That kiss. Selfish. Irresponsible. And stupid.
Joe was my brother-in-law’s father.
He was sixteen years older than me.
And I was not his type.
I was independent; I was strong; I was focused.
I didn’t need anyone to look after or protect me, and everyone who knew Joe knew that was what he got off on.
I also wasn’t a petite, dark-haired beauty.
That was fine.
I liked who I was, even if I wasn’t for Joe.
Rejection stung, though.
And I didn’t want to face Joe for the first time since the party after the week I’d had.
I was not in the headspace for that.
So it was good he wouldn’t be at Lake Tahoe.
I could lick my literal and metaphorical wounds while I spent my favorite time of year with my favorite person in a beautiful place far, far away from the scene of the crime.
And maybe I’d even get some sleep.
Bliss!
Chapter Two
JOE
I knew that stubborn glint in my son’s eyes.
I was pretty sure he’d gotten that from me.
Wiping the sweat off my face with a nearby towel, I stepped back from the punching bag that hung from the ceiling in my office and waited for Dex to say whatever it was he’d come here to say.
The whir of engines and buzzing of tools could be heard in the distance, muffled after Dex closed my door.
I kept my primary office in the first garage I’d opened, near the college. It was five minutes from the house where I’d raised Dex near the McKinley Park area, five minutes from California State, and five minutes from an apartment that belonged to the greatest temptation that had ever been put in front of me.
Hell.
I knew why Dex was here.
“You’re spending New Year’s Eve with us at Lake Tahoe,” my son said.
Yeah.
Knew that was why he was here.
After taking a swig of water to collect myself, I sat on the edge of my desk and lied, “I can’t. Got that meeting.”
I hated lying to my kid.
It was Ryan Baillie’s fault.
She’d put me in this shitty position.
Well … it wasn’t all her fault.
My dick wasn’t entirely blameless.
“Dad, I know you’re lying.”
I narrowed my eyes at my kid. He might be right, but I didn’t like being questioned by him. Or anyone. Especially when I felt guilty as hell.
Dex raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest.
While my son had gotten his coloring from his mother, all blond-haired and blue-eyed, resisting the dominance of my darker gene coloring, he had my build and features. He looked like a young, blond version of me. Except my kid also got his mom’s open, optimistic nature. It didn’t bother me he lacked my aggressive drive. He had his own ambitions. Wanted to be an environmental lawyer, and I was proud of how hard he was working to do that.
Even if he scared the shit out of me by getting married to Ryan’s little sister Shaw.
I still wasn’t one hundred percent sure a college romance could survive, but a year in and those two were still as annoyingly loved up as ever.
My kid was happy with Shaw.
That was what mattered.
Currently, he was not happy with me.
Dex enjoyed having his family around him. And he’d been stubborn about us sticking to his alternating holiday routine for as long as I could remember. His mom got him for Christmas and New Year holidays and Easter one year while I got him for Thanksgiving and Halloween. Then we alternated the following year. He’d never grown out of it. If it was my year with him, nothing was to get in the way.
This year was my year with him.
But something—no, someone—had most definitely gotten in the way.
Christmas dinner at my place had been awkward as fuck, and Ryan leaving early had only made it worse.
“I know about Ryan,” Dex blurted out.
I tensed, feeling a knot form in my gut.
My son took a step toward me, his expression somewhat sympathetic. “Dad, you may be my father, but you’re a guy. I’m a guy. I get it. A hot, drunk twenty-four-year-old throws herself at you, and you forget yourself. You forget who she is.”
I frowned. “You saw the kiss?”
Dex snorted. “I saw the make-out session.”
“I—”
“It’s cool, Dad. I saw you push her off and take her to the kitchen for a glass of water. Then you handed her off to Shaw to sober up,” Dex huffed. “It’s not ideal that you’ve had your tongue in my wife’s sister’s mouth, but it happened. It’s over. And we all have to get along for the rest of our lives. You and Ryan need to get over the awkwardness, because we can’t have another Christmas like that again. It really upset Shaw that Ryan took off.”
Get over the awkwardness?
It was hard to do that when I couldn’t stop thinking about Ry.
Dex had no idea the incredible willpower it took to remove Ryan Baillie from my mouth.
“You’ve been avoiding her. Shaw is getting suspicious, but she thinks it’s something to do with us. That you’re fed up with us living rent-free. That you really don’t approve of our marriage.”
Shit. “You know that’s not true.”
“I know. But I can’t tell her what is true. Ryan raised Shaw. Shaw worships the ground her big sister walks on. As for you, Shaw thinks the world of you. She thinks you’re the absolute shit. And guess what? She wants the absolute shit for her sister. I tell her you two kissed, and she’ll start planning the wedding.”
Shock moved through me alongside something ridiculous that felt a bit like hope. “Shaw would want that?”
Dex scowled. “Yeah, because she’s a dreamer and a romantic and thinks her sister can move heaven and earth. I know better. Dad, I’ve watched you go through woman after woman, and I know you’re not the settling-down type. You would not only screw up Ryan, who doesn’t deserve it, but you could screw up my marriage to Shaw if you fuck over Ryan. Never mind the sixteen-year age gap and how that might not look so hot in twenty years’ time.”
Indignation ripped through me, but only because he was saying the things I’d had to remind myself of over and over for the past two years. “I’m not screwing around with Ryan.”
“I know, I know. You just need to ignore whatever stupid crush she’s got on you. Okay? Off-limits,” he reiterated, making me feel like a rebellious teenager. “The point is New Year’s. Shaw sees right through this bullshit about a business meeting over the holidays. I don’t want to spend New Year’s Eve with a bunch of people I don’t really care about. I want to see in the new year with my dad, and I want my wife to stop worrying that my dad disapproves of us.”
The old guilt manipulation. I scowled at him. “Fine. I’ll be there.”
“It’s your friend’s cabin, so I’m sorry if Ryan being there is uncomfortable for you,” Dex added regretfully. “But she’s got nowhere else to go.”
An ache, sharp and tender, flared across my chest. The thought of Ryan not having somewhere to go disturbed and upset me more than I liked. Ryan had walls up a mile high. She didn’t want to rely on anyone. She wanted to take care of Shaw and not the other way around. It was like she was afraid to let anyone take care of her. For some fucked-up reason, it just made me want to be there for her more. “She should be with her family. Shaw is her family. I wouldn’t want anything else for her.”