Page 71 of Blue Hawaiian
A valid point. Brody could easily postpone his Big Bear tribute until the wedding reception. No one would care.
Except Gabi. And Connor was already on her shit list. If she found out he’d allowed Brody to blow off the rehearsal dinner, she’d hate him even more. He could handle her rage, but he didn’t want her to take her frustrations out on Jess.
“If you don’t go to dinner, Gabi’s going to be mad at Jess,” he said.
Brody lifted his head. “Why?”
“She asked Jess to track you down. And Jess needs to stay on her good side, because—”
“Because she’s fucking you?” Brody burst out laughing. “It’s all your fault. Gabi would kill you if she knew.”
“She doesn’t know. No one does except you. Now do me a solid and get into the shower.” He gritted his teeth. “Otherwise, I’ll throw you in there with your clothes on.”
“No way.”
“Don’t tempt me.” He grabbed Brody’s arm. “Water’s running.”
Brody pulled away from him. “I’ll do it. Don’t you have to get ready, too?”
“I can’t leave you here. You might fall and hit your head. Hurry up.”
Brody got up, stumbled across the room, and went into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. Connor sat on the couch and slumped back against the cushions. So far, so good. He just had to keep Brody away from the hard stuff until after dinner. No easy feat when all his cousin wanted to do was drink away the pain.
He could relate. He’d been there after Natasha left him. It hurt like hell. Hours spent wallowing in misery, second-guessing the choices he’d made. In retrospect, he was incredibly grateful not to have ended up with Natasha. But for the first few weeks after she left, he spent more than a few nights drowning his sorrows in booze.
Fifteen minutes later, Brody emerged from the shower. While waiting for him to get dressed, Connor scrolled through his emails, flagging the ones from Tom and Reb to review later. He’d finally told them the loan with his father wasn’t going to happen, so they were searching for other investors.
“I’m ready,” Brody said.
Connor glanced up. Though Brody needed a shave, he looked presentable enough, dressed in an expensive shirt, a tie, slacks, and a sports coat. “Great. Let’s head over to my room. I need to shower and shave before we go down to dinner.”
“You don’t trust me on my own?”
“Nope. Come on.” He led his cousin into the hallway, and they took the elevator up to Connor’s room. Once inside, he told Brody to wait on the couch and handed him the remote. “I’ll be about twenty minutes, tops.”
“Got it.” Brody turned on the TV and flipped around until he settled on the History Channel.
Perfect. There’s no way he can get into trouble in twenty minutes.
With that in mind, Connor took a quick shower and shaved. He wished he were taking his time, getting ready with Jess, watching her transform from adorably messy to incredibly sexy. In just a few short days, she’d woven a spell over him. Even when she wasn’t around, he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
It’s the sex. That’s all. You haven’t had decent sex since Natasha, and you’re making up for it.
But it was more than that. He liked being with Jess. He always had. He remembered warm summer nights at Big Bear when they’d sat out by the firepit, talking about movies. They spent two hours one night discussing the logistics of time travel and the eras they would visit if they lucked into the DeLorean fromBack to the Future. Another night, they did a deep dive into their favorite Stephen King flicks, with Jess insistingChildren of the Cornwas an underrated classic. When he was with her, he didn’t need to maintain his bad-boy image. She saw him for exactly who he was.
He hadn’t realized until now how much he’d missed her during the five years they’d been out of touch. What would happen when they ended things this time? Would he get to see her again? Or would she abandon their friendship once she got involved with someone else? The thought of her with another man filled him with an inexplicable surge of jealousy.
You want more than a week with her. You are so screwed.
But falling in love was out of the question. Not when she was going back to Chicago. Besides, he was about to plunge into a business enterprise that would eat up all his time. How could he imagine—even for a minute—that he could have areal relationship with anyone?
When he emerged from the bathroom, Brody was still on the couch, watching a documentary about World War II spies. Connor did a double take when he saw the half-full glass in Brody’s hand. Next to it was the bottle of Valois Brandy.
How could he have forgotten about the brandy? “What the fuck are you doing?”
Brody gave him a loopy grin and raised his glass. “Cheers!”
He snatched the glass away. “What the hell, man?”
