Page 36 of I'd Never Date my Best Friend's Brother

She grabs my mom’s and Mrs. O’Connell’s arms to show them around, and my smile gets bigger. I remember this Jessica. I would get to see her about three times a year: Christmas, her birthday, and on the Fourth of July.

She was a complete and utter grump the other three-hundred and sixty-two days of the year.

My mom looks over her shoulder, sees me, and waves excitedly. I wave back as I watch my dad and Mr. O’Connell follow behind their wives and talk to Sean.

I hear Evie laughing with Liam and Penny. Her face glows with happiness. I take a deep breath, blow it out, and make my way toward them, my eyes are on her the entire time.

As if sensing my presence, Evie glances in my direction, and our eyes hold for a moment. I feel a tingling in my stomach, and my heart races.

Seeing Evie’s gaze shift to me, Liam and Penny look to see what she’s looking at. I chuckle at Liam’s hat, and he glares at me.

“Seriously?” Liam growls. “You’re not wearing it? Sean told me he would kill me if I didn’t.”

“You know you were actually in the Army, and Sean just plays a soldier on the big screen, right?” Liam’s forehead pulls and he takes his hat off.

“I’ll be right back.” He kisses Penny on the cheek and heads back to the parking lot to throw his top hat back in the car. Headlights are shining on us as more guests begin to arrive.

“Hey, Penny.” I lean over and kiss her on the cheek.

“Hi, Jamie. You look great. I guess the makeover went well.”

My eyes widen, and I shake my head back and forth, but it’s too late and the words are already out of her mouth. Evie is staring at me with a massive smile on her face.

“Makeover, huh?” The glint in her eyes is dazzling, and my breath hitches in my throat. I’m completely embarrassed, but more so, I’m speechless at her beauty.

“I–uh–no,” I stutter.

“Oops.” Penny giggles. “Liam didn’t tell me it was a secret.”

I can’t stop the glower that comes over me. But Evie just laughs harder. The sound of it rings through my body, making my heart stop before jump-starting again.

“It’s a Sean O’Connell specialty for all of those in his matchmaking school,” Evie teases, talking to Penny.

My glower turns into a grin as I focus on Evie. “Well, apparently it worked because you noticed right away.”

Her eyes widen, and a pink hue tints her cheeks, which isn’t from the cold. She coughs before saying. “I did not.”

Penny’s head is bouncing back and forth between us like she’s watching the finals at Wimbledon. She doesn’t even try to contain the smile splitting her face.

“You mean I just imagined your eyes taking me in when I walked up to you and Jacob?” I slowly move closer to her. I feel her hand on my chest to stop me, but my next words have her pausing her movement. “Or that your eyes hoovered over my lips before making their way to my eyes.”

She gasps, laughs, and pushes me away. “Jamie Stewart, you are—”

“Pen are you ready for some…” Liam says before realizing he interrupted something. He smirks and then looks at me and then Evie. “What did I miss?”

My eyes are still glued to Evie as she drops her hand and looks at her brother. Her mouth forms the most adorable O.

“Nothing, hun.” Penny grabs Liam’s arm. “Let’s go get some hot chocolate.”

Liam looks at me, and then at Evie, and the smile on his face gets bigger, but he doesn’t say a word. He takes Penny’s hand, entwines it with his, and walks to the hot chocolate stand.

“Evie…”

“Evie!” Walking toward us are Sean’s friends from bingo. Faith, Thomas, Alisha, Steve, Desmond, William, Hannah, Leah, and Tom. They’re all bundled up like we’re in a deep freeze, and I can’t stop the smile that creases my face at each of them.

“Sean and Jess are going to be so happy to see all of you!”

“He better be. It’s freezing,” Steve complains.

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