Mr. Imperfect

chapter 2



Kris walked through the neighboring front door and was met with silence. It was always easy to tell when Luke wasn’t home. The guy always surrounded himself with noise—TV, radio, video games, whatever. As long as it caused percussion on the ear drums. Her brother, Mike, on the other hand, was all about silence. The only way to tell if he was home or not was to actually find him. Not that it was hard. Nine out of ten time he could be found in the exact same spot.

Moving through the entry, Kris turned left down the hall until she reached the half-closed door to Mike’s home office. When she pushed the door open there he was, sitting in front of his precious Mac with his noise-cancelling headphones on, eyes glued to the screen.

“Knock, knock,” she said, rapping her knuckle again the door frame of his home office. He didn’t look up. With those headphones of his meant to block out all things Luke, it could be the Fourth of July outside and Mike wouldn’t notice. Kris grabbed one of the mini foam balls that went with his toy basketball hoop and tossed it at his head. Direct hit.

Mike moved his headphones to drape around his neck. “I’ve got to start storing those balls farther from the door.”

Kris shrugged. “You take away the foam balls and I’ll just find something else to throw at your head.”

“Note taken,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “And what does the riffraff want today?”

“Golf clubs,” she said, grabbing another ball, and this time shooting at the hoop. “Caleb wants to take me to the range and impress me with how far he can hit little balls.”

Kris watched her brother press his lips together to suppress his knee-jerk response to the mere mention of her most recent boyfriend. Caleb and Mike had history, none of it good. But Mike had promised Kris he’d play nice with the guy, and Mike was nothing if not a man of his word.

“You hate golf,” he said, watching her closely. Kris could see the wheels in his brain turning as he tried to guess her motives. He’d understand soon enough, but for now he needed to stay in the dark.

Kris shrugged. “Caleb escorted me to my company party and played nice with all the people who decide my pay grade. That’s a fair trade for a round of golf.”

“Ah, so you two work on the dating barter system? Alternating unpleasant dates in the name of true love?”

A corner of Kris’s mouth curved up before she could stop it. “Shut up. Can I borrow them or not?”

“Guess that depends,” he hedged, still watching her. “Will you go golfing with me the next time I ask?”

“No way,” she laughed. “You want to go golfing with a girl? Call that girl who was just draping herself on your front porch earlier and go on an actual date.”

Mike let out a slow breath. “She was hot. Maybe if she’s around in a few months…”

“Yeah. I’ll pray for that,” Kris drawled. “Until then, how about those clubs?”

“Use them. You know where they are, right?”

“Yeah.”

Perfect. Kris had her own set of clubs for the night. That gave her leverage with Caleb, which was something she was growing short on. The more money he spent on her, the more he acted like he owned her. The more she kept his wallet in his pocket, the easier it was to put him off at the end of the night. And she needed Caleb to keep his paws off for just a few more days.

Then it would be game on.

“Sure you don’t want to break up with him tonight?” Mike offered. “Luke’s coming home tomorrow, and we both know how well he’ll take the news of your new fling with Caleb.”

It was pathetic that the mere mention of Mike’s best friend had Kris feeling a little jittery. Less than seventeen hours and Luke would be home. Not that she was counting down.

“He can deal,” she said, suddenly not knowing where to look or where to put her hands. She grabbed another ball and tossed it at the hoop. Air ball. “He always has before.”

“Yeah, but you’ve never dated his arch enemy from high school before either. We both know he’s going to be pissed that you’re kissing the enemy.”

Kris rolled her eyes, hoping that her forced laugh sounded natural. “Whatever. It’s just kissing, bro. Luke will get over it.” Or at least that was Kris’s biggest fear—that Luke would get over it. Because after years of trying to make Luke jealous—of trying to get him to step in and take notice—Luke never had. Not once. And if he didn’t do so with Caleb, then that meant only one thing.

He didn’t care. And if Luke didn’t care about Kris any more than the average friend, then…

Then what?

It wasn’t something she had time to consider at the moment. Caleb would be picking her up in fifteen minutes, and the guy was never late.

“Thanks for the clubs.”

“Just don’t throw them into a lake,” Mike said, pulling his headphones back up into place.

The imagery got a smile out of her. “I’ll do my best. Have fun working into the night, weirdo.”

Mike rolled his eyes and sent her a distracted wave before turning his focus back to the screen.