Undone By My Best Friend's Brother

Kathryn

It had been an extremely shitty day.

I exhaled deeply, standing in front of my bathroom mirror and taking a few minutes to sort out my thoughts. My plain white towel was still tied tightly around my body and a similar much smaller one was around my hair. My skin was still a little wet from stepping out of the hot tub and I could make out little wafts of steam floating around me and making the mirror a bit fuzzy.

I gripped the edge of the bathroom counter hard enough that my palm began to hurt. “What exactly was I supposed to do from here.” I was an editor. Or at least, I used to be. Before my asshole boss decided to fire me for not agreeing to have sex with him.

It was so ridiculous, I’d thought at first I hadn’t heard him clearly, or at least if I had then he’d been joking around. It turned out he had been completely serious. He blamed my losing my job on a few of the minor screw-ups I’d had in the past days and had clarified that moreover, both of us working together wasn’t helping him get over his feelings for me in any way.

“All complete bullshit,” I said flatly, rubbing my temples.

His ego had taken a major hit that Friday evening at work and his anger and hurt pride had boiled over during the weekend and resulted in my being fired at work on a bright and early Monday morning.

It all felt surreal.

But my pride would never let me beg for the job back. I was extremely good at what I did and I had no doubt I would eventually get hired by someone else. It was only the stress of job hunting all over again that had me totally pissed off. As of ten o’clock in the morning I’d officially been left without a job.

That had been eleven hours ago.

I pushed off the counter, grabbed my phone, and saw the time. 8:52 p.m. “Screw it,” I whispered. “I’m going out.”

I’d initially wanted to message Lexi and ask her if she wanted to come along but it hadn’t taken long for me to let go of the idea.

I’d planned for weeks to hit a club but never found the time. Now it seemed perfect. I thought about calling Lexi, then shook my head. “She’ll start her matchmaking nonsense again,” I muttered. Lexi meant well, but she’d drown me in pep talks I didn’t have the patience for tonight. I wanted silence, a drink, and maybe someone to make me forget my name.

I walked to my wardrobe and pulled out a sexy black dress and got ready. “I should look effortlessly sexy,” I said under my breath, slipping it on. I added light makeup—foundation, mascara, and red lipstick that made me look dangerous even if I didn’t feel it. I stared at my reflection. “Good enough to ruin someone’s night,” I told the mirror. I was almost desperately hoping that the night ended with me beneath someone.

The club was already brimming with music and people by the time I’d stepped out of the cab. I battled the urge to send a quick text to Lexi to alert her of my location. She would definitely ask why I’d gone clubbing without her and I wasn’t really in the mood to have to explain my decision to her. Best-case scenario, the night was going to go smoothly and I was going to tell her all about it tomorrow. Worst-case scenario, I would be ending up in bed with no one at all.

It was a good thing I had no intention of ever letting that happen.

Nothing was going to take my mind off the shitshow that had suddenly become my life like sex. I mean a mind-blowing sex. I never even told Lexi I had lost my job.

I flashed my ID to the bouncers flanking the entrance doors of the club and strutted my way in. Quickly deciding to start the night off with some liquid courage, I made my way to the counter.

I signalled the bartender... the bartender caught my wave almost instantly.

“What can I get you?” he asked, wiping a glass.

“Vodka. Straight.”

He gave a small smile. “Rough night?”

“You could say that.”

“Then you’ll want a double.”

“Make it a triple.”

He chuckled, poured the drink, and slid it over. “That bad, huh?”

“Fired before lunch.” I shrugged and dropped cash on the counter.

“Boss trouble?”

“Something like that,” I said, taking a sip. The burn felt good. “Thanks.” I nodded to him after paying, and took the glass in my hand, taking only a sip before dropping it back down on the counter.

The room wasn’t as packed as I’d thought. A few groups, some couples, a handful of solo drinkers. I could already feel my brain switching from self-pity to observation mode. Who looked lonely enough? Hot enough? Temporary enough?

My eyes flicked over a few options before the door opened again... I felt my eyebrow arch impressively the second my gaze landed on him.

“Holy hell,” I whispered.

There was just something otherworldly in the way he walked across the room. His hands were jammed into his pockets. There was just something about the way he moved that screamed confidence and dominance. I reckoned he was a man who enjoyed being in charge, both in and out of the bedroom.

I didn’t for once delude myself into thinking that he was surely going to be interested in me if I walked up to him. If anything, I would be the one getting lucky if anything ever happened between us. I subtly checked him out.

Damn it, I couldn’t lie to myself, I was in love with the shape of his mouth.

The bartender caught my smirk. “See something you like?”

I swirled my vodka. “You could say that.”

He followed my gaze. “Yeah,” he muttered, “you and half the room.”

He took his hand out of his pocket to lift his glass to his lips and my eyes quickly drifted to his Adam’s apple. God. Those hands. Long fingers, veins visible even in the dim light. I could practically feel them tracing down my spine. I looked away before I embarrassed myself further.

I wanted to know the feel of his mouth. I wanted to know what he would feel like moving inside of me while I stared into his eyes. His alluring onyx eyes with dark pools that I absolutely wanted to get lost in. I think I was more in love with his eyes than I was with his lips. It suddenly occurred to me why I could see his eyes.

He was staring right at me.

I had a feeling he could tell that I’d been so lost looking at him I hadn’t even known exactly when he’d caught me. It was easily the most embarrassing moment of my life. I tried to handle the situation as best as I could. Blushing vividly or shifting my gaze away from his would make it all the more awkward. And if he had really wanted to, he would have looked away. But he didn’t. So I continued staring. And that’s how we got into some kind of staring contest even though we were standing more than a couple of feet away from each other.

There was just something... commanding in the way he was now staring at me. I tried to remember what I had looked like stepping out of the house. Did he like what he was seeing?

Almost like he could read my mind, his eyes drifted down my body. I felt his gaze on me so acutely it was almost like he was standing within reach, moving his fingers lightly across the length of my body. He stopped his perusal for a second, his eyes resting on the subtle rise of my chest as I struggled to catch my breath.

“God, his gaze is fucking inviting,” I breathed out softly.

I took a sip of vodka, giving it three minutes before I looked his way again. Just like before, he had perfect timing.

Our eyes locked.