The Anti-Hero (The Goode Brothers, #1)(9)

My smile is forced as I nod. “Oh? How is she?”

Naturally, waiting until her mouth is empty, she finally replies, “She’s good. Such a beautiful girl. I can’t believe she’s not married yet.”

Subtle.

“Well, she’s running a business, Mom. I doubt she has time for dating.”

“I know,” she replies. “But a business is hardly a replacement for companionship and a family.”

My brows rise as I consider that the last I heard, Lucy’s cycle studio was expanding with three more locations and a crew of celebrity instructors. I’m willing to bet companionship is the last thing on Lucy’s mind.

“I think she’s always had a crush on you,” my mother adds. I feel Lucas’s eyes on my face and I shoot him a quick help me glance.

But when he only laughs to himself, offering me no lifeline out of this conversation, I toss him under the bus. “Luke’s single.”

Of course, this makes my mother uncomfortable, and I instantly regret it. She’s not willing to set her church friend’s daughter up with the least Christian son she has. Or at least that’s what the elephant in the room is screaming.

“Oh, my sweet Luke is so handsome too,” my mother says in a singsong voice as she turns to sweep his wavy brown hair out of his face. Then she brushes his cheek before leaning in and pressing a kiss to the spot.

His lips press together tightly to express his discomfort before quietly uttering, “Thanks, Ma.”

“It would be so nice to see my boys settle down—

especially you, Adam.”

Why, in that moment, do I think of my new rose-haired friend? The thought of her at the table with us, striking up a conversation with my mother or Caleb’s wife, Briar, is so ridiculous it nearly makes me laugh. Those tiny ripped shorts in our dining room. Tattoos and piercings at this table. They’d all think I lost my mind—especially the man at the head of the table.

I’m sure the conversation would be awkward and hilarious at the same time. She’d make my mother blush and my father scowl. Lucas and Caleb would be obsessed with her if only for the chaos she would wreak on our home. If Isaac were here, he’d adore her.

Get out of your head, Adam.

Maybe I should just take Lucy out. I bet dating a successful career woman would be easier anyway. No need to impress her. Things could be simple. Just going through the motions. Sex, intimacy, affection—all surface level, but that would be perfect. It wouldn’t require much. It would tick all the necessary boxes.

My father would most certainly approve.

That’s what I need—a safe, practical relationship, even if it doesn’t sound all that exciting.

“Perhaps you could ask her to the charity dinner next month,” my mother adds persistently, just as I take the last bite on my plate.

“I’ll think about it,” I reply, although I could very well just tell my mother to coordinate it. Like a little matchmaker, she’d have Lucy’s mother on the phone in minutes and the whole thing would be meticulously orchestrated without an ounce of effort from me.

But I don’t. Something holds me back.

I’m not exactly sure what. Maybe it’s the energy required in dating. Or the fact that as beautiful as Lucy Clayborn is, I don’t find myself particularly attracted to her. I haven’t once reminisced about the shape of her lips or the playful cadence of her voice.

Perhaps what’s really stopping me is the pink-foiled business card in my wallet—and the opportunity it represents.





Four

Sage

“Y our ass looks so fucking good in those shorts,” Brett says as he steps into the office.

I’m bent over the desk, running the numbers on this month’s expenses for the hundredth time, but they’re not adding up and it’s making me frustrated as hell.

Brett comes up behind me and grinds against my ass, but I hardly pay him any attention.

“Babe, where is this extra fifty grand coming from?”

He ignores my question and buries his nose in my hair.

“I told you we made a shit ton in liquor sales last night,”

he replies, mumbling into my neck. Warmth trickles down my spine as I feel him stiffening behind his zipper.

It’s making my head foggy as I reply. “But I have the receipts for that. The sales are accounted for.”

“You must be missing something then,” he replies. His fingers dance along my ribs, and I giggle and squirm in response. He knows how ticklish I am, and he’s teasing me on purpose.

“Brett,” I whine, my attention wavering from the expense report to the way he’s warming my body up.

“I need you, baby.” His deep voice growls against my ear, and I quickly lose my strict resolve. Within seconds, I’ve lost track of the reports, and I’m letting him shimmy down my shorts. Then he thrusts in hard from behind me.

My fingers crinkle the papers on the desk as I hold on to the surface to give me leverage.

“I have the best girl in this whole fucking club. Look at you, princess. So fucking good for me.”

He’s always been talkative during sex, and I shut my eyes tight as he pounds into me, trying to focus on my own orgasm

before he gets his.

I love his praise—I do. It’s just…lost its allure.