“Well, well, if it isn’t the woman who stole my baby brother’s heart. Kole.” He smiles while addressing me and holds his hand out. My eyes go wide, and I look from his offered hand to his face a few times, feeling my mouth drop with each repeated journey of my eyes.
“Willow?” Kane chuckles, and I feel my face heat.
“Sorry.” I take his hand and give him a shake. “Willow, nice to meet you. I’m a huge fan.”
“Seriously?” He looks over at Kane, and he winks. “Did she tell you she was a huge fan of yours too?”
I don’t need to look at Kane to know he’s shaking his head and probably struggling not to burst out laughing.
“Can’t say she did. Guess you must be better at acting than I am,” he surmises, hilarity mixing with the sultry roughness of his voice.
“I did too,” I defend and look over at Kane. “I think?”
“No, baby, you didn’t. That’s okay. You just want me for my good looks.” He winks.
“Oh, you’re impossible.” I giggle and Kane reaches out to pull me to his body and away from his charming brother. “It’s nice to meet you, Kole. Sorry about that. Well, maybe just a little sorry.”
“Would you two stop picking on her,” his mother interrupts with a laugh of her own. “My boys, talented and too good looking for their own good. They would probably make a nun lose her mind too. Too much hot male vibes and all.”
“Mom, I’m not sure you should admit that about your own kids.” Kole laughs.
Her eyes narrow playfully, and Kole holds his hands up in surrender. “Just because I’m your mother doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate how good looking my guys are.”
We’re all laughing as Kane’s arm goes around my shoulders, and we follow his family as they lead the way deeper into his house. The front entryway didn’t allow the view that I have now. Windows cover the whole back of his home. I’m sure when the sun is blazing, it gives you the most spectacular view of the Pacific.
A staircase to the right of the living room leads to a second floor. To the left of the open-floor plan is a large kitchen and dining area. The whole house is white walls, lots of glass, and deep gray and black accents. Instead of looking like a sterile bachelor pad, Kane’s home holds warms despite its design to do the opposite. Family photos, old worn leather couch and loveseat, and quilts. I shouldn’t have expected it to be different. Just like the man himself, his home makes you feel like you’re welcome and invites you in a way that wraps around you like a physical touch.
I look up at Kane with a smile, but he’s not looking at me. His focus is over my head and toward the kitchen.
Looking back in that direction, I see what I missed before.
The narrow, judgmental, and very angry eyes of Kyle Masters.
INTRODUCTIONS TO KYLE WERE AS far opposite as it could get from the open friendliness I had gotten from Kole. The three Masters brothers look so alike that they might as well have been triplets. All had the same wavy, thick hair, dark in certain lights to give it a black appearance. With Kane and Kole, it was left to its own devices, usually a mess from many passes of their hands. It gave them a carefree look to their overall strong appearance of sharp angles and rough handsomeness. But Kyle’s was styled with so much product that he not only tamed those waves, he also made his own appearance lose any trace of the relaxed and happy-go-lucky ease his younger brothers had.
All three had the bluest of blue eyes, something I now know they get from their father. But unlike the two younger Masters boys, Kyle’s were hard, calculating, and so full of hate that you almost felt burned when his attention was on you.
There was no doubt in my mind that Kyle Masters was a troubled man.
He had spoken once in the two hours since we had arrived. And all it did was make the mood even darker. I had thought it was a simple question when Kane asked him why he was there, but when he ominously replied with a confusing ‘you know why,’ things just started to speed downhill quickly. Becca had gone overboard to try to defuse the intensity between her sons, but it only made things more awkward when Kyle refused to take the high road and respond to his mother if it had to do with Kane.
But, to my shock, the heated madness Kyle was showing his brother was nothing compared to the disgust he openly had with my presence. Something I couldn’t for the life of me understand. I had never met this man. As far as I knew, he really shouldn’t know anything about me since he and his brother weren’t exactly on friendly terms. But regardless, he wasn’t trying to hide his feelings, and it only made things more awkward.
Kane seemed to be seconds from snapping. His parents were attempting to keep things from turning into a war between the boys. Kole seemed just as uneasy as I did, but he did a better job of hiding it. Instead of silence, he attempted to placate the heavy mood with jokes, but they all fell flat.
“Kyle, dear, where is Jessica tonight?” his mother asks in an effort to pull her oldest son’s sneer away from me.
My attention, however, is pulled from Kyle when I hear Kane bark back a laugh that holds absolutely no humor. His hand, which had been holding mine firmly but softly, tightens when Kyle looks over and they both lock heated, angry, matching blue eyes together.
Oh, boy.
If things had been awkward before, then they’re painfully so now.
Kyle never answers, but he does take another healthy swallow of whatever dark brown liquor he had been keeping his glass full with for the last two hours. Actually, probably for a lot longer than that given the way his body keeps swaying to the side before he catches himself.
“Well, look at the time,” Kane’s father exclaims and makes the effort to yawn loudly. “Bec, honey, I think it’s time that we head out.”
“Great idea, honey,” she whispers, and I notice just how much of a toll her son’s behavior has had on her. The exuberant happiness that she had just hours before is now completely gone. Worry lines hold her expression captive as she takes the plates from in front of her and her husband. Christian takes the rest and follows his wife to the kitchen.
“Let’s go, Kyle,” Kole snaps and grabs his brother’s arm.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” he seethes, jerking his arm free and almost falling to the ground in his inebriated state.
“Jesus Christ, Kyle. This is a new fucking low, even for you.” Kane exhales and stands from the table.