My Best Friend's Sister: A Forbidden Romance (The Masons Book 1) Read online

  She shrugged and broke our gaze, accepting her tipple of choice from James with a smile. “Thanks,” she said, clinking her bottle against his before raising it in my direction.

  I lifted mine in response, keeping my distance like a lion attempting to make a lamb feel at ease. “To James.”

  T H R E E

  - Madeline -

  After a few fleeting introductions, James squirreled me away to Alicia’s room so we could talk, and I found myself instantly distracted by her bookshelf, which was stocked not with paperbacks, but with designer bags.

  My eyes traveled from one of her Louis Vuittons to a Prada backpack that wasn’t even available in stores yet. I was wondering how many months of my rent it would cover when I realized James was looking out the high-rise window across Lake Michigan, a wistful expression on his face. “You okay?”

  “Of course.” He smiled at me before looking back at the Chicago skyline, which twinkled under a pink sunset. “Just going to miss this place, ya know?”

  “It’ll be here when you get back,” I said, walking past Alicia’s monogrammed bedding to join him at the window. “As will Alicia, if I were a betting woman.”

  He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

  “She’s pretty into you, huh?”

  “What makes you say that?” he asked, his eyes scanning Lakeshore Drive, which was crowded with cars inching forward like tiny beetles wearing headlamps.

  “Apart from the life-size cutout of Prince Harry with his arm around you, the way she looked me up and down before you told her I was your sister was a dead giveaway.”

  “Sorry,” he said. “I’m having trouble getting her to take a hint.”

  “Is she why you’re skipping off to London?”

  “No, I’m going for work,” he said, his navy button-up making his light blue eyes look darker than usual. “The decision had nothing to do with her.”

  Ouch.

  “Anyway, I’d rather talk about what’s going on with you.”

  “You brought me to Alicia’s room to talk about what’s going on with me?”

  He shrugged. “I would’ve preferred her guestroom, but everyone’s dumping their coats and bags in there.”

  “Speaking of which, how does she even have a guestroom? What does she do?”

  “She’s a nanny for a family that lives on the Gold Coast.”

  I raised my brows. Unless she was a nanny for Oprah’s dogs, I still didn’t see how—

  “And her great-grandfather invented tinfoil,” he added.

  I laughed and shook my head. “Where do you even meet these people?”

  “In bars that don’t do dollar bottle specials.”

  I sneered. “Wouldn’t know any.”

  “Why did Maeve send me a text earlier saying you need to stay at my place while I’m gone?”

  “Because she’s bossy and sucks at minding her own business?”

  He turned towards me, and his wrinkled forehead suggested he was waiting for more.

  I sighed. “I don’t need to crash at your place. I have a place.”

  “You’re killing me, Mads. Just tell me what’s going on. You know you can tell me anything.”

  I could feel his love for me as I studied his kind eyes, as if the fact that he’d prioritized my company in a condo full of his closest friends wasn’t proof enough of his sincerity. “Remember how I made that Look Book using snippets from my blog and sent it to BELLE magazine after I read that all those nutty self-help books about manifesting my own destiny?”

  “Reading self-help books is only nutty if you never take action on the ideas they inspire.”

  “Is that a yes?”

  “Yes,” he said. “I remember you saying you were going to do that.”

  “Well, they offered me an internship.”

  His face lit up. “Maddy, that’s fantastic!”

  “I know,” I said, sparing him the monologue he’d heard a million times about how depressed my receptionist job made me. “But it’s unpaid.”

  “So what? The bottom of a ladder you want to climb beats a ladder with no fucking rungs at all.”

  “I can’t afford it,” I said. “My dream is to work in fashion, not for free.”

  His face furrowed. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this. This is your lucky break! Please don’t fail to realize that just because the opportunity’s arrived in an unappealing package.”

  I nibbled my lip. I knew he was right, knew I’d always wonder what if I’d just sucked it up and been poor for a while. Hell, I was already poor. Wasn’t being poor and happy better than being poor and miserable?

