“It’s my Daddy who built it,” she said, putting her hand on a rung of the rope ladder. “You should be thanking me for letting you use the treehouse.”
“Well, my daddy is your daddy’s boss, so really, it’s my treehouse.” I took a step closer to her, so my nose almost touched hers.
I didn’t like the way she looked at me then. Her big eyes started filling with tears, and her bottom lip trembled. All the meanness inside me evaporated, and I took a step back. I shoved her shoulder with the tips of my fingers, barking out a laugh.
“I’m only joking, Frogface.”
“Sometimes your jokes are mean.”
“They’re not. We’re friends, you should know when I’m joking.”
“We’re friends?” Frogface’s eyebrows arched hopefully as she blinked the tears away from her eyes. Her lips curled upward in a soft smile, and she shifted her weight from one leg to the other. “Max told me you weren’t my friend, you were only his friend. But I’d like to be your friend, too.”
She looked kind of pretty, standing in the forest with dappled sunshine glowing on her skin. I wanted to be friends with her. She was the nicest person I knew. Even when I was mean to her, she forgave me quicker than anyone else. Frogface was always there. Even though she was annoying sometimes, always following Max and me around, I still liked her.
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the Swiss Army knife Father had bought me for my twelfth birthday. Frogface’s eyes widened as she watched me flip it open.
“What are you doing, Sacha?”
Instead of answering, I carved out four letters in the tree trunk.
SB + FF
“There,” I said, closing the knife and slipping it in my pocket. “See? We’re friends. Sacha Black and Frogface.”
Willow didn’t even mind that I’d used her nickname. The smile on her face nearly split it in half, and she wrapped her arms around me so hard we both fell to the ground.
Giggling, she landed on top of me and planted a kiss right on my cheek. Heat rushed to my face and I pushed her off me, even though I didn’t really mind touching her that much.
“Gross, Frogface. Don’t kiss me.”
“Friends forever,” she said, giggling. “You can’t take it back now.” There was a leaf in her hair and a shine in her eyes, and my heart felt happy.
‘Friends forever’ with Willow Wise didn’t seem so bad.
20
Willow
Sacha gets a room at one of the hotels in town, even though Max and I offer up the guest room in each of our houses. Knowing that Sacha will be staying in town for at least a month fills me with a deep excitement I haven’t felt in a long time.
For the next week, Sacha spends his days with his mother, organizing his father’s affairs, and I spend my days working. Summer is a busy season for weddings, and I’m in the thick of planning multiple events. Max’s wedding is in three weeks, and I want to make sure everything is perfect for it.
Day by day, as I work with brides and grooms to plan their perfect day, my enjoyment of the whole process grows. It’s no longer a clinical, scientific approach to planning an event I don’t believe in. When I hear brides giving their vows, I think of Sacha. When I watch couples kiss for the first time as husband and wife, my heart flutters more than it did before.
In the evenings, Sacha and I spend lots of time together. We visit all the places in Woodvale where we used to hang out as kids, walking hand in hand down the city streets. I go to his hotel room a couple of times, but Sacha still wants to take it slow. Being in a room with a bed and Sacha is almost too much to bear.
But he stays strong, and I keep my hands to myself. Mostly.
One night, we go to the Blue Cat Bar on Main Street. Jackson and Nadia are waiting for us, and Jackson gives Sacha an appraising look. His eyes flick to me and a smile tugs at his lips.
“Nice to finally see you, Willow,” he says to me. “I thought you’d disappeared on us.”
“Not completely.”
“I wouldn’t blame you,” Jackson says, eyeing Sacha again.
“You went to Woodvale High School, right? Jackson?” Sacha says.
“The one and only.”
“I’m Nadia,” my redhead friend says, smiling as she sticks her hand out. Sacha tilts his head as he shakes, and Nadia laughs. “You won’t recognize me from high school. I’m new in town—well, new-ish. Started a florist’s shop a few years ago. That’s how Willow and I met.”
