The Hot Brother (Romance Love Story) (Hargrave Brothers - Book #5)

by Alexa Davis

  “Wow.”

  “That a good wow or a bad one? I mean…can you forgive your old man?”

  “I don’t have anything to forgive you for, Dad. All you ever did was take care of me. It seems like Kevin has forgiven you, though, so that’s good.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, he’s a good kid. Frank and Linda did a great job with him.”

  “I do have one other question, Dad.”

  “What’s that, honey?”

  “What about what Kevin saw that day when he was eleven? You said you promised Frank it would never happen again.”

  He sighed. “They wanted another baby. That trip was about trying to make one.”

  I almost fell out of my chair when he said that. “Are you serious? Frank wanted you to…I’m sorry, but that’s just…wow.”

  “That was the last time we tried. It was too weird for all of us. That’s why we didn’t go back to Philly, too. It was awkward, to say the least.”

  “But it was Frank’s idea to send Kevin out here for you to train?”

  “Yeah, I told you he’s a good father. He would sacrifice anything, even his own dignity, for his son.”

  I had thought about that a lot over the next few days and came to the conclusion that both of our parents had made a decision years ago, and no amount of anger, embarrassment, or regret by any of us was going to change that. Kevin had two good men who loved him, he had his mother, and he and I both had a sibling now.

  Maybe being so happy with Nick had given me a new outlook on life, but I was enjoying my happiness and I wasn’t going to rummage around in the past in the hopes of finding something to screw it up.

  Besides, the idea of sitting down to dinner with Nick’s family was enough stress to deal with at one time.

  ********

  My biggest fear about Thanksgiving with Nick’s family was that his father would actually remember me from the masquerade ball. That fear was realized almost as soon as the maid led us into the dining room.

  Ethan was there and he’d brought Michaela, who was more subdued than I’d ever seen her. Nick had taken his time getting ready, and we were almost an hour late, which was probably what the dark atmosphere was all about to begin with, but once Nick’s father laid eyes on me, the darkness shifted. It was in his eyes, and he was projecting it in my direction.

  “Nicholas, if you’re going to continue to be late for every event this family is involved with, perhaps I should stop extending the invitation in the first place.”

  Nick pulled out a chair for me and I sat down. He turned the chair next to me around and straddled it. I cringed. “Perhaps you should,” was his reply to his father. Then he looked at Michaela and Ethan and said, “Hey, you two, Happy Thanksgiving.”

  Michaela smiled at him, but gave me a look I recognized as, “Get me the hell out of here.” “Happy Thanksgiving, Nick, Karli.”

  “Karli?” His father said before I had a chance to say anything. “That’s an unusual name. I was just wondering why my son was so rude not to introduce you, but I realize it’s because we’ve already met. You were my other son’s date for the masquerade ball, right?”

  I forced a smile through the nausea I was feeling. “Yes, sir, we did meet that night. Thank you for letting me join in on your holiday dinner—”

  “Letting you? Seriously? I don’t recall inviting you to either event.”

  “Dad—”

  Nick tried to interrupt, but his father had something to say and he was going to say it, “Somehow, in spite of that, you’ve managed to finagle an invitation from not one, but both of my sons.”

  “Dad, don’t,” Nick said in a low voice and threatening tone.

  “Don’t what, Nicholas? I was simply going to point out the obvious, which is this young lady seems determined to have one or the other of you. I have to say that with all the women available to two young, wealthy men, that it’s confusing why you would each want the same woman.”

  “That’s enough!” Ethan said. Nick looked at his brother, shocked. I guess it was safe to assume Ethan didn’t fight back often. “Leave her alone. You were already cold and practically rude to Michaela and now you want to pick on Karli. What is wrong with you?”

  Ethan’s father looked as shocked by his outburst as Nick was. He cleared his throat and said, “I see that hanging around gold-digging trash has made you both forget your manners.” Nick was on his feet before his father finished talking. I reached for his arm, but he shook me off.

