Page 27 of For the Promise (The Raider Brothers #2)

“If it was possible to divorce your siblings, I would.” ~ Jaxon

Jaxon

I stifle a yawn as I swirl the whiskey mixture. I haven’t been this tired since I was in college and decided I could handle twenty credits a semester. And I could handle seven classes during the semester. Surviving exam week was another matter entirely.

But I’m not exhausted from spending all night studying for an exam. I’m exhausted because I didn’t get much sleep this weekend. Although Blossom and I spent all day Sunday in bed, there wasn’t much sleep happening.

Blossom. The woman I’m now dating.

I frown. I don’t know how to keep a vibrant, outgoing woman like her interested in me. Despite her reassurances, I worry she’ll be bored of me and my simple life in record time. My heart stutters at the thought. It’s entirely too attached to her already .

I rub a hand over my chest as I move to my computer. I click on the folder I created this morning.

The door bursts open and Kai, Zane, and Miles rush inside.

“Happy Friday!” Kai shouts.

“It’s Monday.”

He shrugs. “I refuse to be constrained by society’s views on days and time.”

“It’s not society’s views. Day and time is not a construct. A year is based on the Earth’s revolution around the sun. Days and months are then—”

He whips up a hand to stop me. “Enough. I’ve heard your lectures before. It changes nothing. I don’t care what day you call today. What I care about is how it’s time to hit up the Rumrunner for drinks with your brothers.”

I scowl. My younger brothers are always finding reasons to skip out on work. “I have work to do.”

“Please, come with us,” Kai pleads.

“Kai is anxious to visit Rumrunner since his girlfriend works there,” Zane says.

Kai glares at him. “Harper is not my girlfriend.”

Miles chuckles. “Not for lack of trying on your part.”

“ How to Woo a Woman. ” Crap. While Kai and Miles were arguing, Zane crept up on me.

My brothers gather around my computer to read my screen. I try to click away from the book I was reading but Kai steals my keyboard and Zane, my mouse.

“Chapter one,” Miles reads out loud. “Be chivalrous. ”

“Chivalrous?” Kai snorts. “What century was this book written in?”

Zane sighs. “And you wonder why Harper won’t give you the time of day.”

Kai glares at him. “As if you’ve been chivalrous a day in your life.”

“Yeah.” Miles nods in agreement. “Isn’t your motto ‘leave while they sleep’?”

Zane shrugs. “I always thank a woman before I leave. I don’t wait for them to fall asleep.”

This is exactly why I didn’t ask my younger brothers for advice. Kai is hung up on an older woman who won’t give him the time of day. And Zane and Miles are players.

And I’m not asking Rhett or Eli for advice. Eli stumbled and blushed through giving me the birds and bees talk. I waited until he was finished to let him know I’d already decided to wait until college for sex. I didn’t wait, but since he believed I did, he left me alone.

“Chivalry isn’t dead,” Miles reads from my computer. “There’s a list of examples of how to be chivalrous.”

“Why do you need examples?” Kai asks.

“Yeah.” Zane nods. “Aren’t you married already?”

Miles elbows him. “It’s fake, remember?” He whisper-shouts.

“Fake, right?” Kai winks. “The same way those scratches on his back on Saturday were fake. ”

I ignore how my back tingles and my balls tighten with memories of how I got those scratches. I can’t get hard in front of my brothers. I’ll never hear the end of it.

“Do none of you have work to do?” I ask.

Zane shrugs. “I can’t do anything on the marketing campaign for the new flavor of whiskey until you figure out what it’s going to be.”

I find it difficult to believe the marketing manager of the distillery has nothing to do but as I have no clue what his actual duties are – marketing doesn’t interest me in the least – I keep quiet.

“I did a couple of sales calls today. Sold a ton of whiskey. I deserve a break,” Miles declares.

Whether he did sales calls or not is immaterial. Miles always thinks he deserves a break. Especially when the waves are ‘off the hook’ – whatever that means.

I cross my arms over my chest and address Kai. “I know you have work to do.”

As the operations manager, Kai needs to be in the distillery the most often of my three younger brothers. Which is a problem since he’s never on time and believes time is a construct to put the man down. I have no clue what that means either.

Kai’s nose wrinkles. “The work never ends. If I stayed here until I was finished, I’d live here.”

This is the reason I begged Eli to find an experienced operations manager for the distillery. Kai isn’t mature enough for the position. I end up handling the majority of his tasks. I don’t complain, though. It’s easier to do the work than ask Kai to do it. He’s an expert in making up excuses.

Rhett peers into my office. “I didn’t know we were having a Raider brother meeting.”

