Forbidden Miles
The Miles Family Series Book Two
Claire Kingsley
Copyright © 2018 by Claire Kingsley
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, or incidents are products of the author’s imagination and used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is purely coincidental or fictionalized.
Edited by Elayne Morgan of Serenity Editing Services
Cover by Cassy Roop of Pink Ink Designs
www.clairekingsleybooks.com
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For all my readers who were shipping these two from the beginning.
Contents
About this book
1. Chase
2. Chase
3. Brynn
4. Chase
5. Brynn
6. Chase
7. Brynn
8. Chase
9. Brynn
10. Chase
11. Brynn
12. Chase
13. Brynn
14. Chase
15. Chase
16. Brynn
17. Chase
18. Brynn
19. Brynn
20. Chase
21. Chase
22. Brynn
23. Brynn
24. Brynn
25. Chase
26. Brynn
27. Brynn
28. Chase
29. Brynn
30. Chase
31. Brynn
32. Brynn
33. Chase
34. Brynn
Epilogue
Afterword
Acknowledgments
Also by Claire Kingsley
About the Author
About this book
Forbidden Miles: The Miles Family Book Two
Moving back to my family’s winery seemed like a good idea. I can save money, be closer to my family… But I forgot that when you’re the baby of the family—and your three older brothers are basically insane—life can get complicated.
Dating? Forget about it. I’m the forbidden one. There isn’t a bad boy in this town who’s bad enough to go after Brynn Miles. Not with my brothers acting like human chastity belts.
Finding love isn’t my focus anyway. Except… there’s this guy. And he’s kind of amazing. I didn’t see him coming, and it figures I’d fall for the one guy in the world I shouldn’t. He’s T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Untouchable. And just as forbidden as I am.
Am I ready to put my whole family on the line for a fiery case of lust? But what if it isn’t? What if it’s love?
One
Chase
I was so screwed.
Shelly was all the way across the parking lot, but any second she’d look up and see me. I pulled my baseball cap down—like that was going to matter. She knew what my truck looked like.
The heat blasted against my legs and I had the window rolled down to let in the cool October air. It was late afternoon, but the temperature had already dropped. Fall was like that in Echo Creek, the town I lived in on the east side of the Cascade Mountains. The change of seasons stole its way into the air, turning hot summer days into cold fall nights without warning.
My stomach growled, and I checked my rear-view mirror again. How long could a girl stand outside her car before she finally got in? Wasn’t she cold? I’d worked through lunch and I was fucking hungry. If this went on much longer, I’d have to suck it up and walk by her.
I wished I didn’t feel the need to hide from her like a dumbass. But I’d screwed this up pretty badly and I was determined to stay out of Shelly’s web of crazy.
Was I an asshole for calling her crazy? No, I assure you, I was not.
The cab of my truck was getting too hot, so I turned down the heat. Another car pulled into a spot and a couple of guys got out. Went inside Ray’s Diner. Lucky bastards. Shelly was still standing outside her car, and even though she was busy texting, I wasn’t fooled. She had a Chase-radar that would zero in on me the second I tried to walk by. It had been a long fucking day and the last thing I wanted was to deal with a Shelly episode. I just wanted some dinner.
I’d had a thing with Shelly earlier this year. She’d seemed like a nice enough girl. Pretty. Blond hair, blue eyes. We’d hooked up a few times, but I’d broken things off pretty quickly. I usually did. Relationships were complicated, and I liked my life the way it was. Simple.
I made a good living as a heavy machinery mechanic. Lived with my best friend, Cooper. Coop was never going to settle down, and I probably wouldn’t either. We worked hard, played hard. It was a good fucking life and I had no interest in changing anything.
Shelly? She’d wanted to change everything.
It was my fault for breaking the rules. Shelly had started texting me again after I’d broken up with her, and Coop had warned me. Crazy girls are fun sometimes, but you don’t date them. Ever. It’s rule number one.
And Shelly had turned out to be the queen of crazy.
What had started with a few texts had quickly become me dating her. It had felt like whiplash; I wasn’t even sure how it had happened. One day I was answering her text, and next thing I knew, she was asking me to clear space in my closet for her shit.
She’d wanted me to text her before I left for work in the morning and call her on my way home at night. If I didn’t let her know where I was and what I was doing, she’d flip out. I’d gone out for a few beers with Cooper one night and she’d accused me of cheating on her. The next day, she’d started talking about me meeting her parents, like she hadn’t gone all psycho on me the night before.
And meet her fucking parents? Hell no.
My tolerance for her kind of drama was very low, so I’d put an end to it. And she hadn’t taken it well. The angry phone calls and texts were one thing—not entirely unexpected. But I’d caught her driving by my apartment twice, and she’d tried to corner me at work. That was getting into psycho stalker territory. I wasn’t much for confrontation, but I’d had to tell her, in no uncertain terms, that she needed to back off.