“I’m her best customer.” I grin.
“Thank goodness for weddings.” Nadia winks. “Keeping food on both our tables.”
Jackson orders us a couple of drinks, and after a few minutes, Sacha relaxes beside me. We laugh, talk, and catch up on old times.
Nadia smiles, her cheeks blushing as she nudges me with her shoulder. “I like him,” she whispers when Sacha tells the story of how I got my nickname.
My heart grows, and I glance at the man beside me. He meets my eye, and I wonder if this could be real. Maybe, despite the past and everything that’s happened…maybe it could work.
Time is easy to spend with Sacha, but he’s still holding back. I can feel it. Not just physically, but there are things he’s not telling me. He’ll spend hours at his mother’s house and come back with storm clouds raging above his head. It’s more than just grief, but I don’t know what it is.
Whatever he’s hiding might be the reason he won’t let me touch him, no matter how hard I try to get him into bed.
One evening, when we’re alone on the back porch of my house, the mere sight of him is making my blood run hotter. I try to run my hands down toward the zipper of his jeans. We’re sitting on a cushioned love seat, and the cool breeze is only making my heated skin feel more sensitive.
Again, he gently pushes me away.
“Why won’t you let me touch you?” I ask, sighing in frustration. “You’ve given me so much pleasure, I just want to do it to you.”
“I want to take it slow.”
“We’ve been waiting ten years for this, Sacha.”
That makes him chuckle, and he lays a soft kiss on the tip of my nose. “Sex changes things. I don’t want to ruin whatever is happening between us. Your brother…”
I frown, pulling away. “Is this because of Max?”
Sacha inhales sharply, looking up at the starry sky. His hand drifts to the yellowing skin around his eye, where the last hints of his black eye are fading.
“He punched me that first night because he thought I was coming onto you.”
“He what?”
Sacha turns to look at me, smiling sadly. “I feel like I need to tell him about us before we take this any further. He’s my best friend, Willow.”
My heart thumps. My brother punched him? Because of me?
This overprotective, alpha bullshit is completely uncalled for and completely unnecessary. I stand up, ready to get in Sacha’s rental car and storm over to Max’s house.
“He had no right—”
“Willow.” Sacha catches my hand, forcing me to meet his eye. “He was right.”
“He was not right. You can’t just punch—”
“I’ve been checking you out since we were teenagers. If that were my sister, I’d feel the same way he does.”
“So, what, you don’t want to go any further with me because of Max? What are we doing then?”
“I just need some time to talk to him. There’s been so much going on with my father, and…” His voice trails off, and my anger evaporates.
Of course he’s overwhelmed. He hasn’t been back here in ten years, and he’s dealing with the grief of losing a father, complicated by the fact that there was no love lost between them. Sacha still hasn’t elaborated on what he told me before, about his father being abusive. Coupled with inheriting a business he never wanted, I can’t even imagine what he must be going through.
“I don’t want to lose Max—or you,” Sacha says, lifting his eyes up to me. “I shouldn’t even have t
aken it this far without talking to him.”
“You won’t lose either of us.”
“I just…” He sighs, raking his fingers through his hair. It sticks up in all directions as he rubs his palms over his face, exhaling heavily. “I just need to tell him, man to man.”
Disappointment swirls in the pit of my stomach, but I understand. My body is screaming for him. Whenever I see him, or smell him, or touch him, or kiss him, every part of me wants more. I want to feel him inside me so badly that it’s clouding everything else.
But Sacha needs time.
I lean my head against his shoulder and we fall into silence. The cool night breeze sweeps over my burning body and I release a sigh, resigning myself to more tortuous waiting.
“I’ll talk to him tomorrow,” Sacha says, as if he can read my thoughts. “I promise.”
“Try not to get another black eye. The bruise might not have time to fade before Max’s wedding photos.”
