Page 46 of Between Never and Forever

“You gotta be kidding me,” Dimitri grumbled. Yet, his hands were already pulling away from my back like he knew that was a line his brother wouldn’t allow to be crossed. “Let’s get one thing straight right now, brother. You’re not going to make rules about Kee and me. You lost that privilege.”

“Did I? Interesting. It seems the title of fiancée—”

“Doesn’t mean shit when it’s only for appearances,” Dimitri finished for him.

“She’s still my fiancée.” Dex said it like it was a clean-cut statement, no argument for anything else.

“Fake fiancée,” I corrected and sighed. He had to realize his brother was protecting me. And then I leaned my head on Dimitri’s shoulder. “D will always be my best friend, Dex.”

Dimitri kissed my forehead and sighed. “If we all come out of this alive, you both owe me a damn dinner.”

Dex cracked his knuckles. “Let us get through it then.”

Dimitri stared at him before looking back at me. I shrugged because, honestly, it was just another thing I needed to add to the list to get through in my life.

“You’re a masochist. Or a genius. Or both, Keelani.” He squeezed me before he let me go and murmured, “Call me if you need me.”

I replied back, “Always when, never if.”

“She won’t need you,” Dex announced.

“She most definitely will. It’s why I’ll be here the whole six months, Dex. Watching to make sure you don’t fuck this up.” Then, he said, “You hurt my best friend, I break your face, Dex, even if you are my brother.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way, Dimitri,” Dex said, but he was staring at me now, a look I couldn’t quite read on his face.

I guess it was a sibling bond. I was an only child, so I didn’t quite understand it. It was like they needed to get it out of their systems and draw the proper lines.

Dimitri clapped him on the shoulder and then kissed my cheek. With that, my best friend left his brother and me standing alone.

“I’m going to ask this once, and I know I shouldn’t. Did you have something with my brother?”

ChapterSeventeen

DEX

The questionabout her past relationships shouldn’t have mattered, and I shouldn’t have asked it. Yet, it literally took everything in me not to sock my brother in the face for kissing her forehead in front of me after he’d offered to undress her.

“You’re a dumbass, you know that?” she said with a face of disgust.

It was a fair assessment. I felt disgusted with myself, not only for the question but for the jealousy. “Do you intend to answer the question?”

“I mean, you want to know if I’ve kissed him? Because you know good and well I never fucked him.”

“Didyou kiss him?” My blood was starting to boil.

“So what if I did?” She shrugged and then turned around. “Help me get out of this bralette since you're so ridiculously territorial you won’t even let your brother do it. As if he hasn’t seen me naked already.”

I practically choked on my own saliva as I tried to work through her confession. I grabbed at the string, but it tangled more as I cinched it this way and that. “Why the hell has he seen you naked?”

“Dex, literally most of the nation has seen me naked. I’ve posed forVoguenaked. Don’t get me wrong, it was classy but it happened. And Dimitri has taken me to model shoots and sat there working through some of them. I don’t know what he does on his computer.”

“Probably nothing because he's staring at you,” I grumbled.

And then she wheezed because I pulled the string the wrong way. “Oh my God. You’re done helping with this. And we’re done talking about this.” She tried to take over the strings.

I shoved her hand away. “Who else has seen you naked?”

“Do you even hear yourself?”