there was a bit of jealousy in her voice.
“Liam, it’s been a while, man.” I looked up at Brad as he pulled Katie into his side and wrapped an arm around her.
“It has.” I nodded my head. “I’ve been busy.”
“You here for the wedding?”
Fuck, I forgot that douchebag was friends with my cousin. I prayed him and Katie weren’t going to be there. Sitting through another boring damn wedding was bad enough.
“Yeah. My mom would have killed me if I didn’t come.”
“How is your mom?” My gaze finally met Katie’s as those words passed her lips. She didn’t get to ask me that. She didn’t get to pretend like she cared.
“She’s good.” I nodded just as Brooke’s hand slid into mine.
I looked over at her, a little startled by the gesture, but I could see it in her eyes. She knew. She didn’t have a clue who this girl was, but she knew that I was somehow bothered by her.
“Katie, this is my girlfriend, Brooke.” I didn’t take my eyes off her. “Brooke, this is Katie and Brad.”
Brooke turned away from me and lifted her hand over her eyes to block the sun as she looked up at them. That one simple move did amazing things for her breasts, and if I didn’t know any better, I would say she knew that too. Not that her damn breasts needed any help. I knew from the moment she pulled off her clothes and revealed that tiny red bikini beneath, I was in trouble.
“It’s so nice to meet you both. I love your suit.” She motioned toward Katie’s frilly white bikini.
It wasn’t lost on me how different the two of them were.
Katie was soft and meek, and Brooke was so far from the two of those things that I couldn’t even fathom describing her in that way. She was hardheaded and in your face and completely unapologetic about who she was.
Katie looked so pretty, she had always been so beautiful, and her pretty white swimsuit only seemed to reiterate that fact. Brooke, on the other hand, wasn’t pretty. That seemed like far too delicate of a word to describe her. She was fire. So damn hot, and impossible not to watch.
She was beautiful in an unforgettable sort of way. It wasn’t just her looks or her perfect damn body. It was the way she was always laughing or how she made everyone around her smile. Even on the shittiest of days. When I looked at her, I felt a bit frantic because I knew I would never see beauty like this again. She was terrifying and exhilarating at the exact same time.
Because I knew getting my heart broken by a girl like Brooke would be nothing like what happened with Katie. Brooke would destroy me piece by piece, and I wasn’t willing to give her the chance to do so.
I wasn’t a complete and total idiot.
“Thanks.” Katie was watching Brooke closely. “You too.”
I grinned because I knew it was a lie. I knew Katie enough to know that she fucking hated Brooke’s suit, and not because she didn’t like the color or the cut. She hated it because Brooke looked so damn effortlessly beautiful in nothing but a scrap of red fabric and Katie was threatened.
Katie was always threatened.
Right on cue, she turned toward Brad, eager to kiss the guy who did nothing but drink beer with his boys and watch football ninety percent of his life, and she kissed him like she hadn’t seen him in forever.
I rolled my eyes at the effort.
It wasn’t fucking needed.
It didn’t bother me. It seemed to bother Brooke though.
She squeezed my hand, bringing my attention back to her, and honestly, I’m not sure how I ever looked away.
“She the ex?” She gently nodded her head toward Brad’s boat.
“That’s the one.” I was staring at her lips as she licked them.
“No wonder you’re scared of relationships. She looks like she’s probably as good at fucking as she is at making you jealous.” She ran her hand up my chest and I laughed as I watched the movement as if she was a viper about to strike at any moment. “Which is not at all, right?”
“Right.” I nodded my head, but I could barely register what she was saying with the way her nails bit into my skin.
“Then don’t let it show, lover boy.” Her fingers reached my chin and she tilted it in her direction as she moved her face closer to mine.
I knew this was