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

by Jennifer Shirk

  Caitlyn came rushing over to them. “Hey, did you guys find a tree yet?”

  Matt nodded. “Yeah, this one. What do you think?”

  His sister’s face lit up. “It’s perfect. Wait until Mom and Justin see it. Can you believe it’s snowing? Lane said he heard the weather channel predicting huge accumulations overnight. We’re in for a white Christmas after all,” she said happily.

  Kennedy looked at Matt. “Good thing we didn’t make that bet about the weather,” she said, brushing the cold powder off her coat. “I would’ve had to pay you in full.”

  “Gut feeling trumps technology once again.”

  “Oh, please. You got lucky.”

  “No, but I think you really did.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Wasn’t it technology that brought you and Justin together?”

  She didn’t like where this was going. “Yes, but—”

  “Nice and controlled. Easy. No mess,” he added in a gruff whisper. “A regular match made in heaven.”

  “Or a regular match made easy in heaven,” Caitlyn said with a giggle. “See what I did there?”

  “Yeah. Cute.” Kennedy pasted on a smile, but it felt brittle on her lips. Because as she watched Matt turn and walk away, she couldn’t help but feel that her engagement to Justin was becoming anything but easy.

  Chapter Eight

  The next morning Kennedy woke up and saw snow falling. She hopped out of bed and looked more closely out the window. Crikey. It must have snowed all night because it looked to be at least a foot of accumulation so far.

  How can that be? She had seen the forecast before they’d left town. Not that she was against having a white Christmas, but none of the weathermen had mentioned anything about potential blizzard conditions.

  A knock sounded on her bedroom door. Combing her hair with her fingers, she walked over to open it. Mrs. Ellis stood there wearing a look of concern in her eyes.

  “Good morning, Barbara. Are you okay?” she asked.

  Barbara smiled but wrung her hands. “Good morning, dear. I’m fine, just worried about Justin. He’s not answering his cell phone. Have you talked to him yet this morning?”

  Considering that it was before office hours and how often he had his cell phone glued to his hand, she found it a bit concerning, too. But there had to be a logical explanation. “Uh, no, not yet, but maybe he’s in the shower.”

  His mom’s face visibly relaxed. “You’re right. I’m getting paranoid. It’s just that the weather is pretty bad, and they’re thinking it’s going to continue all day. They shut down all the ferries until visibility is better.”

  “There’s no ferry service?” She paused, her thoughts swimming. But that meant…

  Barbara reached out and laid a hand on her arm. “Justin can’t come home today,” she said, mimicking Kennedy’s thoughts.

  Seriously?! Kennedy raised a hand to her head, feeling slightly lightheaded. So much for their special time together. Their holiday vacation was becoming a joke.

  “I’m sure they’ll be running by tomorrow.”

  Tomorrow? She needed to sit before she fainted.

  “Don’t worry, dear. Matt will come by soon. He’ll build us a nice fire, and we’ll decorate the tree. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

  “Um…”

  More time with Matt? Ohmygosh, no. That sounded completely and utterly horrendous. She needed time away from him. Time so she could forget how he could make her heart jolt with one steamy look. Time so she could forget how he could make her laugh. Time so she could remember all the reasons why he was so wrong for her—especially the most important one being that he was her fiancé’s brother. “I need to call Justin,” she blurted.

  His mom raised her eyebrows at her outburst. “Of course you do. I’ll let you do that. Tell him I love him and to be careful driving. In the meantime, I’ll go make some coffee and some cranberry muffins. Come downstairs whenever you’re ready.”

  She managed a weak smile. “Thanks, Barbara.”

  As soon as his mom left, she closed the door and made a beeline for her phone. She had to hear Justin’s voice again, something to give her the reassurance she needed. She pressed “send” and waited. After three rings, it went straight to voicemail.

  With slumped shoulders, she sat. Justin would call her today when he had a free moment. He would. However, knowing that didn’t help her right now. She needed a moment to reorient herself before she saw Matt and the rest of the family.

  Then she knew what she had to do. She hit a new number and then “send” again.

