“Because,” he croaked and then cleared his throat, “deep down I know there’s no future. I don’t want to lead them on with Sunday dinner, holidays, all that.”
“So you’ve never slept with Julia all this time?” Jared asked. That was saintly love in his book.
“Welp.” Angel’s lips formed a flat line. “We’ve had our moments, but, in the end, that’s just not enough.”
“Never?” Jared pressed because he didn’t know what the hell a “moment” meant.
Angel swallowed visibly. “In a weak moment. A couple of weak moments.” Now Jared understood. Angel scrubbed a hand over his face. “We both regretted it.”
This was terrible. Angel couldn’t let Julia go, yet he couldn’t move forward with her. Emily’s words ran on repeat in his head, girl loves guy, guy loves someone else. Except the someone else, Julia, was never going to happen. Hadn’t Angel suffered long enough with that one-sided kind of love? He pinched the bridge of his nose as the words girl loves guy screamed through his head. He wished he didn’t know all this, wished he’d met Emily in another universe that didn’t involve his stepbrother.
“You okay?” Angel asked.
“Yeah.” Jared went back to his lunch, trying to think of the right words to convince Angel that he should be with Emily. None came to him.
He watched his stepbrother eat, seeming resigned to his lot in life.
“Emily’s great,” Jared finally said once he finished his sandwich.
Angel nodded. “I know. I really liked her. Sometimes I think I messed up…like, maybe I shouldn’t have bailed, but…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah, it’s too late, anyway. I don’t want to screw up with Emily again.”
Dammit. See? Angel regretted bailing. Jared knew the right thing to do, felt it deep in his churning gut. He had to convince Angel to give Emily a second chance. Then he’d have to convince Emily that Angel was worth the risk. He immediately shot that talking-to-Emily idea down. Nope. He couldn’t be alone with her long enough for a heart-wrenching talk without lust messing with his head. Let Angel convince her to take that risk. Jared would just make sure Angel didn’t screw up.
“She’s just like you in a lot of ways,” Jared said quietly. “Kind, smart, great with kids.” He looked out the large kitchen window over the sink, remembering how beautiful she’d looked sleeping on his sofa. Her glossy brown hair spread out around her. Her sweet lips parted slightly in sleep.
“Jare?”
He snapped his attention back to Angel. “She’s the total package. And she loves you. She told me so. Give her a second chance, and don’t screw it up this time.”
Angel held up a hand. “I’m not sure—”
“She needs someone like you. Her ex, well, you’ve seen the news. A sick cheating bastard. I mean what kind of guy orders up hookers to cheat on his wife and then makes them all pretend to be his wife so he can spank them and—”
“What?”
Jared clamped his mouth shut. That might’ve been one of those this-doesn’t-leave-this-room confessions brought on by too much scotch. “Forget I said that. My point is—” he pointed at Angel “—you should give it another shot. Ask her to dinner.”
Angel’s brows drew together. “Why don’t you ask her to dinner?”
“She doesn’t want someone like me. She needs someone like you.”
Angel wiped his mouth with a napkin. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing. I’m just not…” He crossed his arms, steeling himself against whatever Angel might say to push him in Emily’s direction. It would be too easy to cave with the amount of lust he’d been fighting ever since he met her. “I’m too much of the good-time guy.”
“And what am I? The good-for-you guy?”
Jared jabbed a hand in the air. “Yes!”
Angel studied him for a long moment. “You’re a good guy too. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.”
A rare heat crept up his neck. “Nah.”
“We were raised the same way,” Angel said. “With kindness. That’s what we both put out in the world. Look at what you do for a living. You make people whole again, give them a chance to use their hands or walk again without pain. Not everyone can do what you do. I’d probably puke the minute I had to slice into someone, but you…you get right in there and you do a good job. I’m just good at talking. You’re good at doing.”
Jared waved that away. “But you’re so good at the sensitive-guy thing. And…I don’t think I could hook up with her after she hooked up with you. Bros before hos, right?” He lifted his beer bottle to clink against Angel’s.
