Never Marry Your Brother's Best Friend (Never Say Never, #1)

I pull into Kyle’s in record time to find him in the driveway tinkering with his motorcycle. I bite back the snarky comment that tries to escape, but Luna has no such desire.

“That’s your brother? He doesn’t look anything like you.” She’s leaning forward like getting four inches closer to the windshield will let her get a better view of Kyle, who’s wearing low-slung jeans, thick-soled boots, and no shirt, leaving his nipple piercings quite visible. Before I know what’s happening, I stick my arm in front of her and press her back to the seat. If we’d been coming to a sudden jolting stop in traffic, it would’ve been perfectly normal. But at a standstill in Kyle’s driveway, it’s definitely not and Luna looks at me in shock. “What was that for?”

“Saving you from yourself,” I explain. “Kyle doesn’t look like the rest of us because he’s nothing like us. It’s not only that he’s unpredictable, he’s—”

“Hot?” Luna suggests softly.

Jealousy rears up inside my gut. Luna’s not mine beyond this play act tonight, but I don’t like her lusting after my brother. Especially one who is my polar opposite, though I’m not going to examine why that in particular bothers me.

I glance out the windshield myself. I know that Kyle is attractive. He’s a Harrington, with all the genetic benefits that implies. But instead of the dirty blonde and blue-eyed, tall and lean-muscled version the rest of my brothers grew into, Kyle is shorter, wider with muscle, and has darker hair that he keeps long and messy. Though he has blue eyes, they’re not the deep blue the rest of us have but rather an icy blue.

But the true difference is in presence. We’re mostly cultured, having grown up with Dad’s expectations of what being a Harrington means. Kyle skipped all that, officially left home at eighteen, though he'd been gone long before that, and he lives a life filled with grease, motor oil, and roughness for no reason that I’ve ever been able to discern.

He’s every girl’s dream bad boy . . . except that he’s actually bad.

That Luna finds that the least bit attractive irks me. “You can put your tongue back in your mouth. He probably still has last night’s frosted flakes on his dick.”

“Huh?” Luna looks at me in surprise, then waves her hands. “Never mind, I don’t want to know, and if I do, I’ll ask Samantha. Not you.”

Shit. I guess that was a bit crass, but it was the jealousy talking.

“Sorry. Stay here. I’ll see what the big emergency is,” I tell her brusquely as I open my door. “Hey, man, what’s up?” I say to Kyle by way of greeting. “Like I said, I’m in a rush.”

“Yeah, yeah . . . you’re always in a rush. I have a life too, you know.” He’s risen to his full height, which puts him at six feet, still a couple of inches shorter than me, but with his arms crossed over his chest, he looks ready to take me on, especially given that I’m in my nicest gray suit for the dinner. “I need you to . . . whoa, well hellooo there.”

Kyle’s looking over my shoulder, and there’s only one thing he could be seeing. Luna.

“Hi, I’m Luna,” she says, and I can hear the . . . sweetness in her voice. I never get that, goddammit.

“I told you to stay in the car. This won’t take long.”

I don’t have to see her to know she’s doing something behind my back because Kyle is fighting a losing battle to hide a smirk. “Well, I guess I’m too unpredictable and don’t like being told what to do,” she challenges.

I turn to face her fully, and her bratty grin melts when she sees the thunder in my face. “We’ll see about that,” I warn.

“Hey, I’m Kyle. This guy bothering you?” Luna looks past me to Kyle but thankfully shakes her head.

“More like the other way around.”

I feel like I’m on the outside of whatever conversation they’re having, and somehow, the butt of the joke too. “What do you want? No time for shooting the shit.”

Kyle plops down onto his motorcycle sideways, his feet spread out to brace himself. “The two of you are going to dinner? No offense, Luna, but you’re not his usual type.”

She laughs, and that hurts. “I know. I have a brain, my own boobs and nose, and this is . . .” She looks around as if someone might overhear her revealing a deep secret. “My natural hair color.”

She flips her brown curls over her shoulder dramatically, and Kyle’s deep chuckle pisses me off, but not nearly as much as Luna talking shit about who I typically date. “It’s not like I only date blonde bimbos.”

“Of course not, dear,” Luna says in a patronizing tone, patting my arm before she flashes a conspiring look to Kyle.

Kyle grins. “Ooh, I like this one, Carter. Are you sure you can handle her? If not, I could take her off your hands and show her a good time.” He licks his lips, running his thumb over his bottom one as he leers at Luna.

Luna turns her fire on Kyle, rolling her eyes as she says, “For all his audacity, you’re an arrogant asshole. Neither are exactly sexy. To me, at least.”

Wisely, I choose not to remind her that she was drooling over him mere moments ago.

Kyle shrugs off the dismissal. “I wasn’t expecting you to hop on my dick. I just like giving my brother a hard time, especially when it seems like he’s crashing and burning already. Can’t say I’m disappointed to see the show. It’s some pretty entertaining shit.”

I’ve had enough of this. We have places to be. Returning to the issue at hand, I demand, “What do you want?”

Kyle lets out an ear-piercing whistle, and the storm door swings open so hard that it hits the porch wall. “Uncle CJ! You’re finally here! I’ve been waiting forever and ever!”

My niece, Grace, is running at me full-force, and I brace for impact instinctually. “Hey there, Gracie girl! How’s my sweetheart?” I pick her up and spin her around, her legs flying out behind her in a move we’ve done since she was little bitty.

“Good!” she shouts as she laughs. Putting her down, she informs me, “Uncle Kyle says you’re taking me home because he has work to do.”

Shooting a deadly glare at Kyle, I answer Grace, “Oh, he did, did he?”

“Yeah, you can drop her off at Mom’s. Cameron’s gonna grab her from there after dinner, but I can’t put her on the bike yet. Cam’s orders.”

Kyle seems to think I’m going to drop everything and handle this.

Of course he does. The selfish prick. At least he followed Cam’s rule on the bike.

Admittedly, we all help take care of Grace. She’s like the family mascot, always hanging out with one of us. It started when Cameron lost his wife and Grace was just a baby. He understandably needed time and couldn’t handle everything amid his grief, so we all stepped in to help, and as much as Cameron annoys me by being the golden child at work, I would never take it out on Grace. She’s blameless for her dad’s assholery.

But not today.