He deserved her scorn.
He hadn’t meant to hurt her.
Brooke’s words rang in his head. She was right. He’d rather go after Brooke and solidify their relationship than go in and appease Kristi.
Leave it to Brooke to point out the bold truth he’d been avoiding since the picnic.
What did he expect?
What are friends for?
Chapter Nineteen
Cody said goodbye to the last of their guests and closed the front door. Susanne had already retired to her side of the house, leaving him, Kristi, and Brooke to lock up for the night.
This isn’t awkward at all.
He wished he could call Brooke back as she ascended the stairs to his left with her sexy high heels dangling from her fingertips. Feeling him staring at her, she glanced back, lifted her chin toward his study, where Kristi waited for him, then hit the landing and disappeared down the hall.
He had to let Brooke go, so he could deal with Kristi.
She didn’t wait for him to come to her and barreled out of his study looking for a fight. “I can’t believe you kissed her in front of everyone!”
“I’ve kissed her a dozen times in your presence.”
“Not like that!” Venom filled her words to go with the fury in her eyes.
He slipped his hands into his pockets and stood before her, ready for whatever she had to say. “You’re right. Not like that.” Their usual hello and goodbye pecks were a hell of a lot different than the kiss he planted on Brooke earlier. That one was…intoxicating. Addictive. Tame compared to how he really wanted to kiss her. “I don’t know what came over me.” That was the truth.
Whatever it was, it was still consuming him.
“Perky tits and a tight ass,” she shot back.
“Don’t talk about her like that.” He tried to keep calm, but that irritated him.
“Fine. Then let’s talk about how you left me to go to her because you were raging jealous that every man at the party was making eyes…at. Your.Sister.”
He sucked in a breath and tried to hold back his temper. “I’m not doing this with you again. Brooke is my friend.”
“You keep saying that, but the way you looked at her tonight… It looked like a hell of a lot more than friends and everyone saw it.” Kristi always cared about what everyone else thought.
He got it. In their social circle, image mattered. He often curtailed a comment or toed the line to get ahead, even when he’d rather say or do something different.
Tonight, he hadn’t thought about what anyone would think. He’d simply acted without thinking things through. He could have handled things better. He should have. But what was done was done.
And he didn’t particularly feel like taking it back.
He wondered if what others thought bothered her more than him going after Brooke. “What exactly are you implying?”
“Are you fucking her?”
She meant to shock him and she did.
“No.” And he hated that she’d think that of him.
“You kissed her,” she pointed out, making her case.
“That’s all I did.”