  “If you don’t take it, you’ll always wonder what would’ve happened if you had.”

  He knew me too well.

  “It’s like this London thing for me,” he said, looking out the floor-to-ceiling window again. “It’s not that I want to leave my comfort zone. It’s that if I don’t, I’m playing small. Wimping out. Closing myself off to a new experience.”

  I imagined his friendship with Quinn had more than prepared him for all the stiff upper lip he was in for.

  “Dead-end receptionist jobs will always be there,” he said. “You owe it to yourself to at least give this internship a try.”

  I nodded slowly, processing his words. “I’ll talk to Kiki. Maybe she can spot me for a bit or ask her boyfriend to start chipping in or something.”

  “Her boyfriend?”

  “He basically lives with us.”

  Disgust twisted his face. “So you’re the third wheel in your own goddamn place?”

  “I’d say the mess Kiki’s boyfriend makes is the third wheel these days.” I thought of how many times I’d picked up the Pop Tarts wrappers he left in his wake, how many times I’d slipped on the boxers he abandoned on the bathroom floor. To be honest, I couldn’t even remember the last time my side of the couch was free. “I’m more of a dispassionate observer.”

  “So you should stay at my place for a while,” James said. “Maeve was right.”

  “For the love of God, let’s not tell her that.”

  He lurched back as if his shocked expression had landed with force. “You think I’m crazy? Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  I grinned.

  “Shame she couldn’t have come tonight,” he said, failing to hide his disappointment. “But I know how she is about her job.”

  I wondered what excuse she gave for blowing off his party and felt a little smug knowing she’d trusted me with gossip she hadn’t shared with him. It was juvenile of me to feel that way, but I was never privy to their secrets growing up because I wasn’t “old enough,” so I couldn’t help but be delighted whenever either of them confided in me now.

  I understood Maeve’s position, though, so I wasn’t about to blow her cover. Making small talk with James’s fancy friends made her want to fork her eyes out. Plus, if she admitted she was staying in to look at a baby batter catalogue, it would’ve launched him into that over-protective mode where he forgets he’s not, in fact, her big brother, too.

  “The offer’s there, anyway,” he said. “I haven’t promised the place to anyone else, and I’d be so happy to know I was helping you chase your dream.”

  “I appreciate that, James. I do. But I’m not sure it’s entirely your decision.”

  His eyes pinged left to right like he was looking around for who the fuck’s decision it might be. “What are you talking about?”

  I squinted at him. Was he really that dense? “Don’t you need to maybe run it by Quinn?”

  “Quinn?” he asked, stuffing his neck back. “Why the hell would he have a problem with it?”

  F O U R

  - Quinn -

  The seal was officially broken, so I was relieved when there was no line outside the bathroom. Not that there wasn’t another I could check, but I liked the one off Alicia’s bedroom. It had a short trail of round tiles surrounded by pink and blue stones you had to navigate to get to the toilet, which amused me. An
d that was more than I could say for the conversation I’d just had with Amber about how I should totally join her beach volleyball club. Well, I say conversation, but I drank for both of us while she did the talking.

  I turned the handle on the ensuite and swung it open just in time to catch Maddy rooting through the medicine cabinet. Her brow was furrowed like a detective on a hot scent, but her face fell when she saw me.

  “Are you doing what I think you’re doing?” I asked.

  “Don’t you knock?”

  “Don’t you lock the door?”

  “I thought I did,” she said, glancing at the other entrance behind her as she sank back onto the heels of her tan sandals, which had long skinny straps that she’d wound around her ankles several times. They were tied just tight enough to sink into her skin as if they were gently biting her, and the thought made a waft of jealousy billow through me.

  “Didn’t find what you were looking for?” I asked, stepping inside and getting a faint whiff of flowery perfume that was no doubt sprayed during her snooping sesh.

