Wrong Brother, Right Match (Anyone but You #3)

by Jennifer Shirk

  “The ferry might be running late,” Matt said, turning on the faucet and letting the water run a few seconds. He flipped on a switch and right on cue the garbage disposal started grinding. He flicked it off. “You’re all set now, Mom. Feel free to shove as much garbage down the drain as you want.”

  His mom came over to him, towel in hand, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t around.”

  “Call a real plumber?” Caitlyn said with a cheeky grin.

  His mom whipped the towel at her. “Hush, child. Do you know what that would have cost me? I don’t need to call anyone while I have Matt. Your brother is a wiz at everything.”

  “Did you hear that? I’m a wiz.” Matt made a show of posing and flexing his muscles at his mom’s compliments, making his sister crack up. Although he exaggerated his own importance in jest, his mom on the other hand did not and, he was sure, meant every word. Maybe to her he was a wiz, and that’s why she depended on him so much, especially since his dad had passed. Matt had automatically taken on the head of the family role, which was why he felt so extra protective and would do anything for them. They depended on him.

  His mom chuckled. “Oh, stop clowning around and go change. You can’t see your brother and his fiancée dressed like that.”

  Matt looked down at his jeans and wrinkled gray T-shirt. Aside from a little water stain down his right thigh, he thought he looked fine. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing? It’s just family.”

  Caitlyn and his mom exchanged a look.

  “Care to revise that wiz description, Mom?” Caitlyn asked, folding her arms. “Matt, you haven’t even shaved. Don’t you want to make a good impression?”

  “I am not going home to change,” he told them flatly. “And why do I need to make a good impression? She’s not marrying me.”

  “Obviously not, looking like that,” his mother commented.

  Caitlyn shook her head. “Matt, have some class. Kennedy works in the city and is probably used to men who wear clothing that says Esquire for Men. You’re wearing clothing that says GQ for Rednecks.”

  Matt waved a finger at her black turtleneck top and lacy short skirt. “And I believe you’re wearing clothing that says too big for her britches.”

  She stuck out her tongue at him, reminding him she was still only eighteen—thank God—and grabbed another carrot stick.

  The doorbell rang, and his mom and Caitlyn took off, saving him from any more emasculating discussions of his current attire. He preferred comfortable and casual. It was the way of life was on the island. And if that made him happy, he was doing it. Besides, he’d conformed enough in his life, hadn’t he? It had cost him his job in New York and his fiancée. His family—and his brother’s fiancée—was just going to have to deal with this minor stance on clothing choices.

  From the kitchen, he heard his mom’s escalating excitement at seeing Justin. As Matt casually made his way into the living room, a familiar voice spoke, which had the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. He approached slowly.

  The woman standing next to his brother looked familiar. Very familiar.

  Familiar enough to have been pulled into his arms and kissed. He blinked a few times to clear his vision.

  It can’t be.

  The woman from the elevator.

  Holy crap and all that was damn near impossible to imagine, he had kissed his brother’s girlfriend. Correction: his brother’s fiancée! The same fiancée who had expressed doubts that she and her boyfriend…his brother…should even be together.

  Matt’s blood ran cold as he stood there. What was she doing engaged to Justin if she had doubts back then?

  His mom embraced Justin again while Kennedy smiled politely at his sister and shook her hand, then Kennedy stepped back as Justin and Caitlyn hugged. Eventually Kennedy’s gaze traveled north to where he stood off in the background and…bingo. Their eyes met. Complete and total recognition. And if he didn’t misread it, there was also complete and total fear in those beautiful blue eyes of hers.

  Matt stonily gazed back. That’s right, sister. I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing with my brother, but I’m about to call an end to it.

  Justin took Kennedy by the hand and dragged her over to where he was. Matt clapped his brother on the back and gave him a hug. Their relationship had taken a hit ever since their father died, but it didn’t mean he didn’t love his brother or couldn’t put his feelings aside, especially around the holidays. “Good to see you, man.”

