Текст книги "Falling For My Best Friend's Brother"

Автор книги: J. S. Cooper

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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 12 страниц)

Chapter Seven

Coffee Dates Aren’t Always Dates

“Come on, Alice, Aiden is going to be meeting me at the coffee shop in about fifteen minutes, so you need to hurry.” Liv poked her head into my bedroom and clapped her hands to rouse me.

“I just woke up.” I stretched and groaned as I stared at Liv. “And I can’t just show up by myself.”

“Tell him that I told you to meet me there as well.” She grinned. “And then I’ll text and say I couldn’t make it.”

“Liv,” I whined, not wanting to go but still jumping out of bed and opening my closet quickly to find something to wear. “I’m not going by myself,” I said and looked at her. “He invited you to coffee, not me. And after last night, there is no way in hell that I’m putting myself out there again.”

“Just hurry, Alice.” She sighed, but she didn’t try and change my mind. I had told Liv all about the previous evening when she’d gotten home and even she was wondering what Aiden was up to. “I tried to wake you up earlier and you didn’t respond.”

“I was sleeping,” I groaned and pulled a T-shirt on over my tank top. “How do I look?” I glanced at Liv and she glanced back at me quickly.

“Great, now brush your teeth quickly. You don’t want morning breath.”

“Argh, I hate morning breath.” I ran to the bathroom and grabbed my toothbrush and quickly filled it with a generous dollop of Aquafresh.

“And wash your face, too. You have booboo in your eyes.”

“That’s because I was sleeping just three minutes ago.” I yawned dramatically.

“What do you care about more? Sleep or love?”

“At this moment, sleep,” I groaned and yelped as I felt Liv brushing the knots out of my hair. “Liv!” I whimpered as I spat my toothpaste into the sink. “That hurts.”

“Do you want to go to meet Aiden and show him how beautiful you look in the morning or would you rather look like you were just drooling into your pillow?”

“Can I choose drooling into my pillow?” I splashed my face with water and stared sadly at my lackluster appearance. “And you’re a liar, I don’t look beautiful.”

“Yes, you do, and Aiden will think so as well.”

“Yeah, right.” I wrinkled my nose. “He didn’t think I was beautiful last night.”

“Of course he did. He kissed you, remember?”

“And then he left when I invited him to come and check out my room.” I groaned as I remembered the rejection of the night before. “And when I say left, I mean, he ran out faster than a cheetah on crack.”

“Cheetah’s don’t do crack,” Liv said as if I were being serious.

“Maybe they do, maybe they don’t,” I said and put some moisturizer on my face. “Who knows what they do? All I can say is that Aiden left fast. As fast as the fastest animal on earth.”

“Alice, stop being goofy. I’m sure he just realized he had to be at work early or something.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I sighed. “It’s not like his job is all that important, though, that he would just have to leave.”

“He’s an attorney for a top law firm, Alice.” Liv rolled her eyes. “He’s not like us; he can’t just call in whenever he wants and pretend to be sick and just watch movies all day.”

“I guess.” I sighed. “I just can’t believe he has any interest in me if he left last night.”

“He did kiss you.”

“I know, but what’s a kiss when you’ve been offered more? Maybe he only kissed me to be polite.” My stomach churned as I thought about that prospect. Would he really have grabbed my waist and held me tight if he was just trying to be polite?

“Aiden doesn’t do anything to be polite,” Liv reminded me, and she was correct. I could remember a few different occasions where we’d asked Aiden to take us somewhere or do something with us when we were younger and he’d told us no, pretty point-blank. He hadn’t cared that Liv had even been faking tears one time we’d asked him to take us to the zoo. He’d told us to go into the bathroom and look into the mirror and we’d see a rhino and a giraffe. And then he’d burst out laughing. I smiled to myself as I recalled how rude Aiden had always been. Liv was right. There was no way Aiden would have kissed me if he wasn’t into it, even a little bit.

“I guess I’ll come.” I pouted my lips and applied my new pink lipstick and then some lipgloss. “But I’m not going to flirt with him or ask him out or make him jealous.”

