I hate that it includes me. I don’t want to like him because of how he treats his brother...yet I find myself incredibly fascinated by him. Incredibly attracted to him. Like I want him to look at me, to notice me.
His brother sure hasn’t.
Jack dominates dinner conversation with tales of his big win and the celebrating that followed while Luke remains quiet. I learn that the Aces lost to Jack’s team in the playoffs last year—the game that sent the Broncos to the Super Bowl. I learn that Jack likes women and he doesn’t filter his words in front of his parents. I get the sense that Jack flirts with everyone—including our waitress, including a woman who walks by our doorway and recognizes him, including me when his eyes flick to mine from across the table as I sit next to his brother who I’m engaged to marry.
I learn that Luke is reserved in front of his family. He’s not like that with me, though, which just tells me he’s actually opened up to me even though he seems like such a closed book. I get it now, though—the reason why he’s closed off. In his own family, he comes in second or third. Never first.
I just haven’t figured out why that is yet.
CHAPTER 14
After what feels like an insufferable two hours, dinner is finally over. Jack leaves first, and I have no doubt it’s because he has some woman chained to his bed that he needs to get back to. Just watching him cut his steak showed me how controlled and disciplined he is. He seems like the kind of guy who might have a secret kink if you know what I mean.
Tim orders one more cup of coffee even though the meal is over, and I glance at Luke as I’m unsure whether or not we have to stick around for more of this rare form of torture.
“Kaylee, would you mind hanging with Ellie by the lobby bar so I can talk to Mom and Dad alone for a few minutes?” Luke asks.
“I’d love to,” Kaylee says, and she stands.
Luke leans over and presses a kiss to my cheek. “I’ll be right there.”
“Thanks so much for dinner,” I say again to Tim, and he gives a short nod.
Kaylee links her arm through mine and we walk toward the bar, thankfully far away from Carol and Tim. “Congratulations on surviving your first dinner with them,” she says, elbowing me a little in the ribs, and I giggle.
“Is it always that awkward?”
“Only when Jack and Luke are in the same room together,” she says. “I’m sure he filled you in on their history.”
“Not really,” I admit. We slide onto the stools at the bar, which is fairly empty. “Just little tidbits here and there.”
Her brows dip, and I guess as his fiancée, I should be more privy to all the inner workings of his family dynamic.
We each order a mai tai—probably a terrible idea since alcohol makes loose lips and I can’t afford to admit the truth to Luke’s sister for his sake, but after our first drink, the advantage is that her lips loosen, too. I sort of wonder how long Luke will be, but then Kaylee starts spilling all the tea once our second round arrives.
“Luke is my favorite brother, you know. I probably shouldn’t pick, but Jack is just...he’s Jack. He’s my parents’ favorite because he’s the oldest, I’m the second favorite because I’m the youngest and the only girl, and Luke sort of just falls in the middle. He’s such a good guy, so talented in football. But he tends to keep to himself. We could be such a close family. We try. Really, we do. I do, anyway. These annual vacations were my idea. It was the only way I got to see my very busy brothers when I was a pre-teen and they were just getting their starts in the league. And that’s still true today. Do you know I haven’t seen Luke since we were in New Zealand and I’ve only seen Jack once since then?”
I’m not sure whether that’s rhetorical, and I don’t want her to stop, so I just raise my brows and take a sip of my mai tai.
“We used to be closer before the whole Savannah thing went down between those two, and that’s when their rivalry really started,” she says.
“You mean the articles Savannah wrote?” I ask, proving I know at least a little something about the man I’m going to marry.
“The articles, yes, but all the other stuff, too,” she says, lowering her voice. “It forced my parents to choose sides, and Luke came out the loser in all that. It pushed a divide between all of us. He stopped sharing the little parts of himself that he used to with us, it gave him trust and jealousy issues, and it wrecked his confidence.”
My brows dip. What other stuff? What made him stop being himself around his own family? The articles probably gave him trust and jealousy issues, but what wrecked his confidence?
Being born into a family with someone like Jack probably set him up for low self-esteem. His own father favors his brother, and clearly his mom does, too. Were they like that his whole life?
Who builds him up when his family tears him down? The awful women he’s been with before?
Enter Ellie.
I don’t want to admit what I don’t know, so I tuck it to the back of my mind for later. But I will be asking Luke about it.
She blows out a breath. “Anyway. Tell me about you. I’ve always wanted a sister and God knows Savannah and Michelle never fit that description.”
I laugh. “What do you want to know?”
“Do you work?” she asks.
I nod. “I’m in PR and actually I’m handling your brother’s publicity now.”
“I saw his Instagram. It’s freaking lit, Ellie. Is that all you?”
I nod and give a modest shrug. “Yeah. He didn’t want one, but I talked him into it.” I refrain from mentioning that he actually needed one to hit his goals. I’m not sure how much Luke would want me to share with his sister regarding all that—especially not if it gets back to his mom, and then his dad, and then back to Jack. He’s right about the family politics. There’s all sorts of shit I wasn’t expecting up in here.
“God, if you could get him to do that...” she trails off, but her insinuation is that I’m a good match for him. It feels good that the one family member whose opinion he might actually respect thinks that of us. “When are you getting married?” she asks.
I freeze. It’s our news to share together, but this is still his turf. He wanted to wait and tell everyone the night before, and it’s up to me to respect that. Another mai tai might not have stopped me, though. “Oh, I don’t know. You know Luke.” I twist my lips and roll my eyes.
“What’s that eyeroll supposed to mean?” the man himself asks. He must’ve snuck up behind me.
I jump, startled by his voice. “I didn’t know you were standing there. Your sister was just asking me when the wedding is.”
“Ah,” he says, and then he shrugs. “We’ll figure something out.”
Good dodge, Luke.
“So why do you call him Lu-Lu?” I ask Kaylee.
She giggles. “I couldn’t say Luke when I was little, so that’s what I called him. It just stuck even though he frickin’ hated it.”
“Imagine this,” he says, making a motion with his hands in the air. “A twelve-year-old boy with all his buddies over, and his two-year-old sister walks by yelling Lu-Lu! Lu-Lu!” He shakes his head with a chuckle.