Page 3 of Tempting Me (The Asher Family #3)

CHAPTER TWO

LUCA

What the fuck is happening?

As if it’s the most natural thing in the world, I watch as Miles, my twin brother, mind you—clearly twin telepathy or whatever isn’t a real thing—places his hand on the lower back of his mortal enemy.

All right, all right. Mortal enemy might be a stretch, but that doesn’t change the fact that my brother is cozying up to Quinn Banks right now.

In public.

At our older brother Hudson’s bar.

And Miles seems to be enjoying himself.

I’d slap myself if I weren’t in so much shock right now.

He can’t stand Quinn.

She’s … she’s … well, there’s nothing wrong with her, to be fair, but Miles thinks everything about her is wrong.

Her lifestyle. Her hair. Her smile. Her … shit, yeah, okay, I get it now .

Still, when in the hell did this happen, and how did I miss it?

Miles looks at me quickly but then glances away.

That’s right. Don’t look me in the eye. I’ll know what you’re thinking.

In fact, I’ll probably?—

A truck speeding by the big window that reveals Main Street steals my attention.

Anderson Construction.

What.

The.

Fuck.

I get up abruptly and walk out the door to watch not one, not two, but three trucks go by. They head down Main Street, a lot faster than the speed limit allows, in the direction that leads out of town.

Good.

Bye-bye. Don’t let the allegiance of our small town kick you in the ass on your way to the highway.

Assholes.

I still can’t believe they accepted a job here anyway.

Loyalty is one of the most important traits a person could have, and the person who hired those greedy fuckers is lacking far more than they’ll ever admit.

I can’t blame her completely. She’s close with her family the way I am with my own. If I were ever in that situation, I’d pick my family too.

The only problem is, I thought that family was my family. I mean, I’d spent just as much time at their house as I spent at my own. Our families used to do get-togethers on a weekly basis, but then one day, someone stole from The Marina, and they blamed it on me.

I tried to convince them that I had no idea what they were talking about, because I didn’t steal shit, but no one believed me.

Yes, it hurts that Shay doesn’t believe me, but it hurts more that her brother, Leo, didn’t.

We did everything together and, well, I considered him just as much my brother as I do Hudson and Miles.

But he didn’t believe me either.

It sucked.

A lot.

I wanted to get back at him for not trusting me after all the years of friendship we had, so I slept with his girlfriend. I was a teenager. I was dumb. I was a fucking idiot. Any chance we had to fix our friendship was 100 percent ruined by my one single choice.

That’s how quickly your life can change.

And every single day that I see those trucks or I see Shay, I'm reminded of just that.

Now, at least half the problem is gone. The other, well, I guess I just cross my fingers I don’t run into her in town.

Work has been busy, and by the time 4 p.m. hits and I’m sending the guys home, I still have paperwork to complete. Bids to prepare, payroll, and a few mock-up designs to draft.

I wave goodbye to Benson, Darrell, and Stan, my three employees, then lock the shop door to Asher Construction. I’ll be back to work in the office, but it’s hot as fuck right now, so I need a cold drink and some food .

One of the things I love about living in a small town is that everything is within walking distance.

Outside of the lodge and The Marina anyway.

My shop is right at the end of Main Street, so I really have a prime spot.

If I turn left from the shop, I would hit Restore and Repair, Miles garage, in one block or my dad's house in three and the grocery store in four. If I walk straight, Main Street will lead to Hudson’s Bar, B’s Bakery, three small restaurants, clothing shops, a new dance studio, a jewelry store, a florist, and a few other basic businesses every town has like a bank, a law office, et cetera.

If I turn right, my house is one block over.

Like I said, it’s a prime spot.

I walk up Main Street until I reach B’s Bakery. Brooke, who owns it, will be closing any moment, if she hasn’t already.

The open sign is still showing when I get there, so I swing the door open.

“I know, I know, I do this way too much and you’ll have to make a fresh pot of coffee just for?—”

I stop mid-sentence and take a misstep. Brooke is not alone.

“Hey, Luca.” Brooke smiles and waves from behind the counter. On the side, picking up her coffee, is Grace Richford.

Now, I've known Grace for a long time. Since before we could drive.

My best friend growing up was Leo Parker, and Grace was, still is, Leo’s little sister’s best friend.

So that means, by Shay’s standards, Grace doesn’t care for me either.

As soon as Grace spots me, her left brow raises .

