Unexpected Rush (Play-By-Play #11)(3)

“I have no idea.” She pushed back from the table. “But I’m going to find out.”

Mama’s house was much bigger than the one they’d grown up in. First thing Drake had done when he’d gotten his initial pro paycheck was buy their mother a new house. She’d objected, saying she liked her old one just fine, but Drake had insisted her old house was crumbling down around her. He hadn’t felt right about her staying in it, and she had finally relented.

Mama was a proud woman. She didn’t need anyone to take care of her. And for years, she’d been the one taking care of both Drake and Harmony. But their old house had been a wreck, so Harmony had been so glad Mama agreed to the new one.

There was a crowd around her brother and Barrett right now, and the last thing she wanted was to nudge herself in the middle of Barrett and Drake. Drake was overprotective and had been since their dad died when Harmony and Drake were young. Mama had raised them alone, but Drake, being two years older, had put himself in some sort of parental role, which had been ridiculous at the time, but after Dad passed, Harmony had felt lost and leaned on Drake for support. He’d been her closest ally and her best friend.

Until she’d turned fifteen and had fallen madly in love with Kellan Smith. Drake had done everything in his power to squash that romance.

In hindsight, a good move, but at the time she’d hated her brother for getting in the way of the love of her life.

Fifteen-year-olds often didn’t make the best decisions. Kellan had been fine looking, and had moves a young Harmony had never before been subjected to.

Nor should she have been, since Kellan had been nineteen at the time.

Drake had cornered Kellan and threatened to not only kick his ass, but have him arrested. When Kellan had dumped her, she’d been devastated.

She hadn’t found out about Drake’s threats until later. And she’d been pissed.

Her brother had always been up in her business. Which she supposed had been fine when she was a teenager, but she was twenty-five years old now. Way too old to have him monitoring who she saw and who she didn’t.

And she still needed to know what Barrett had been talking about, so she waited until Barrett wandered into the backyard by himself with a beer in his hand.

She followed him, one eye on her brother, who was preoccupied with the television, laughing with some of the other guys from the team.

Satisfied Drake didn’t have his eyes trained on her, she slipped out the back door.

Barrett stared out over the garden.

She stepped up next to him. “A little too noisy in there for you?”

He frowned at her. “What are you doing out here, Harmony?”

“Trying to get you alone so I can ask you what you meant by the rule.”

He took a long swallow of his beer. “The rule. The guy rule.”

Somehow she knew she wasn’t going to like this rule. “What guy rule?”

He turned to face her, his body so imposing. She imagined he was quite threatening on the football field. But to her, he was just Barrett. Sexy, incredibly hot Barrett.

“The unspoken rule about not messing with your best friend’s little sister.”

She gave him an incredulous stare. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am.”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I’m not a child, Barrett. I’m a grown woman who can make her own decisions. And you’re a grown man capable of making your own decisions as well.”

He looked unmoved by her statement. “You’re Drake’s sister. That makes you off-limits.”

“Unbelievable. What is this, medieval times? Who comes up with this shit? Do you guys get out a notebook in the locker room and make lists?”

He didn’t smile. “This is serious business, Harmony. And no, we don’t make lists. It’s an unwritten, unspoken rule. Every guy knows it.”

If her eyes rolled any harder, they’d roll clear out the back of her head.

“It’s a stupid rule.”

“Nevertheless, it’s there. And I’ll honor it.”

Before she gave herself a headache, she walked off, back inside.

Alyssa joined her. “What did he say?”

She poured herself another glass of iced tea, still wishing it was that dirty martini, because this day was getting more bizarre by the minute. She took several sips of tea and leaned against the kitchen island. “It’s some moronic man code about not getting involved with your best friend’s sister.”

Alyssa gaped at her. “What? That’s dumb as hell.”

“Which is what I told him.”

“Did you also tell him you’ve had a crush on him since the first time Drake dragged him into the house, back when they were in college?”

“I most certainly did not.” She’d never told anyone—other than her best friend—about her years-long crush on Barrett.

“You should tell him. Maybe that would change his mind.”

“I don’t think so. And don’t you tell him, either.”

Alyssa made crisscross motions over her heart. “Your secret goes to the grave with me, sister. You know that.”

Said crush had ebbed and flowed over the years. She’d been nineteen the first time she’d laid eyes on Barrett. She’d taken one look at tall, dark-haired, blue-eyed Barrett and had fallen instantly in lust.