Consolation Prize (Forbidden Men #9)(132)

Brandt flicked him a grateful glance. “Barely keeping my head above water.” And then he settled his gaze on me again. “How’re you doing?”

I sank closer to Colton, hating that question. But when he squeezed my fingers supportively, I nodded. “Better.”

“Good.” Brandt ran his hand through his hair as if still distressed, though. “Look, I owe you a huge apology, Juli. I was a complete ass when I found out about you and Colton.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “You were.”

He winced. “I’m sorry. I have no excuse for the way I behaved. It just caught me off guard and seemed so suspect because you two had purposely kept it from me. But still, I don’t know why I ever thought you might have settled for him for even a minute. Hell, he’s my brother; I know as well as anyone it’s impossible not to love the little shit.”

“Gee, thanks,” Colton said dryly.

Brandt and I shared our first grin in weeks.

Still smiling, I looked up at my boyfriend and squeezed his arm. “He’s right, though. You are impossible not to love.”

Much more pleased by my answer, Colton leaned down to press his lips to mine. “I know,” he murmured into my ear, forcing me to grin and punch his shoulder lightly to help him tame his ego. Except I kind of liked his ego, and I think he knew that.

Shaking his head at us, Brandt merely let out an amused chuckle before lifting his hand to wave. “You two have definitely proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that what’s between you is real and has nothing to do with me. So I’m glad you’re happy.”

When Colton and I glanced at each other, Brandt added, “Let me know if you guys ever need anything.”

He took off, patting Colton’s arm companionably as he passed. I glanced after him, trying to remember the crush I’d had on him but not really able to stir up the emotions. Then I looked up at Colton, and a rush of feelings flooded me. Yeah, what I felt for him had nothing at all to do with his brother.

This man right here had saved me in all kinds of ways. He’d taught me to be happy with myself and not care so much about other opinions, to give first impressions—especially the cocky egomaniac ones—a second chance, and to recognize a true relationship when I entered one. They weren’t just two people who looked good together but two people who worked well together.

He lifted his eyebrows, waiting for my reaction to the encounter we’d just had. I shrugged, not able to hate Brandt since he was Colton’s brother, but definitely not loving him either. “Meh,” I said. “I guess he can be your best man if you insist.”

Surprise filled Colton’s face and his mouth even parted in shock before I realized what I’d just said.

Hell, I think I’d pretty much just proposed to him.

I opened my mouth to somehow talk my way out of my inference, but he only smirked and pressed his finger to my lips before grinning. “Deal.”





COLTON’S EPILOGUE





Two & a Half Years Later



My wedding day started just shy of seven o’clock on a warm June morning, about two weeks after my twentieth birthday. It was the summer break before my senior year of college. My soon-to-be wife had graduated two years earlier and was actually working for Ten’s architectural firm, in the accounting department. And we’d been living in our own place—no other roommates—for about eighteen months now.

I liked to tease her about becoming my nerdy, numbers-crunching accountant wife while I peeled off her conservative cotton panties and stripped her bare. She’d just blink at me dryly and then demand I go down on her in reconciliation. I didn’t exactly mind: eating my favorite * wasn’t the hardship for me she seemed to think it was.

But this morning, there was no stripping or *. I woke on Noel and Aspen’s lumpy, too-short couch to two-year-old Lucy Olivia and five-year-old Beau watching me curiously. I swear, their faces were like two inches from mine. It freaked me out so bad I nearly pissed myself.

“Holy shit!” I yelped, jerking upright and slamming my hand to my chest. “What the hell?”

Little kids should never be allowed to do that to people.

“It’s your wedding day,” Beau announced, popping around the room while his sister crawled into my lap and demanded I snuggle with her.

Yawning, I cuddled her close and then breathed in the smell of breakfast cooking from the kitchen. “Yeah,” I said, my brain not quite able to function further than that. “My wedding day.”

I’d much rather have woken up in Juli’s arms, much the same way I had for the past two and a half years with her lovely figure draped across me, but Sasha and Tyla would’ve had my balls on a platter if I’d dared to sneak a visit to my bride before I saw her in the church today. So yeah…getting the shit scared out of me on my wedding day worked too. It definitely woke me up, anyway.

Lucy Olivia could only snuggle a few seconds before both she and Beau were tugging on my hands, urging me to follow them into the kitchen, where Noel and Aspen were at the stove together, talking quietly to themselves as they fried my favorite, French toast.

“There’s the groom!” Aspen cheered when she saw me. “Are you ready for today?”

She’d healed completely from her postnatal depression, and actually, she and Juli had attended group therapy together for a while. They’d gotten close over the past few years, but not quite as close and Julianna and Sarah had gotten. That friendship was what surprised me the most. Julianna and Sarah had grown as thick as thieves. Sarah was actually going to be a bridesmaid today.