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?” he said to his father.

  Gregory Grant very calmly put his napkin down on his plate and stood up. He took the time to adjust his suit jacket before saying,

  “You know who I am. I’m the man that gave you everything. I could have sent you to Italy to live with your grandparents when your mother died, but instead, I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the best schools—”

  “No, Dad, instead of letting us live with people that would have actually loved and cared for us, you sent us away to a school full of strangers and you made us beg to come home even for fucking Christmas. You separated us so that we hardly knew each other and you kept us away from our grandparents. Now they’re both dead, so we’ll never know them, and that’s all your fucking fault.

  “So, you do not get to say anything about who I choose to be with. But since you brought the subject up, I will tell you this: Karli and Michaela have more class in the tips of their little fingers than you have in your entire body.

  “Karli knows what it means to be a part of a family that loves each other and takes care of each other. She and her father serve Thanksgiving dinner every year to the young fighters far away from their home and family. They open up their home and hearts to these people and don’t ask for anything in return.

  “Today, she gave up her warm, comfortable Thanksgiving to come to this fucking cold mausoleum with me, and I’m sure Michaela had a lot of other options as well, but they both chose us. Neither of them chose us because we belong to this fucked up family. Neither of them chose us because you’re fucking rich. They chose us because they care about us, and in spite of everything you’ve ever tried to teach us about money being the most important thing in the world, we’re finally seeing things from a different perspective.

  “So thanks, Dad, you’ve finally snapped whatever piece of invisible string that still tied me to you and this fucking family.” He reached out for my hand, and I took it and stood up.

  “You can kiss that house and anything else I’ve ever bought you goodbye if you walk out of here, Nicholas. I’ll take back that big house you live in and anything else you’ve acquired in my name or with my money.”

  “Save it, Dad. I don’t give a fuck about any of that. All I ever wanted from you was the one thing you refused to give me: a father I could look up to. A parent that would love me and teach me how to be a man. As it is, I’m having to figure that shit out myself, and it’s not easy.

  “But I’m doing it, and guess what? You can strip every material thing I own away from me, and I’ll still be okay. You know why? Because the one thing I have figured out about being a man is that it has nothing to do with money or things, but everything to do with how you treat people and who you love and who loves you in return. So fuck you and your trust fund, Dad.”

  Nick’s dad was still saying something as we walked away, but Nick didn’t stop. He was almost pulling me as we walked through the expansive living room and down the hallway to the front door. We were outside, and he was about to close the door behind us when we heard Ethan say,

  “We’ve got that.” I looked and saw him and Michaela following us. He was gripping her hand tightly. As soon as we were all outside, he looked at Nick and said, “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “For all of the years I sat back and let you deal with him. I’ve always enjoyed listening to you put him in his place, but I never had the balls to back you up. I’m sorry I put that on you.” He looked at me then and
said, “And, Karli, I’m sorry for what he said to you. I hope you know that it’s his black heart talking and no reflection on how the rest of us feel about you.” Michaela was still quiet, which was surprising.

  “You two don’t have to be sorry. I’m okay. What he thinks of me doesn’t matter. I’m sorry that the two of you have to put up with that.” I reached up and put my arms around Nick and hugged him tightly. “Thank you for sticking up for us.”

  He kissed the top of my head. “Always,” he said. “And as far as putting up with him, I’m done. I’ll sell the house and my truck and tap out my savings and give him back every penny he’s ever given me. I don’t want it.”

  “Me, too,” Ethan said. That was when Michaela finally broke her silence and reminded my why she was my BFF.

  “Give it all away, you’re both still hot as fuck,” she said. “Now, who’s hungry?”

  Nick and Ethan both smiled as I turned and hugged my friend. When I let her go, I said, “I’m starving.”

  “You know, I was in the market the other day and saw that they do full Thanksgiving dinners. Maybe we could pick up one of those if they still have any and go back to my house,” Nick said. “Or, you know, the house that I’m putting on the market come Monday morning. We can pick up Lenny, if you want.”