  This time a male voice answered before the second ring. “Hey, Kennedy,” her cousin said.

  “Put Maddie on,” she barked into the phone.

  “Now, what the hell kind of hello is that?” Trent asked.

  Kennedy rolled her eyes. “Hello, Trent. Now, please put Maddie on the phone. It’s kind of an emergency.”

  “Emergency? But I’m your cousin,” he said, sounding petulant. “Why are you asking for my fiancée? She may not even be around.”

  Jeez, and people say women are the dramatic ones. “Look, Trent, I love you. You know that. But right now I need some…womanly advice.”

  “She’s right here.”

  Kennedy heard whispering between the two, then Maddie’s voice came on the line sounding tentative. “Hello?”

  “Maddie, hi. It’s me, Kennedy.”

  “Hi, um, what’s going on? Trent said something about a womanly emergency.”

  “Yeah. Sort of.”

  “Are you pregnant?” she whispered.

  “Goodness NO!” Ha! She’d actually have to be in the same town with her fiancé for that to happen.

  “Well, what’s up then?”

  “Oh, you know, just…” Snowed in on a small island while having the hots for my future brother-in-law. She cleared her throat. “Not much.”

  Maddie chuckled. “Kennedy, it’s nine o’clock in the morning, and you’re supposed to be enjoying your time off with your fiancé, but instead you’re calling here telling your cousin there’s an emergency. Is everything okay?”

  She bit her lip. Depends on what your definition of okay is. “I, um, I think I’m having a nervous breakdown.”

  “What? Why do you think that?”

  “I’m screwing up my life, and I don’t know how to stop it. Everything is going wrong.” Then to her horror, she burst into tears.

  “Oh, honey, don’t cry!” Maddie sounded frantic. “Listen to me, you’re not screwing up your life. You are running a very successful matchmaking company—one I happen to be very partial toward since I wouldn’t be getting married without it. And not only that, you have a wonderful and handsome fiancé yourself. And it’s Christmas time. Those all sound like wonderful things to me. Now tell ole Maddie how you could be ruining any of that?”

  Kennedy sniffed. “I…” She sniffed again. “I think I’m developing feelings for Justin’s brother.” She held her breath and waited.

  Maddie let several seconds go by before responding. “Well, what kind of feelings?” she asked.

  “The NC-17 kind.”

  “Oh dear.”

  She hung her head. “I know! It’s so wrong. This shouldn’t happen. My computer matching program has a ninety-nine percent accuracy rating. It can’t happen.” It absolutely couldn’t. She had investors who specifically signed on because of her relationship with Justin as proof of how well the software worked. She was counting on that money to pay for the advertising start-up costs.

  “Maddie, I’m supposed to have those thoughts about Justin. And now I’m not only confused, but I’m also feeling tremendously guilty, too. And I can’t breathe,” she said, clutching her chest.

  “Oh dear.”

  “Let me grab my paper bag.” Kennedy put down the phone and raised the bag to her lips. After several slow, deep breaths, she felt marginally better. She picked up the phone again. “Okay, I’m back.”

  “Does Justin
know about these…feelings for Matt?”

  “Oh, gosh, no! But honestly, how can he? He was called back into work and hasn’t been around at all this past week.”

  “Oh dear.”

  “Stop saying that!”

  “Sorry! Okay, let’s think about this rationally for a second. You might be panicking for no reason.”

  She straightened and wiped her eyes. “Really?”

  “Why sure, honey. Look, it’s the holidays, and you’ve taken time away from work, which is very stressful. Plus, this is the first time you haven’t been with your family for Christmas. Then Justin leaves you unexpectedly all alone. Naturally you’re going to be drawn to any kind of attention shown to you.”

  Kennedy thought about that for a minute. Her mood lifted a fraction of an inch. “Matt has been showing me a lot of attention lately, but only because he’s been kind of a stand-in for Justin.”

  “Think about this. How does Justin make you feel when you’re with him?”

  She thought back and pictured Justin’s boyish, smiling face. “Calm. Secure. Loved.”

  “Exactly. And how does Matt make you feel?”

