Page 138 of Tempting Promises
“There’s always one party pooper, and it seems you’re it, big brother.”
Asher stands, kisses Phoebe’s temple, and flips us off. “I’ll take the baby and go hang out with the cool people in this house—the kids.”
Addison claps her hands. “That’s the idea, all you boys go, leave us to get the food done without you distracting us.” She shoos us. “Go, take care of the kids.”
I slap Charlotte’s ass and then give her a kiss. “Behave and don’ttell them anything. They’re the worst gossips.”
“Please, we’re angels,” Phoebe lies.
I love Addy and Phoebe, don’t get me wrong, but with the help of my sister, Brynn, they’re lethal. Good thing they love me, so hopefully their talk will be encouraging Charlotte to continue to see my amazing qualities and not run for the hills.
Grady and I follow Asher, settling on the couch, and Asher puts the football game on.
“Seems she caved.” Grady says as Elodie climbs on his lap.
“She saw the error of her ways.”
Asher snorts. “More like she realized she loves you more than she hates the idea of accepting your help.”
“Either reason is fine with me. She and I are in a good place.”
Grady nods once. “Good. I like Charlotte. She challenges you, and God knows you need someone who can put up with your shit.”
She does more than that. Charlotte is the first woman who has ever made me want more. To think about a future like my brothers have. I didn’t get it before, Asher going from this eternal bachelor, even as a single dad, to being so deeply in love with Phoebe he’d give everything up.
It made no sense and I really saw him as weak.
I turn to him. “Phoebe made you see life differently?”
As though he understands where my mind is, he smiles. “She made me see life at all.”
“Olivia didn’t?”
He looks to his eldest daughter. “Olivia taught me what it was like to love someone so much you’d give your life for them. She brought me true happiness in a way I didn’t know before I was a father, but there was a hole. A part of me that wasn’t really living. Sure, I had Liv and I had my job, but...it’s not the same. When Phoebe came into my world, it was like someone turned on every light in the house. I could see before, but it wasn’t bright.”
“I get it,” I tell him. “I always thought that Mom was so stupid for the shit she did. Like, if I loved anyone the way she did, I’d be fucked in the head.”
Grady laughs once. “You are fucked in the head, but Mom wasn’t that way because she fell in love. It was because of who she fell in love with. She was searching for a love that wasn’t healthy or real.”
I’m not really sure what that means, but considering neither of my brothers or Brynlee have tried to dissuade me from dating Charlotte, they don’t see any red flags.
“I was always so afraid of being like her. To fall for someone, fuck my life up, and be left with nothing,” I admit.
Asher leans back. “We all have the same fears, Row. Each one of us dealt with some crazy shit as kids. Mom getting hit, Brynn with her father, not to mention the shit that happened later on. It’s why Brynn won’t date either. It kills me to see her so afraid when she has more love to give than the three of us combined.”
I hate it too. My sister deserves to be worshiped by someone. To see how fucking special she is, because we all do.
“One day, she’ll get there,” I say, willing it to be true.
“She will in her own time, just like the three of us did. It just takes the right person to come along and make you rethink everything.”
I hear Charlotte laugh in the kitchen, and I settle back, thanking God we got stuck in the woods together.
“You look beautiful,” I tell Charlotte as she exits the house as we go on our first public date.
She’s wearing a black skirt and a one-shoulder sweater. Her dark brown hair falls in waves down her back, and I love that she doesn’t need to wear makeup. She’s just beautiful without trying.
“Thank you.”
