The Wrong Man (Alpha Men 3)

Lia was looking forward to putting the last three nights out of her mind and spending an entertaining evening with her sisters and the Carlisles. For some reason, it didn’t occur to her that Brand would be there as well. But he was the one who opened the door for her, welcoming her with a huge smile.

“Hey, sunshine, you’re looking beautiful as always.” Lia looked down at her plain yellow dress and gray cardigan combination. She looked ordinary, but Brand definitely had a gleam in his eye while his gaze perused her from top to bottom.

“Uh, thanks. You look nice, too.” That much was true. He was wearing a pair of jeans that were slightly loose on his thinner frame and a T-shirt with sneakers.

“When I heard you were going to be here, I made an effort to look good,” he joked, and she smiled in response.

“What did you bring?” he asked nosily, taking the foil-covered bowl from her as he let her in. Daisy’s tiny house—soon to be Lia’s tiny rental—seemed overcrowded with everybody crammed in there. Their parents were in Knysna, enjoying a preplanned romantic date night, and weren’t there to add to the chaotic throng.

“It’s just a salad,” she replied, and he lifted a corner of the foil to peer into the bowl.

“Fucking fantastic! Tomato and cucumber roses.” Why did he sound so absolutely delighted by that fact?

“Some people actually appreciate my pointless pretty food,” she said with a smile, inviting him to join in on the self-deprecating joke.

“I was a prick, Lia,” he said, his voice alive with contrition. “I missed your little flowers the moment you stopped making them for me.”

“Really?” He was having her on again. What a ridiculous and unnecessary lie to tell.

“I know you don’t believe me, but yeah, really.” How odd—he seemed sincere and Lia found herself actually believing him. He made a show of looking her over and then grinned.

“Where’s your new little buddy?”

“What?” she asked, confused.

“The dog?”

“Oh! My mom fell in love with him, he’s hers now. He’s at home, she didn’t want to leave him so soon after getting him, but she and our dad have been planning this evening for weeks. So he’s in one of the spare rooms with some toys and treats.”

“It may not have been under ideal circumstances for you, but he’s lucky he found his way to your family.”

“Thank you,” she said self-consciously before shifting her eyes from his and smiling at Daisy, who came over to give her a casual hug and a glass of white wine.

“Yay, you’re here! Please, please, please get Daff out of my kitchen, I’m gone four months and she thinks she’s a chef? She’s burning something as we speak.” Sure enough, the acrid smell of burned meat wafted toward them, and Lia laughed. Daff wasn’t a great cook, but she couldn’t accept being less than amazing at anything and was now on a mission to prove to herself and everybody else that she could create passably good meals.

Tonight’s offering didn’t smell passable or good, it just smelled inedible, and Lia, being the peacekeeper in the family, immediately made her way over to her older sister to ease her away from the stove.

Spencer was chatting with Mason and grinned as he watched Lia join Daff in the kitchen. The man knew better than to intervene.

Charlie had latched onto Brand and was peppering him with questions about some pop star or another. Thankfully not Laura Prentiss this time. If Lia never heard that woman’s name again, it would be too soon. Brand was patiently answering the teen’s questions, even though Lia was pretty sure the girl had asked him the exact same things on Sunday.

“What’s cooking?” Lia asked, sipping her wine as she glanced down to see what Daff was slaving over. She tried not to cringe at the sight of the meat sticking to the bottom of the pot.

“Burned offerings,” Daff said on a sigh.

“You giving up?”

“Yeah, not even you can save this, Lia. And Deedee’s in a panic that I’m going to burn the house down.”

“She’s not,” Lia said kindly, and then amended, “Well, not really.”

Daff laughed and shook her head.

“Meh, I’d rather be drinking anyway,” Daff said, taking a slurp of her red wine to prove her point. She shifted the pot off the heat and turned off the gas. She hooked her arm through Lia’s and nodded toward Brand, who was still chatting with Charlie. “So I hear you’ve been out and about town with several different men. Does that mean the fling’s over?”

“Yes.” There was nothing more to add, really.

“That was pretty fast.” The sheer astonishment on Daff’s face made Lia uncomfortable.

“Says the woman who once had a three-night thing with Spencer.”

“Well, that was different, wasn’t it? There were feelings developing between us. The no-strings-sex thing didn’t suit the parameters of our changing relationship.”