“Good. Just be sweet and casual.” Liv nodded. “Let him think that you couldn’t care less about seeing him or about that fact that he just left last night.”

“I couldn’t care less,” I said and fluffed out my hair. “He’s a jerk.”

“Yeah, he is,” Liv said emphatically.

“Oh, Liv.” I giggled. “You’re just saying that because I’m sad.”

“I don’t want you to be upset over stupid Aiden.” She looked at me with large brown eyes.

“I know. It’s awkward that I’ve fallen for your brother.” I groaned. “Who does that?”

“I think it’s quite common.” Liv laughed. “Many women fall for their best friend’s brother. I mean, it will be awesome if you guys end up together. We’d be sisters.”

“See.” I said with a sad face and pointed at her. “You have doubts, too.”

“Doubts about what?”

“You just said if we end up together, not when we end up together.”

“Oh.” She bit her lower lip and looked to the side. “I didn’t realize.”

“It’s fine,” I said with a groan. “I mean, let’s be realistic. You meet a guy and let him know you’re interested and he’s got you on the floor with his head between your legs. And I meet a man and let him know I’m interested and he gives me a quick snog and then darts off before I can even get him to the floor or the bed.”

“A quick snog?” Liv giggled.

“I’ve been watching British TV shows again.” I laughed. “I think snog sounds better than just saying kiss.”

“At least you’re not saying pash anymore.” She laughed.

“What’s wrong with pash?” I said indignantly. “I want to pash Aiden all night long.”

“It just sounds weird.”

“Tell that to an Australian,” I said with a smirk. “They will most probably throw a kangaroo in your face.”

“Yeah, let them try. I’ll throw a koala bear back at them.” She laughed. “I mean, who calls kissing pashing? It just doesn’t even make sense to me.”

“Pashing is a sexy term,” I said, though I didn’t really think it was that sexy. It was different, and to me different was cool.

“Are you still watching that show?”

“What show?”

“Dating in the Dark Australia?”

“Oh yeah.” I nodded. “I thought you were talking about Home and Away.”

“I thought you weren’t able to watch it anymore?”

“Yeah, I’m not. The guy that was uploading it onto YouTube got deleted or something.” I sighed. “That was a good show.”

“It looked like too much drama to me. And all the characters seemed so young and annoying.”

“Like I said, it was good.” I laughed. “It was full of drama and angst and half the girls had worse love lives than me.” I smiled happily, remembering all the drama from one of my favorite Australian soap operas. “Plus Australian men are so sexy.”

“Oh, Alice, you and your English and Australian guys.” Liv shook her head.

“I might end up marrying one if it doesn’t work out with Aiden. Foreign guys are hotter.”

“But then you’ll have to move.” Liv pouted.

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I’ll move to Oxfordshire or Sydney.”

“Why Oxfordshire or Sydney?” Liv looked confused.

“Oh, they just sound like good places to live, if I have to leave the States.”

“Uh, okay.” I could see that Liv was trying not to laugh. “What about Nigeria?”

“What about Nigeria?” I frowned. What did Nigeria have to do with anything?

“Didn’t a Nigerian prince ask you to marry him and send him ten thousand dollars?”

“Hahaha.” I laughed slightly as I remembered the scam email I’d gotten and almost fallen for. “Very funny.”

“Wouldn’t you like to live in Nigeria as well?” she asked with a grin. “Seeing as you want to live abroad and all.”

“I don’t know about Nigeria.” I made a face. “I’ve heard the Ivory Coast is beautiful, though.”

“I guess you just have to meet a guy from there, then.”

“Actually, there is a guy from there who’s trying to buy a house right now. He has this sexy French accent as well.” I thought about the tall African guy who always smiled at me when he came to see Mike, one of the agents at the real estate office I worked at. “I would definitely date him if he was younger than fifty.” I giggled. “He’s cute, but a bit old. But imagine if I lived in Africa, I’d be tan year round.”

“You just want to leave me.” Liv pouted again, and I laughed.

“Don’t be silly. I want Aiden. I just need him to want me, too.” I sighed and grabbed my handbag. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Liv linked arms with me. “I seriously need to make sure my brother doesn’t mess this up.”

