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She was pushing all his buttons tonight, making him think about doing things he definitely should not want to do with Gia.
For most of their lives, she’d fallen into the category of “kids who hang out with Gus.” She and Alison, even her now-ex, Mark, had been his kid brother’s playmates all through school. So he’d seen Gia at every stage of her life, from a small girl with two missing front teeth, to an awkward middle schooler with braces and acne, to the angsty teen whose hair color changed almost monthly.
Xander had been out of college and well established in his career before she’d even graduated from high school. Gia had always been around when he lived at home and even when he came to visit, but only in the background. She was someone he knew without really knowing.
The tables had begun to turn on his feelings for her about five years ago. Xander hadn’t visited Maris for close to ten months—the longest he’d ever been away from his hometown up until that point. Between work and a long-term relationship, he’d had too much on his plate to schedule a trip home.
When he finally did make it back to Maris, he’d stopped by Sparks Barbeque, like he always did. Gia had stepped out of the kitchen, smiling widely when she saw him. Xander had done a double take, even as she walked over and gave him a big hug because…fuck…Gia was stunning. And for the first time, he’d stopped seeing the kid and started seeing the woman she’d become.
Prior to tonight, he would have sworn up one side and down the other that he had no intention of ever acting on his attraction to Gia.
Primarily because for the past four years, she’d been unavailable. Plus, she was one of Gus’s best friends, so he suspected there was probably some line he wasn’t supposed to cross. Then there was the age difference, which had felt like a problem before tonight, though he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why.
He was ten years older than her, and while he’d never been attracted to younger women before, he couldn’t convince himself to lump her in with the twenty-somethings who worked at his company, because she wasn’t the type to titter or simper or flirt in hopes of gaining his attention.
Hell, she was more emotionally and intellectually mature than most women his own age.
He tried to shake himself out of his own head, aware she was still looking at him, waiting for a response.
“A kiss, huh?” he teased, trying to get a grip on the situation. “I’m not sure you can handle one of those from me, Brat.”
Gia laughed, brushing off his refusal with an ease that had him wanting to show her what she was dismissing. “Cocky bastard.”
He really—REALLY—wished she hadn’t used the word cocky because it sent his thoughts to regions south. Regions that were still expanding despite his efforts. Sitting so close to her had been a mistake because his standard trick of doing math in his head definitely wasn’t working.
There weren’t enough math problems in the world.
Gia licked her lips again, and before he could think about his actions, Xander shifted, ready to give her exactly what she was asking for.
Unfortunately, now—like on the dance floor—he was cock-blocked again. Only this time by her cousin, Tyson.
“Hey, Xander,” Tyson said, slapping him on the shoulder. “I thought that was you.”
“Tyson,” Gia murmured, narrowing her eyes at her cousin.
He smirked at her, clueing Xander in to the fact his interruption hadn’t been accidental. He knew what they’d been about to do.
Gia’s parents had been killed in a car crash when she was ten years old. She and her older sister, Jeannette, had been taken in by their uncle George and aunt Stella—Tyson’s parents. Since then, Tyson had assumed the big-brother role, and Xander suspected he was flexing those overprotective muscles right now.
He and Tyson had gone to high school together, and while Xander was a couple of years older, they’d both been members of several clubs together and they were friends. So he couldn’t help but wonder if Tyson’s actions right now were simply a knee-jerk response where he drove every guy away, or if he truly didn’t want Xander putting the moves on his cousin.
“How’re you doing, Ty?” The last time Xander had seen Tyson had been last year around the holidays. Xander hadn’t lied about work kicking his ass. He hadn’t managed more than a handful of days in his beloved hometown since last Christmas. Something had to give, and soon.
“I’m good. Real good.”
“You still with Harley and Cal?”
Tyson nodded, his huge grin telling Xander exactly why the man was “real good.”
Xander had been surprised when he learned the three friends had embarked on a romantic relationship, becoming a throuple. Though the more he thought about it, the more Xander realized it wasn’t such a shock at all. Caleb, Harley, and Tyson had been as inseparable as Alison, Gus, and Gia growing up.
Tyson engaged him and Gia in conversation for a few minutes, then Caleb and Harley—who’d been on the dance floor—joined them. Before long, even more of the Sparks family made their way over—Macie and her husband, Coop; Evan and his wife, Annie; and yet another cousin, Paige. The Sparks family was loud and funny, and the night passed quickly.
Throughout it all, Xander made certain he and Gia were sharing the same personal space, tucking his arm around her shoulder a few times, tugging her closer, something that every single person at the table noticed. He wasn’t sure why he was staking such an obvious claim, but stopping felt wrong, so he didn’t.
Learning that her breakup with Mark hadn’t been a recent thing had annoyed the shit out of him. Until he realized that he’d purposely stopped asking his brother about Gia, unwilling to hear about her and Mark. Looking back, he could finally see that for what it was.
Self-preservation.
