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“Name the flower she’s allergic to,” Bran said.
“Daisies.” It was a guess. Royce swung, aiming for Bran’s ribs. His brother slid out of the way, easy as you please. His trainer was good.
“Lilies.” Bran smirked. “Do you talk to her, ever?”
Grunting as he stepped out of the way of one of Bran’s throws, Royce said, “We must’ve skipped over that all-important ‘do you or don’t you like lilies’ conversation so crucial to new couples.”
“So you admit you’re a couple now.” Bran stopped moving. Royce threw another punch, but landed against the ropes when his forward momentum took him there.
“I’m sure you two had a lot more time to talk than she and I do.” Royce pushed off the ropes, spun on his brother and swung. The punch connected. Bran clutched his stomach and let out an audible oof.
Satisfied, Royce added, “We use our mouths for other pastimes when we’re together.”
Bran turned and landed the hit he’d been angling for since they stepped into the ring. Light exploded behind Royce’s eye and he held up his glove a millisecond too late.
“What the hell!” Royce cupped his eye, which was beginning to feel the same size as his boxing glove.
“Sorry. That was supposed to be your nose,” Bran said, not sounding sorry at all.
“What’s this about? Do you want her for yourself or something?” Dammit, his eye hurt.
Bran dropped his arms, gloves hanging at his sides, a look of utter surprise on his face. “That’s history. You know that, right? Taylor and I patched up what almost happened—what would’ve been a disaster. This has nothing to do with me trying to win the girl.”
“So you’re pissed I won CEO and you didn’t?” Royce’s head hadn’t begun to throb yet but he guessed it would start any second.
“No. Goddammit, Royce. I’m pissed you didn’t trust Gia or me with that news. We’ve always been a unit. Always.”
Royce heard the hurt in his brother’s voice. What he said was true. Bran and Gia and Royce were three members of a busy, hardworking family. They were far from latchkey kids, but considering that a staff cared for them during the busy early years of ThomKnox, the three siblings leaned on each other first and foremost.
Bran tore off his gloves. “Taylor Thompson is in love with you, and if you don’t see that, you’re a bigger idiot than I was.” He ducked between the ropes and sat on the steps leading out of the ring.
Royce scrunched his face, aware of the dull thud of a bruise forming. A shiner for the new CEO. Great. He stepped out of the ring and joined Bran, whose elbows were resting on his knees.
“I messed up, Royce,” Bran said to his shoes. Both of them were panting from their workout.
Royce took a clumsy step, regained his balance and sat next to his brother. “Your heart was in the right place.”
“That’s just it. My heart wasn’t involved at all.” Bran sighed. “If you tell anyone this I’ll black your other eye.”
Royce held up a hand and silently swore his allegiance.
“I thought being engaged to Taylor would give me a better shot at CEO.”
Royce frowned. “You’re plenty qualified for CEO.”
“Yeah, I know. But I wasn’t an option in Dad’s eyes. It was you the whole time. Part of me knew that. And when you knew that, I wish you would have come to me so that we could’ve had a moment to absorb it away from all those extra sets of eyes.”
Royce’s shoulders dropped. He wished that, too.
“I could’ve hurt Taylor, Royce. She didn’t love me, but if she had and I led her on?” Bran shook his head. “She never would’ve forgiven me for backing out of our engagement. And I would’ve backed out eventually. I care about her, but marriage? That’s insane.”
Just hearing the word marriage in reference to Taylor made the hair on Royce’s neck stand on end. “I doubt she wants to marry me.” But his voice wasn’t as solid as he’d like it to be. They’d grown close. Shared a lot of intimate nights and slept side by side. She’d brought him lunch and offered to help him at work and, like he’d pointed out a few minutes ago, they were a new couple.
Couple.
He sure as hell wasn’t ready for that.
“Next time you talk to Taylor, do me a favor and let her know that Addi and I are not going to date each other.”
