Fight From The Heart (Heart Collection #4) - L.B. Dunbar Page 0,29

so I don’t question his life choices.

He returns, carrying a bottle of moscato and a glass already filled for me. “This must be leftover from my sister.”

His brows pinch, and we both think on the months his sister lived here. He sets the bottle down and picks up his drink once more before returning to his seat on the couch.

“Do you miss her not being around?” I ask as long as this is revelation hour.

“I do, and it surprises me.” With the shift in his tone, his surprise is genuine. “She’s ten years younger than me, so we didn’t live together long as children. By the time she was a teen and entrenched in my parents’ business, I was gone.” Jacob’s eyes drift to his drink in his hands. Guilt still coils around him for what happened to his sister. Her scars. Her unhappiness. “I got to the point I could only think of me, and getting away from there was the way to save myself. It makes me selfish.”

“It doesn’t,” I say, and he looks over at me. “It sounds like self-preservation.”

From what I know, Ella didn’t have quite the same upbringing as Jacob despite being raised in the same home. Jacob was underappreciated while his younger sister was revered. Ironically, they are both famous in their own right.

“I’m sure Ella understands.” I speak on her behalf. She’s a grown woman who’s worked through acceptance of her past, something Jacob seems sorely in need of doing. He’s never been in therapy that I know of. Ella started as soon as she left here, and I’m assuming it’s a reason she’s been able to return.

Jacob takes a sip of his drink, and I realize it’s my turn to share. “My siblings and I weren’t close as kids. We were just typical, looking out for each other, but not really tight, not until our father passed.”

Jacob turns his head to me.

“Jess and I are eleven months apart. He’s thirty-seven to my thirty-six. Tom is the eldest and still a class clown at forty, and my youngest sister, Tricia, was the perfect last child.” There’s mockery in my tone, but I’m not envious. It’s just difficult having a beautiful sister who’s younger than you are and married before you did. She’s also a widow, and my heart broke for her when her marriage fell apart. We all had our suspicions her first husband was a loser, but we were never aware of the total asshole he’d been until after his death.

“My sister is pregnant and got engaged.” The words fall flat despite my happiness for my youngest sibling. The announcement was a huge part of my mood when I arrived. While I’m at the beck and call of a man who isn’t mine and never will be, my younger sister is getting married for the second time.

“You don’t sound pleased. Is he a tool?”

“Leon—”

“Leon Ramirez?” Jacob cuts me off. “I’ve met him. He seems like a nice guy.”

“Yeah, he’s amazing. Really devoted and loving. He had a rough childhood, gangs and stuff, and Tricia’s so opposite him, but good with him. He’s good for her, too. She deserves happiness after her first marriage.” My sister’s new man can be rough around the edges. However, he’s nothing like her first husband in how he treats her. Devoted and loving describe Leon best. He’s also very affectionate toward her. Throw in the fact he’s extremely good-looking in a rugged, edgy, sexy way, and my sister has the full package in him.

In some ways, Jacob is like Leon. A bit rough around the edges, maybe standoffish even, but where Jacob is defensive and moody, Leon is easygoing and sweet. The serrated edges to Jacob include sarcasm and flirting as a way to shield any real emotions underneath his tough exterior. My family knows Leon is a giant softy underneath his outer shell.

“Anyway, our parents didn’t have favorites. They just loved us for our differences,” I state, trying to get back to the original topic.

“Your brothers own their own shop, right?” Jacob asks, surprising me that he remembers something about my siblings.

“Yeah, Sound Advice is their electrical business they inherited from my dad. QuickFix is a side hustle that Tom had before the boys took over Dad’s shop.”

“You’re lucky to have siblings,” Jacob mutters.

“So are you,” I remind him, as he has Ella. He stays quiet after that, lifting his glass for another sip.

The dim afternoon quickly melts to a dark evening, and the room remains