Page 13 of Redemption

Greer narrowed her eyes at him. “You know what.”

“Do I?” he taunted. Or, at least, I thought he was. The devil danced in his eyes, and it was difficult to tell.

“Don’t ruin this for me.” She continued glaring at him, pointing at him. “I mean it.”

I glanced between them, trying to understand. “Don’t ruin what?”

“Jackson, here—” she threaded her arm through his “—has a way of sabotaging all my relationships.”

“Not all of them.” He smiled at me. That smile was wicked. Delicious. It made the most seductive promises.

And I needed to cut it out. He was my best friend’s brother, for crying out loud. Any connection—real or imagined—needed to be forgotten.

Greer huffed. “Enough of them. When you’re not being a cockblocker, you’re trying to get in my friends’ pants.”

I tried—and failed—to hold in my laughter. The two of them sounded just like my brothers and me. I loved how close they were.

“One time. That happened one time.”

“With my high school best friend!” She slapped his chest. “You broke her heart and ruined our friendship.”

“Maybe instead of scolding me, you should be thanking me,” he said, and I wouldn’t have blamed Greer for wanting to knee him in the balls at that point. “She wasn’t a true friend.”

Greer gnashed her teeth. “You’ve got some nerve…”

“Look.” Jackson’s expression turned more serious. “I am sorry ab?—”

She held up a hand, silencing him. “Nope. I don’t want to hear it.” He started speaking again, and she clapped her hand over his mouth. “Jackson,” she growled. “We are done talking about this.”

He lifted a shoulder. “You’re the one who brought it up.”

Greer’s expression was pinched, and she looked as if she might murder him.

He held up his hands. “Okay. Okay. I won’t mention it again.”

She jabbed his chest. “Not good enough.”

“Right.” His expression was one of chagrin. “It won’t happen again.”

“It better not.” She glared at him. Then she came to my side and draped her arm over my shoulder. “Sloan is too important to me. We’re soul sisters.”

I smiled. Greer was my best friend. My rock. The closest thing I’d ever had to a sister. And I had enough older brothers to understand her frustration with Jackson. Hell, I’d even been in her shoes.

It came with the territory of being a younger sister. Some of my friends had crushed on my older brothers, especially Nate. It didn’t help that he was a rising star in Hollywood. And the few guys my brothers hadn’t managed to scare away had been more interested in my money than me.

Thanks to my brothers and the fortune I was set to inherit, I was still a virgin.

That wasn’t fair. It wasn’t entirely their fault. I had yet to find someone I felt comfortable enough with to share that kind of intimacy. Just because I understood the mechanics didn’t mean I was ready for the emotions that came with it.

Pretty soon, all that would change, though. Pretty soon, everything would change.

I shuddered, rubbing my arms. It had been fourteen years. I’d told myself I was over it. I’d moved on. But it was difficult to ignore the past when we were at the site of Greer’s wedding—the last time I’d seen Jackson, apart from our quick run-in in Abu Dhabi. This place held too many memories.

I pushed away the thought and tried to focus on the present. There was nothing for me in the past; I needed to think of the future.

But when I tried to picture the future, I drew a blank.

I scrambled for some excuse, any excuse. “Edward will hate this,” I said, when I was the one who hated this. Why did it have to be him?

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