Angel shook his head and didn’t clink bottles. “Don’t say hos. Come on.”
Jared grinned. “But chicks doesn’t rhyme with bros.”
Angel tossed the crust of his sandwich at him. “Hate to break it to you, but, unless you got yourself a virgin, every woman you date’s already slept with someone. Besides, I wore a condom and closed my eyes the whole time.” He covered his eyes with one hand. “Emily who?”
“Hardi-har-har. Ask her to dinner.”
Angel dropped his hand. “Why do you care so damn much?”
“I want you to be happy. I’m just asking you to give her another chance. She’s…” He found himself smiling, thinking of Emily. “She’s special.”
One corner of Angel’s mouth lifted. He stood and gathered the plates. “Okay, you convinced me. I’ll ask her to dinner.”
Jared clenched his jaw and then forced himself to relax. Sometimes it hurt to do the right thing. That was all. “Great.” And that was as far as he could get without throttling his stepbrother for doing exactly what he’d asked him to. “I’m going to go.”
“Already?”
He was halfway out the door when he said over his shoulder, “Good luck.”
Angel barked out a laugh. “I won’t need luck!”
Jared cringed and bolted.
Chapter Six
Jared was a little late to Sunday family dinner because he’d been working on his deck all weekend. The more he thought about Angel taking Emily out to dinner and probably hooking up with her, the more he wanted to pound nails. He’d finished nearly the whole deck. All he had left to do was the railing and steps leading down to the yard. He was physically exhausted, and his brain was tired of running the same hamster-wheel scenario where he ended up best man at Angel and Emily’s wedding for being the damned genius who brought them together.
He didn’t bother to ring the bell, just headed on in to Gabe’s house, where he’d grown up and knew like the back of his hand. Their dog, Fred, sped to the foyer in a blur of fluffy silver and black fur, barking ferociously. Jared stroked the dog behind the ear, and Fred immediately settled down.
“Come on,” he said, and the dog trotted after him. The furniture and decorating in the house was different than when he’d lived there. Gabe had put in his own modern-style furniture and his wife, Zoe, had decorated with lots of jazz concert posters. She was a jazz singer, probably one of the world’s best.
“I’m here!” he announced when he hit the dining room. Fred scooted back to his place under the table, hoping someone would drop some food. “Let the party…” He trailed off in shock at seeing Emily sitting next to Angel at Sunday family dinner. Angel said he never invited women home because he knew deep down they had no future. Yet there she was, smiling at him.
“Hi, Jared,” she said, her brown eyes bright. She wore a lacy pink sweater that gave him a clear view of her cleavage peeking out of a matching silky shirt with skinny straps.
“Emily!” He forced his gaze up to her eyes. What did this mean? Could she and Angel be serious after just one dinner? Well, they had dated for four whole months. He just stood there, frozen in place, staring as shock slowly gave way to despair.
“Son, have a seat,” his stepdad, Vinny, said.
He slipped into the only empty chair next to Gabe and stared at his plate. Conversation resumed, but he couldn’t speak or eat or
anything. Someone passed him the baked ziti, and he scooped some on his plate automatically. Emily’s laugh rang out and he lifted his head to see Angel and Emily across the table, smiling at each other. And then a white-hot rage surged through him. What the hell! Angel didn’t have to flaunt her in front of him. He should’ve gone back to quietly dating her so none of them had to witness the lovey-dovey crap. At least until they were married, making her off-limits permanently.
“You couldn’t have taken her out to dinner anywhere but here?” he hissed across the table at Angel.
Angel cocked his head, the picture of angelic innocence. Ha! Jared was onto him now. “Maybe we should speak privately,” Angel said in an infuriatingly calm voice.
“Fine.” Jared threw down his napkin and headed for the living room, which was more private than the kitchen open to the dining room.
He heard his mom ask, “What was that about?”
And his stepdad’s grumbled reply, “Who knows? They’ll work it out.”
Angel appeared a moment later, all smiles. He’d even dressed up for his special date in a light blue button-down shirt and dress pants. “Hey, Jare.”