Now, it could mean she’s displeased to see me, but it could also be due to the fact that I’m just staring at this point.

“Brooke. Grace.” I nod to them.

Grace laughs and then flips her hair over her shoulder.

“Luca.”

Cool. More awkward silence. My fucking favorite. Not.

“Any chance there’s coffee left for me?”

“I had a feeling you’d be in today,” Brooke says, and Grace laughs.

Why is she laughing? Brooke didn’t say anything funny.

I snap my gaze to Grace, and she rolls her eyes with a smile.

“I’ll see you two later,” she says and heads for the door.

As soon as she's gone, Broke says, “You could be nicer.”

“I’m nice.”

“You do business with her family.”

“Technically, I work with her brother and not her. We all know how Grace can be.”

“Do we, though?” Brooke asks. “Because she’s nice to everyone, including you.”

“She was just laughing at me.”

“No, she wasn’t. She was laughing because when she came in asking if I had coffee left, I said yeah, I have a hunch Luca is about to walk in here to ask the same question. And then viola, you did.”

“Really?” I feel a bit stupid for assuming.

“Just because Shay doesn't like you doesn't mean Grace doesn't.”

Brooke hands me my iced black coffee with cream, and I hand her some cash .

“I actually think you and Grace would get along great. You should ask her out.”

Now it’s my turn to laugh.

I’ll admit, I've considered it, but this is a small town, and as I said before, the family she’s closest to hates me.

She’d never go for it.

Which sucks because, again, small towns don’t carry a lot of options when it comes to dating.

“Why is that funny?” Brooke asks.

“Because her best friend is Shay, so could you just imagine us all hanging out?”

Brooke sighs. “I guess you're right. Doesn't it bug you though, watching your brother fall in love and … I don't know. Being far from it?”

I study Brooke for a moment, and I'm about to ask her if watching her best friend Sadie and my older brother Hudson fall in love is bothering her, but then the door opens and Grace’s older brother, Dutton, walks in.

Brooke marches past me, flips the open sign to closed, and then points at it all while looking at her new customer.

“It didn’t say that when I walked in.”

“It says it now,” she snaps, and I can’t help it. My eyes widen because, holy shit, I’ve never heard Brooke use that snarky tone before.

Dutton shakes his head and then looks up to me.

“I have some work I need done at the lodge. Can you come by later this week?”

I nod. “Tomorrow. I’ll be there.”

“Thanks,” he says and leaves without even looking at Brooke once more.

Another bout of awkward silence fills the bakery as Brooke locks the door behind him. She huffs and then smiles at me as she heads for the kitchen.

“I guess I’ll just go out the back?” I ask. She nods.

Then she’s gone, and I’m left standing there.

What is with the people in this town right now?

First Miles is being weird with Quinn, and now Brooke with Dutton. Sure, I don’t know Dutton very well. I only know the work side of him, and yeah, it’s only two people, but two people who play a very active role in my life.

Damn.

Is it the coffee?

I hold the cup up as if I can see through it and then chuckle to myself.

Maybe I just need to get a life.

I let myself out the back door of the bakery. It would be weird that I’m doing that, but since my older brother is engaged to Brooke’s best friend, who used to own the bakery, it’s not.

I head toward Hudson’s Bar’s back door. Again, my brother owns the bar, so it's not that weird.

I wave to his kitchen staff as I walk through, and as soon as I open the door to the main bar, Hudson looks up and smiles. I wave and then my gaze snags on Grace, who is just leaving with a take-out bag in hand.

Seems we both have a busy night ahead of us.

Dating isn’t the worst idea, and Grace has her life together, which is nice.

She runs her family's lodge with her siblings, and they do well for themselves. Dating another like-minded motivated individual sounds like something I could get on board with. She’s smart, driven, lives on her own, and is only a couple of years younger than me. She’s perfect on paper.

I sigh and take a seat at the bar. I’ll order a burger to go so I can get back to work.

My gaze drifts to Grace once more as she walks by the front window.

Suddenly, Shay comes into view. She looks panicked.

I can’t help but grin.

Karma is a good friend right now.

And a good friend is exactly what I’d need from the person I’m dating.

So, that means Grace is out.

The door opens, and Shay walks in.

Our eyes meet, and I groan while she glares.

Looks like I won't be ordering a burger after all, because there’s no way I’m sticking around for whatever mood Shay is dishing up.

She may be one of the prettiest women I’ve ever set my eyes on, but I don’t have the time or the energy for a woman like her.