“Yes, you do,” I said expressively, with a small smile on my face. “Because if you don’t, who knows where I’ll end up?”

“You’ll end up in Timbuktu, that’s where.” She laughed as we walked out of the door.

***

Liv and I walked into the coffee shop, and I almost groaned when I saw Scott sitting there with Aiden. Why oh why did Scott have to be there? As if everything wasn’t already slightly awkward between Aiden and me, Scott was just going to make an already complicated situation more complicated.

“Look who’s here,” Scott said with a grin as he jumped up and  walked towards us. “Big ears and little ears.”

“Look who’s here,” Liv retorted back. “Dumb and Dumber.”

“I call Dumber,” Scott said and then winked at me as he gave me a quick hug.

“I guess that leaves me as just Dumb?” Aiden said with a smile as he stood up and hugged Liv.

“Well, duh,” Liv said as she pulled away from him. “We all knew you were dumb a long time ago.”

“Touché,” Aiden said as he walked towards me and gave me a quick hug, too. “Good to see you, Alice.” His body felt warm next to me and I didn’t want to let go as he stepped back. I know, I’m pathetic.

“Hi,” I said and then a thought suddenly hit me. “I guess you didn’t have to work early this morning?”

“No, did I say I had to?” He looked confused as he gazed at me and then at Liv. “Did I tell you I had to go to work early this morning?” he asked Liv and she made a face.

“No.” She sighed. “Alice and I just got confused about something.” She walked over to me. “What do you want, Alice? My treat.”

“I’ll have an iced mocha, please. Ooh, and a bagel with salmon and cream cheese.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.” I nodded and sat down. I swallowed hard as I saw both Aiden and Scott standing there in front of me.

“Well, Alice, how have you been?” Scott grinned and sat down next to me.

“Good, you?” I said weakly as I could feel Aiden’s eyes on me.

“Good, just been working late.” He stretched and I watched as he tossed his blond hair back. “I heard that you were at the parents’ house recently?”

“Yeah, Liv wanted your dad to spend more time with Xander.” I nodded. “Though, it was mainly the four of us just playing board games and going out.”

“Sounds about right.” Scott laughed. “Dad just likes having us all around the house. Unfortunately, Aiden and Liv are the only good kids. Chett and I rarely make an appearance.”

“Aw, that’s sad,” I said and Scott leaned towards me with a small smile.

“I guess I would have made more of an effort had I known you were going to be there.”

“Oh.” I blushed at his words. I mean, what did you say to a man who was flirting with you when your crush was sitting right next to him?

“Maybe next time,” Scott continued. “Or maybe we can go to—”

“Scott, Liv is calling you.” Aiden cut him off with a brusque tone.

“Huh?” Scott looked at Aiden with a frown. “Calling me for what?”

“Go and ask her,” Aiden said, his lips thin.

“Fine.” Scott jumped up and then smiled at me. “We’ll continue this conversation later.”

“Okay,” I said and avoided Aiden’s stare.

“So what’s going on with you and Scott?” he asked me accusingly and I looked at him with an annoyed expression.

“What do you mean what’s going on with me and Scott?” I glared at him. Was he seriously going to go there? He was the one who had left me the previous evening.

“Do you like him?” he asked me point blank and I blinked slowly.

“Of course I like him,” I said with an irritated tone.

“Do you want to date him?”

“No, I don’t want to date him.” I glared at him. I wanted to add You big doofus to my sentence, but didn’t.

“Do you want to make out with him again?”

“We never made out. He kissed me. Once,” I said, my voice getting higher. “I didn’t ask him to kiss me.”

“But you didn’t stop him.” He frowned. “You seem to like kissing us Taylor brothers, don’t you?”

“I don’t like kissing the Taylor brothers, no.” I bit my lower lip and took a deep breath. “I only liked kissing one of the Taylor brothers.”

“Oh?” He froze and his eyes held mine.

“Yes,” I said, feeling light in the head. Was I seriously going to tell him how I felt, right here and now?