Jared wanted to punch that smile off his face. “Hey, Angelo.” He sure as hell was no angel. “I see you’re in full horndog mode.”
Angel bit back a smile. His dimples totally gave him away. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He jabbed him in the chest and wished he could glower down at him, but they were nearly the same size. “You’re flaunting your relationship with her. It’s not enough I hand her over on a silver platter, you have to show up here to rub my nose in it.”
Angel held up his palms. “You’re the one who told me to ask her to dinner. I asked her to dinner.”
“Why here?”
Angel lifted one shoulder up and down. “It was free.”
“Free! She deserves a nice restaurant. What? You couldn’t afford it?” He pulled out his wallet and grabbed some bills. “Take it and get out of here.” Never mind the fact that Jared had suggested dinner. Seeing it happen in front of his eyes made him feel like a raging bull. Angel was supposed to quietly do the right thing by Emily far away from him.
Angel shook his head. “I’m not taking your money. Can we eat?”
Jared shoved a hand in his hair, working hard to speak in a reasonable voice. “Are you serious about her? Is that why she’s here?”
“Nah. Not serious.”
He grabbed him by the shirt and got in his face, all reason flying out the window. “She deserves better than someone whose heart is already taken. Don’t play with her.” He fiercely regretted pushing Angel toward Emily. Angel was screwing it up already. He wasn’t even serious about her! That thought should’ve been welcome, but all he could think about was Emily getting hurt again. Jared never should’ve gotten involved in all this touchy-feely stuff.
Angel’s kind brown eyes met his. “I hear ya loud and clear, brother.”
Jared let go of Angel’s shirt. What was he doing? This was his brother. Bros before chicks. He couldn’t believe he was threatening his saint of a brother.
“Sorry,” he mumbled and returned to the dining room, prepared to suffer through a long meal.
~ ~ ~
Emily exchanged a small smile with Angel, who was grinning devilishly from behind Jared’s back as they returned to the dining room. Angel had called her yesterday and rather dutifully told her that Jared thought Angel should ask her to dinner. So dutifully that she didn’t believe for a minute he actually wanted to.
“I want Jared,” she’d said in a bold move, surprising herself. Guess she was serious about a fun fling. The nice thing about Angel’s social worker background was, you could tell him anything, and he’d take it in stride. The man heard some doozies from his clients.
“So, you want his number or…”
“No. I’ll see him at work. He has a good thing going with the service exit revolving door of flings and I’m ready to sign up.”
“Emily.”
“What?”
“That doesn’t sound like you.”
She blew out a breath. “I’m tired of being the stoic good girl. I want to have fun again. Just once. Jared’s good at that.”
“He is the good-time guy.”
“Exactly.”
“Why don’t you come to our Sunday family dinner tomorrow night? Jared’ll be there. You could probably go home with him. Let the good times roll.”
“That is an excellent idea.” She paused. “You don’t think it’s going to be weird or awkward or something because I was with you before? You know, for all of us to be at the same table?”
“That’ll be the best part.”
“You devil.”
He chuckled. Angel’s devilish streak was one of the things that had appealed to her about him. He was a good guy, so that made it a safe way to be near a little bit of naughtiness.
Angel went on. “Seriously, though, he needs to see with his own eyes that you and I are no longer an item. Then he’ll be willing to…well, whatever you want, I guess.”
But tonight wasn’t going the way she’d hoped. She thought she and Jared might have a little verbal sparring, some lively conversation, but instead Jared was sullen. Angel, by her side, was positively gleeful.
She was never going to get her fling.
“It’s so nice to meet a friend of Angel’s, finally,” Zoe said, giving Emily a sunny smile. She was married to Jared’s older brother Gabe. She’d discovered earlier from Angel that Gabe, Luke, and Jared were biological brothers with the same light brown to blond hair and dark blue eyes. Except Jared, who had those amazing green eyes. Their mom had married their Italian stepdad, Vinny. Jared’s stepbrothers—Vince, Nico, and Angel—had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. All of them gorgeous, but Nico, she had to admit upon meeting him, was breathtaking with movie-star good looks. He only had eyes for his redheaded wife, Lily.
