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“You know, I could really get used to living like this,” I said with a laugh.
“You’re always welcome to join us on trips, Harper.”
Between college and working a lot to survive, I often didn’t have the time, but maybe I would have to startmakingthe time.
We heard voices coming from down the hall and my entire body froze. Another reason I often avoided family get-togethers with Kat was standing right outside the bedroom door. My heart raced and Kat must have seen the look of panic on my face.
“They aren’t as bad as they used to be,” she said quickly. “I mean, they’re still assholes, but less obnoxious with each passing year.”
Kat took my hand and led me out of the bedroom where we ran smack dab into her brothers. I wasn’t even sure which one was which at first since they all looked identical. Identical in the literal sense seeing as they were triplets.
“Harper? What are you doing here?” one of them asked.
His gray eyes were like the stormy seas, his hair chestnut brown and cut in a modern style. He had a jawline that would make the chiseled statues of Greek Gods jealous. Towering over me, I noticed he had grown, and not just in height—his build had filled out and he was larger, stronger than I remembered.
“Well, you guys got in late last night, and left early this morning for the slopes, Jackson. I didn’t have time to tell you.”
Ah, so that was Jackson Bishop. The cockier, more arrogant of the brothers. He had a sharp tongue to go with that jawline and always seemed to know how to dig deep enough to hurt while still making it out to be a joke. Last I heard, he’d graduated law school and used his daddy’s hookups to get him a prestigious job out of Charleston, not too far from where we’d grown up.
My eyes moved past Jackson and fell on one of the other brothers. His thick arms reminded me of tree trunks, and he seemed to be even more muscular than Jackson. His hair was military short, and I put two-and-two together.
“And you’re Aiden, did I get that right?” I asked.
“You did,” he said with a crooked smile. He had a slight southern twang, they all did, which made them sexier than ever when they spoke. “Good to see you again, Harper.”
Of the three, Aiden was the least obnoxious. A bit of a black sheep himself, he joined the military and was ready to leave his family behind before the “accident” that earned him an honorable discharge. But Aiden still had that sharp, Bishop tongue and, just like his brothers, his favorite pastime was picking on Kat and me growing up.
“And I’m obviously Nathan,” the third brother said.
My eyes shifted to Nathan’s, and the same gray gaze as his brothers stared back at me. The only difference between him and his brothers was his hair was a bit longer, softer at the edges. I offered Nathan a quick smile before looking away.
“So Carly isn’t joining you?” I asked.
The hallway went silent.
“Oh crap, I forgot. I’m sorry.”
It had been years since I had seen the brothers, and Kat and I didn’t talk about them too much outside of general updates, but I suddenly recalled that Carly and Nathan hadn’t been a thing for a few years.
“It’s fine, she’s actually getting married,” he said, in a tone that indicated he was far from fine.
Kat filled in the blanks for me. “She’s marrying Brett.”
“Brett Echols? Nathan’s—”
“Myex-best friend, yes.”
Nathan wasn’t too bad on his own growing up. He just happened to have the meanest friends in all of our school. It was because of them that Nathan was the one I had the biggest beef with, and one of the reasons I fled South Carolina as soon as I was old enough to do so.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” I said.But also not surprised, all things considered. Carly and Brett deserved each other as far as I was concerned.
“Anyway, Kat was just showing me around the house—”
“Dinner is almost ready,” Jackson said, interrupting me. “Mom asked us to get right back down there.”
“Alright then, guess we’re headed to dinner.” Kat grabbed my arm and led me back toward the spiral staircase we had come up before. My heart was still racing as I went over the few minutes we conversed with her brothers in my head. They hadn’t made one sarcastic or teasing remark the entire time. That had to have been a world record. Maybe Kat was right, they were getting older and less obnoxious.They certainly are getting hotter, I thought as I watched the guys start down the staircase.
I nearly missed the steps gawking at her brothers, but thankfully Kat was there to grab my arm. “Careful,” she said with a laugh. “I know the wood is slippery. They really should get a runner for these things. I fall down the stairsevery time we visit. I once took all three of my brothers down with me when we were younger.”