  Matt’s intense, sexy gaze popped into her mind and she frowned. “Out of control. Unstable. Wanted.”

  “Okaaay. I can see why you’re confused. But trust me. Those feelings you’re having are just due to the situation, which is only temporary.”

  “Yeah. Only temporary. That makes total sense. Plus, Matt told me he isn’t interested in marriage at all. He was engaged once, and I think that kind of scarred him.”

  “Well, there ya go. You’re obviously all wrong for one another, and I’m not even a matchmaker,” she said, chuckling.

  Kennedy’s lips twitched. “No, but if you ever need a job, I’ll hire you. Thanks for talking me through this crisis.”

  “Anytime, honey. You’ll be fine once you see Justin again. Then you’ll forget all about Matt. I’ll see you after the holidays.”

  Kennedy hung up feeling a thousand times better. Somehow, Maddie managed to put everything into perspective for her. These thoughts she’d been having about Matt were just a phase because Matt was here and Justin wasn’t. Of course! She loved Justin. She would never ever betray him. And as soon as he returned and they could spend Christmas together, she’d realize even more how perfectly matched they really were.

  …

  Matt came in through the front door and shook the snow off his boots.

  “Oh, Matthew,” his mom said, “thank heavens. You’ve been out there shoveling forever.”

  Matt grunted in response. He hadn’t been sleeping well. He could think of little else besides Kennedy lately. And now this friggin’ snow storm had delayed his brother’s return yet again. It also gave Matt the crazy urge to truck through the snow this morning and make sure in person that Kennedy and his family hadn’t lost power and were taken care of.

  “I was worried you were going to get frostbite,” his mom went on.

  He took off his coat and looked up. His mom was with Caitlyn and Kennedy, sitting in front of the fire with boxes of Christmas ornaments around them. The three of them looked as if they were in the middle of a Christmas card photo shoot. “I’m okay. Just need to warm up inside a bit.”

  “Well, you’re not going back out in this weather tonight. I already made Justin’s room up for you, since Kennedy is staying in your old one.”

  “Mom, I—”

  “No, excuses,” she said in her I-mean-business mom voice. “It’s too dangerous. Now why don’t you come over here and help us decorate the tree.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.” He chuckled then inadvertently glanced at Kennedy. She had on a red sweater that brought out the fire in her long red hair. She wore matching eyeglass frames again, something he found a little quirky yet endearing about her. Her slender fingers were working on unwrapping some tinsel that had gotten tangled on one of the ornaments. He also happened to note that she had yet to look up since he came in.

  He wondered if she was still upset with him for what he’d said about her computer program last night. It was jealousy toward his brother that had him throwing out those nasty remarks. Sometimes his mouth just had a mind of its own. But he couldn’t help it. He knew exactly what he’d seen: the rush of pink on her cheeks whenever their gazes met and the way her hands trembled when he took them in his own. She was attracted to him. Just as much as he was attracted to her. Thank goodness neither of them had the guts to say or do anything about it.

  He walked over to her, his movements stiff and awkward as if his body knew better than his head to stay clear of her. But he couldn’t help himself. “Just how many pairs of eyeglasses do you own?” he asked her.

  “Ten,” she answered, still keeping her gaze focused on her task at hand.

  He stuck out his hands to the fire to warm them up. “A pair to match every outfit, huh?”

  His sister huffed out a breath. “Oh, leave Kennedy alone, Matt. At least she has style.”

  “What, and I don’t?” He spread out his arms and slowly turned around. “I’ll have you know this is the best piece of flannel I own.”

  Caitlyn snorted. “Now I know what I’m getting you for Christmas.”

  “Yeah, yeah. And I know what I’m getting you for Christmas. I just need to pick a color. The vet’s still sizing the muzzle.”

  Caitlyn stuck her tongue out at him but grinned.

  He snuck another glance at Kennedy, who was ignoring the conversation as she placed ornaments on the tree. For some reason she seemed quiet and out of sorts today. Maybe it had to do with Justin. Hearing that your fiancé was going to be delayed again in making it back onto the island would step on anyone’s Christmas spirit.