Zoe went on, her brown eyes sparkling with excitement. “We were starting to get worried about Angel, but here you are!”
“Here I am,” Emily said weakly with a sideways glance at Angel and a silent urgent message help me out here.
Angel smiled and kept eating his baked ziti.
“So how long have you been together?” Zoe asked.
Emily looked around the table as the entire family—Mrs. Marino, Mr. Marino, Gabe, Zoe, Vince, Sophia, Luke and his fiancée, Kennedy, Nico, Lily, and Jared stared at her expectantly. Even baby Miles had quieted in his high chair to stare at her with a fist full of noodle in his mouth. Angel was still eating, unperturbed.
She looked right at Jared. “We’re not together.”
Jared glared at Angel and mumbled something under his breath she couldn’t quite catch.
“Oh,” Zoe said, shooting a quick look to her husband, Gabe. “So it’s like that.”
Now they all thought she was just sleeping with Angel. She turned to Angel for help.
“Anyone want more bread?” Angel asked. Before anyone could answer, he left the room, saying over his shoulder, “I’ll get it.”
She picked up her fork. “This is excellent ziti.” She dug in, shoving a big forkful in her mouth.
There was an awkward silence.
“Angel,” Vince said, shaking his head, “who knew?”
His brothers laughed. Vince’s wife, Sophia, elbowed him and hissed, “I told you.”
“How’re you feeling, Sophia?” Mrs. Marino asked.
“As long as I stick to bread, I’m good,” Sophia said, holding up her slice of unbuttered plain Italian bread.
“I’m trying to steer her toward starches and small portions of protein,” Vince said. “Plenty of fluids, of course. We’re still finding out her triggers. We know to avoid strong odors, and fish seems to be—”
“Do you hear yourself?” Nico asked on a laugh.
“Do you want to meet your dinner up close?” Vince threatened.
Nico laughed harder until his wif
e, Lily, put a hand on his arm. He turned and kissed her temple. She smiled.
“So how long have you, um, known Angel?” Sophia asked Emily diplomatically.
“They dated for four months a year ago,” Jared announced.
Sophia’s jaw dropped. “Really?”
Emily looked for Angel, who appeared very busy in the kitchen and still wasn’t coming to her rescue. “We, uh, broke up.”
“Why?” Zoe asked. “I mean, maybe since he invited you to Sunday dinner, he—”
“Just friends,” Angel announced, returning with the bread.
Jared glared at Angel and mimicked, “Just friends,” in a singsong voice.
Oh-kay. Emily was a little confused. Wasn’t it good if she and Angel were just friends so she and Jared could hook up?
Luke looked between Jared and Angel. “This is messed up.”
Kennedy, a lovely petite blond woman, piped up at Luke’s side. “So, Emily, tell us about your work at the hospital. You’re some kind of nurse, you said?”
Emily smiled at Kennedy, relieved to have someone willing to smooth things over, and told her all about the programs she was working on to help make the children’s stay easier.
Finally, the whole awkward evening ended. Angel had enjoyed himself a little too much. She shot him a dark look that only made him smile more. Jared was making a beeline for the door, and she hurried to catch up with him.
“Wait up,” she said.
He kept going.
“Jared! Could you give me a ride home?”
He stopped short and slowly turned. “Why can’t Angel do it?” He jabbed a finger behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to find Angel standing there already wearing his leather jacket. He winked at her, and she quickly turned back to Jared. “Didn’t you come with him?” Jared barked.
She crossed to Jared’s side. “Yes, but I thought maybe I could ride home with you. He won’t mind.”
“I don’t mind,” Angel said, appearing at her side. He smiled his devilish, dimpled smile.
Jared smacked him upside the head.
“Jared!” she exclaimed.
Angel smacked Jared upside the head.
“Angel!” she exclaimed.
Clutch Player Page 6