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“There is one gift I’m stuck on, though,” I say as we hustle through the kitchen, where Samson looks ready to strangle me.“Where can I buy you a whole new personality?”
Wyatt surprises me by tossing his head back in laughter.It’s been way too long since I heard that from him.Irresponsible Jonesy acted like a clown until his super-serious brother broke and laughed.The natural order has been restored.
He’s still chuckling when we reach Liv’s station.She straightens up, clearly curious about what went down outside.
“Please be cool,” I mutter to Wyatt.Then I turn to Liv.“Olivia, let me officially introduce you to my brother.Try to be nice.It’s not his fault I got all the brains in the family.”
That asshole gives her his best broody smolder as they shake hands.“Wyatt Jones.And I apologize for my brother.It was hard for him, growing up knowing I’m the handsome one.”
Liv’s eyes dart from him to me, and although her lips twitch, she’s all business as she returns his handshake.“Liv Fielding, brainsandlooks.”
“You’re not wrong,” Wyatt says, and I watch in horror as his eyes sweep down her body.“So I haven’t seen you around.Are you new—hey!”
“Wyatt’s got to go,” I call over my shoulder as I haul my brother toward the exit.“Dude.Did you forget about Reese?”
“Broke up,” he says tersely.
I stop dead in my tracks, blocking an older couple from the entrance.Now Wyatt’s the one pulling me out of the way.
“I’m so sorry, Wy.What happened?”And what the hell kind of person am I that I didn’t know my brother broke up with his fiancée?
He shrugs.“It’s been a shitty year.”
“You said it.”We fall silent, and I realize we’re both doing the famous Jones stance—hands in pockets, heads down, shoulders hunched like vultures.I straighten.“Still good for Golfmas on the fifteenth?”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” he says, and I rub my chest where a knot of anxiety just vanished.We’ve done nothing but snarl at each other recently, but I’m so fucking glad my big brother isn’t going to skip our Christmas tradition.“Now about that new hostess?—”
“Dude, I’ll remove the rest of your liver with my bare hands.”
When his mouth flops open like a koi fish, it occurs to me that I may have made a mistake by joking about the thing that threw his whole life in turmoil.Then another laugh bursts out of him and I can breathe again.
“You’re getting territorial over a woman?She must be something else.”
“She is, not that you’re ever going to find out.”I give him a not-so-gentle shove away from the restaurant, which earns me another brotherly laugh.By the time he’s safely in his car and out of Liv’s sight line, I feel better than I have in ages.I love my brother even when I want to strangle him, and if that doesn’t sum up family, I don’t know what does.
Ten
Liv
I’m turning circles around the living room like a tiger in a tiny cage when CJ emerges from her office.
“Hey.”She flops down onto the couch.“I’m finally dunzo with my workweek.”
“Yay,” I say flatly, not bothering to point out that it’s Saturday night.CJ’s already aware that she has a weird work/life balance.
“What’s up with you?”
I stalk around the room one more time.“Portland hired someone else.”
“What?Why am I just finding out about this now?”CJ’s outraged.“Always pull me away from work to tell me when we have a new enemy!”
“And interrupt you coordinating your network of international assassins?”Look at me, still able to joke about my best friend’s mysterious job in my moment of professional crisis.
She rolls her eyes.“I’ve told you a million times, corporate consulting involves surprisingly few murders.”Then she waves a hand for me to continue.
“I was a great fit.My portfolio’s exactly what they said they were looking for.Lots of practical effects and mixed media.And one of the VPs there mentored my boss in Phoenix back in the day, and I know she gave me a good reference.”
“So you think the problem was…?”
