AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No.”
One of Ian's dark brows rose in a slash. Back in high school, he'd had this easy confidence, the kind of casual confidence most guys tried to emulate. But Ian actually had it. Now, a decade later, it was honed even more sharply. The mere rise of a brow felt imperious. I took a swallow of my coffee, trying to ignore the little hum of awareness in my body. I didnotwant to notice Ian. For one, that was ridiculous. He was my friend's older brother too. He didn't even recognize who I was at first. Talk about feeling stupid and too familiar with the keen awareness I wasn't worthy of recognition.
I didn't think I looked that different from when I was in high school. I didn't reallyhaveto explain anything to Ian, but I did anyway. “My parents’ anniversary is near Christmas, and they’ve always wanted to go to Paris, so that's where they're spending their anniversary this year. With me moving and starting a new job, it wasn't a good time for me to travel. So, no, I'm not spending the holiday with my parents.”
He nodded. “Makes sense.”
“What about you? What are your Christmas plans?” I countered, figuring I might as well be nosy about him.
ChapterFour
Ian
Jane pressed her glasses up her nose, her hazel eyes holding mine as she waited. I was still trying to recover from seeing her in the bathroom. Fuck me. Jane Matthews was delectable, sexy, and tempting beyond belief.
Just now, even though I knew I shouldn't be remembering it, my mind conjured up the recollection of seeing her bare. Her skin flushed and pink from her shower, her lush breasts bouncing slightly when she'd straightened, and her nipples a deep, dusky pink and pebbled from the contrast of the cold air to the heat from the shower. She'd yanked that towel up fast, but not fast enough to prevent my brain from searing her image into my memory.
I gave myself a mental shake, ordering my focus to the present. Of course, she still looked delectable with her honey-blond hair drying in tousled waves around her shoulders. Atop her jeans, she wore a turtleneck sweater, completely covering the top of her. Of course, that only made matters worse for the state of my libido. It felt like a challenge. I knew what lay underneath now, and she had hidden it so thoroughly, all I wanted to do was make her notice me as much as I noticed her.
Jane cleared her throat. Pursing her lips, she eyed me over the rim of her coffee cup. “Well?” she prompted.
“Well, what?” I countered, having completely forgotten her question. So much for keeping my focus on track.
“What about you? How long are you planning to stay here? What are your holiday plans? That sort of thing.” She circled her free hand in the air before taking a swallow of coffee.
She had a great mouth. I didn't need to be lingering on it, but I did. Her lips were pink, her bottom one fuller. I could just imagine the soft give of them underneath mine. She blinked at me, clearing her throat again.
Right, I needed to get with it. “Well, I was planning to stay here until Christmas as well.”
“What are your brothers planning? Are they coming up here? Thea wasn’t sure.”
“I don't think so. Dallas has a new baby, and Noah's wife, Sasha, is pregnant and due soon.”
“Oh, that's so great!” Jane smiled, pressing her palm to her chest. “I'm really happy to hear that for him and Sasha. I haven't seen Sasha in years.”
“They live in Boston now too,” I offered.
“I know. It'll be nice to reconnect with her.”
Jane’s eyes dipped down for a moment before she looked up. “So, how come you’re taking a whole month off from work?”
Ah, that was the awkward question I didn’t want to answer. Not honestly, that is. “I just really need a vacation,” I said, which was entirely true. It’s just I was also skirting the reasons behind why.
I worked a lot, and for the most part, I liked my job. In a way, I felt as if I were trying to make up for everything my father did wrong. My father had also worked in investments, but it all blew up when Dallas, my eldest brother who worked for the FBI, had stumbled across my father’s connection to a large fraud operation involving money laundering. Dallas had handed off the case, but the result was our father sitting in jail. Our mother had passed away before that.
I had hoped to go into the family business, but instead, I struck out on my own, doing my damnedest to rebuild our family’s shaky financial situation. I could never fix what my father did, but at least I could try to repair the damage. There was no glory in it, but I prided myself on building investments in socially responsible areas. Both of my brothers worked in the FBI. Noah had followed Dallas into the field while Thea was a lawyer and worked for a large firm.
All three of them were living in Boston now. I was still in DC, seriously reconsidering what I wanted to do. I was up to my eyeballs in evidence because I was a whistleblower in an investment consortium, but I couldn’t tell Jane about any of that. The investigators down there had recommended I take a break. I knew I needed the break, but I didn't really know how to take a vacation because I hadn't had one in years. I sure as hell hadn't expected to be sharing the house with Jane. Not that I minded. Maybe she could be a distraction. We could certainly argue. She was primed for that.
I finally shrugged, adding, “I've worked a lot for too many years. I figured some time on the snowy coast of Maine would be a complete change of pace from investments and politics.”
Jane nodded slowly. “You never wanted to go into the FBI like your brothers?”
I shook my head sharply. “Hell, no. Are you kidding? That job is seriously stressful.”
“True. I was just curious because both of your brothers do it.”
“I know, and they love it, but it’s not for me. I'm not as serious of a guy.” I remembered Jane being very serious in high school.
