Page 5 of The Wrong Brother

“How so?” I know my brows are wrinkling up, I can feel them, echoing my confusion.

“Have you never considered that? You picked a career where you help people take care of their biggest asset: their business. And you’re doing it for local people, not big corporations. It’s noble. Very…you.” His perception makes me feel like I’m full of sunshine.

“Oh, I’ve never thought of it like that. That’s a genuinely nice way of viewing it. People usually tell me my job is boring, which makes me feel boring by extension.” I puff out a small breath in frustration. Like Rafferty’s feelings about his exterior, I get tired of always being the safe, boring, reliable one. Safe, boring, and reliable are easy to take for granted. Or take advantage of.

He shakes his head. “You’re not boring, Catherine. You’re kind, nurturing, quiet, and dependable with a secretly wicked sense of humor. Never boring.”

My stomach twists and I feel another blush creeping up my cheeks.Get it together, Catherine!

“Yikes, I said you could shower here. I’m so sorry, I’ve been talking away and all the while you’re sitting there with saltwater and sand dried to your skin. I’ve been blathering on for a couple of hours!”

“I was talking too, Catherine. And enjoying it. I would appreciate the shower though.”

He sets his mug in the sink and grabs his backpack, walking to the bathroom. I’m washing the mugs when I realize he won’t have a towel when he gets out. The linen closet is outside of the bathroom, in the hallway, and he has no way of knowing that. I’m a terrible hostess. Once the mugs are dripping upside down on the drying rack I rummage through the linen closet, pull out a fresh towel, and open the door across from me to give it to Rafferty before he starts showering.

Oh. Holy. Shit.

Rafferty is already naked, stuffing his damp clothes into a wet-bag. Clearly, people only noticing the exterior is well-earned. I’ve never seen any man that looks like this. He’s tall and the extra height keeps him from looking bulky but Rafferty is solid cut muscle. His broad shoulders down to an ass that looks like it’s sculpted out of marble have my mouth dropping open and staying that way. I’ve spent months trying to forget what he looked like at the beach and now here he is right in front of me, even better than I remember. I should back quietly out and knock on the door but I’m frozen in place. I think I make a small noise, some kind of embarrassing squeak or something. It’s unintentional, but he hears it and turns quickly, fully facing me.

Is there a word for the sound your brain makes when it explodes?

The pecs.

The six-pack.

The deep v muscles leading to…Shit! Don’t look!

I jerk my eyes up to his, hoping maybe he didn’t notice me staring open-mouthed at his dick, my face feeling like it’s on fire from embarrassment.

“Uh…” Shitshitshit. Clearly, he noticed. It couldn’t have beenmorenoticeable! I might as well be drooling. Oh God, I hope I’m not drooling. I’m too embarrassed to check. Rafferty seems frozen too. I throw the towel at him and yell over my shoulder as I rush out of the room.

“I forgot to give you a towel! Everything else you need is in the shower!”

Kill me now.

5

rafferty

That was a big fucking surprise. I was enjoying talking to Catherine so much I rushed to get into the shower, wanting to get back out to hang out with her more. Never in a million years did I expect her to walk in on me naked. I’m not embarrassed, it’s just a body, but I froze from sheer shock. Catherine definitely was embarrassed though. What’s more, it didn’t feel like she was embarrassed because I was naked, but because she was so blatantly looking. It would suck if that was simply me reading into things incorrectly, as usual. Like, stab me with a blunt object and twist it around level of awfulness.

I don’t hurry through my shower, giving Catherine time, thinking about her all the while. There were a thousand times I considered confiding my crush to Mina. She was always talking about her unrequited feelings for my older brother. Ultimately I didn’t want it to feel like a competition between us. Admitting it to Mina would lead to me having to admit to myself that it was never going to happen. As long as no one else knew, I could keep the hope that one day she would see me as more than Griffin’s younger brother. The way she was looking at me, running her eyes over my bare skin, was not like a younger brother. I find myself being grateful for the way I look for the first time in a long time.

For better or worse, I’m a sensitive guy. I’m an artist, I like to read, I’m intuitive and not afraid of feelings. I’m not domineering or controlling, regardless of how tall or strong I am. Catherine knows this about me. She’s known me since I was an awkward teenager with limbs too long for my body, since I was the weird kid who drew his own comic books and painted instead of playing football like a proper Kahuku Red Raider. It would be a new, awesome experience to be with someone who understood where I’m coming from at the very beginning. I can’t even imagine what a relationship would be like where I didn’t have to expend energy trying to carefully reveal myself in small doses for fear of being rejected.

I dry off, pulling on the extra clothes from my backpack and hanging the towel to dry. When I come out, Catherine is curled up on the far end of her couch, holding a book in her lap. She’s avoiding my gaze and I’m debating how to handle it. It seems silly to pretend it didn’t happen but I don’t want to make things more awkward with her. I plop down on the opposite end of the couch, stretching my feet out onto the coffee table, and turn my head to look her way. Her eyes catch mine and she looks down quickly, blushing furiously.

“Did I traumatize you for life? Will we need to get the number of a good psychologist from Mina? Maybe hypnotherapy could help? Like quitting smoking except for forgetting what my dick looks like.” She giggles, the sound light and musical, like bells in the breeze.

“I think I’ll survive. If you could die of embarrassment that would have happened to me a long time ago.”

“I’m the one that should be embarrassed. I’m sorry I didn’t lock the door.”

“Well, it’s not like you expected me to burst in and perv on your hot body.” She’s smiling again and making eye contact and her words make me feel ten feet tall.

“Is that what you were doing? Perving on me? I thought you were bringing a towel I had forgotten to ask for before stripping down. Are you saying you think I have a hot body, Catherine?”

The pink on her cheeks deepens and she covers her face with her hands. She responds but from behind them, not looking at me.

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