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Xander grinned. “I was just home for Thanksgiving three weeks ago, and the week after that, you were at my place for the bachelor party.”
Despite the age difference between the two Carter boys, the brothers were surprisingly close. Gus traveled to Dallas quite a lot to spend weekends with his brother, the two of them taking in a Cowboys game or Stars match.
Xander’s mother had left him and his dad when Xander was just two years old, so for quite a few years, it was just him and his dad, living together in a small house on the edge of the Maris city limits. Then his father had married local florist, Genevieve Marston, when Xander was nine, and Gus—a honeymoon baby—appeared before their first wedding anniversary.
Gia’d had to work overtime to play it cool when Alison told her Xander was serving as Gus’s best man. She’d spent the week following that pronouncement dreaming about some red-hot best man/maid of honor action between them. The fantasies had proven to be her best masturbation material to date. Which reminded her…she needed to grab some fresh batteries at the store for her vibrator.
Xander managed to make it back to Maris quite frequently, though Gia hadn’t seen him since last spring. Dallas was only a three-hour drive, and while he’d been a big city guy for close to twenty years, he joked a lot about needing his “small-town fix” from time to time to keep him sane.
Xander walked around the table to Alison. “How is my soon-to-be sister doing?” he asked, giving her a big bear hug.
Alison laughed when he picked her up off the ground and spun her around a bit. “I’m great, you lunatic.”
Then Xander turned his attention to her, and Gia gave him her easy, breezy, nothing-to-see-here grin, while silently hoping her suddenly flushed cheeks didn’t give away the fact she’d spent an hour last night coming hard on her vibrator while imagining Xander going down on her.
God…she seriously needed to get laid. And soon.
His chocolate-brown eyes locked with hers and she forgot to breathe. It simply wasn’t fair for a man to be that disarmingly handsome.
“Hey, Brat,” Xander said, ruffling her hair in that playful way that drove home the fact Xander would never see her as anything more than one of his kid brother’s pals. He’d dubbed her Brat back when she was a freshman in high school. He’d been home for the annual Fourth of July fireworks by the lake, and he’d caught her sneaking beer out of his cooler. She’d given him shit for being uncool when he confiscated it. He’d just laughed and called her a brat, proclaiming her cousins, Tyson and Evan, would kick his ass if she got drunk on his beer. The name had stuck.
“Hi, Xander. Long time no see. I missed catching up with you when you were home for Thanksgiving. You didn’t come to the restaurant.” Gia was proud of her casual tone despite the fact her heart was racing about a million miles an hour.
One of these days she was going to have to let this damn crush go.
“Yeah. Unfortunately, I was only able to drive in for the day. Too much shit going on at work.” Xander circled the table, claiming the empty chair next to her. Then he picked up Gia’s beer and stole a sip.
“Seriously? You’re stealing my beer, Brat?” she teased, giving him back the same line he’d given her all those years ago.
Xander didn’t reply. Just took another big swig before handing it back.
“I interrupted a conversation when I arrived. What is it you’re looking for, Brat?” Xander asked her. “Can I help?”
Before she could reply, Alison laughed, speaking for her. “Maybe you can. Got any single friends? She’s looking for a man.”
“I’ve started online dating,” Gia added.
Xander appeared to sit up a bit straighter. “I thought you had a boyfriend.”
“Had is the right verb.” Gia crooked her thumb over her shoulder toward the dance floor. “Mark and I split up and now he’s with Alison’s cousin, Darlene.”
Xander glanced in the direction she pointed, then back at her. “When did this happen?”
“Six months ago.”
Xander’s eyes widened in surprise and he glanced over at Gus, who rolled his eyes, completely unapologetic when he said, “You always give me shit when I gossip, X. Tell me I’m worse than my mother. So don’t blame me if you’re behind on Maris happenings.”
She expected Xander to laugh, but instead he gave his brother a stern look. “There’s a difference between gossip and information.”
Gus tilted his head, looking as confused about that comment as Gia was. Mark and her breaking up was something Xander thought he needed to know?
Before she could figure out why, Xander turned back to her. “And you’re meeting guys online now?”
“Tinder,” she replied.
Her answer pissed him off for some reason, once again making her feel one step behind in this whole conversation. “You need to get off that app.” He paused briefly before adding, “It’s dangerous.”
She snorted. Apparently, both Carter brothers had strong opinions about online dating. “No, it’s not. I find a match online, talk to the guy through text and phone calls, and once I determine he’s okay, I meet him somewhere in public for the first few dates.”
