Page 19 of Negotiating Tactics

For years, I’d told myself I was going to do just that.

But somehow, I found myself here.

I’d always known I had brothers in Boston and had imagined they were entitled pricks like their father—my sperm donor—had been.

Having met them, spent time with them, I’d decided Prescott abandoning me had been the one good thing he’d ever done for me.

Sure, my brothers had never known hunger and hadn’t had to watch their mother agonize over whether to pay for groceries or electricity.

But they had also never known the love of someone like Nonna or my mother.

Had never had people who saw them at their worst and loved them anyway.

I’d never been sure how to say that to them, so I never had, but they—Dominic, Beau, and Tristian—were the reason I was here.

After so many years of moving, I was finally ready to stay in once place, at least for a little while. Wanted a place that was mine, not just somewhere I happened to be inhabiting.

Still, I hadn’t made any final decisions and wanted to avoid talking to my brothers until I had.

But now that Alex knew I was here, I had no doubt one or all three of them would pop up soon enough.

At the thought of Alex, my gaze drifted to the bed.

I wanted to pretend the woman didn’t have a hold on me, but that was a fucking lie.

At first, I’d told myself it was pure, simple lust.

A simple enough explanation, one I could have bought the first time I’d seen her.

Maybe even the second time at Birdie and Dominic’s wedding.

But after last night…

I let out a low laugh at the memory of Alex standing there gripping that umbrella. That had been fucking stupid of her, but she had guts, which I appreciated.

Just like I appreciated the rest of her.

Alex was undeniably beautiful, but no woman—ever—had affected me as deeply as she did.

That face—bright expressive eyes, full lips, a smile that dazzled like the purest diamonds.

And her body, which was made for sin.

I’d never thought that I had a type, but when I saw Alex, I’d been proven wrong.

I did have a type, and it was Alex.

I pushed off the bed, trying to ignore the stirring in my jeans.

There was no doubt that Alex did it for me, but to my surprise, it wasn’t just on a physical level.

She was beautiful on the outside, gorgeous, sexy.

She was also smart, funny, genuine, and, under her tough shell, kind.

Even having only seen her a few times, I knew that. I felt the goodness in her, the kind that couldn’t be faked.

Just like the sadness that I saw in her eyes, even though I instinctually knew she tried to hide it, was real too.

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