I’m lonely.
When the front door opens, I breathe a mental sigh of relief, knowing that the noise and chaos of the rest of our friends will be a good distraction from my asshole thoughts, except the person who walks into the room isn’t one of my friends. It’s a woman I’ve never seen before, and the second I lay eyes on her,my breath catches, my heart slamming against my ribs as every single thought empties straight out of my head except for one.
There you are.
I accept this with a weirdly detached sort of certainty my brain is too addled to parse right now as the room fades around me, every ounce of my attention focused on her. On the black leggings that hug every perfect curve of her legs, bright pink sweater, and wrist full of bracelets clinking together cheerfully. On the brown hair tumbling over her shoulders. Sparkling, forest green eyes I could lose myself in. Pretty pink lips curved up in a smile. Lips I want to feel against my own more than I want to breathe.
I’m no longer sitting in Gabe and Molly’s living room. I’m in a dark room, wrapped around this gorgeous stranger, sighs and moans andyesandmoreandpleaseandright thereanddon’t stop.
If I had her under me, I would never, ever stop.
I could wonder what exactly is happening to me right now.
I could wonder why this stranger is making my palms sweat and my heart pound.
I could wonder who she is and what her name is, for fuck’s sake.
But I don’t wonder any of those things as I press my hands to my knees to stand from the couch, my thoughts running on one single track.
Get to her.
“There’s my girl!” Gabe’s voice filters in through my subconscious, seemingly oblivious to my temporary insanity as I fall back onto the couch. “Bry, meet my little sister, Olivia. She’s graduating from Georgetown in a couple months. Liv, this is Jeremy’s brother, Brian.”
“Hey,” Olivia says, smiling as she walks over to the couch. When she passes me, I have to practically sit on my hands tokeep from reaching out and touching her. “Nice to meet you. And oh my god,” she squeals, hugging Molly and Gabe and then bending to scoop Sophie out of her seat, cuddling her close and bouncing on her toes in excitement. “You guys, she’s perfect.”
As she lavishes her attention on the baby and my attention is focused solely on her, Gabe’s words finally sink into my brain, my breath backing up in my lungs as I realize who this woman is who has struck me utterly speechless.
Sister.
College.
Fuck.
CHAPTER ONE
OLIVIA
“I’m not a fucking nepo baby,” I mutter, leaning back and crossing my arms over my chest, glaring moodily at Jeremy Wright. One of my brother’s best friends, former NHL star, and current happy father of three, he is utterly unphased, grinning at me like he just handed me the keys to the goddamn castle.
“What’s a nepo baby?” Jeremy’s twelve-year-old daughter, Maddy, asks from the next table over, where she’s pouring over a very intimidating looking math textbook. We’re sitting at tables in the back of Fireside, the Pittsburgh bar Jeremy and another one of Gabe’s friends own. Jeremy texted me earlier and told me he had a business proposition for me, asking if I could stop by the bar a little before dinner time. Alarm bells immediately started blaring, and I almost said no. The second Jeremy told me why I was here, I knew I was right to be suspicious.
There’s fuckery afoot, and its name is Gabe Sullivan.
Turning to Maddy, I take a sip of my drink. “It means someone who has opportunities given to them because of who their family is. Opportunities they wouldn’t have otherwise had.”
Maddy furrows her freckled brow, twisting the end of her red ponytail around one finger thoughtfully. “But my dad is offering you a catering job, and you’re a chef who wants to start a catering company. That doesn’t seem like an opportunity you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.”
“True story, Little Red. You’re the smart girl.” Jeremy holds up a hand and Maddy slaps it, grinning at her dad, and I can’t help but smile at the way the two of them are together. Jeremy’s wife, Emma, adopted Maddy when Maddy was seven, and then Jeremy adopted her a year later, a little after Jeremy and Emma got married. They had just started dating when Maddy came to live with Emma, and she and Jeremy formed this, like, unshakable bond right from the start. She may have only officially become his daughter four or so years ago, but in all the ways that matter, she has been his right from the start.
“Not true story,” I say pointing at Jeremy. “You offered me the catering position for your Kids Play gala, which, for the last twenty or so years, has been held in a downtown hotel in July. You’re telling me you randomly, at the very last minute when every caterer in the city would be booked, decided to hold it at the football stadium in December the exact year that I wrote a business plan for a private catering company I’m planning to start in six months when I get home from Europe? A business plan I have shared with exactly four people, all of whom are related to me by blood or marriage, and none of whom are you?” I roll my eyes. “If you’re going for subterfuge, your routine needs some work. This screams Gabe trying to make me want to stay in Pittsburgh instead of going to Italy. Also, didn’t you resign from the foundation years ago?”
Jeremy gives me a smug grin. “I may not be the executive director anymore because that shit bored me to tears, but I’m the former famous hockey player, and this face”—he waves a hand at his face—“sells gala tickets. I’m making my triumphant returnto plan this year’s gala, and I decided on a holiday theme for a change.”
“Of course you did,” I mutter. “That was probably my brother’s idea too.”
“Aw, don’t be mad at him Liv,” Jeremy says, leaning back in his seat and stretching his long legs out under the table. “Gabe loves you and he loves having you here. He wants you to chase all your dreams, but I think he just hopes that maybe your dreams are closer to home.”
I huff out a breath, glancing around the bar. With its dark wooden accents, exposed beams, and long, mahogany bar, all cheerfully decorated for Christmas, it’s warm, cozy, and one of my favorite places in the city. This city I love calling home. I want my dreams to be here too. But I think they have to be somewhere else for a little while first. “I know he does. I love him too. But I’m twenty-five years old. By the time Gabe was twenty-five, he had founded a billion-dollar company and was the most famous tech entrepreneur in the entire world. I’m not competing with my brother—the idea of being famous gives me hives—I just want to make my mark too.”
