Page 7 of When We Ignite

I frowned. “He’syourfuture brother-in-law. If I’m your brother, that doesn’t make him mine, does it?”

They all nodded.

“He’s your brother-in-law because of our marriage,” Charlotte told me.

“Is it weird if that makes it hotter?”

Henry barked a laugh. “It’s very fucking weird.”

“It’s not my fault your little brother’s a snack. Are you going to give me his number?” I asked Charlotte with a grin.

She shook her head, and I pouted. Her laugh rang through the space again—at least she had a sense of humor about this. Oliver, on the other hand, was still looking at me like he wanted to murder me.

My phone vibrated, and I quickly flipped it over. Teddy Langley.

Fuck.

Oliver met my eyes, and his expression shifted from irritation to resigned disappointment. Another pang of guilt. I needed to make time for him and Charlotte—I’d canceled this lunch more times than I could count. As soon as work settled, I’d fix that.

With a sigh, I set my napkin back on the table. “I have to take this. If Father launches into a rant, consider this my parting gift—it was lovely seeing you, Charlie. Even lovelier than seeing your brother in tennis shorts.” I smirked, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to it again. “See you soon.”

Oliver scowled, and I blew him a kiss before answering the call and pulling another cigarette from the box.

CHAPTER TWO

ETHAN

Charlotte and Oliver were moving to Long Island before the wedding. They had bought a house and had been renovating it since the engagement. The week after meeting Sebastian, they invited me to celebrate again. I headed over there after class, half-hoping he would be there, but it was just their friends and Henry with his latest girlfriend. I didn’t ask Charlotte if he was coming, but after a couple of hours, I assumed he wasn’t.

Sebastian Langley was the most intimidating person I had ever met. Everything about him—from how he stared, keeping his eyes fixed on mine without looking away for a second, to how he held himself—was daunting. He had this insane confidence, he knew how attractive he was, and I’m sure enough people told him daily. He probably got anybody he wanted. It was difficult to imagine someone saying no to him.

He was tall and imposing, his hair kissed with silver—not too much, but still there. It didn’t make him look older but rather distinguished. He was also incredibly well put together; you could tell he was meticulous by how much effort he put into his appearance. Sebastian Langley was—objectively—a very attractive man.

Everything about him screamedadult. He was older than I thought, making him ten times more intimidating. I had figured that conversation with him would grow stale in seconds, but he made it incredibly easy. In the days after we met, I told Maya, my roommate and best friend, all about it. It wasn’t much, but I still went over it in my head about a million times. Maya, always eager for gossip and unwavering in her support, listened to my obsessive rant over and over again.

The Langleys were like celebrities. They were one of the most influential families in America. Their wealth stemmed from real estate holdings that went back generations. Sure, they wereverywell off, but when a family of millionaires gives birth to three stunning adult males, everyone takes notice. They were constantly spotted in the media, going about their lives and mostly trying to keep to themselves.

I’d been getting used to the idea of Charlotte and Oliver for years now—it didn’t faze me—and I’d been around their same crowd all my life. Maybe not exactly the Langleys, but close. But Sebastian? I just couldn’t wrap my head around it being him. The man I had seen for so many years, the one I heard my friends regularly singing praises to—thatSebastain Langley—was the one who had been hitting on me. Onme.

Now, stepping out onto the terrace for a smoke, the whole encounter flashed before my eyes again. My thoughts were interrupted as Henry walked out with a drink in hand, his signature toothy grin plastered in place as he spotted me.

“Young Ethan, how are you?” he asked, sitting beside me.

“Good. You?”

He shrugged with a grimace. “Marisa is turning into a pain. I shouldn’t have brought her to this.”

I chuckled. “Are you hiding?”

“Yeah. I knew bringing her over to Oli’s love nest was a bad idea. Perfect brother getting married gives her the wrong idea, you know?” He reached for my vape and took a drag without asking.

Henry—or Henny, as his brothers affectionately called him—looked like Sebastian, making it easy to recognize them as siblings. They all had the same dark-brown eyes and coffee-colored hair. They even had similar smiles.

“She’s imagining the ring onherfinger?”

He snorted.

Their laughs were different, though. Henry’s was loud, just like him, with those occasional mocking snorts. Oliver always looked away or covered his mouth when he found something hilarious.