she ever been labeled. The nice girl. The one you can count on. Even in high school, she’d been voted most dependable and friendliest. Not biggest flirt, best looking, or most likely to do something wild and crazy. Nope, not her. That honor belonged to her best friend and one of the McCoy girls.
Though, it could be worse, like Helen Jean Humphries, who would forever have the nickname Humpty, merely because of her last name. Helen Jean wasn’t humped anywhere. In fact, she had a great figure and personality, but that hadn’t stopped the nickname from sticking. Maybe that was why Helen Jean went away to college and never came back.
Unfortunately, Sydney couldn’t do that. She had too many responsibilities to even consider leaving Jessamine. So, for her, it had been an immediate segue to bank training because working at a financial institution was a solid job. It was expected.
Before Sydney’s mother had retired, she had worked at Jessamine Savings & Loan. And, before that, her mother’s mother had worked there as secretary to the bank manager. So, in a way, it was Sydney’s legacy to work at JS&L, which meant she was stuck, and that was all there was to it.
Things could be worse, she supposed. She could be stuck in a small town that wasn’t built right on the Pamlico Sound. Or one that didn’t have an annual seafood festival and a boat parade on the fourth of July. Or a biannual pirates’ weekend when Blackbeard impersonators flooded the town by ship, motorcycle, and Greyhound buses. Trees certainly weren’t this showy with perfect blossoms and lime green leaves. Sidewalks couldn’t be this clean or have benches perfect for catching up with an old friend or two. Residents were never this chatty, and when someone was in need, no town could bend over backwards further than hers to help them out.
All in all, Jessamine was a pretty good place to call home.
She grinned. Even if she was romanticizing it a bit.
Glancing right and then left, she crossed Main Street and headed back to work. Her hour lunch wasn’t even halfway up, but one of her coworkers needed to leave early to get her nails done. Hot date and all that.
Sydney sighed. If only she could have a hot date, instead of one that ended with the inevitable brotherly kiss or—she internally winced—a fist bump. Gosh, that had been the most embarrassing date ever.
She had thought that Preston Lawson had really been into her. After all, he’d held her hand in the parking lot while she teetered on stilettos she had no business wearing in the first place, touched the small of her back while they walked through a romantic restaurant crowded with tables and chairs, and then took her to his favorite sports bar two towns over to go dancing.
Or so she thought.
Instead, he’d talked her into playing darts with another couple. Their team had won, of course, and Preston had given her a congratulatory fist bump before he’d walked away with the losing team. And, he had kept right on walking with the two women who had made up the other team, right out the entrance. She had ended up calling a local cab service, something that wasn’t all that common in eastern North Carolina, and had gone home in tears.
Her stomach twisted a little at the memory. “So humiliating,” she whispered.
“Sydney, wa
it up,” a familiar voice shouted, and she paused, scanning the street and settling on a tall drink of water heading her way.
Brody Lawson, still in his fireman’s bunker gear, jogged to her, a smile on his sexy face. His blue eyes twinkled and his dark hair had that mussed quality about it that bespoke of his hands constantly running through it.
Her heart pounded in her ears, in her chest, and well, everywhere. Every time she was in spitting distance of Brody, her body was one big, giant heartbeat. Not that it did any good.
“Hey buddy,” he said. And that greeting was exactly why.
Her pounding heart stuttered and dropped to her toes. Sure, they were best friends, but did he have to remind her of it all the dang time?
“Hey you,” she said, her smile automatically getting so big that her cheeks started to hurt. “Where’s the fire?”
“It’s out,” he laughed, coming to a stop mere inches from her. “Wilson Tractor Supply’s warehouse is a little worse for wear. I think we got it in time, and Barry had already sent third-shift home before the worst of it.”
More than a few women walked by them, heads turning like barn owls to ogle Brody. Not that she could blame them. Heck, she’d ogle the man every day if she had the chance. Like she was doing right now.
Sydney didn’t miss the smear of soot along his sharp cheekbone. “Missed a spot.” She pointed in the general direction of his face, not wanting to make it too obvious she’d been staring.
“Always looking out for me, Syd. What would I do without you?” Of course, he wiped the opposite side of his face. “Did I get it?”
“No.”
He turned his head slightly, his sexy gaze on her, pleading. “Get it for me?”
Touch him? Oh, sweet baby Jesus.
Hand shaking slightly with excitement, she smoothed her fingers over his skin, but the soot wouldn’t come off. “I think you’re going to have to wash your face again,” she said softly.
Turning back to her, he grinned and she didn’t move her hand. She didn’t move an inch. They stood like that for a moment, the tips of her fingers on his rough cheek. “No time to shave this morning?”
Brody shook his head a little. “The alert on my phone woke me up out of a dead sleep. I got dressed in the dark. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it later. Unless, you’re opposed to being seen with me in public like this?”
Opposed to it? She wouldn’t mind being with him in private, where no one would see, and she could explore his body. And... dear Lord. She had to stop this madness. Brody Lawson would never think of her like that, and she had no clue what she would do with him if he did.
