Page 33 of You Don’t Kiss Your Brother's Best Friends

“And when will that be?”

The woman sighed and waved to someone over my shoulder. When I realized she was calling the next customer, I shifted to block them.

“Ma’am, please,” she groaned.

There it was, that damned word again. Sometime, halfway through my twenties. I’d gone from a “miss” to a “ma’am.” They never even warned you about such insidious bullshit, either. It was one of those things in life that just sorta happened when you weren’t looking.

“Please, I’m just asking if I should stick around here,” I relented calmly. “Or if I should—”

“If you’re asking me, you should probably try to find a room,” the woman said, leaning in confidentially. “If you still can, that is. We’ve been turning away travelers all day.”

I nodded, thanked her, then shuffled off to make some phone calls. The problem was, everyone around me was doing the exact same thing. Everyone’s phone was already at their ear.

Fuck.

I should’ve known the deal early this morning, standing at the wind-whipped dock with my hair blowing in every possible direction. The guys had seen me off at the crack of dawn. They’d even woken me up to push me into the shower (not that a few of them didn’t follow me in there, of course) before serving me a quick send-off breakfast.

We’d shared the short drive together, and then I was kissing all three of them goodbye, in full view of my very shocked water taxi. The driver only pretended to avert his gaze as I gave them a last round of deep, lingering kisses, before we began a somewhat awkward and choppy ride back to Mykonos.

I’d checked out of the hotel in a sleep-deprived daze, alternating between daydreaming about my trip and prepping for how much it would suck to return home and start over. I still didn’t know what I was going to do yet. I’d hoped to come up with a plan while spending some time alone, but from themoment Kayden and Bishop showed up at my dinner table, my alone time had been very limited.

Not that I was complaining, of course.

The wind had picked up throughout the day, and dark clouds closed in. It was raining again by the time I made my way to the airport. And now, after a few quick calls to just about everywhere in Mykonos…

“FUCK.”

Yeah, now I was pretty much screwed. The hotel I was staying at had already given my room away — which was a shame because I’d barely used it — and every other hotel was packed with travelers far smarter than me. I tried a few more places, got the same unfortunate results, and was eventually pushed out of the terminal by the crowd noise, and back into the street.

The rain was colder now than it was before. It soaked me to the bone as I sat down on the curved cement steps to consider my next move… which was really myonlymove, as far as I could see.

It took me over an hour to get a cab. It took even longer than that to convince the water taxi — the same one I’d been using all week — to meet me at the downtown marina. He wouldn’t agree to take me out until I more than quadrupled his fee, and even then he spent a long time staring warily out at the white-capped waters.

He thought I was insane. I told him I was. We cast off anyway, fighting the wind and rain, which made the trip to the island three times longer than it should’ve been. At one point I swore we were moving backwards, and I feared he mightactually turn around. But he got me there, and I thanked him, and he eagerly took my money.

I pulled out my phone and tried Kayden again, shielding the electronic with my rain-soaked body. I’d tried him at the airport and once more before we boarded the boat, but both times I’d ended up with voicemail. With nothing else to do, I plodded down the road in the direction of the mansion. The wind howled and the rain came down in sheets and my shoes filled with water. But after fifteen miserable minutes, the driveway finally came into view.

Thank GOD.

I slipped in through the side entrance, dropping my bag and kicking my waterlogged shoes off in the antechamber. The interior of the house felt invitingly warm. The fancy track lights illuminated my way as I padded down the main hallway, toward the sound of talking and laughter in the kitchen. I heard the rattle of pots and pans. Bishop and Kayden’s voices…

For a second I paused, wondering how best to surprise them. I was soaked to the bone, and couldn’t wait to get out of my clothes. I considered peeling them off for a moment, until—

More laughter.

Femalelaughter.

I stiffened in confusion, paused, then crept up on the archway leading into the kitchen. When I peeked through, what I saw made my blood boil.

Kayden was standing in the kitchen, not far from Bishop…

… kissing another woman.

She was a raven-haired brunette, slightly older maybe, but pretty just the same. And she was kissing himhard. Kissing him and laughing into his mouth as he leaned backward into the counter, while sliding both her arms over his broad, beautiful shoulders.

Shoulders that had, up until this morning, been entirely mine.

My stomach dropped straight into my feet, as my heart began pounding. At the same time, I felt all the blood in my body rushing into my face.

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