Page 3 of Marrying My Brother's Best Friend

What? My pulse rings too loud in my ears and blocks off every other sound. “What did you just say?”

There’s no smile on his face this time, and there’s a determination on his lips as they press closely together. “I came back for you, Gracie.”

Chapter 2

Trevor

That is a partial lie! Yes, I’m back for Gracie, but it’s not in the way she thinks. The past few months have been rough, and Golden Bay has the answers to all my problems. My fresh start.

Gracie blinks numerous times because my words shock her. She gasps and a flush burns her cheeks. I’ve always loved the fiery look on her, and how the crimson color blends with the red coppery shade of her hair. I sense how she tenses and her shoulder stiffens. My words are a huge blow, so her reaction isn’t out of the ordinary.

She is beautiful. I never forgot for a second how those sage-green eyes made me feel. Like now, they melt my insides and fill me with a tunneling heat that burns me to the core.

Gracie’s presence always has this effect on me. But she can never know that because it is of no good for either of us. She is the kind of woman I should avoid. She believes in sunshine and magic. The fairytale stuff you read in books.

I am a realist, and in the real world, there is no sunshine and magic.

I smile when she finally regains her breath, tips her head back, and bursts into a full laugh. The rumble of her merriments strokes something in me and makes my heart tingle.

“I need to get back to work,” Gracie says and turns away from me as she adds. “I don’t have time for this.”

I take her arm and spin her back around before she can make a full circle. Her eyes land on mine before mine shifts to her lips.

She is driving me insane, and I’ve only been with her for a few minutes. Will this plan work?

“Let me go,” she says in a stern voice, then wrangles her arm out of my grip. I let her go because I don’t want to hurt her, and she staggers back a bit, her smaller frame shrinking as she lowers her eyes and huffs out a deep breath.

“I own the bookstore now and I’d like for us to work together. I’ll be making lots of radical changes and firing a couple of staff. I’d like you to stay…Of course, I know you’re not leaving, and I’d like for your friend, Natalie, to stay too because she’s cute and that’s good for business.”

Gracie scoffs and shakes her head. “You can’t be here because of me,” she says, combing her fingers through her hair, and swaying her wavy strands to one side.

“We’re discussing business now, Gracie,” I answer, not wanting to dwell on our previous conversation. Telling her I came back for her was a slip. Her nearness clouds my thinking and makes my heart pound in ways I don’t understand.

I thought the years would have quenched these feelings. Gracie was the reason I left Golden Bay to play for the Washington Wizards. Six years on the team and it was all crumbling before me. Finally, in my weakest moment, returning home to where I was the happiest was all I had thought of.

Of course, my manager did not support my move back to Golden Bay in California, but it is only for some time till the rumors blow over and my team lifts my suspension.

At this time, I must win Gracie over to my side. Because I need her.

She’s still speaking, and I don’t hear her because I’m lost in my thoughts.

“Did you hear a word I just said?” I love the sound of her voice, but I honestly did not hear a thing she said.

“I get it,” I lied, then brushed a hand over my hair. “I’ll try my best.”

Gracie arches a brow. “You didn’t hear me, did you?” she asks, figuring out my lie with ease because she knows me well.

Gracie and her brother Jace have been family for as long as I can remember. They understand me better than anyone else. I fear Gracie understands me a little too much.

Everything about that scared me back then.

“How are you going to manage the business when you have no idea what we do?”

“I have you,” I answer with a smile. “I know I’ll manage. All you have to do is follow my lead.”

Her defiant glare returns. She tips her head to one side, assesses me closely, and then murmurs. “You wish.”

I chuckle as she walks away, and I admire the smooth sway of her hips from side to side. Gracie has aged in the last six years since I saw her. She’s added a little weight in the right places, and her skin is more supple than before, even though she still has cute freckles.

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