“Which one?” he asked and leaned towards me, so that I could see his pupils dilating.”

“I like—”

“There you are, darling.” A soft sweet voice echoed next to us and I looked up in shock. There, standing next to us in the flesh, was Elizabeth Jeffries. What was she doing here?

“Lizzie!” Aiden jumped up and beamed, his face transforming from a slightly angry mask to one of pure happiness.

“Sorry I’m late.” She wrinkled her nose, and even I had to admit that she looked cute while doing so.

“You’re not late. You’re right on time,” he said and gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. I wanted to burst into tears at the sight of the two of them together. “Elizabeth, I want you to meet Alice. Alice is my sister Liv’s best friend.” He nodded towards me. “And Alice, I want you to meet Elizabeth, a good friend of mine.”

“Hi.” I nodded at her, and she gave me a wide, genuine smile. I couldn’t stop myself from studying her. Her nose was a little crooked and she had freckles across her cheeks. Her hair was a honey blond, but as I studied her dark eyebrows, I was pretty sure she dyed it. She looked prettier in person than she had in the photos, and I hated her for it.

“Nice to meet you, Alice,” she said cheerfully and leaned down for a quick hug. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

“You have?” I asked in surprise. Did Aiden talk about me?

“Yes, Aiden’s always talking about his sister and her best friend and all the funny things you both do.”

“All the funny things we both do?” I questioned and then looked at Aiden. What had he been telling her?

“Like the pranks and stuff.” Elizabeth smiled. “Like Brock and Jock, the strippers you paid to pretend to be your boyfriends.”

“I see.” I frowned. Why was Aiden telling her this stuff?

“I think that your plan was ingenious,” she continued and sat down next to me. “And it worked.”

“It did?” I looked at her questioningly.

“Well, Liv got the boy, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I nodded and sighed. “Yeah, I guess it did end up working for Liv.”

“I can’t wait to meet her.” Elizabeth smiled at me and my heart thudded as I realized that she was a completely genuine and nice person. She was the sort of person who I’d have as a friend if she weren’t trying to steal my man away from me.

“Yeah, I’m sure Liv wants to meet you as well.” I turned away from her and looked at Aiden. “You didn’t tell me your girlfriend was coming.”

“Uhm, Elizabeth isn’t my girlfriend,” Aiden said with a pleasant look, but his eyes never left my face.

“Yeah, we’re not dating,” Elizabeth interjected. “We’ve only gone out a few times.”

“Do you know where Aiden was last night?” I said pettily and immediately regretted it. Who was I becoming? Why was I acting like this? I knew I was letting my jealousy get the better of me and I didn’t like it.

“No, should I?” Elizabeth asked with a small laugh and then looked up at Aiden. “Where were you last night?”

“I was at Liv’s place watching a movie with Alice,” he replied nonchalantly and smiled at me. I glared back at him. What game was he playing?

“Oh, awesome. What movie?” she asked and I wondered how she could be so trusting. If a guy I was seeing told me he’d gone to watch a movie with another woman, I would not be smiling and taking it this nicely. In fact, if I were dating Aiden officially and he had told me that he had gone to watch a movie with Elizabeth, I would have let him know exactly what I thought about him. I don’t play around, and I certainly do not let my guys go on dates with other girls. And yes, I know, last night hadn’t exactly been a date. However, we had kissed and I’d been on his lap and he’d been hard for me. I’d felt his hardness on my ass. And yes, I had tried my best to get him excited, but I hadn’t made him rise to the occasion. He had done that himself. I knew that if Aiden had gotten hard for another girl while dating me, it would have been over.

“I can’t remember,” I said and looked down, suddenly feeling guilty. Why was she so nice and why was I so horrible? Why did I feel like the other woman?

“That good, huh?” She laughed and we both looked up as Scott and Liv approached the table. I watched Elizabeth’s eyes widen as she gazed at Scott and his eyes narrowed as he gazed at her. I almost wondered if I’d imagined the exchange because within seconds they were both smiling normally and Aiden was making introductions.