Finally, she let her hand fall because to keep touching him was madness and a little strange. Her fingers tingled from where she’d touched him, and that tingling feeling was starting to spread to other places.
“I can only have one reason for not wanting to be seen with you in public?” she teased, trying to get back into best-friend mode. “I mean—the smell alone...” A helpless snort left her before she could stop it.
He gave her a look, one that made her knees weak and her heart slam against her chest.
So not helping.
“Brody Lawson,” a woman cooed from behind Sydney before he could speak. “It’s so good to see that the four-alarm fire that had you running from my bed this morning didn’t burn you up.”
“Cherry,” he murmured, his cheeks heating. “I called you as soon as I was done.”
Sydney watched as he stepped back a couple of feet. Her heart sank in disappointment. Of course, his heated gaze had been directed at Cherry McCoy, not at her. His red face, embarrassed gaze, and hurried retreat was more than enough evidence of the fact.
Whirling around, she pasted a smile on her face and greeted Cherry. The strawberry blonde gave her a genuine smile back. “Sydney. Don’t you look just darling in that dress.” She flicked her brown-eyed gaze to Brody. “Doesn’t she, sugar?”
Despite knowing what was good for her, hope slowly rose inside of Sydney. Maybe Brody would really take a look at her and—
“Well...” he began, visibly swallowing.
Sydney forced her gaze to Cherry. “It’s okay. Brody and I don’t discuss my fashion choices.”
Cherry rolled her eyes. “You’re allowed to compliment the woman, best friend or not.” She looped her arm through Sydney’s and tossed her hair in a way only a McCoy girl could. Every single one of them was liked by everyone in town, just like Sydney—only, unlike Sydney, men loved the McCoy girls. Worse, the McCoy girls were nice, genuinely nice, to everyone. They didn’t have a mean bone in their perfect bodies. It was unfair, really. “Tell her how pretty she looks.”
Brody’s gaze turned panicked, and he started to sputter. “Um. Well, I—”
Sydney wanted to crawl in a hole and die. “I have to go. My lunch break is already up, and Mabel Leigh has to leave early.”
“Brody.” Cherry raised her eyebrows purposefully, and Sydney glanced at Brody. “You’re making her feel bad.”
“Actually, you’re the one—” He shook his head. “You look very pretty, Sydney.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I really have to go. If I’m not back, uh...” She faltered, unable to think of a reasonable explanation as to what anyone would do to her for not taking her entire lunch break. Inspiration struck. “People won’t get their money. It’s Friday. People need their money.”
Letting go of Sydney, Cherry patted Brody on the shoulder. “See that didn’t hurt a bit.”
Brody grunted, narrowing his gaze on Cherry. “Maybe it didn’t hurt you.”
Stunned and more than a little hurt by his answer, Sydney took the opportunity to escape. “See y’all later,” she announced with a cheery wave.
“Don’t forget about tomorrow’s softball game,” Brody called out.
“Wouldn’t miss it.” She smiled once more, and then hurried away.
Ugh. She hated living in the friend zone, especially in the we-can’t-win-without-you friend zone. It made her feel wanted when she had no business thinking that way. Men talked about it all the time, but women... they weren’t allowed or even assumed to be in the same category.
Being friends with a hot guy was bad enough, but being in love with your best friend was worse.
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More Books By Marquita Valentine
The Lawson Brothers
Love So Hot
Love So True
Love so Irresistible
Love So Tempting
Love So Perfect
Love So Unexpected
Love So Right (August 2016)
The Brides of Holland Springs Series
The Billionaire Bride
The Temporary Bride
The Forgotten Bride
The Christmas Bride (May 2016)
The Scottish Bride (May 2016)
Seducing the Billionaire Series
Seducing the Billionaire’s Wife
Seducing the Billionaire’s Secretary
Seducing the Billionaire’s Brother (coming Winter 2016)
Take the Fall Series
Take the Fall
When We Fall
After We Fall
Hard to Fall (July 2016)
The Target Series
Prime Target
Hard Target
Last Target- Red Sole Clues Anthology
Moving Target (May 2016)
Holland Springs Series
Drive Me Crazy
Driving To You
Twice Tempted
Third Time’s a Charm
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Just Desserts
Not Over You
Be Mine
About the Author
Marquita Valentine is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of the sexy contemporary romance and hot romantic suspense.
Since first taking the plunge in July of 2012 to self publish, Marquita Valentine has ap
peared on the Top 100 Bestselling Ebooks Lists on iBooks, Amazon Kindle, and Barnes&Noble multiple times. She’s been called “one of the best new voices in romance” (Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews) and her books have been accused of being “a sexy, fun, and slightly addicting contemporary read” (The Book Queen).
When she’s not writing sexy heroes who adore their sassy heroines, she enjoys shopping, reading, and spending time with her family and friends. Married to her high school sweetheart, Marquita lives in a seriously small town in the south with her husband, two kids, and a dog.
www.marquitavalentine.com
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