  Since Dad and Kevin were out of town I’d told Uncle Lenny that I’d bring him dinner this afternoon. I’d felt guilty about him being alone with his nurses. I had tears in my eyes as I told Nick, “He would love that.”

  “Good.” He opened his wallet and pulled out several hundred dollar bills. He saw Michaela and I both looking at him and he smiled and said, “I earned this money by letting sponsors take pictures of my pretty face.” Michaela and I laughed. Ethan rolled his eyes. “Ethan, will you and Michaela go by the market and get the food ordered? Order as much as this money will buy, the works, pies, and everything, okay?”

  “Absolutely,” Ethan said, taking the money out of Nick’s hand.

  “Karli and I have to make one more stop on our way home. Come on, babe, let’s blow this shack.”

  Nick helped me in the truck and once he got in his side, I scooted over next to him. He drove with one hand on the wheel and the other across my shoulders. He surprised me by getting off the highway and stopping at the gym.

  “You’re not going to work-out today, are you?”

  He smiled. “Nope, but even though Charlie ordered a dinner for the guys that usually spend Thanksgiving with you and him to be delivered here, I thought they might feel more like Thanksgiving eating it at the house with us. I hope you don’t mind?”

  “You just keep surprising me, Nicholas Storelli.”

  “Just you wait, Karli Henderson. You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  NICK

  “You think it will fit in my living room?” Karli and I were standing in the center of The Winter Wonderland, looking up at the fifty-foot Christmas tree.

  Winter Wonderland was a huge venue set up every year across from The Container Park in downtown Vegas. I loved the way it smelled underneath the ginormous tent. It was a combination of pine, cinnamon, apple cider, and hot chocolate.

  Christmas never used to mean that much to me. I had either spent it at school with the rest of the rejects whose rich parents couldn’t be bothered or I went home and spent it with my father, the original Grinch.

  This year, I was having a blast. Karli, Michaela, Ethan, and I went shopping at four a.m. on Black Friday, the morning after the best Thanksgiving I’d ever had. Then the following Friday night, I took Karli to see the Nutcracker. I’d never seen it and I wasn’t looking forward to the ballet, but I have to admit that I liked it. Tonight would be my last big activity before my fight next Friday night.

  Charlie and I agreed that for the duration of the week, I’d stick to light strength training and endurance, eat right, sleep a lot, and no alcohol. Charlie tried to throw in no sex, but I’m just guessing that’s because my main squeeze happens to be his daughter. I chose to ignore that one. What Charlie didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

  “I don’t think so,” Karli said with a laugh. “But there’s a whole lot out back with normal-sized trees.”

  “Normal sized? We’ve been going out for over a month now. Haven’t you noticed that there’s nothing ‘normal sized’ about me?”

  She patted my arm. “So arrogant,” she said.

  “Yes, but you love it, right?”

  Putting her hand in mine and lacing our fingers together, she said, “I actually do. I love everything about you. Oh! Let’s get our face painted.”

  I laughed. “Um, no…I don’t think so.”

  “Fine,” she said. “Bounce house?”

  “Not unless you want to watch it collapse.”

  She sighed. “Fine, let’s go find Michaela and Ethan and see if they want to do some shopping.”

  “Shopping I can get on board with. I still need to finish my Christmas shopping.” Hand in hand, we walked toward where the craft kiosks were. I saw Karli eyeing the ice skating rink, so I tried to pull her a little faster so she wouldn’t get any ideas, but to no avail.

  “Let’s go ice skating!”

  “Um…no.”

  She laughed. “Why not? Come on; you said no about face painting and the bounce house.”

  “I did say yes about shopping. Shopping is nice and safe, and you get to keep your tennis shoes on.”

  “Aw, is my big, bad fighter afraid to put on a pair of skates?”