  Matt reached into one of the boxes and pulled out a Snoopy ornament. An old favorite. His parents had bought that for him when he was seven. It reminded him of the Snoopy pajamas he’d seen Kennedy wear, and it brought a smile to his lips. Looked as if they had more in common than they originally thought. After placing a hook on it, he walked over to Kennedy’s side of the tree and hung it. She smelled incredible—floral and fresh—and he had sudden regrets about moving closer to her. He took a step back then surveyed her work.

  “Your ornament hanging is very…symmetrical,” he commented.

  Still kneeling, she looked at where he was staring and tilted her head. “What’s wrong with that?”

  “Nothing.” He shrugged. “If you like perfectly symmetrical trees that is.”

  “I take it you do not.”

  The devil in him made him grin. She was just too easy to tease. “That’s right. I do not.”

  “Well.” She huffed. “Good thing you’re not marrying me, then.”

  “Yeah. Good thing.” Very good thing. Like the two of them could ever be together. He didn’t even want a wife. And she belonged to his brother…

  And that was a certain weird, wrong line you never crossed. Ever.

  “Okay, enough, you two,” his mom said, chuckling.

  Kennedy stood up and bumped into him. “Oh, sorry,” she said, trying to maneuver around him. But when she went one direction, he went in the same. She laughed, and that familiar shiver of awareness went through him as he breathed in her scent.

  She was driving him crazy.

  “My fault.” He reached out and held her in place as he skirted around her. Unfortunately, touching her was his second mistake, and the tingling in his hands proved it. Stupid attraction. Why couldn’t Justin have brought home one of the self-absorbed models he used to be so found of? But no, he had to go and bring home an anal retentive redhead who smelled like his mom’s garden in springtime.

  Good grief. She had him reciting poetry now. She wasn’t his. His head seemed to understand that perfectly, yet his control over the rest of him hadn’t bothered to check the memo.

  “Oh, look,” Caitlyn announced, pulling out an ornament. “This was Dad’s favorite.” She held up the Boston Red Sox baseball ornament and pushed a button to m
ake it light up.

  His mom nodded then looked away, dabbing at her eyes.

  “Sorry, Mom,” Caitlyn said. “I miss him, too.”

  Kennedy cleared her throat. “The holidays are extra hard when you lose someone you love.”

  “It’s true,” his mom said, sniffling. “I know it must be hard for you, too, losing your mom not that long ago. It affects everyone this time of year.”

  Matt gritted his teeth. “Not that Justin seems all that affected.”

  His mom flinched. “Matthew! How can you say that?”

  “Of course Justin is affected,” his sister said.

  Matt met Kennedy’s surprised gaze then had to look away. “It’s kind of hard to know that when he’s never around,” he spat. Tired of hearing his family defend his brother’s actions, he dipped his chin and stormed into the kitchen. He needed a breather. If he was forced into spending the night here with Kennedy so close, he might as well make some hot chocolate and drown his misery in sugar.

  His mom followed him into the kitchen a few minutes later. She saw him searching the cabinets then shooed him away. “Marshmallows are in the drawer to the left of the microwave,” she told him, taking out the bag.

  “Thanks,” he murmured. He opened it and took out a couple of marshmallows for his cocoa. Hell, he was having a day, and they were tiny, so he dropped in several more.

  His mom glanced at his mug and smirked. “That bad, huh?”

  “Yes, that bad.” He took his mug over to the table and sat down.

  “Matt, you’re not acting like yourself lately. At first I thought you were upset with Kennedy, but now I think it has more to do with Justin.”

  “Justin and I are okay.” Aside from the fact that he wanted his brother’s fiancée. His stomach twisted, and he pushed aside his hot chocolate. “Hell, Mom, I don’t know what’s going on with me lately.”

  “Language, dear,” she reminded him gently. “Look, you and Justin are different men. I’ve come to terms with that and have accepted it. I’m not angry with Justin for leaving and working now. In fact, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with him wanting to better himself and get ahead. Especially when it’s so important to him.”