She gasped. “What? That is beyond rude! Jace, hold her arms down!”

I slipped out of the chair, darted past Jace, and took off for the living room. It was just like Kinlee to say something like that in front of guys I’d just met—one of whom she was trying to set me up with—but they didn’t understand, it was really embarrassing the way I reacted to my sweets. No way in hell I was gonna allow them to feed me!

I’d just rounded the corner leading out of the living room when I ran into a brick wall. The wall’s hands shot out and grabbed my upper arms to steady me at the same time I reached out and grabbed broad shoulders in an attempt to keep myself upright and looked up. I inhaled audibly, and his gray eyes widened as his lips separated. My chest was rising and falling quicker than normal, and it had absolutely nothing to do with running away from Jace or running into the most incredible-looking man I’d ever seen, but damn if it didn’t have everything to do with the man himself.

He was looking at me as if he’d just found what he’d been looking for—and the look was so open, so intense, it sent a shiver running down my spine. It should have scared me, but it somehow felt like what I was looking at was a reflection of what I was feeling.

And that just made no sense. I wasn’t looking for anyone. But this man? Yeah, I’d found everything I’d never even known I’d been looking for . . . in him. I could feel it in the way I felt like I needed to be closer to him than I already was, the way the tips of my fingers were tingling with a need to explore his body, the way I was physically aching to know everything about him. And yet, I felt like I knew everything there was to know about him, and we still hadn’t said a word. It felt like hours had passed before Jace’s voice sounded behind me.

“Kace, sooner you eat a bite, sooner this is all over!”

Eat a bite . . . what? I couldn’t remember why I’d even ended up in the entryway of Jace and Kinlee’s house, let alone make sense of his words right now. All I knew was that Jace had brought me back to reality, that I felt like I was home, like I was where I was meant to be for the first time in my life . . . and it was in a stranger’s arms. That thought—that realization—was scaring the ever-living hell out of me.

The stranger holding me blinked rapidly, and his hands tightened before he let go and took a step away from me. Even then, we still couldn’t tear our eyes away from each other . . .

“KC, you can’t hi—What the hell, you’re not even trying to hide. Oh, hey, Brody!” Jace said loudly, stepping between us to hug him.

. . . until Jace’s last word. I dropped my head to stare at the floor, my eyes wide with horror.

Brody? Oh, God, this is Brody? The married brother? I felt so stupid, I should have realized it the second I’d seen him. I didn’t have to look back up to notice that he was practically the same height as Jace, with the same black hair, amazing smile, and tan skin from their Italian heritage. It was obvious they were brothers, but at the same time they looked nothing alike to me.

Of course, Jace was attractive, hell, he was more than attractive, but Brody was . . . you couldn’t even begin to describe Brody as attractive. Perfection was a better word to start with. Though nothing about him was so perfect that he looked put together in the way Charles always did. His nose had a slight bump along the ridge, his white smile showed perfectly straight teeth, but was crooked . . . and I could look at that crooked smile all day long.

“Yeah, just walked in and I ran into . . .” I glanced up when he trailed off, noticing that his gray eyes were on mine, and his gravelly voice lowered even more. “. . . Uh, I ran into her.”

“Oh, right. Brody, this is KC. Kace, this is my brother, Brody.”

That crooked smile was back as he reached an arm out, only this time it was directed at me instead of his brother. And God it took everything in me to stay away from him when he directed it at me.

“It’s a pleasure,” he said quietly.

“Jace, it’s not fair if only you see KC’s O face,” Kinlee called out. “She has to be in the kitchen for all of us to see!”

My breath rushed out in a huff, Brody’s eyebrows lifted, and Jace started laughing along with Craig and Aiden as Kinlee came around the corner.

“Hey, Brody! I didn’t know you were here already! Good to see you.” Kinlee hugged his waist hard and looked up at him. “Glad you got to come out today. Can I get you anything?”

He smirked at her, and his eyes met mine again. “Well, apparently I’m here just in time to see KC’s O face.”

My shoulders slumped, and I dropped my head to look at the floor again. “Kinlee, swear to all that is holy no more free cupcakes, ever.”

“Oh, get over it, Kace.” She bumped my shoulder and smiled sweetly at me. “It’s funny and you know it is. Plus, we don’t have to worry about an icebreaker now, everyone’s having a good time.” She squeezed my hand and began towing me back toward the living room, but I pulled my arm free.

“I’ll be back.” I tried to avoid Brody’s eyes, but it was impossible as I turned and made a beeline for the bathroom to collect myself. I wasn’t mad at Kinlee, it had been funny at first, but I was beyond freaked out by my reaction to meeting her brother-in-law.

Turning on the water in the sink, I realized my hands were shaking. I made quick work of taking off my glasses, splashing water on my face, and turning the water off before gripping the counter. What was happening to me? And what happened in the entryway with Brody? My heart was still beating fast, and I swear I could feel his hands on my arms. The way his gray eyes had captured mine and held them, making it feel like time stood still, was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. This was fairy-tale shit, this kind of thing didn’t happen in real life.

Except, it just had.

And the man was married.

I groaned and shakily put my glasses back on as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. My blue eyes were too bright and my cheeks still too red. I looked excited. I was excited—I’d just found a man who changed everything I’d ever known. Taking a deep breath in, I held it for a few seconds before I blew it out as I realized that I’d found the one thing in life I would never be able to have. Why, after only two minutes of being near him, did that hurt so badly?

Brody

May 5, 2015

GLANCING BEHIND ME, I looked around for that Casey girl and came up empty. What the hell had just happened with her? She was beautiful, sure. Wide blue eyes, full lips that had been drawing me in, and the kind of body I’m sure a lot of women paid thousands for. But that wasn’t what got me. There was something else in those eyes, and it had taken Jace blocking her from view before I could stop looking at her. God, what was it about her? I could still feel her pressed against my chest. Now I was forcing myself to stay where I was instead of finding her to ask what had just happened.

“Man, I was surprised as shit when you called to say you were coming over, it’s been a long time. Too long.”

I smiled and took the beer from my younger brother’s hand, trying to be grateful for the distraction. “I know. It’s been kinda intense lately. Shift change at the department has really screwed with me, I’m still not used to the time changing on me, and then Olivia . . . well . . . you know how that goes.”

Jace grunted and Kinlee rubbed my arm as she passed me to go stand in Jace’s arms. “What happened now?”

“She drained our accounts again,” I mumbled. Looking around once more, I made sure no one was close enough to overhear our conversation. I took a long pull from my bottle and shrugged like it was nothing new—because with Liv, it wasn’t.

“Shit, how much this time?”