  “Skates? The kind with four wheels, no. The kind with a blade the size of my pocket knife that’s supposed to support my nearly three hundred pounds on a slippery, cold, wet surface? Yes. Yes, I am.”

  She laughed again and then she turned on the cuteness. “Please,” she said, actually batting her eyes. You’ve got to be kidding me. She reached up and put her hands behind my neck and pressed her sexy body into me. “I don’t ask for much, do I? I want to hold your hand and skate around the Christmas tree…pretty please.”

  Three hundred pounds of muscle was no match for a hundred and twenty-five pounds of feminine hotness. Damn. “Okay, but if I break an ankle or a leg before my big fight, you’re telling Charlie.”

  “Oh…you’re right, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have even asked. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  I felt bad. She was right. She never asked for anything. “Hey.” I tipped her face up to mine. “I was kidding, babe. I’m an athletic wizard. I’ll ace this shit in no time.”

  “You’ve never done it before?”

  “Nope, but I’m sure it’s not as hard as it looks.”

  She smiled. “Actually, it is. But if you really want to try it, I’ll hold your hand.”

  I grinned down at her. “How could I refuse that offer? Come on, let’s do this.”

  It was as hard as it looked. Thank goodness I was used to large fists pounding every part of my body or falling six times on solid ice might have hurt. When Karli was finally satisfied that I’d taken enough abuse, we did some Christmas shopping with Ethan and Michaela and finally agreed on a Christmas tree we both thought would fit in my living room.

  When we got back to the house, Karli made cookies and hot chocolate while I dragged the tree in and set it up. When that was finally done, I collapsed down on the couch to rest my poor, tired body that felt like it just went three rounds with the world champion.

  “Hey,” Karli sat down next to me and handed me a mug of hot chocolate. She’d just sat a warm plate of homemade cookies on the table down in front of me.

  “Hey.” I took a sip of the chocolate and was left with a mustache of whipped cream. I started to lick it off, but she said,

  “Wait! Let me.” She leaned in and used her tongue to clean off my lips and face. It was hot and I felt it in every part of my body.

  “Mm, thanks. And, thank you for today. You know, I’ve never done all of this.”

  “All of what?”

  I waved my arm at
the tree and the bags of decorations we’d bought. “All of this Christmas stuff. If I got to go home for Christmas, there would be a tree and presents that the staff set up and bought. The house was always decorated to a T and Christmas music played constantly.

  “But it was all for show. Ethan and I never got to be a part of it. These past few years, living on my own, I considered doing this,” I said, waving my arm again. “But it just never seemed right…or worth it, by myself. Today was amazing – you’re amazing. Thank you.”

  She sat her cup down and picked up my arm and snuggled into me. “Thank you for letting me be a part of your first time.”

  “You popped my Christmas cherry,” I said with a laugh. She poked me in the ribs and said,

  “How is it you can make anything dirty?”

  “It’s a gift.” I pulled her in tighter, and we sat there like that for a long time. Karli was the one that finally broke the silence by asking,

  “Are you nervous? About the fight?”

  The biggest fight of my career was just over a week away. Physically, I was ready. Mentally, I was at a better place than I’d ever been in my life. But psychologically, there was still a part of me that refused to believe I deserved all of this. Part of me expected it to all come crashing down in front of the 17,000 people in the arena and the millions watching from home, and then what would I do? I’d lose my endorsements and I’d have to get a real job – but doing what?

  “I guess I’m always a little bit nervous before every fight.”

  She looked up at me and smiled. “A little bit?”

  I smiled back at her and kissed her forehead. “Okay, maybe more than a little. I shouldn’t be. I know I’ve got this. I’m in better shape than I’ve ever been in and I’ve studied Chavez’s YouTube videos until I couldn’t see straight.”

  “So, nothing to be nervous about,” she said. I could tell by the way she said it that she was trying to coax me into a conversation. It was another thing I was having a hard time getting used to: talking about my feelings. That was brand new, like so many other things in my life lately.