  Maddy’s cheeks flushed until they matched the stones underfoot. “Please don’t say anything.”

  I lifted my palms, as if to show her I intended to leave empty handed. “Saying anything isn’t really my style.”

  “I was just curious what kind of face cream Alicia uses and whether she’d have a shelf full of Xanax like a Real Housewife.”

  “You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” I said. “I only stopped by to do the same.”

  She glared at me like she didn’t appreciate being mocked.

  “But for the record, I think Alicia’s drug of choice is probably spirulina or whatever powdered green muck they’re selling these days at the East Bank Club.”

  She turned to face me, her right foot stumbling into the small stones beside the large tile she’d been standing on.

  “Sorry to disappoint.”

  She shrugged. “To be honest, I hoped I’d find something that would make me dislike her, so I won’t feel so bad when James breaks her heart.”

  Poor, Alicia. The truth must’ve been obvious to everyone but her. Then again, Maddy had always taken a special interest in any woman that was visibly invested in her brother. It was actually kind of sweet. Made me wish I had a sibling that would look out for me simply because of shared childhood experience. “You didn’t have to come in here for that,” I said, leaning back against the door so it latched shut. “Haven’t you seen her bookshelves?”

  She swallowed, giving away the fact that being in the enclosed space with me made her uneasy.

  Admittedly, the feeling was mutual, but there was another exit on her side that she was welcome to use. Yet she stayed, not even taking a step back as the air around us grew thick with something. I wanted to make it stop, wanted her to feel comfortable around me, but I didn’t know how. So I drank her in too slowly instead, unable to help myself.

  “What’s wrong with her bookshelves?” she asked, her voice cracking as my eyes drifted back up to hers.

  I wished I knew whether she was the same kind of uncomfortable as I was or if she just didn’t like me. Either way, she still hadn’t left, as if my presence made her forget what the fuck a bathroom was for. “None of them have any books on them.”

  Her eyes narrowed like she was trying to decide if I was right.

  “You don’t have to take my word for it,” I said, glancing at the long, white countertop to my right. “Have a look around.”

  “I didn’t know you were a reader.”

  “I didn’t say I was,” I said, not wanting the conversation to take a personal turn. “I’m saying Alicia isn’t.”

  “Right.”

  In truth, I was a reader, but getting Maddy in an enclosed space and bringing up books when I knew she read voraciously, too, seemed dangerously flirtatious. Like the kind of thing I might do if I were trying to seduce her mind, which I wasn’t. It was bad enough that I wanted her physically, but at least I didn’t know her. At least her hopes and dreams and fears were a mystery to me, and that gave me enormous peace of mind.

  After all, I had a terrible feeling that I wouldn’t like her less if I got to know her. Not that I admitted that to James earlier when he told me she might need to crash at our place for a while. How could I? If I pretended to care, it would’ve given away the fact that I did. So I bit my tongue and spent the next hour mulling over the two-minute conversation, trying to figure out when I might’ve casually mentioned that I thought it was a terrible idea. Except he would’ve asked why, and I couldn’t tell him the truth. I couldn’t tell him that it took me weeks to recover every time I saw her, that the sound of her laugh strangled my heart in my chest. That I knew exactly how many times I’d made her smile hard enough that the dimple in her left cheek appeared.

  Plus, I would’ve looked like a monster if I hadn’t been supportive after he explained that her current living situation had become untenable. “I know it might cramp the plans you had for all those orgies while I’m away,” he’d said. “But I’d do it for your sister.”

  Would you? I wanted to ask. Because your sister sure as hell does it for me. In the end, though, I think I went with, “Sure. Whatever.”

  “Now that you mention it,” she said, glancing in the mirror and giving her hair a tousle. “I don’t think I’ve seen any books at all.”

  My lower stomach clenched as I buried the urge to tell her she’d never had a hair out of place in her life.