So far, she had. It had been a few weeks since I’d heard from her. But the last thing I needed was to run into her in a parking lot and have her try to suck me into her vortex of insanity again.
So here I sat, my empty stomach gnawing at me, watching her in my rear-view mirror, hoping to god she was going to get in her car and leave.
This was why I kept things simple. Casual. No strings.
Finally, she put her phone away and got in her car. My stomach rumbled again, as if to express its displeasure over the delay. I waited until her car disappeared from sight, then went into Ray’s.
Ray’s Diner had been here for as long as I could remember. And Jo, the fifties-something waitress, had probably worked here since it had opened. She had bleached hair with gray roots and a warm smile that deepened the wrinkles around her eyes. Cooper flirted with her, hardcore—of course, Cooper flirted with anyone who had a vagina—but she’d always felt like more of a mom-type to me.
“Hi there, cutie,” Jo said with a smile when I walked in. “Just you, or is your twin joining you?”
Jo knew Cooper and I weren’t related, let alone twins. But a lot of people assumed we were brothers. I had mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, we did look alike. We were both tall, kept in shape. Dark hair. Cooper had blue eyes, whereas mine were gray. But I could see why people thought there was a resemblance. The fact that we were together more often
than not, and had been since we were five, added to the brothers thing.
“Nope, just me,” I said.
On the other hand, how many times had I wished I really was Coop’s brother? That I was a Miles? I felt like an idiot for admitting it, even to myself, but it was the truth. I’d grown up wishing I was one of them. Sometimes the twins remark was a gut-punch reminder that I wasn’t.
Jo seated me at a booth near the door. I glanced at the menu, more out of habit than anything.
“You need a second, or do you want the usual?” Jo asked.
“The usual.” I handed the menu back to her. My usual was a cranberry walnut salad with grilled chicken. Cooper loved to give me shit about what I ate, but I figured I needed to balance out all the beer. He could eat anything and stay toned, but he also never stopped moving. He probably burned a few thousand calories a day just fidgeting.
Jo brought me some water and I flipped through shit on my phone while I waited for my dinner. The diner was quiet. Just a few other tables were full. I had a view all the way to the back of the restaurant and I noticed a couple sitting in a booth tucked around near the restrooms. They were both on one side of the bench seat, snuggled up close. No food on their table—just drinks. But what caught my eye was the fact that they were totally making out back there.
Not that I was judging. Hell, I’d made out with girls in that back booth plenty of times. It was a good place for it. Hidden enough that you probably wouldn’t get in trouble, as long as you quit when Jo or one of the other waitresses walked by. But out in the open enough to make it fun.
The guy was leaning over the girl, so I couldn’t see much. Not that I was staring. But it was hard not to glance up a few times. That dude was definitely getting a blowjob later. Kinda wished I was getting a blowjob later, but I was still pretty gun-shy after Shelly. Wasn’t up for jumping into something with a girl right now—no matter how casual I kept it.
Jo brought two plates to their table. I couldn’t see the couple, but I assumed they’d quit the make-out session to get their dinner. My phone buzzed in my hand.
Cooper: Where u at?
Me: Ray’s
Cooper: Done for the day?
Me: Yeah, u?
Cooper: Yep. Mom fed me. Leftovers?
Me: Always yes.
Cooper: Cool bro. See u at home.
Dinner at Ray’s or not, I never said no to leftovers from Mrs. Miles. Cooper’s mom was an amazing cook.
Jo brought my salad, but before I could start eating, the couple at the back table caught my eye again. They were no longer sucking face—they were eating—but now I was staring. My fork hung over my plate, dangling from limp fingers. I didn’t know the guy, but the girl? That was Brynn Miles.
Brynn was Cooper’s younger sister—the baby of the family. She was almost six years younger than me and Cooper; I’d known her since she was born. She’d recently turned twenty-one, and she’d been off at college for the last couple of years. In fact, I’d thought she was still going to college, so I had no idea what she was doing here.
Of course, I didn’t pay much attention to Brynn, so for all I knew, she was moving back. Or here for the weekend. Except, what day was it? It was a Tuesday, so shouldn’t she have been in class? Or going to class tomorrow? Who the fuck was that guy she was with?
And why the hell did I care?
Brynn wasn’t just the baby. She was Cooper’s baby. Weird as it sounded, it was how he saw it. She had three older brothers, but Cooper was the alpha-brother when it came to Brynn. He’d made it his personal mission in life to take care of her. If I thought about it—which I didn’t—Brynn probably didn’t appreciate Cooper’s interference in her life as much as Coop thought she should.
But that was the thing, I didn’t think about it. I didn’t think about Brynn. She was around, I knew she existed. But it was like there’d always been this barrier around her that I couldn’t see through. Brynn was so forbidden, I’d subconsciously ignored her.
