Brothers of Paradise Series

“Wow. That’s late.”Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“Yes, but it’s a Sunday.” I tip her head back, wanting to touch her lips with my own. “We have the whole day. Let me take you to the beach…”

She smiles. “It’s just across the street.”

“So much the better. We can swim…,” another kiss, “and you can lie in the sun…,” another kiss, longer this time, “and I can lie beside you and admire you.”

She laughs, properly this time. “You’re silly.”

“Only sometimes,” I murmur, “and only with you.”

There’s a loud knock at the front door. Her cottage is small enough that the sound is sharp and clear.

Lily struggles to sit up. “Damn.”

“Do you know who it is?”

“No. I’m not expecting anyone.” She gets out of bed, her lithe body naked and illuminated by the faint light from her window. It disrupts my train of thought completely.

I shake my head. “Don’t open it. It’s probably just a door-to-door salesman.”

“In Paradise Shores? They’re never here.” She finds her underwear and reaches for her robe. Another sharp knock rings out.

I sigh and swing my legs out of bed. “Let me open it. Who knows who it might be.”

She tosses me my underwear. “I doubt it’s someone dangerous, Hay.”

“You can never be too careful.” I pull on my boxers.

We both freeze as we hear the unmistakable sound of a key being inserted in a lock. Whoever it is is coming in, invited or not.

“Fuck.” I push her behind me and head to the bedroom door. Adrenaline courses through me. If they’re here to do harm, they’re about to get another thing coming.

“Hayden, the only people who have a key-”

“Good morning!” Rhys announces, standing in the middle of Lily’s living room. His grin falters and disappears entirely as his gaze lands on me in the doorway of his little sister’s bedroom.

“Rhys.” He looks exactly like I remember. The auburn hair is disheveled, true to form. The artful leather jacket, the jeans, the old boat shoes that make it clear he belongs in Paradise… For all his attempts, he’s never been able to shake the look.

“Hayden,” he murmurs. His face looks set in stone, all color slowly draining away. “I heard you were back. But I wasn’t expecting to find you… here.”

Lily pushes past me, tugging her robe tighter around herself. Her voice is ringing with happiness. “You’re here? I can’t believe it!”

Rhys breaks his glare at me to shoot her a wry smile. “Hey, little one. It’s been a while.”

“Too long.” She wraps her arms around his neck and presses a kiss to his cheek. “Don’t be angry, Rhy.”

He pushes her aside with a gentleness that doesn’t match the cold expression on his face. Oh, Rhys isn’t angry. He’s fucking furious with me.

“How long have you been back?” he asks, each word spoken through clenched teeth.

“Three weeks.” I’m fairly certain what this conversation is going to devolve into, and I don’t want Lily to see it when it does. Rhys was always slow to anger, but when he snapped, it was like a thunderstorm. I had seen him whoop Parker too many times about some small prank played on Lily.

“Wasted no time, huh?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Sure it’s not.” He walks forward, and I force myself to hold my ground. Rhys might have an inch of height on me, but I have nearly twenty pounds of muscle and ten years of training. I’m not going to hurt him, but if he thinks I’ll go down easy, he’s dead wrong.

“Rhys, it’s not like he-”

“No, Lily. I want to hear him say it,” Rhys spits out. “Tell me how you broke my little sister’s heart ten years ago, and then show up out of the blue to do the same thing again.”

He must see the faint widening of my eyes, because he laughs, but it’s not happy. “You think I didn’t know? Oh, of course I did. I’m not clueless like Parker or distant like Henry. But I thought you were good for her. You proved me wrong.”

“I didn’t want to leave her.”

“Of course not. Just like you couldn’t call or text her.”

Rhys’s first swing comes out of nowhere, and I realize belatedly that that was always his talent. He’s unpredictable as hell. Made him impossible to beat in Mario Kart once upon a time.

I duck, just narrowly avoiding the punch. “Hey man, I know it doesn’t look good.”

“That’s because it’s not.”

I avoid another poorly thrown punch, only to be hit squarely in the center of my stomach by his other hand. Shit. I’ve forgotten that Rhys is left-handed.

“Damn it,” I gasp. “Don’t make me fight you.”

“What, because you’d win if you did? Be a man and try.”

I block another punch and grab hold of his arm. It’s easy enough to twist it around, holding him still in an armlock. “You’re right to be angry. So was Lils.”

“I was,” she adds helpfully, standing to the side with a shocked expression on her face. “Rhys, stop. Please.”

“No.” Rhys aims a kick to my knee as I turn away, my hold on his arm loosening. He twists free and attacks me, arms around my torso.

I stagger back and narrowly avoid hitting Lily’s dining-room table. If he keeps going like this, we’ll destroy her house.

So I grab him and tackle him smoothly to the ground. We fall to a heap on Lily’s shaggy rug, far away from any breakables.

“Asshole,” he growls at me, hitting me hard on my shoulder. I grunt in pain and block another one of his punches. It’s hard as hell to fight when you don’t want to hurt your opponent-especially when he doesn’t share the same restraint.

“Rhys! Stop it right now.”

He doesn’t listen to his sister. He struggles to sit up, pushing me down beneath him. I hold my own, but I let him rain down punches over my arms, covering my face. Rhys won’t stop until his anger is burned out-and unfortunately, I think this might be the only way. I’ve seen it many times in the military.

“We took you in,” he growls. “You were like a damn brother to me.”