Sacha chuckles, hooking his arm around my shoulders. I hate that he feels the need to ask my brother for permission to date me. It makes me feel like I’m some sort of property the two of them get to divide and fight over.
But on the other hand, I get it. Max is Sacha’s best friend, and being with me changes that dynamic.
It doesn’t help that Sacha is almost irresistible. He sweeps his hand over my jaw and presses his lips to mine, and everything inside me ignites for him. The aching need between my legs grows as soon as I taste his lips, and his possessive growl does nothing to dim my desire.
“I’ll make it up to you, Frogface,” he says softly, kissing my jaw, my earlobe, my neck. “I’ll make it worth the wait.”
“It better be,” I say, leaning my head against the back of the seat.
His kisses trail down my neck to my collarbone as his hand works my shorts open. Lust flames to life inside me, flooding through my body like a rushing current. It tumbles down my spine and pools in the pit of my stomach, spreading my legs for Sacha to touch me.
His touch is everything I want, but it’s still not enough. Even when my back arches and my teeth sink into his shoulder, the release isn’t what I really need.
What I’m craving is painfully out of reach. It’s bulging in his pants, and I know he wants to give it to me, but I have to wait.
Sacha kisses me tenderly, fastening my shorts up again as he pulls me into his chest.
“Will that tide you over for another day?”
“Just about,” I mumble into his shoulder, my eyelids already droopy. We stay on the porch for a few more minutes, until I rub the sleep from my eyes and let out a sigh.
“Will you sleep over tonight? We could get breakfast at that new café early tomorrow morning.”
Sacha lets out a sigh, kissing my forehead. “I’d better not. I won’t be able to resist you if I’m in bed with you.”
My eyes flash as I meet his gaze, grinning softly. “That’s the point.”
He chuckles, wrapping his arms around me before giving me one last kiss goodbye. “Tomorrow,” he promises. “After I talk to Max.”
I watch him leave for his hotel room. Deep down, I know he’s right—but it still doesn’t make the night any less lonely when I crawl into bed on my own.
21
Sacha
Standing in front of Max Wise’s front door with my fist raised, I feel more nervous than I did before the championship football game in high school. More nervous than I did for my first night as head chef. More nervous than when I first leaned over to kiss Willow as we sat on her parents’ couch.
The thought of losing Max as a friend is unthinkable, but the thought of not going any further with Willow is even worse.
I don’t want to choose between the two of them, so I have to step up. I have to face my fears.
I have to talk to Max.
Isabelle’s the one who opens the door after I knock. She smiles wide, inviting me in.
“Is Max around?”
“Max!” she calls out, walking toward the kitchen. She glances back at me. “He should be down any minute. Coffee?”
“Please.”
I wrap my fingers around the warm mug as my heart thumps, waiting for my best friend to emerge. When he sees me, he claps me on the shoulder and goes to the coffee machine. He kisses Isabelle on the cheek and pours himself a mug.
“What can I do for you, man?”
“I wanted to talk to you about something.”
Boom. Boom. Boom. My heart is deafening. Can he hear that?
Max nods. “Shoot.”
I clear my throat. “You mind if we go outside?”
Max’s brows draw together ever so slightly, and my heart takes off again. He nods, gesturing to the back door. I walk outside, staring at the fence around the property where most of my happiest memories were formed. I inhale the scent of fresh-cut grass and morning dew, steeling myself against the conversation that’s coming.
“What’s going on?” Max asks.
We take a seat around the fire pit, where black ash and bits of half-burned logs tell me Max and Isabelle had a fire in it not long ago. I take a deep breath, cupping my coffee mug between my palms and lifting my eyes up to my best friend.
“I’m in love with your sister.”
Hot, milky coffee sprays from Max’s mouth, splattering all over my white T-shirt. He coughs, spilling the rest of his mug over the grass as he doubles over.
“What?” He wheezes between breaths.