“We’re not.”

He motions to Miles, Zane, and Kai. “Four out of six brothers is a majority.”

“They were just leaving.”

Zane laughs. “He’s trying to get rid of us because he doesn’t want us to tell you what he’s reading.”

“Which is silly,” Miles adds.

“Because, of course, we’re telling you,” Kai says.

Rhett crosses his arms over his chest and stares at our brothers. “Tell me what?”

“Nothing!” I shout as I snatch the keyboard from Kai and finally manage to shut the book I was reading.

“He’s reading a book about how to woo a woman,” Zane says.

I try to stop them but my cheeks warm with a blush.

“How to woo a woman?” Rhett asks and Zane nods. “This is great news.”

Miles smirks. “Great fun, you mean.”

Rhett waves a hand in dismissal at him. “Are you serious about Blossom?”

I contemplate lying. I don’t want my brothers all up in my business. But there’s little chance of them removing their noses from my business anytime soon. Besides, I don’t want to keep Blossom a secret. I’m proud to be with her .

“We’ve agreed to start dating.”

Kai’s mouth drops open. “Say what now?”

Zane bumps his shoulder. “Don’t be jealous because Harper won’t date you.”

“I’m not jealous,” Kai mutters. “I’m surprised a woman as beautiful as—”

“Not to mention outgoing and fun,” Miles interrupts to say.

“Would date Mr. Nerdy,” Zane finishes.

My insecurities roar to life. They’re right. Blossom is too different from me for this to work. I shouldn’t have agreed to date her. She’s going to end up breaking my heart.

Rhett squeezes my shoulder. “Don’t listen to the rabble-rousers. They’re trying to get a reaction out of you.”

“After all, you do have a temper,” Miles says.

I frown. “I do not have a temper.”

He lifts an eyebrow. “And you didn’t punch the groom in the face at a wedding either?”

“He deserved it.”

“He deserved to have his nose broken?”

“Yes. He said some nasty things about Blossom. I asked him politely to stop. He refused. I felt consequences were necessary to make my point.”

“I’m just going to say it,” Zane says. “I’m loving my nerdy, emotionless brother falling in love.”

It’s true. I am falling in love. I’m helpless to stop the fall when it comes to Blossom. I did try. I attempted to ignore her for months. But Blossom is not a woman who can be ignored .

“I am not emotionless,” I argue, since I’m not discussing how I feel about Blossom with my brothers.

“Obviously, since you punched Blossom’s ex at his wedding.”

I didn’t suddenly develop emotions this weekend. But I refuse to argue this point with Zane or any of my other brothers. It’s an argument I can’t win. Trust me. I’ve tried. I know when to retreat with grace.

“Aren’t you on your way to Rumrunner ?” I try to shoo them out of my office.

Rhett growls. “No one better be on their way to a bar at two in the afternoon on a Monday.”

Kai groans. “You’re boring.”

“You’re lucky the waves aren’t calling my name,” Miles mutters as he leaves. Kai and Zane follow him out.

“Thanks,” I tell Rhett.

“You can thank me later.”

“Later?”

“After you fuck this up and I help you get your girl back.”

I push my glasses on top of my head and massage the bridge of my nose. “You’re not helping the situation.”

He slaps me on the back. “I am. You don’t realize it yet. But I am.”

“Oh, there you are.” Dakota enters the room. “You disappeared on me.”

He throws his arm around her shoulders. “Sorry, Havoc. My brothers were having a meeting without me.”

“The manager of Velvet Blossom phoned twice. ”

Velvet Blossom is a restaurant chain we supply with whiskey.

“Shit. I’ll phone her now.”

Rhett hurries away, but Dakota doesn’t move. In fact, she shuts the door behind him.

“Is something wrong?”

“Are you dating Blossom?”

I’m surprised she doesn’t know since Blossom is her best friend. Or maybe this is a trick question. I never did understand trick questions. “Yes.”

“Finally.”

“I’m done ghosting her.”

“Good. She deserves better than a man who ghosts her.”

“She does.”

“I like the two of you together.”

“So do I.”

“But if you hurt her, I won’t hesitate to pour vinegar in your vats of whiskey,” she says with a glare before opening the door and strolling out of my office.

If I hurt Blossom, I’ll deserve any wrath Dakota can dish out.

But I’m not worried about hurting Blossom. I will probably mess up since this is a new situation for me. But my mess ups won’t be intentional. I’d never hurt Blossom on purpose.

And I don’t think she’d hurt me on purpose. Except she thinks she won’t get bored of me. I’m afraid she’s wrong. And when she does get bored, it will hurt.