Liv and I made eye contact, and I could tell that she looked as confused as I did when Elizabeth had arrived. We were both thinking, why was this girl here? And she was totally ruining our plan of me making Aiden want me. How could I make Aiden want me if there was another girl with him right now? Why would he even care about me? And why was he acting so funny about Scott if he had Elizabeth? Maybe it was a simple case of wanting what you didn’t really want because you couldn’t have it. All of a sudden, I felt really sorry for myself.

“Excuse me, but I’m not feeling well,” I said and stood up. My head was pounding and my insides felt empty. All of a sudden I felt tired, really, really tired.

“What’s wrong, Alice?” Liv looked at me with wide eyes. I think she could tell from my face that I was close to tears.

“Nothing, maybe I’m coming down with a cold.” I attempted a cough and looked at the group. “I’m going to go home.” I looked at Elizabeth and smiled weakly. “It was nice meeting you.”

“You too.” She looked nervous and worried as she smiled at me, and I saw her look at Aiden a few times. I looked over at him and his face looked expressionless. I had no idea what he was thinking.

“I’ll walk you home,” Scott said, and I watched as Aiden frowned.

“Thanks,” I said gratefully, not caring what Aiden thought at this point.

“Do you want me to come?” Liv said, and I shook my head.

“No, no. You stay. I’m fine.” I gave her a weak smile and rubbed my head. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Okay.” She nodded and sat down.

“Ready?” Scott said and grabbed my hand. “Lean on me, I’ll help you.”

“Thanks,” I said gratefully and hurried away from the table. We walked out of the coffee shop fairly quickly, and I took a deep breath of fresh air as we walked along the street.

“You okay, Alice?” Scott stopped and pulled me over to the side of the street. His eyes searched mine, and he had a small smile on his face.

“Yes, why?” I asked softly.

“I’m not going to pretend to know what’s going through your head,” he said as he gazed at me. “But I am going to give you some advice. You need to fight for what you want. You need to grab life by the horns and go after your dreams and goals.”

“What are you talking about?” I said and swallowed hard.

“I know you like Aiden.” He gave me a half-smile and shook his head. “I don’t know why you prefer him to me, but I know you do.”

“I, uh …” I stammered. I wasn’t sure what to say to him. Had I been in a love triangle and not even known it? That would be just my luck. I didn’t want to be in a love triangle. Not at all. Not with any percentage of my being. How icky would that make me to be in a love triangle with two brothers? Granted, I had kissed both of them, but let’s be real, I didn’t really consider my kiss with Scott anything other than a brief peck. I’d regretted it as it happened. I certainly hadn’t kissed him back. And there was no tongue involved. Thank God! So really, it wasn’t even a kiss. What sort of kiss doesn’t involve tongue?

“There’s no need for you to say anything.” Scott laughed and we continued walking again. “I’m just saying you need to fight for what you want. And if you want Aiden, you have to let him know. Without the games. And without the tricks.” He reached forward and patted me on the nose. “I know you and my sister love to play games and stuff, but Aiden’s not the guy for that sort of thing. He doesn’t have patience for games or tricks.”

“I don’t have a shot with him anyway,” I said with a sigh. “He has Elizabeth.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Scott’s eyes narrowed and he looked thoughtful. “I’m not sure exactly what Aiden and Elizabeth have going on, but I don’t think it’s a regular relationship.”

“Oh, you think it could be something other than a regular relationship?” My mind immediately went to BDSM. Was Elizabeth his sub?

“I don’t know.” Scott shrugged, and we both stopped once we reached my building. “You going to be okay? I should get going, I have some work to do.”

“Yeah, sure.” I nodded and tried to stop myself from asking if he knew his older brother was a Dom. It wasn’t my place to bring that up. “I’ll be fine. Thanks for walking me home.”

“It was my pleasure, Alice. It was my pleasure.” Scott gave me a quick hug and I hurried through the front door and up to my apartment. I’d gone and made a mess of everything. I felt horrible. Here I was feeling upset and jealous about Aiden and Elizabeth and now there was a possibility that I’d gone and made Scott fall for me as well.