“Willow,” I say, as if her name explains everything. “I…I wanted to talk to you about it before…”
Max’s eyes flash, and I see a hint of the anger that gave me a black eye last week. “Before what, Sacha? Actually, no. Don’t answer that.”
He stands up, running his hand through his hair before rubbing it along his jaw. He paces back and forth, shooting me a dark glance.
“My fucking sister?”
“I know. I just want you to know that I care about her really deeply, and I would never—”
“No. Fuck no. How are you…? How do you even see her like that? We grew up together! She’s like a sister to you.”
“It’s been a long time…” A lump forms in my throat. This is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Sucking a breath in through my teeth, I try to find the right words. “I care about her, Max.”
“You care about her. Isn’t that wonderful? So what, am I supposed to just be happy that you want to fuck my little sister?”
I flinch. It’s so much more than that. How can I explain to him that Willow means more to me than just sex? I wouldn’t be having this conversation with him if it was about that. I wouldn’t go near her.
“It’s more than that.” Forcing myself to lift my gaze to meet his, I see another shade of blue eyes, slightly darker than the ones I fell in love with. Willow’s brother stares at me suspiciously, huffing a breath through his nose.
“I don’t know what to think.”
“I’m talking to you about it because I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize our friendship.” I hold Max’s gaze, speaking the words with an even tone.
Max stares back, his chest puffing up as he inhales. I can tell he’s holding in a lot of emotion right now. I didn’t mean to blindside him, but I can’t keep hiding my feelings for Willow.
He nods to my face. “So you’re telling me that shiner I gave you was totally fair? I’ve been apologizing all week for nothing?”
I crack a smile, dipping my chin down. “You could say that.”
He exhales, staring up at the sky. “This is too weird, Sacha. Too fucking weird. Even when we were drunk and I got mad at you, I didn’t think you were into her…not really. I didn’t think you’d pursue her.”
“I know. I didn’t think it would happen when I came back here.”
“Didn’t think what would happen?” He lasers his gaze onto me.
I shake my head. “Nothing like that. Falling for her. Wanting…wanting to be with her.” Lifting my eyes up to him, I
try to look as earnest as I feel. “I won’t hurt her, Max.”
Even as I speak the words, I don’t know if I believe them. How can I promise not to hurt her? I’ve already hurt her by leaving. I’ve already hurt her by having the last name Black.
Yet here I am, making promises I can’t necessarily keep.
Max sighs, sinking back down onto his chair. He glances at me before finally nodding. “I guess this doesn’t really have anything to do with me. She could do worse than you.”
“Could do better, too.” I grin.
Max grunts in acknowledgement, shaking his head. “So is this serious? Are you two together? I thought you were leaving after my wedding. What are you planning on doing? I just don’t see…”
“I don’t know,” I answer simply. “All I know is that when I’m with Willow, I feel better than I’ve felt in a long time.”
“And what does she think about all this?”
“She was mad I wanted to talk to you about it in the first place.”
Max grins. “Sounds like Willow.”
We fall into silence, and I stare into the coffee in my cup that’s surely gone cold. Lifting my eyes up to Max, I take a deep breath. “I’ll do right by her, Max. I care about her more deeply than I can explain.”
“I know,” he answers, standing up and extending a hand to me. I grab it and Max pulls me up to stand in front of him. He doesn’t let go of my hand, staring into my eyes as he flattens his lips.
“If you don’t treat her right, I’ll give you more than just a black eye. I swear, Sacha, hurt my sister and I will fucking kill you.”
I nod, knowing he’s telling me the truth. Max is quick to anger and even quicker to forgive, except when it comes to his family. He has a big heart and a protective streak a mile wide.
I’m glad he doesn’t know what happened the day his parents were fired.
I let out a relieved breath when he drops my hand and heads back into the house. Giving Isabelle a nod, I make my way back out to my car and I drive away. As I leave the Wise house, I realize it’s no longer where I feel most comfortable in Woodvale.
Shouldn’t Want You: A Brother’s Best Friend Romance Page 11