  Justin looked good. Happy. Although Matt couldn’t tell if it was the lifestyle he’d been leading or his newfound love that was causing the sudden elation. He hoped it wasn’t the latter. He didn’t trust this woman and would hate to have someone like her stringing his brother along for her own purposes.

  Justin pulled back, grinning. “Good to see you, too, Matt. Looking dapper as ever,” he said, gesturing to his T-shirt and jeans.

  Caitlyn cleared her throat and sent him a didn’t-I-tell-you? kind of grin.

  Yeah, yeah. Tough noogies.

  “I want you to meet my fiancée, Kennedy Pepperdine,” Justin said, proudly pulling her to him.

  Matt had to give the woman bonus points when it came to playing it cool, because she didn’t hesitate one iota in schooling her features and holding out her hand to shake his. “Nice to meet you, Matt. Justin has told me so much about you.”

  Oh, this woman is good.

  “Really? Wish I could say the same. Although you do look familiar now that I think about it,” he added, enjoying seeing Kennedy’s eyes widen.

  Caitlyn took Justin’s arm. “Come on, Just, I want to show you the magazine article I cut out about you. It’s so cool,” she added, leading him into the kitchen.

  His mom walked over to Matt, looking happier than he’d seen her in years. “Matthew, look what Kennedy brought me. A lovely poinsettia,” she said, holding up the plant. “Isn’t she a sweetheart?”

  Matt’s gaze traveled back to Kennedy, who stood as stiff as a fireplace poker. “She’s something, all right.”

  Kennedy bit her lip. “I, uh, left my briefcase with the luggage in the car. I’d better go and grab it. I don’t want my laptop freezing.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Matt offered, enjoying how her cheeks drained of all color.

  “No, no,” she said, holding up a hand as if to keep him back. “Don’t worry, I can handle it myself.”

  “I insist.”

  Kennedy’s mouth opened as if to protest again, but fortunately for him, his mom intervened. “Yes, Matthew, be a gentleman and help Kennedy with her luggage. I’ll go put the poinsettia on the table as a centerpiece.”

  She turned and walked off, leaving him alone with Kennedy for the first time since Vegas. Matt folded his arms, and Kennedy’s complexion took on a greenish hue. For several moments, they just stood there in silence.

  Kennedy was the first to cave. “Well…this is…this is kind of awkward.”

  Awkward. That word didn’t seem to do the situation justice, but it was a start. Matt rested his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans and regarded her closely. “I’m assuming the boyfriend issues you were having when I met you in Vegas involved Justin?”

  She paused just a fraction of a second. So briefly that he would have missed it altogether if he had chosen to blink just then. “Yes.”

  Well, at least the woman was honest.

  “Everything all magically resolved now?”

  She frowned—actually had the nerve to look at him like he was out of his mind. “I wouldn’t say magically resolved. Yes, we had some minor issues with our relationship, but we worked them out.”

  “Well, you certainly didn’t kiss me like a woman who just had minor relationship issues.”

  “You know,” she said, lowering her voice and jabbing her glasses back up her nose, “if I remember correctly, it was you who kissed me.”

  “And if I remember correctly, it
was you who kissed me back.”

  She gasped. “I did not.”

  “Did, too”

  “You grabbed me.”

  “You didn’t push me away.”

  “I’d been drinking.”

  “Not that much.”

  Folding her arms, she stomped her foot. “I was under undue stress from being trapped in an elevator thousands of feet up in the air. And that kiss was so brief, I can’t believe you’re making such an issue out of it. I barely even remember it.”

  Oh, he remembered it all right. Unfortunately.

  “Does Justin know you make a habit out of kissing strangers?”

  “I could ask you the same question.”

  “It seems like a more honest fiancée would have mentioned that to him.”

  “How dare you assume I didn’t tell him.” She poked him in the chest. “Justin didn’t think anything of it. Because it wasn’t anything. And you have no right to judge me, especially when it was your fault.” Another poke.

  He narrowed his eyes. “Oh, believe me, I’ve already judged and handed down the verdict, honey. My brother deserves the best, and something tells me that isn’t you.”

