Page 96 of Falling for my Brother's Best Friend

“Thanks for giving me the easy one, babe.” Savannah punches me lightly in the upper arm.

I should be questioning what’s going on, but Savannah Bailey just used a pet name for me and everything else that happened blows out the door with Cleo. I take Sav in my arms and smash my lips against hers. Surprisingly, she doesn’t pull away until light from outside falls on us when the door springs open again.

“Jesus, no. I do not need this. First I get the wrath of Cleo Dawson, then I have to see you two sucking face.” Denver steps fully into the small room.

Savannah pulls away from me. “And you’ll keep this a secret too.”

Denver rolls his eyes. “Fine, but I hope you realize the truth will come out. You guys have been holing yourselves up at Liam’s so much the family is already talking. Even Rome and Harley have caught on and they have a new baby. If they’ve noticed, you can bet everyone has. Besides, if you keep sucking face in public, it’s not going to me that walks in on you next time.”

Ignoring Denver’s little rant, I change topics. “What the hell is going on here? We just met Chip’s daughter.”

Denver runs his hand through his hair. “She’s a peach, right? I bet her vagina has little spikes around it to keep guys away, like a Venus flytrap or something.”

“That’s a shitty thing to say. You have no idea what she might be going through.” No surprise that Savannah sticks up for her—I’m sure someone said something similar about her at some point.

“She’s horrible. It’s like she enjoys living in her little unhappy bubble.”

“I don’t think I’ve heard of her being up here for a long time, right?” Savannah asks.

“Not since she was a teenager.” He shrugs like ‘who the hell cares, the woman is the devil.’ “Anyway… Chip is kind of sick.”

“Kind of? And what do you mean sick?” Savannah asks, lowering her voice.

“I’m not exactly sure, but he’s in the hospital right now.” Denver’s shoulders slump and he looks away.

“Sounds serious,” I say.

His gaze meets mine. I see his silent plea to let this go for now, that he can’t really talk about it because no one is supposed to know. The good thing about being best friends your entire life is that words don’t need to be exchanged sometimes. “Anyway, as of today, I’m running this place for the time being until he’s back on his feet.”

“You?” Savannah couldn’t sound more surprised or confused.

Sometimes I think Denver got the shit end of the stick. Everyone has their place in his big family, and he took on the role of immature kid for life. But at some point, I hope he fights back and grows up.

“Yes, me. Thanks for the encouragement, sis.”

She tries to backtrack. “I’m just surprised…”

I wrap my arm around her, and although she steps away, I bring her to my side because it’s just Denver.

“Yeah, well, I’m surprised each time I run into the two of you on the cusp of doing ‘that which shall not be named.’ I’m still not a hundred percent comfortable with this yet.” He waves his finger between us.

“Sorry not sorry.” I kiss the top of his sister’s head then slide my hand down to her ass and slap it.

“Fuck, Liam.” Denver shuts his eyes and turns around. “Go do that somewhere else.”

He disappears through the door to the office.

Savannah shakes her head and stomps out of the small log cabin. I follow her to the gazebo area set up for when groups are waiting to depart, and we sit on a bench that overlooks the opposite side of Lake Starlight.

“Mind enlightening me on what I did wrong in there?”

She blows out a breath. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Always.”

She takes a moment, I assume to pick her words carefully, before glancing around to make sure no one is lurking. We’re basically in the middle of nowhere. “Why do you like me? Or are you just attracted to me physically and that’s it?”

I stare at her long and hard. She truly is lost inside herself and has no clue how amazing she is. Life has beaten her so far down that she just doesn’t get it.

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