Unfriended(Love in New Highland Book 1)(28)

"She and Karl are sending each other flirty texts."

I narrowed my eyes. "You knew about that?"

"He told me."

All the gooey goodness filling my balls evaporated. I ground my teeth. "Do you still plan to marry him?"

She hesitated, then nodded firmly. "Yes."

My jaw tic started bothering me. "And it doesn't matter to you that he's sitting at the table right now liplocked with Aura?"

"He's what?"

"Look for yourself," I invited, but she was already turning.

She jolted back. "Wow. They're … wow."

"Pretty blatant, huh? You think that's not going to be your life after Saturday?"

A giggle bubbled out of her. A fucking giggle. "Ah. Well. Boys will be  boys, or however the saying goes. He can kiss who he wants. Girls can be  girls too."

My foggy vision grew red. "Charis, marrying somebody is not a joke. It  should mean something. It's a fucking sacred union      . It shouldn't be a  lie on paper."

She met my eyes, and I saw her register my expression. "You're really  troubled about this. I don't get it. Why is it so important that we  don't get married? Do you have a problem with my being in your family?"

"I have no problem with your being in my family. I just don't want you  to suffer a world of hurt. I know how seriously you take marriage, so  the fact that you're even doing this is a problem." I also have certain  blocks against boning my brother's wife.

"And … that's it?"

She fucking well knew it wasn't. "No, that's not it, but that's damn well enough."

"Hey, guys."

We turned to see Karl and Aura standing there, holding hands. Karl was  smiling wryly. Aura was glowing. I'd never seen her looking so giddy.

Honestly, in the few minutes we'd been gone, her mood had done a  complete one eighty. She looked like the sun had just promised her it  was going to shine on her and only her for the rest of her existence.

I'd never brought on a look like that.

I had the strangest feeling …

Karl raised Aura's hand in his to bring her wrist to his mouth and  simultaneously saluted us with his right. "You're off the hook, squirt,"  he said to Charis. "I've explained my problem to Aura, and she's agreed  to marry me instead."

After dropping that bomb, Karl bent and kissed Aura right there in front of us.

This time, I was the one who threw the punch.



                       
       
           



       

CHAPTER 17





One Year Ago-In the Middle of Robocop



Charis: If you had to guess, at what point did human beings stop turning to violence to settle petty disputes?

Asher: That's another trick question, right?



Asher



IN THE AFTERPUNCH, I FELT a helluva lot better.

I was alone there. Karl and Aura were-well, who knows what they were  doing or where they'd gone, I don't really care. But I guarantee you  Karl wasn't smiling anymore.

Nor was Charis. She sounded depressed. "I told you you weren't over Aura."

"What gives you that impression?" I asked.

We were strolling, vaguely headed toward her place, fighting the wind  and stinging rain. After I'd belted Karl in the jaw, we'd all stood  around staring at each other until he and I said simultaneously, "I'll  just-" and grabbed the arm of the nearest woman.

I let him settle with the restaurant and headed out with Charis. I  didn't know where her car was, but mine was blocks away and the only  thing that mattered was that I had her to myself for the first time in  ages.

"Oh, gee, I don't know, maybe the fact that you just slugged your  brother in the middle of a crowded tavern because he decided to marry  your girlfriend instead of me."

I paused, rubbing my sore hand. "You've got to be kidding me. That's not why I slugged him."

"Oh, no? Then why?"

"He just reneged on your engagement, taking assholishness to a whole new  level. At least now he'll have to wait until the swelling goes down  before he actually fucks her."

"How is this not jealous behavior again?"

I opened my mouth, then shut it and started walking again. How to  convince her that the thought of my ex-girlfriend in bed with my brother  was weird, a tad unsavory, but not a major thing? "I was defending your  honor, Sloane."

Now it was she who halted. "Oh."

"That's it? Oh is all you can say?"

"That was … I guess nice of you? Is that what you want to hear? Even if it  was pointless violence toward a perfectly innocent family member."

