Page 11 of Tangled Ambition

And yeah, they were absolutely right. I wasn’t lying to myself. I knew I was broken. Ever since Patrick, the missing member of our crew, died, I hadn’t been the same. I carried the guilt of his death around with me every goddamn day.

I wasn’t there for him when I should have been, and the only way for me to cope with the guilt was by filling my days up however I could. With work, with my house, with women.

But without any house reno to be completed and my apparent inability to close the deal anymore, I was left to find another way to vent. And lately, it’d been Taylor. She was good target practice.

“I told you guys about her before,” I said. “My coworker Taylor.”

“Oh.” My sister’s brow furrowed. “I thought she was a man from the way you talked about her.”

Ethan nodded. “Yeah, always calling her a dick and asshole.”

I shrugged. “’Cause she is.”

Laney tossed one of her looks to Ethan, like they were having a whole conversation with only their eyes. God, I hated that.

I rubbed at the knot between my neck and shoulder. “What?”

Laney focused on me, and thenwewere having a conversation with only our eyes. Stupid twin thing. She was reprimanding me with her narrowed stare, but I aimed my finger at her. “Don’t give me shit about calling her names. She may be a woman, but sheisan asshole. And she has called me the same or worse. She can handle it.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Put your soapbox away.”

“I’m not on a soapbox. I only find it interesting that she gets under your skin so bad, that’s all.” Laney shrugged as if she weren’t goading me.

And I fell for it. “Because she’s overconfident, condescending, and thinks she’s my boss when she’s not.”

“People could say the same about you,” Laney said. “That you’re overconfident and condescending.”

I huffed. “I am not.”

My sister wagged her head side to side, letting out a little “Well…”

“I’m not.” I lifted my hand toward Ethan. “Right?”

“You are confident, but that’s a good thing,” he said neutrally.

Laney shook her head. “Which can come off as cocky sometimes.”

“That’s swagger,” I corrected.

“And you condescend to me all the time.”

“You’re my sister,” I said, because we still teased each other. All siblings did.

“Yeah, but you think you can comment on whatever I do, like you know everything about everything.”

“Because I do.” I grinned, and she rolled her eyes.

“Did you ever think, maybe you don’t like the qualities in her because they’re the same qualities you have?”

I folded my arms and leaned back against the couch. “Nope.”

“Okay,” she said mockingly.

Ethan studied me through his glasses, and I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like whatever came out of his mouth next. “You have the hots for her?”

I barked out a laugh. “No, I definitely donothave the hots for her.”

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