***

I woke up to my phone buzzing and groaned. I hadn’t meant to fall back asleep. I’d just wanted to lie down and relax and think about everything for a few seconds. I grabbed my phone and looked at the screen and my heart skipped a beat. Aiden had texted me.

Aiden: Hey, just checking that you’re okay.

Alice:I’m fine. Thank you, I typed back quickly as I sat up in the bed. I wanted to ask him where Elizabeth was, but I didn’t dare.

Aiden: We never got to finish our conversation.

Alice: Oh, we didn’t?

Aiden: No. Can we chat later?

Alice: Aren’t you going to be busy?

Aiden: Busy with what?

Alice:Work, I typed, even though that wasn’t what I was talking about.

Aiden: I don’t have to be in court today.

Alice:Okay. That’s not what I was talking about!

Aiden: So are you available to chat?

Alice: What time?

Aiden: Whenever you’re free is good with me.

Alice: I see.

Aiden: Unless you’re going to be busy.

Alice: With what?

Aiden: Scott.

My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe that he had actually typed that.

Aiden: So will you be free or busy?

Alice: I’m free. There is nothing between Scott and me.

Aiden: Good.

Alice: Why good?

Aiden: You don’t need to be playing games with Scott and myself.

Alice:What about you and Elizabeth? I couldn’t stop myself.

Aiden: What about her?

Alice: How can you date her and kiss me?

Aiden: That is part of the reason why we need to talk.

Alice: I see.

Aiden: Can I call you now?

Alice:No, I’m busy, I lied as I lay back in my pillows.

Aiden: Okay, so tonight?

Alice: What about tomorrow?

Aiden: Alice, I swear to God you’re the most confusing girl I’ve ever met.

Alice: I don’t think you’re confusing.

Aiden: If I was there I’d put you over my knee and spank you.

Alice: You’d like that, wouldn’t you?

Aiden: I think you’d like it more.

Alice:Do you now? I grinned at the phone. There was no doubt in my mind now. Aiden was definitely a kink-master in the bedroom.

Aiden: I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Alice:And you’re calling me confusing? I shook my head at the phone. Everything in me was telling me that he was flirting with me.

Aiden: I wouldn’t be confusing if it wasn’t for you.

Alice: What does that mean?

Aiden: It means that you my dear, Alice have affected me much more than you think.

Alice: Oh? How?

Aiden: You’ll have to wait to find out.

Alice:Okay. I was itching to tell him to just call me now. I wished that he would just call me and be done with it.

Aiden: Have a good day.

Alice:Thanks, you too. Was that it? Argh. I was irritated that he was just going to stop chatting when it was getting good.

Aiden: I’ll see you tomorrow at flag football.

Alice:Ok. Wait, what? Was he calling me tonight or not?

Aiden: I’m glad you’re feeling better.

Alice: Thank you.

Aiden: You need to take better care of yourself.

Alice: I do.

Aiden: Get eight hours of sleep and eat your veggies.

Alice: Yes, Dad.

Aiden: There are better nicknames you can call me.

Alice: Like what?

Aiden: You’ll see.

Alice:Like Sir? I typed and laughed, wondering what his face looked like as he read the message.

Alice:Or Master? I typed again and waited for his response.

Aiden: Whatever you like. :)

Alice: Aiden Taylor!!

Aiden: That works as well! :)

Alice: Fine. Whatever. See you tomorrow.

Aiden: Yes. And we’ll chat after.

Alice:We’ll see, I typed, feeling annoyed.

Aiden: Have a good day, Alice. I know I will. My lips are still tingling from your kisses last night.

Alice: I hope you didn’t catch anything.

Aiden: Is there something you need to tell me?

Oops. I guess my quick-witted diss was really a diss to myself.

Alice: Funny. Not.

Aiden: Call me if you need anything.

Alice:Thanks. I will. I put my phone down on the bed and lay back and stared at the ceiling. All of a sudden I felt better. Confused still, but better. Maybe Aiden really did like me. And maybe I really did have a chance. Maybe, just maybe, I could let him see that he was the one for me and I was the one for him. I just hoped that Elizabeth Jeffries would just disappear, along with my insecurities.