"Innocent my ass. He booted you to the curb, Sloane. Why are you making excuses for him?"

"I'm not. I wasn't offended by what he did. He knows that. But as I said, it's nice of you to care."

If she wanted to think I was being nice, rather than possessive, that was fine by me.

We were stopped half a block from her place. The rain smelled like the  honeylocust next to us, which hadn't even bloomed yet. I turned her to  face me, liking the way she freaked at my free and easy handling of her.

Get used to it, sweetness.

I stepped close and let my bare hands cup her cold cheeks. "Karl's okay.  He could have avoided that punch if he wanted to. But since I'm such a  nice guy, I'll call him tomorrow and make sure I didn't hit a pimple or  something."

I felt zero hostility toward Karl at the moment. As soon as that punch  had landed, I'd seen that by snatching up Aura, he'd done me a huge  favor. In hindsight, I wasn't sure that hadn't been his intention all  along. I only wondered why I hadn't thought of the whole scheme first.

"Do, uh, you fight like that with your brother a lot?" She looked cute pretending to ignore the way I was holding her face.

"Not since it dawned on me that he can cream my ass every time. The only exception is when I catch him by surprise."

"He knows how to fight, like, really fight?"

Her cheeks were warming up. I stroked them with my thumbs, enjoying the  satiny feel of her skin. I wondered how many men had discovered that  Charis's skin was the softest, silkiest thing you could ever hope to  touch.

"He spent all his tender years in Detroit, he's worked as a bouncer,  he's done some MMA and boxing, he basically taught the rest of us how to  defend ourselves … and why don't you know this about your ex-fiancé?"

She adjusted her hat. "We're not that close. Uh, Asher, what are you doing?"

"You know what I'm doing." My thumb was near her mouth. I skimmed the corner of it. It opened.

Opened. Sweet. Maybe she did it out of habit or reflex, but it meant her guard was down. Just how I wanted her.

I cleared my throat. "So you're disengaged. Unengaged. Reverse engaged."

She blew bangs out of her eyes. "Yeah."

"How does it feel?"

"It's a relief," she admitted. "He shouldn't marry Aura, though."

"No fucking kidding."

"I mean, it's kind of twisted, the whole idea. Not of marrying someone. I'm talking about, you know. Marrying your ex."

"A nightmare for everyone involved," I agreed.

"Still … I'm glad he did it. I was close to crapping out on him. And I felt really bad about that."

Her confession sent a surge of blood to my cock, like she'd reached down and given it an encouraging yank.                       
       
           



       

"Thank the lord, Char. Not doing so would have been a move of epic stupidity."

She scowled at me. "I'd promised. I thought it wouldn't be a big deal.  And you know, I was kind of lonely. You weren't hanging around. I just  thought it might work out fine … "

I couldn't help it; my thumb swiped across her lower lip. That made me groan and her smack her lips together.

"No, don't close your mouth." With increasing urgency, I probed the seam of her lips.

She jerked back, looking confused. But she didn't shove me away.

"You're weirding me out," she said, hardly moving her lips.

"Let me see some tongue."

Her eyes started crazy-blinking.

"Come on. Pink tongue. I've seen it before, woman, what's the big deal here?"

She was breathing hard, steaming little puffs of air against my thumb.  She knew my question wasn't as innocent as it sounded, all right.

My voice turned coaxing. "Aw, one tiny peek … just the tip … that's all I'm asking. Once I get that, I'm good for now."

A laugh sputtered out of her, giving me what I wanted. "You are such a goofba-mph!"

Her mouth was warm and slick and so luscious that taking it made my cock  aim straight for the sky. Kissing women in the cold, your primary  thought is generally, get inside where it's warm. Kissing Charis out  here in the blowing rain, I had no primary thought, just more of that.  More. This is so fucking right.

I withdrew an atom's width to mutter, "It's a done deal that I'm going to see your naked body," then took her mouth again.