  “Is that why you came in here?” she asked, a sly smile pulling her lips to one side. “To gossip about Alicia with me?”

  “No,” I said, seriously. “I came in here to take a piss.”

  Her cheeks burst into flames. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “It’s cool,” I said, knowing I was about a minute away from it not being cool anymore. Which was disturbing because taking a leak when you had a bladder full of booze was one of the best feelings on earth. Yet, for some reason, it seemed I’d rather stand around “gossiping” with the one woman I couldn’t have. Christ.

  Maddy turned around and followed the round tiles to the exit on her side. “It’s been a while since I played hot lava,” she joked, reaching for the doorknob.

  Funny. That’s how I feel every time we speak.

  The lock clicked as she turned the knob and swung the door into Alicia’s bedroom.

  “By the way,” I said as she stepped out. “It’s fine with me if you want to move in.” Goosebumps rose against the inside of my shirt at the words. “If you need to, I mean.”

  She blinked at me. “James already talked to you?”

  “There wasn’t much to talk about. You need a place, and he’s got one to give you.”

  She leaned a shoulder against the doorframe.

  “We’re not really in the habit of telling each other who they can and can’t invite into their bed.” Okay, that came out wrong. I should stop talking and focus on not pissing myself.

  “I realize that,” she said. “But you probably have a parade of women coming and going all the time.”

  I cocked an eyebrow and used the rest of my energy to resist reaching for my fly. As much as part of me didn’t want her to move in, the part of me that did knew exposing myself to her wouldn’t be a very welcoming invitation. “So? Don’t tell me you’re the one person who doesn’t love a parade?”

  She scowled at me before relaxing her face. “Well, I appreciate the offer, but I’m going to try to work things out with my roommate before I force myself on you.”

  My eyes popped wide as I stepped onto the round tile directly in front of the toilet.

  “I mean, before I impose,” she stammered. “Before I—you know what I mean.” She waved a hand through the air.

  “Sure,” I said. “Whatever.”

  She went to close the door but stopped short and lowered her voice. “Can I ask you something?”

  I clenched my jaw and took a deep breath, assum
ing correctly that her question was hypothetical.

  “What does he see in her?” she asked. “Like, I get that she’s gorgeous and too generous for her own good, but what does he see in her?”

  None of the things I see in you, I wanted to say. Instead, I shrugged, deciding to spare her the crude truth, which was that Alicia’s generosity—particularly in the bedroom—had a lot to do with it. “Do you mind?” I asked, ready to burst.

  “Oh right.” She dropped her eyes to the bulge in my dark wash jeans. “Sorry.”

  Holy fuck, she knows I’ve got a dick even though I’ve always tried to hide it from her.

  “I’ll leave you to it.”

  And with that, she was gone. And even though I finally got a chance to piss in peace, I felt everything but relieved.

  F I V E

  - Madeline -

  He totally saw me look at his crotch. Granted, he was probably used to women’s eyes wandering in that direction, so there was a chance he didn’t notice, but days later, I was still mortified.

  The guy tried to be nice for once, and I thanked him by shamelessly trying to catch a glimpse? Not that that’s what I was doing. Or was I? I don’t know. I couldn’t think straight when he was around the same way a mouse doesn’t daydream about cheese if you put it in a room with a cat. It just panics and shakes and tries to hold very still.

  Which was why I absolutely could not go live with him. That much I knew. God forbid he tried to pee again only to find me lurking in the bathroom doorway like a creep.

  It didn’t make sense. How could I be so annoyed that Kiki’s boyfriend kept forgetting to lock the bathroom door and then fail to give Quinn the privacy he deserved in the same situation? I was obviously some kind of pervert. Or maybe I was just curious what all the fuss was about. I mean, I hadn’t spent much time with the guy, but any idiot could see there was a handful of women at that party who let their eyes trail him like lovesick puppies. And all the while, he acted like he either hadn’t noticed or didn’t care, which, for some reason, I found infuriating.