Page 3 of All for Love

2

MERCEDES

I still can’t believe that absolute jackass is my stepbrother.

Kaden was alright, but Kody? He was a total skank and my baby cousin wasn’t going to get played on my watch.

No way.

All my life, I’d heard that identical twins weren’t often as similar on the inside as they were on the outside. I’d just never known exactly how true that was.

On the outside, Kaden and Kody were damn near impossible to tell apart, but on the inside, Kaden was a good guy. A nice guy who was making a genuine effort with my mother and me, but Kody was nothing more than an arrogant player who needed to get either a heart or a life. I couldn’t decide which.

I shot daggers at him over my shoulder as he lurked by the bar at the edge of the dance floor, looking everywhere but at me. No doubt he’s already searching for his next ex-girlfriend. Is it even an ex if it’s only a one-night thing? I really don’t know.

What I did know was that he didn’t do more than that. He was on a strict diet of one-nighters and it didn’t look like he was ever going to grow the hell out of it. I hadn’t known him all that long, but he seemed pretty committed to that lifestyle.

He was a piece of work, but he was also damn good looking. I loathed myself for it, but even I could appreciate the fine physical specimen he was. Fit, dangerously tall, with dark blond hair and the kind of blue eyes a girl could easily drown in.

Eyes that reminded me of the azure waters of the Mediterranean Sea and made me crave a vacation and a Sex on the Beach. The cocktail or the act. I’d take either. Both.

To me, that was the one big difference between the twins. Kody had that little something extra. A spark that Kaden didn’t. I was sure Brooke felt the exact opposite, considering she’d fallen for him, but as far as I was concerned, Kody had whatever it was that made girls throw their hearts and their panties at him.

He made even women like me who usually had no tolerance for bullshit and players want to drag him to the nearest beach and strip his clothes off. It was a matter of exceptional willpower to resist those urges—insanely hard. Even for me.

Back when we’d first met, I’d often found myself wondering what that something was. It felt like magnetism. He felt like a force of nature.

Despite how I severely disliked his cocky ass, whatever it was, he had it in spades. He oozed it.

I gave my head a shake. He’s your stepbrother and even if he wasn’t, he sucks.

I knew I shouldn’t be looking at him like this, but every so often, it was just hard to look away. Like right now, with him casually leaning against the bar, one elbow propped up on the glass counter and his long fingers wrapped around a tumbler full of whiskey.

I swore, songs could be written about the way he filled out that tux. The perfect stretching and bulging in all the right places. Those broad shoulders and muscled arms.

How it looked like he could hold you up against a wall and—Stop it! Just stop.

I blew out a shaky breath. If I kept thinking like that, I wasn’t going to be leaving the dance floor with dry panties, and somehow, I knew he would know. He looked like the type who would know, and it would be even worse if he caught me checking him out.

I would never live it down. Not ever.

Sternly reminding myself of that fact, I faced forward and deliberately turned my body so that I’d have to crane my neck way too much to see him. Dear lord, Christmases are really going to be awful from now on.

I grimaced at the mere thought of it. What are the holidays going to look like this year?

Usually, it was just me and my mom, decorating the tree, binge-watching holiday-themed rom-coms while munching on roasted chestnuts in our pajamas. But this year? Urgh.

This year and from now on, we were probably going to have to spend it at the Wagner Estate. It was my mom’s new home and both she and her new husband were on some kind of mission about us all getting along.

I could probably skip it and blame it on work, but even in my mid-twenties, I’d never missed a Christmas with Mom. I didn’t know if I wanted to.

As much as I also didn’t want to spend it trying my best not to check out my stepbrother, I also knew I was going to have to get over whatever this was. It wasn’t a crush, that was for sure. I just appreciated how hot he was.

A couple of hours later, the wedding was winding down and I’d put Kody out of my head. Smiling as I walked a few guests to the door, I hugged my aunts and uncles goodbye, waving at a few other people as they passed me.

“Thank you so much for coming.” I embraced one of my mom’s friends and then shook hands with one of Mr. Wagner’s. “We really appreciate you being here tonight, sir. Thank you for coming.”

They left, and even though there were still a couple more people gathering their things and chatting on the way out, I’d officially finished my hosting duties. The venue’s staff had come in, and I went to join them at the back of the ballroom to direct what we needed them to do.