Page 4 of My Fiancé's Brother

I stared back blankly as I tried to connect the dots. He wasn’t here to kill me. He knew Matt. Matt invited him to stay with us.

“What?”

“You obviously didn’t know about this. I should go.”

He stood up. He was so big he was a man tree.

“Who are you?” Still feeling woozy, I threw the blanket off my body and struggled to a sitting position.

“My name is Jackson.” He moved with grace towards his bag.

Jackson? This was Jackson? Matt’s childhood friend? I tried to remember what Matt had told me about Jackson but the stories were few and far between.

I stood up on wobbling legs. “You were friends with Matt when you were kids, right?”

“Is that what he told you?”

I had no idea what that meant. His massive frame crouched over his duffle bag while he rearranged something. My shock was fading, and now I realized that I had just tried to kill Matt’s friend.

“Matt invited you to stay here?”

He didn’t look up at me. “Yes ma’am, sorry to have scared you.”

I shut my eyes. Matt had invited this behemoth man to come and stay with us. I had no idea why he would do that, but Matt must have his reasons.

“You can’t leave.”

He didn’t respond. He just zipped up the bag, stood up, and swung the huge bag over his shoulder.

Matt always accused me of not being kind to his friends. A couple of weeks ago, after an incredibly awkward dinner with two of his friends, Matt had read me the riot act. He told me I need to be nicer to his friends. He never acknowledged that his friends were rude assholes, but I had promised him that I would try harder. How would I tell Matt that I had chased Jackson off? It wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have with Matt.

“You can call me Emily, and this was just a big misunderstanding,” I started, desperate to figure out how to fix this. “Just because I almost killed you doesn’t mean you’re not welcome.”

“You didn’t even come close to killing me.” He glanced at the door. He wanted to leave.

“I almost smashed your skull.”

“I was aware of you the moment I came out of the washroom. I just wanted to disarm you without hurting you.”

Our eyes met. That part was true. Somehow he had managed to flip me to the floor and cushion my landing at the same time. He hadn't even winded me.

He added. “I didn’t think you’d pass out.”

Heat crept up my chest, my neck and then my entire face went red hot. I lifted my chin a fraction, unable to meet his eyes. “I was scared.”

“You acted pretty brave for being scared.”

My eyes collided with his gaze for a millisecond. I swallowed. This was a monumental cluster. How would I explain to Matt that Jackson was here but then he left? I needed him to stay.

“I’d appreciate it if you would let me make you breakfast.”

He held himself still for a long moment. “Unnecessary.”

He was so unyielding. He reminded me of a solid, powerful and unbending mountain.

Pent-up air wheezed out of my chest. I crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly conscious of the fact that I was wearing only a tank top and a pair of sleeping shorts. “I don’t want to tell Matt that I scared you off.”

His eyes narrowed. “You aren’t scaring me off.”

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