Page 19

Not answering me, he turned toward Landon when he laughed aloud before aiming his deadly gaze back at me.

“What did I do?” I asked.

Linus appeared to have more to say.

“For fuck’s sake, Con, you are the biggest fucking moron on the planet right now. We know something happened between you and Ollie, and considering you’ve made it a point of emphasizing the fact you two are friends and only friends, I can also assume you are the one responsible for the sadness we catch in his blue eyes when Ollie doesn’t know we’re looking. So, I’m going to ask again. What did you do?”

Admitting only in the recesses of my mind, I feared my brothers when they were protective of someone other than meor the family. But then, I was proud of Linus. He was the quiet and observant one, and I was seeing a new side to him, one as fierce and protective as Sam or Landon. He was a great defender, and I would be more proud of him. Only if his disdain aimed elsewhere.

“I kissed him.”

The disgust marred each face as they threw their hands up and started talking in the fast-paced language they shared whenever they became upset or wanted to speak without others knowing what they were discussing. I hadn’t heard it enough to interpret the times I’ve witnessed it, but their anger was toward me.

I breathed a sigh of relief at the text chime coming from my phone.

Spencer: Hey, Con? We’re getting together tonight at Kaid’s. You in?

Me: Who’s we?

Spencer: Lee, Kaid, Lewis. You should bring Ollie.

Me: Yeah, sounds fun. Let me ask Ollie, and I’ll text you on the way.

Shit, even my friends knew about whatever this was between me and Ollie, because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut about him. Yes, I’d talked about him nonstop since he moved in with us and raved about our closeness, but I sensed there was more to Spencer’s request, as though they were inviting us to Kaid’s for a specific reason.

With my explanation cut off as all of three of them glared at me when I tried to explain, it shut me up. I abandoned my three brothers behind in my room as they plotted my death andfollowed the sound of the clicking and found Ollie at his desk, concentrating on the screen in front of him as his fingers flew over the keyboard.

Over the past few weeks, I’d read all of his books. Despite not being in love or even being in a relationship during his lifetime, the man captured the raw feelings and scorching sex shared between two men in love, and I read through his books as fast as I could. Even if the instalove was a little effusive for my tastes, I couldn’t wait to read his next one. The knowledge of his next book containing traits of Thomas and my older brother’s relationship didn’t detract from my excitement at getting my hands on it as soon as possible.

I knocked on the doorframe and watched as Ollie’s hands stalled over his keyboard and he blinked, pulling himself back to reality, before glancing over to see me in the doorway. His smile punched me in the gut, leaving me breathless for a short time.

“Hey, Ollie, I know you’re busy, but do you want to meet some of my friends?” I asked.

Something about his hesitation dimmed the smile on his face, and I wanted to reassure him.

“It’ll be great. Lee, Spencer’s husband, will be there and Kaid hired a new chef because he’s building muscle for the movie he’s filming and Kaid sings his praises. What do you think?”

He searched my expression for several seconds before his smile lit up his face and he jumped to his feet. There was a pause before he turned back to his computer, saving a backup of his work, then shutting everything down. As he glanced down, a grimace wrinkled his mouth and displaying the laugh lines around his eyes.

I was smitten. There wasn’t a thing about Ollie that I hadn’t taken notice of and not found endearing.

“Do I have time for a quick shower? I… don’t remember if I took one this morning and I refuse to meet your friends as this mess. So, I’ll be out in fifteen, okay?”

Without waiting for my reply, he strode toward the bathroom and when it clicked shut, my body shivered as I thought about following him and seeing what we could get up to in there. And that led to thoughts about his body wet as water sluiced over him, his eyes closed as he washed his hair… shit, and I was getting hard.

I glanced down and noticed the tee and jeans I had on and shrugged. It was hot, and I had no desire to change. Kaid wouldn’t have many people over to the house because of his limited tolerance with people.

Before long, we were in my Aston Martin DB12, speeding along the hills as we drove the short distance to Kaid’s. Because of Spencer’s problems with his old friend Mason we’d all witnessed first hand, the three of us bumped up security surrounding our properties, not taking a chance.

I pulled up to the gate and pressed the buzzer. As soon as the camera flashed on and a stoic Kaid spotted my face, he buzzed us in. I pulled up behind Spencer’s electric vehicle and turned toward Ollie.

“You doing okay?”

He nodded, and then his stomach growled. “I might be a little hungry.”

With such an honest reaction, my face hurt as a laugh escaped me, thrilled I’d met this man.

“I’m glad the universe threw us together,” I admitted.