No contest.
I slow my roll and lean against a tree lining the edge of the grass, just to take a second to watch her.
Green eyes, long, dark hair, and a body that kills a few brain cells every time I stare at her. But what turns me on more than anything is her tenacity and smarts.
When Maddie started at USC, her dedication blew me away.
She was already brilliant, but she works harder than anyone I know.
Now she’s top of her class, four-point-oh, baby, and she will undoubtedly get a job at whatever firm she wants when she graduates.
It’s the ultimate middle finger to her parents, who never supported her a day in their lives.
Even if she swears her mom’s turned a corner in the last few years, I’ve yet to believe it.
Maddie turns to Adelaide, her face lighting up with a smile so bright it flashes her dimples from across the lawn.
Addie’s in town for a visit, and I’m happy because Maddie’s been missing her like crazy.
Addie graduated last year, along with everyone else who started the same year as me and Leo, but architecture majors go through a B.Arch program that lasts five, not four, years.
So, Maddie, Leo, and I are still here. Though Leo and I graduate in three weeks, Mads will finish up next year.
After that, we need to be in the field for at least three years before we can test to apply for licensure.
I’ve already lined up a job with a firm in New York. Usually, being across the country from Mads would suck. However, my little overachiever has an interview in two days for a summer internship in the city.
She’s flying back with Addie first thing tomorrow.
If she gets it, we’ll have the summer together. After that, I’ll fly between NYC and Cali until she finishes school.
Her parents aren’t stopping us this time.
And I don’t care what she says—it might be excessive to bounce back and forth, but I’d do it a thousand times over for her.
There’s no way we’re going months without seeing each other like we did her senior year.
I’ve got the funds. Why wouldn’t I use them?
She still can’t wrap her head around how much money Harrison and I inherited. I don’t spend much of it besides spoiling her when she lets me and flying private when it makes sense.
The rest? I’m investing. Everything my grandparents left me is going into a firm one day with Leo.
That’s our endgame. Two brothers. Fifty-fifty split.
My thoughts are cut short when Maddie’s booming laugh echoes across the lawn. She falls forward, unable to hold herself up from her laughter. Her full, voluptuous breasts are on display, forcing my gaze to drop down to the barely there skimpy gold bikini, the kind she never would’ve worn a few years ago.
But California’s changed her, and her confidence has grown by miles.
“Heads up,” someone shouts.
A football rockets toward me, nearly clipping my face. Luckily, I have catlike reflexes.
“Sorry, man!” I recognize our quarterback the moment he runs up to me.
I toss back the ball with a nod. “No worries. Just get that aim locked in for next season, yeah?”
He laughs, running off, but I’m not joking. Our last two seasons were rough, and Mase never lets us forget it.