When we were kids, she’d just been an annoying little girl. As she grew up, it was like she’d faded from my vision. Like she was translucent—insubstantial. I didn’t let myself see her because deep down, I knew she was the one girl on the planet I could never, ever touch. I’d instinctively created a shield around her that I couldn’t penetrate—couldn’t see through. Even the temptation of her wasn’t worth the risk.
But looking at her now, with some dude in the back of Ray’s Diner, that shield shattered to pieces.
Two
Chase
Brynn’s thick dark hair hung around her shoulders. She smiled at the asshole she was sitting with and tucked a strand behind her ear. Had her hair always looked so shiny and soft? Had that smile always been so sweet, her lips so full? She was twenty-one, she’d probably been hot for like five years now. How had I never noticed it before? Brynn was a fucking knockout.
What the hell was I thinking? This wasn’t some sexy little thing I’d spotted across the room. I couldn’t saunter over and feel her out, see what it would take to make her smile. Tease her, find reasons to touch her. Get her in my lap and put my hand on her thigh. Talk close to her ear.
I wondered what Brynn smelled like. I bet she smelled amazing.
Jesus, what was my problem? That was Cooper’s Brynncess. I couldn’t sit here and wonder what she smelled like. If Cooper knew I was thinking about how his sister smelled, he’d kick my ass.
I tried to focus on my food and quit thinking about Brynn. So what if she was in the make-out booth—that was definitely what I was calling it now—with some college prick. What a douche that guy was, with his patchy facial hair and knit hat. I rubbed my jaw, feeling the even stubble. If a dude couldn’t grow proper facial hair, he should just freaking shave.
Who was he? Brynn’s boyfriend? She’d been dating some guy at school last year, but he’d cheated on her. Cooper and their other brother, Leo, had put the guy’s face on a bunch of STD awareness posters. Then Cooper and I had blanketed the campus with them. The poor sucker had been the face of herpes. I wondered if he’d transferred to a different school. That wasn’t the kind of thing you could come back from.
But this wasn’t the same guy. After hanging hundreds of posters with his picture, I’d remember his face. Was Brynn dating again?
I asked myself—again—what the hell I was thinking. It didn’t matter why Brynn was here, or who she was with. It wasn’t any of my business. I’d never paid attention to her before. Why start now?
But I hated seeing her cuddled up with that guy. Was it a protective thing? Maybe I was just channeling Cooper’s vibe. He wasn’t here, so I felt like I needed to defend her in his place. That made sense.
I glanced down at my plate. I’d eaten some of my salad, but it didn’t taste like anything. And for reasons I didn’t understand, I couldn’t sit here anymore. Not when I might have to watch Brynn make out with that guy again. I dropped some cash on the table and walked out.
The drive home went by in a blur. I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and what felt like a hole in my chest. What the hell was wrong with me? If Brynn wanted to date some douchecanoe college boy, who was I to give a shit? And why the fuck was I imagining what her hair would feel like sliding through my fingers?
I really needed to get myself together.
Cooper was home when I got there. His work boots, caked with dirt, stood next to the door, and he’d taken off his jeans on the way to his room. They lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.
He came out of the bathroom with wet hair and a towel wrapped around his waist. “Hey, bro.”
I blinked at him. I knew I should answer, but my brain was all kinds of fucked up.
Coop didn’t seem to notice. He went into his room and shut the door. When he came out a few minutes later—half-dressed in a t-shirt, boxer briefs, and socks—I was still standing in the middle of the room.
“Dude, what happened to you?” Cooper asked. “You have a shit day at work? You broke some
thing, didn’t you? You were supposed to fix it and you made it worse?”
“No.” Something about Cooper’s comment snapped me out of my stupor. “I didn’t break anything. Jesus.”
“Did you call Shelly? Do I need to take your phone privileges away? Because I’m telling you right now, if you called Shelly, or texted her, or even thought about her today, I’m taking your phone forever.”
I took my coat off and tossed it over a chair. “No, but I saw her outside Ray’s.”
“Oh, fuck. Tell me you didn’t talk to her. Chase, buddy, we’ve been over this. You can’t get caught in the web of crazy again. Every time you do, it’s harder to get yourself out. You get all tangled up in her drama, it’s going to be surgical level shit to get you out again.”
Seeing Shelly wasn’t why I felt like I could barely speak. It certainly wasn’t her face burned into my mind. But I was smart enough to see an out when one was handed to me. If Coop thought I was freaked out over seeing Shelly, he wouldn’t suspect it had anything to do with Brynn.
“No, man, I didn’t talk to her. I waited in my truck, but I was fucking panicking.”
Cooper patted me on the shoulder. “Brutal, bro. Glad you got out of there in one piece.”
“Yeah.”
I didn’t feel like I was in one piece. I felt like someone had hit me upside the head with a two-by-four.
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