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Her jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”
“Honestly, after how Brian’s gone on and on about you over the years, I never figured you for a brother-hopper. I can’t believe you’d do this to him. What was the big plan? Sneak back onto my property and attempt to seduce me in that trampy get-up?”
His eyes dropped mockingly to her drenched chest, which was basically naked under the now transparent fabric plastered to her body like shrink-wrap. “Did you really think that was going to tempt me enough that I’d forget you’re dating my brother?”
He scoffed coldly and drilled her with a glower. “Let’s face it, honey, you’re not exactly the wet t-shirt type.”
Trembling with an equal amount of outrage and hurt, Abby shot him with the most lethal look she could muster before scrambling back to the porch and grabbing her book bag on the fly.
Without another word—though she had a few choice ones in mind—she turned and took off down the driveway.
Away from that colossal asshole.
CHAPTER THREE
AS CONNOR WATCHED ABBY flee his lot, upset and clearly mortified, he wondered why the sight of her tears was having such an effect on him.
It’s not as if she were the first woman he’d shot down for showing up at his house half-dressed and looking for a good time. She was, however, the only one he’d ever had to turn away because of his brother.
Okay, so a part of him felt like a jerk for what he’d said to her. But just picturing how bummed Brian would be about all this was enough to send those guilty feelings packing.
Ru
Regardless, he’d be brutally honest and help Brian nip the doomed relationship in the bud before she broke his heart down the line.
There would be no backseat-brothering on this one.
Standing idly by while Brian had limited his life to just plain existing for the past year had been torture.
But it had been a cakewalk compared to seeing him spend a decade waiting for a horrible illness to slowly kill the love of his life.
Beth had been Brian’s world, his high school sweetheart, the girl he’d come home vowing he was going to spend his life with the day he’d met her.
Receiving the devastating news that Beth’s time with him would be far shorter and infinitely rougher—mere weeks after their unpla
And he’d only been nineteen at the time.
Co
Day after day, he’d watched Brian go to that hospital room and whisper reminders to Beth of how much she was loved, long after the dementia from her disease had stolen everything that was sweet and good in her...along with all her memories of her husband and child.
Honestly, Co
Damn that disease.
“Uncle Co
Co
Shit, Skylar.
The whole reason he was home this afternoon to begin with.
It was no secret Co
Fast forward to today, however, and Co
It was just a few measly blocks for crying out loud but he couldn’t help it. After the rough hand the universe has dealt the poor girl, they were all a little overprotective of her.
Hell, Brian had moved mountains just to get Skylar into this new school to begin with. The minute he’d found out that Skylar’s best friend would be moving away not long after Beth’s passing, Brian had begun a campaign involving everything short of stalking the educational board to get district approval so the two best-friends-since-daycare could at least be in the same school again this upcoming year.
Thank God it had worked out.
Co
Ditto for her dad.
And now this Abby fiasco to add to everything Brian’s already been through? For Pete’s sake, couldn’t the universe give his little brother a break for a change?
His silent Abby-riled diatribe temporarily forgotten at the sound of Skylar coming up beside him on the walkway, Co
What were the chances that Skylar had caught the full frontal of Abby all slutted-up just now?
With Abby being the closest thing Skylar had for an aunt, how the hell was he supposed to explain this without traumatizing the poor girl?
Damn that woman for putting me in this situation.
“Why hello to you too, princess,” he tossed out casually, turning to greet her with a smile. “I had a few hours free so I thought I’d hang out with you on your first day here.”
“Oh, cool.” She looked around. “Hey, where’d Abby go?”
Fan-frickin-tastic. “So you saw her here, huh? She wasn’t here long…she just stopped by to, uh—”
“She left?” A too-mature frown marred Skylar’s little pixie face. “I told her to wait ‘til I brought back an umbrella for her.” Shaking out a butt-ugly yellow rain slicker, she pouted some more. “And she didn’t even take back her poncho!”
He did a double take. “What do you mean?”
“Abby lent it to me before we ran over here.”
Gulping, Co
“Yeah, it started coming down right when I left school. She found me under a tree trying to stay dry.”
Skylar surveyed the rapidly worsening weather worriedly. “Dad will totally kill me if she catches a cold this week with all her…wait a sec—” She swung a suspicious look back his way. “Abby never leaves without saying bye. Did you say something to her?”
Smart girl.
Choosing to sidestep her question for the time being, Co
“Two.” She raised a brow. “Why? Are you looking her up to apologize for something? If so, I have her cell phone number.”
He sighed. “Unfortunately, I don’t think a simple apology is going to cut it. I think I need to send her a whole bunch of sorry-I-was-such-an-idiot flowers.”
“Holy moly, what did you say to her?”
He again, refrained from answering.
No need to piss his niece off too.
Quickly texting a request for his assistant to order him the most extravagant floral arrangement she could find, he ignored his niece’s interrogation once again. “You wouldn’t happen to know Abby’s address would you?”
“Nope.” A slow, serves-you-right smile hooked her lips. “But dad does.”
Silently, he unleashed a string of expletives and began estimating what the going rate was for bribing a kid nowadays.
It’d be worth it for the stay of execution by Brian’s hand.