Her smile faded, and she exhaled an already frustrated sigh.
“Carla has known our family since we were five years old and wanted to see your grandmother. You and Olivia are adults, not kids anymore. Can’t you two find a way to get along?”
My jaw went slack as her gaze traveled over my shoulder.
“Ah, the rest of the food arrived.” She tapped my shoulder and pointed her finger. “Go in the kitchen and say hello. Be nice, please. For me.”
“It doesn’t matter if I’m nice or not. You know how she is.”
Mom stilled, her chin dropping to her chest with a groan.
“I know that you should be able to greet her without starting an argument.”
“Ican, Mom. She can’t.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Why did I even come here today? I could have made up an emergency and saved myself from this needless aggravation.
“Carla is your best friend, but I’m your son. It would be nice if you were on my side, just once, when it comes to her evil daughter.”
Her shoulders drooped as she exhaled a long sigh. She came toward me, and I looked away, meeting her gaze only when she cupped my cheek.
“I’malwayson your side. Carla and I decided when you were kids to leave you both alone to resolve it yourselves as long as there was no bloodshed. Did we think it would take thirty years?” She shrugged. “No, but I think you’re both old enough now to say a polite hello and deal with it when you have to be in the same space. Just try.” When she kissed my cheek and rushed off, all I could do was groan in defeat.
I’d anticipated dealing with my family. The antichrist in heels lurking in my grandmother’s kitchen… That I wasn’t prepared for. My mother and her best friend weresosure their kids would be just as inseparable, Olivia and I had been thrown together all the damn time.
I’d avoided her presence for as long as I could remember, but she’d always found me. Everyone else saw the sweet little girl in pigtails who used to saypleasewith an adorable lisp. Fake lisp—because she was calculating as fuck even then.
I straightened and made my way into the kitchen to get the pleasantries over with.
“Tyler!” Carla rushed toward me and wrapped her arms around me. “You look great.” She pushed me back by the biceps. “Building your own business has bulked you up, kiddo.”
A smile snuck across my lips. I liked Carla, treacherous daughter aside.
“How about a hello over here?” Olivia let out a throaty chuckle behind me.
They said the devil took on the most pleasing forms, but the dark prince sliding into Olivia Sanchez’s voluptuous body was just showing off. The fact that she was more gorgeous every single time I saw her irritated the shit out of me. I hated that I’d always noticed, and I’d loathed that the more we’d argue, the harder my teenage dick would get.
My eyes did a quick sweep down her body before I could help myself. She was all soft and full curves, the sinful contours of her body torturing me still. Long dark waves of hair cascaded down her shoulders, swaying as her perfect lips curved into a grin. Those hips were both my ultimate fantasy and worst nightmare at the same time. All the old and confusing feelings clouded my already frazzled brain.
“Are you going to come give me a hello hug, or what? I don’t have all day.” A playful, almost genuine, smile crossed her lips as she looped her arms around my neck, pressing her body into mine and goading me like usual. I pulled away before she felt me stiffen below the belt.
“Mom is right. You look great. And now that I’m back, I need to make a stop in your bakery.”
“Back?”
A grin pulled at her lips as I squinted at her.
“Your mom didn’t tell you? I moved back last week. I’m remote so I can work anywhere, and I felt like I should be closer to home.” Her smile faded for a quick second. “No excuse to be strangers anymore, right?”
She wanted to come into my bakery and, what, hang out? We were not doing this again. I was too old for this shit. I rubbed at my neck, wondering where the cooler we usually kept full of liquor was, and I almost cheered when I spotted it by the back door.
“No, I’m fine with being strangers,” I whispered with a tight smile.
Instead of being insulted, she lit up. Crimson lips pursing, eyebrows lifting, ready for the same game we’d played over and over as kids.
A montage of our shared childhood rushed through my brain. This woman had known how to press every single one of my buttons from the time we were toddlers. And because she was my mother’s best friend’s daughter I couldn’t tell her to fuck off.