  Kennedy blinked, looking hurt and suddenly fragile, so much so that he wanted to offer up an apology, and probably would have if his mom hadn’t come back into the room.

  “Everything okay in here?” she asked, looking back and forth between them.

  Kennedy turned and offered her up a brittle smile. “Yes, everything is great, Barbara. Thank you. Matt and I are just getting to know each other better. Tell Justin I’ll be right there.”

  His mom looked uncertain for a moment, then nodded and went back to the kitchen.

  Matt glanced at Kennedy’s dejected face and sighed. She didn’t look like a conniver, especially with her hair pulled back in a low ponytail and those purple-framed glasses slipping down her nose. She looked like a woman who hoped to make a good impression on her fiancé’s family and, instead, got verbally attacked. He should have handled the situation differently. Kennedy wasn’t Samantha. He didn’t know why he would even compare her to his ex-fiancée, but maybe deep down inside he wanted to save his brother from the pain of making the kind of mistake he’d made.

  “Look, sorry I went off about how you don’t deserve my brother. I really don’t know you well enough to say that yet.”

  Kennedy’s head whipped up. “Yet?”

  “I just mean you don’t seem like his type.”

  “How do you know what his type is? From what I hear, you two have barely spoken in years.”

  “Well, I’ve known him a hell of a lot longer than you have.”

  Kennedy closed her mouth, looking as if she’d been slapped in the face. “Fine,” she said quietly. “I guess we’ll see about that, won’t we?”

  “Yeah, I guess we will.”

  “Don’t bother with my bags,” she told him pointedly. “For your information, Justin prefers his women self-sufficient.” And with that, she flipped her ponytail back and walked out the front door.

  Chapter Four

  Kennedy pushed her mashed potatoes—which were absolutely delicious—around on her plate at least four more times before finally giving up and setting down her fork. It was no use. Her nerves were tightly wound. What were the odds that Justin’s brother would be the same man she confessed her relationship problems to? The same man who’d kissed her?

  Okay, she needed to calm down. She hadn’t done one thing wrong. Maybe even by later tonight, she and Matt would be sharing a good laugh about it all.

  She snuck a peek at him, sitting across the table from her. Matt’s face was all scrunched up as if he smelled bad fish. His plate looked barely touched, too. He was on his third glass of wine and appeared to be having just as much difficulty getting through his meal as she was. Oh dear.

  Have yourself a merry little Christmas…

  She wished she’d never gotten on that stupid elevator when she was in Vegas. Wished she could have met Matt for the first time today and have her first meeting with Justin’s family go perfectly. Like she wanted it to be. Like it was supposed to be.

  Instead, Matt had acted so cold and said those hurtful things to her. Like somehow she was to blame for him grabbing and kissing her six months ago. He was the one who had the confessing to do. Even though she had already told Justin about the kiss, she wouldn’t put it past Matt to make it look like it was her fault. So now she could only hope he’d forget about it and move on. After all, she had.

  Mostly.

  She cared deeply for Justin. They belonged together. Her software said so. His mother and sister had said so, too, many times over dinner, even. The only person who still seemed unconvinced was Matt.

  Barbara pointed a fork at Kennedy’s plate. “Are you feeling all right, dear? You hardly touched your dinner.”

  Justin swung an arm over Kennedy’s shoulders and grinned. “She’s probably already worried about fitting into her wedding gown,” he said with a wink.

  Kennedy gave them all a weak smile. “Yeah. Right. Never too soon to start worrying about that stuff.” And all stuff: failing business, mean future brother-in-law, whether or not I packed extra paper bags for my stress-induced asthma. Just to name a few.

  Her lungs were starting to feel a little tight…

  “Oh, but my dear, you look wonderful already,” Barbara assured her.

  Justin gave Kennedy a quick kiss on the temple. “I couldn’t agree more. I’m one lucky bastard.”

  “Language, dear.” His mother frowned. “Your sister doesn’t need to hear that kind of talk.”

