Page 57 of Chasing the Sun

She looked up at him expectantly, and he slowly shook his head. “The weekends are yours. You’re free to do whatever you want.”

The words came out clipped, and Seb narrowed his eyes at him. If it was hard to imagine Chloe and Seb together before, now it was downright maddening. Knowing what it was like to hold and kiss her, he hated the idea of Seb’s hands on her and vice versa.

Chloe turned to Seb and smiled. “I’ll go get ready.”

She quickly stood up and brushed past Bryce, presumably to go upstairs and change.

“Molly, you should get ready to go too. Your mom will be here soon.”

“Okay.” She gave Seb a hug and a loud kiss on the cheek.

“What was that for?” he said.

“For the Barbie doll.”

“Oh. I thought it was just because you loved me.”

“I do!”

He chuckled, and she turned and ran out of the room.

After she’d gone, Seb stood up and eyed Bryce closely. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“You sounded like an ass when you were talking to Chloe. What gives?”

Bryce shoved his hands in his pants pockets. “I could ask you the same thing. I know you love Molly, but is she the only reason you’ve been hanging around?”

“I haven’t been ‘hanging around,’ as you put it. My niece got hurt, and I came to visit her. I can’t help it if Chloe was here too.”

“Yeah, right.” Bryce realized he sounded like an ass again, but he couldn’t stop himself. He knew his brother was lying, and his next words confirmed it.

“She’s hot, and she seems like a great girl. What if I did want to spend some time with her?”

Bryce glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were alone. Lowering his voice, he leaned in and snarled, “I know what your idea of spending time with her means, and I won’t stand by and let you play games with her.”

“You mean like Candyland?” Seb said, pointing to the game they’d just played.

Bryce heaved a sigh. “You know what I’m talking about. I don’t want you treating her like another one of your women.”

“What about what Chloe wants? Nobody’s twisting her arm. She said yes both times I asked her out.”

Bryce glared at Seb, unable to argue, but he still wanted to believe that Chloe wasn’t really interested in his brother. Maybe she just wanted to pass the time, or maybe she was doing it to get a rise out of him. If that was the case, it was working.

“You know what I think? I think you have a thing for her, and it pisses you off that she might be interested in me instead.”

If there wasn’t a chance that Chloe and Molly might walk in, he might have slugged the smug look off Seb’s scruffy face. As it was, he balled his hands into tight fists and kept them in his pockets.

“She’s my nanny.”

“No. She’s Molly’s nanny, and she’s your employee. Even if you won’t admit it, your body language says it all. You want her, and it’s killing you that you can’t have her.”

He heard footsteps on the kitchen floor, and a few seconds later, Chloe reappeared in the living room. She’d dressed for a motorcycle ride, wearing skinny jeans tucked into black ankle boots, a white T-shirt with a picture of a palm tree on it, and a form-fitting jean jacket.

Her hair shone like she’d brushed it, and her lips had a pink gloss on them. She looked young, vibrant, and beautiful, and it killed him that it was for Seb’s benefit.

“Wow! You did all that in five minutes?” Seb remarked, eyeing her from head to toe.