Page 4 of Falling for my Brother's Best Friend

“Are you dodging me?” he calls.

“I answered the question,” I say before I shut my door.

Once I’m secluded, I push his words out of my head but my bed being front and center only reminds me of her. The way her body slid against mine. The softness of her skin. The flowery smell of her hair. Her swollen lips and lust-drunk eyes. Somehow or another, I gotta shake her out of my system.

After stripping down, I head to my bathroom and brush my teeth while I wait for the shower to warm up.

Denver might think he’d be okay with me messing around with his sister, but he’s a classic after-the-fact-opinion guy. And this is one area where he’d definitely have an opinion about it after the fact. Especially since his sister thinks I’m not good enough for her.

* * *

Wanna know what sucks?When you’ve got woman issues and you can’t go to your two best friends because they’re the twin brothers of the girl you can’t get out of your head.

I enter Smokin’ Guns and lock the doors, keeping the blinds shut so no one bothers me. I’m still pissed off after my confrontation with Savannah this morning and could use some alone time. In my office in the back, I’m only alone with my music for a few minutes before the door chime rings.

“Liam!” Rhys calls. He rounds the corner of the office before I can tell him where I am. Being my right-hand man, he knows what I do every Monday. “What’s up?”

He leans his shoulder on the doorframe, crossing his arms. Rhys is unique for a tattoo artist because the man doesn’t have a drop of ink on him. He looks like a skateboarder, with his beat-up Vans and endless supply of worn-out jeans and T-shirts.

“Not much.” I drop my pen on my desk and slide out my chair. “How was your weekend back home?”

“Good. Seattle is changing. Not sure it’s a good thing.”

Rhys is a transplant. No one knows much about him other than that he showed up at my shop one day, asking if I was looking for any artists. He keeps a quiet life with his dog on the outskirts of town. We’ve gone camping and fishing a few times. Compared to Denver and Rome, he’s mellow as hell.

“How?”

He shrugs. “Just different, I guess. Lots of new condos going up. People being pushed out to the ‘burbs because they can’t afford rent in the city anymore. But tat places are lighting up every block. Maybe you should do a branch?” He smiles because anyone who really knows me knows Lake Starlight is my home and I have no plans to make Smokin’ Guns some kind of franchise.

“Maybe you should open a shop?” I raise an eyebrow.

He guffaws. He’s gun shy, which I get. Especially not having any tats himself. Some people would say he’s not a true artist because he doesn’t understand what it’s like to get one. Lucky for him, I’m not one of those people. He’s a skilled artist and that’s all that really matters as far as I’m concerned.

“I like you branching out better.”

I chuckle. “Why are you here so early?”

“I was gonna sketch out some ideas I have.”

“And your place?”

He shrugs again. He’s a man of few words. “How was the wedding?”

Okay, I can take a hint. He’s not up for talking about himself. “It was great.”

“Great not good, huh? Did you finally get laid?” He laughs.

“None of your damn business.”

He nods and pushes off the doorframe.

But Rhys is someone I can trust, and I need to talk to someone before I go apeshit crazy. “Hey, Rhys?”

He turns around, his smirk saying everything I need to know. Rumors are already spreading, even with how careful we were when we left the wedding together.

“What’s the word?” I ask.

“Nothing. I just know you and Savannah Bailey in a room together can be either hot or cold. You forget I was here for the blackbird tattoo.”

---