Page 11 of Falling For My Best Friend's Brother

And you know what? I didn’t care. He was an asshole through and through, and no amount of justification could make up for that.

Gathering what was left of my dignity, I breezed past him, slowing down long enough to mutter, “You’re right. I’m an inept rich brat whose life only has meaning because of her parent’s wealth. If you want a spotless kitchen, I suggest you clean it up yourself.”

Chapter five

Knox

Usually, I would be thankful for the silence in the apartment.

And I suppose I was, at least for the first few days. On Saturday, I’d reasoned I needed to finally put Nina in her place. I’d expected her to behave like a recalcitrant child whose first instinct was to lash out and throw tantrums.

Instead, she’d cried.

It was just a tear, and yet it felt like much more. Maybe the real problem was that she’d gone silent after that. Again, I should have been thankful for it. But there was a difference between peaceful silence and chaotic silence.

The first day was peaceful enough. I didn’t see her at all, but I felt her presence.I spent the entire Sunday on a call with Sean, working on a proposal for Cornerstone Corp, a pharmaceuticalcompany whose corporate positioning project we were trying to land.

At night, I spoke to Lindsay, who was settling in nicely at her new job and wanted to know how things were with my roommate. I didn’t want to worry her, so I told her it was habitable enough that I didn’t have any complaints. Talk about lying through my teeth. I still didn’t think Lindsay believed me.

The next two days were spent at the office, working my ass off. Going back to the apartment in the evening always made my head throb as I thought of whatever fiasco Nina was up to. But she might as well not have been there. Not even a sound to show she was alive.

The kitchen was spotless. No pots lying about, or spilled milk on the burners. Not a hair out of place. I’d frowned, because it was extremely unusual, but in the end, I’d chalked it up to her finally maturing. This was good, no matter how you looked at it.

However, by Wednesday, I started to worry. I was working from home for the rest of the week and had yet to see her. Surely, she had to come out of her room sometime. But by 4:00 p.m., there was still no sound, so I concluded she was either dead or avoiding me.

Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t give a shit. But my sister obviously cared about the girl, and the last thing I needed was the daughter of Christopher Burton, aka the richest investment banker in California, to die on me. I was already on the verge of bankruptcy. I didn’t have the funds to hire a criminal lawyer.

So, I sneaked out of my room and slid down the hallway to her room. I thought about knocking, then decided against it. She must have still been angry with me. The truth was bitter after all. It wasn’t like anything I’d said was a lie. She was a rich kid, and she would never understand what it was like for the rest of us who had to work to eat, no matter how hard she tried.

To me, trying to live modestly when all you wanted was to live lavishly was a waste of breath. Especially when it was all you’d ever known. Nina was faking it; she always had. And that, in itself, was the problem.

Still, it didn’t mean I wanted her to die. Was she even eating? It would be a shame if she lost any of that nice flesh, especially around her chest…

Knox, you’re an idiot… I know.

I was about to raise my fist to knock when the smell of lavender and lemon permeated the air. I inhaled deeply, the sweet scent clouding my brain.

That meant she was still alive, right? No dead person used scented candles. Nodding once, I headed back to my room. So, she was avoiding me. I snorted. What a fucking baby. Most people her age were concerned with starting their careers and advancing their way up the corporate ladder. Meanwhile, Nina was busyignoringme. I shook my head.

Here I was, thinking she was a formidable opponent. I was honestly disappointed.

That was, until Friday night, when I was making dinner and Nina Burton finally made an appearance.

For a mere mortal man like me who had blood running through his veins, there were two ways a woman could win this type of war: she either found a way to strangle me in my sleep, or she used the one thing in her arsenal that no sane man could resist—her body.

And man, did Nina have a banging body.

I was chopping vegetables when she appeared, red hair curled in loose waves and falling down her back, and a—what did she call it again? Crop top?

It made sense, actually, because even though I towered over her at a fitting height of six-foot-three, I could see the heavy underside of her breasts. And holy hell, that skirt was so short, it left nothing to the imagination.

The knife in my hand fell to the chopping board as my eyes followed her lithe movements to the fridge, watching as she pulled out a jug of orange juice, grabbed a glass, and poured herself some in an agonizingly slow motion.

I was drooling; I was sure of it. More so because I suddenly began to imagine the color of her nipples and blood rushed to my dick, hardening it almost painfully.Fuck.She’d used perfume. That smell was heavenly.

I was screwed. Right now, this was no child in front of me. This was a fully grown woman who knew she was beautiful, and knew how to use it to get what she wanted.

My dick was throbbing inside my pants, and I absentmindedly ground it against the counter in a futile attempt to get some relief.

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