Page 1 of Once Upon A Valentine
Chapter One
Julian Holland had known from the moment he walked into the house that this night was going to end badly.
It wasn’t just that it was the eve of Valentine’s Day and he was single. It wasn’t even that he was spending the romantic holiday celebrating the engagement of his boss, friend and mentor, Gibson Frost, instead of on a date looking for his own special someone. It was that every single other guest at the dinner party from hell was already paired off into couples save for himself and one other person.
He glared at his obliviously in love host and wondered if Gibson even knew what he had done. After all, the man had likely left the guest list to his party-planner new fiancé. But then, if that was the case, surely Felix Michaelson, with his attention to detail, would have noticed the glaring error in the seating arrangements, which left only one possible conclusion.
Julian had been set up.
Gibson had Felix. Gibson’s normally reclusive uncle, Roman, had his new boyfriend, Ash. Even Dawson, Gibson’s youngest brother, had attached himself to Beau, Felix’s assistant, and was flirting like it was his first language. That left Julian on his own, seated across from the only other single person in the room, the same man that he alternately wanted to strangle and kiss every single time their paths crossed.
Branson Frost, the middle brother of the wealthy and handsome Frost brothers, was everything that Julian wanted and nothing he could let himself have.
Julian hated him. He had hated Branson Frost since the first time they met. Except, of course, sometimes, when he really thought about it, he had to admit that the four-letter word he most commonly associated with the man wasn’t hate at all.
He hated the way Bran made him feel. He hated that whenever Bran flashed him that slightly lopsided grin, complete with dimples, that his brain melted and his cock hardened. He hated that Bran’s quicksilver blue-gray eyes had a way of looking right through all of his protective layers to the truth he kept hidden below. He hated that Bran joked and teased and prodded him as if he knew exactly what kind of secret Julian was keeping. And, in those moments, he knew that hate wasn’t the right word for the feelings the other man provoked in him at all.
Anger was there, sure. Annoyance and frustration too. But the emotion behind them wasn’t hate. It was something else. Something that made him want to slam his boss’s brother against the nearest hard surface and kiss him until he promised to take better care of himself, or, better yet, to let Julian take care of him.
Only he already knew, Bran didn’t want to be taken care of. If he did, then surely, he would have let his older brother steer him in the right direction. He’d have listened to his uncle’s warnings and straightened himself out years ago. Instead, he continued to drink and party and waste his life away as if nothing and no one mattered to him.
From the tabloids and the gossip columns, to his friends and even his family, Bran came across as a one-man demolition crew, destroying everything he touched. He wrecked cars and destroyed hotel rooms. He threw money away like it was used tissue paper. He put himself and everyone around him in risky, sometimes even life-threatening situations. Most days he didn’t seem to care about much of anything.
And that was the thing about Bran that truly grated at Julian’s self-control. Because as much as the other man tried to appear as though he cared about nothing and nobody, Julian didn’t believe him. Not for one single second.
If Bran could see past the walls Julian had erected around his true self, then the same was valid in reverse. He saw past all of Bran’s bravado, past the drinking and the destruction. He knew it was all an act, a charade meant to push people away. Julian knew that Bran was a liar. After all, it took one to know one.
“Get a room!” It was Bran’s bellow that pulled Julian out of his thoughts and back to the present.
Julian pursed his lips when he glanced across the table and watched the man pick up his glass and down a big dose of the amber liquid inside. He all but slammed the glass back down on the table and Julian pulled his eyes away as Bran mumbled something about all the couples making him sick. Julian noticed Ash Beaumont turning the color of a tomato and the way Roman put a protective arm around his new boyfriend and glared at his nephew. Julian couldn’t be sure what had set Bran off this time but he could guess it had something to do with the way the two men hadn’t been able to take their hands off each other all night.
“Oh, shut it Bran.” It was Dawson that spoke up and Julian glanced back in time to see him elbow his older brother and laugh, “They’re newly in love. Let them enjoy it.”
“They could enjoy it without forcing me to see my uncle’s tongue down the throat of his new boyfriend at the dinner table.”
Julian picked up his glass of wine to hide a smirk. Bran had never been the type to beat around the bush. He was loud and oftentimes crude and Julian definitely shouldn’t have found that flaw so damn endearing. He swallowed a gulp of his wine in an attempt to numb the ache that thought left in his chest cavity, far too close to his heart.
“Aren’t you the one that got caught screwing some random waitress in the bathroom at the last engagement party we went to?” Dawson teased and that ache of loneliness turned into a hot coal of jealousy Julian tried to douse with another sip of wine.
Being jealous of the men, and sometimes women, that Branson Frost took to bed, or in this case, the nearest bathroom stall, was ludicrous. He knew that. Logically he knew that he and Bran would never work, knew that despite whatever playful flirting they managed that it would never go further. He wanted things that Bran couldn’t give him and a quickie in a bathroom would never be enough with the man that haunted his dreams and fantasies. Yet whenever he heard mention of Bran’s latest sexual conquest, he couldn’t help but wonder what the man saw in them that he didn’t see in Julian.
Stupid, stupid heart. And even stupider cock. Wanting things they couldn’t have.
“So?” Bran snorted, raising his glass again with a shrug.
“So, at least they’re a couple and they’re in love.” Gibson spoke up from his spot at the head of the table. “You’re just acting out because you don’t have anyone to go home to tonight.”
“Ah, fuckoff Gib.” Bran’s tone was still light but Julian didn’t miss the way his jaw clenched and the playfulness went out of his eyes.
“Okay boys.” Felix cut in quickly and Julian knew he wasn’t the only one that had seen the shift in Branson’s mood. Felix clearly saw the argument brewing between the brothers and tried to squash it before it could ruin his dinner. “It’s my engagement party and nobody is getting into a fight tonight.” He turned his gaze on Bran and smirked, his voice going light, “And nobody is screwing anyone in the bathroom either.”
“Unless it’s me.” Gibson mock whispered and when his fiancé gasped and slapped at his chest the rest of the table burst into laughter.
Everyone but Bran. He stared at Gibson and then at Felix for a long moment. Julian watched him watching them and tried to figure out what was going on in that twisted head of his.
Nobody else seemed to notice that anything was amiss. Felix and Gibson were cuddled together whispering amongst themselves now. Dawson and Beau had returned to their previous conversation which seemed to be about wedding planning. Roman and Ash were sneakily making their escape from the other end of the table. And nobody at all seemed aware of the dark cloud hanging over Bran except for Julian.
Bran finally looked away from the happy couple. That quicksilver gaze momentarily flickered across the table and connected with Julian’s own. His heart kicked too hard in that split second of connection as he felt the full weight of Bran’s stare on him. Heat blossomed on his cheeks just like it always did in the man’s presence but he didn’t pull his gaze away.
