“And what about last night gave you the impression I’d approve of this?”
“Nothing. But I don’t want to be rude.”
“Be rude,” he said seriously. “Alec can handle it.”
She snorted, pulled on some underwear, and hurriedly stepped into her summer dress from yesterday. She didn’t have time to pull something else out of the closet. “We’re only going to breakfast.”
Connor groaned and put a hand over his eyes. “Fine! But if he tells you about his buttercream or his cake-making skills, run. That’s his signal that he’d like to sleep with you.”
She laughed. “I’ll be careful. You stay here. And please make sure no one sees you leaving my house.” She pointed a warning finger at him. “That might…give the wrong impression.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Like we slept together?”
“Exactly.”
Rachel was still smiling as she exited the apartment door five minutes later and pulled out her mobile phone.
Slept with that hot divorce lawyer again, she texted Maya.By the way, you know him. He’s Alec Stone’s brother.
She couldn’t tell anyone else. Lucy and Rachel certainly wouldn’t reply with a squealing smiley and a heart. And she had to tell someone! Because…it was worth telling.
Laughing at herself for feeling a little like a teenager who’d done something forbidden, she texted Maya that she’d call her that evening and tell her more, then she hurried downstairs.
Alec was waiting for her at the front door, reading a palm-sized book titledBaking Less Shitty. When he saw her, he squeezed it into his back jeans pocket.
“Morning,” he murmured, smiling. “You’re late.”
“Sorry,” she said breathlessly. “Overslept.”
He smiled broadly. “Sure. Shall we? I saw that the Sunny Umbrella offers breakfast.”
“Yep, but…” She wrung her hands nervously. “I should be honest up front, Alec: I can’t date you.”
He grinned and pushed off the wall. “I know. I can’t date you either. I don’t make it a habit of stealing my brother’s girlfriend.”
The heat in her cheeks could compete with the sun above them. “I’m not…we’re not…”
Alec waved a hand. “I don’t care what you call it,” he replied lightly. “It’s obvious that Connor is claiming possession of you, which he…well, never has. And strangely, he doesn’t seem to have slept at home. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
She gave him an innocent look. “Nothing at all.”
He grinned. “I get it. But whatever: I wouldn’t get in his way.”
She blinked, irritated. “Then why were you so keen to go out with me?”
“Because I like you. And it’s fun to upset the guy who spent ten years making me do homework instead of having fun. And because the asshole deserves some pain if he can’t admit to everyone that he’s hopelessly in love with you.”
They’d be able to fry breakfast on her face. “He’s not…”
“Oh, yes he is. So let me buy you a meal — and make Connor regret not opening his mouth.”
She had to laugh. “Well, when you put it that way…”
They turned right and walked along the promenade toward the glowing Sunshine Pier, which was living up to its name today.
“You know,” Alec said as they passed Match Me! “I feel strangely obligated to ask: Do you also like my brother?”
Rachel stumbled over a stone. The question shouldn’t have caught her off guard, or been so complicated, but…