  Caitlyn sighed. “Mom, I hear much worse in school. Actually, from Matt, too.”

  Barbara set down her fork and glared at Matt. “Matthew!”

  He held up spread hands. “For the record, most of what I say is muttered under my breath. How was I supposed to know she has the ears of a bat?”

  “Well, kindly mutter those words in your head from now on.”

  “Oh, don’t worry. I will.” Matt balled up his napkin and threw it at his sister. “You’ll be happy to know that I’m muttering quite a few in my head right now.”

  “Mom!” Caitlyn yelled, deflecting his napkin. “Tell him to stop. He’s messing up my hair.”

  “Well, fight back, then,” Matt countered. “You’re an Ellis.”

  “I can’t fight back. There’s nothing to combat. You’re already such a mess,” she said, batting her eyelashes.

  “For the tenth time, I look fine,” he said through his teeth.

  Kennedy couldn’t help it; a laugh bubbled up inside her and spewed out, earning her a glare of her own from Matt. But she didn’t care. She was enjoying watching Justin’s family—being a part of it—and seeing the love and playfulness among them. She could only pray Matt didn’t blow this opportunity for her. A loving, stable family life was everything she had wanted for herself growing up but could never quite attain. Her mother would’ve had to stay married to a man for more than a year for that to happen.

  Justin’s cell phone went off, and like a candle being snuffed out, the energy of the room died and everyone focused on their food again. He pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket and looked at the screen.

  “Oops, sorry,” he said, standing up. “Gotta take this.” Before Justin could leave the room, he was already addressing whoever was on the other end of the call.

  Barbara shot a warning look to both Caitlyn and Matt before turning her attention to Kennedy. “My dear, I feel as if Justin has told me so little about you. What do you do again?”

  “She owns a matchmaking company,” Matt said.

  Kennedy began to choke on her wine. Matt looked up with wide eyes as if he realized his mistake, too.

  “How do you know that?” Caitlyn asked.

  Matt cleared his throat. “Uh, Kennedy told me when we were in the living room.”

  “Yes! Right,” Kennedy chimed in. “I told him in the living room. Today.” Okay, she was
babbling now, and her cheeks felt like they were two hundred degrees as everyone stared at her. “Uh, anyway, it started out as a small business project in college, but then it kind of took on a life of its own, and I decided to run with it. I employ twenty people right now, which includes staff and escorts, and we’ve been able to rent a nice office in downtown Boston.” For now, anyway. Until she could find a way to combat their newest competitor if her software plan didn’t pan out.

  “That sounds wonderful,” Barbara said. “I can’t believe such a business can survive in this economy.”

  Kennedy put down her wine glass. “You would be surprised how much help people need with meeting other people nowadays. Everyone is busier than ever with work schedules. And nobody wants to hang out in a bar, hoping to meet Mr. or Mrs. Right. We can cut the time in half and bring people that much closer to their true love.”

  Matt snorted then shoved a forkful of meat into his mouth.

  Barbara frowned at her son. “That is so true,” she said, turning her attention back to Kennedy. “And how did you meet Justin?”

  “Through my own company,” she said, chuckling at herself. “Justin happened to apply to Match Made Easy, and at the time, I was testing out my newest matchmaking software. His name linked with mine when I added in all the data. So I decided to give him a call, and we hit it off right away. I think once we officially roll out that software to all our clients, it’s going to bring happiness to a lot of people.”

  Barbara beamed. “Amazing. All from a computer program. Maybe you could help poor Matt here with finding a date.”

  “I don’t need help finding a date.” He directed his gaze toward Kennedy then gave her a slow lethal grin. “Believe me, I get plenty of dates on my own.”

  Kennedy’s knees quivered, and she had to look away from those intense gray eyes. Yes, it would be fair to say she didn’t have doubts about him getting plenty of dates.

  “He’s zero for one in relationships, though,” Caitlyn added.

  His mom nodded. “That ex-fiancée who shall remain nameless still makes my blood boil.”

  “Let’s not go there, okay?” he said tightly.