Prologue
Ryker
What’s better than being a boy unwrapping your present on Christmas morning? Being a grown man and seeing your Christmas present walk into the room.
She looks just like Christmas in a red tartan dress, sleeveless with a pleated skirt that stops right below her knees and a black ribbon with a shiny golden buckle around her waist. Her blonde hair is braided into a crown, but some tendrils have managed to escape—or were they left out on purpose?—so they now dangle over her cheeks like the tinsel on the tree. Her full lips are bright red like her dress and the rubies attached to her ears. She lifts a hand to rub one of the gems as she says something with furrowed eyebrows. Then her emerald eyes grow wide. They sparkle, more so than any of the lights in the room, as she chuckles. I smile.
Claire Parker. I always thought she’d turn out to be a beauty, even when she was a plump nine-year-old or a teenager stressing over her pimples and her braces and which conditioner to use. But damn, I never imagined she’d be like this supermodel I can barely recognize, this woman who can light up a whole town, who oozes grace and confidence with her every move, who I just can’t tear my gaze away from.
When did Claire grow up to be the most attractive woman I’ve ever set eyes on?
Again, she laughs. I wonder what the man beside her is saying that she finds so funny. I wonder what he…
My lips curve into a frown as I realize who the man is. It’s Asher, of course. If my oldest brother, Ethan, is always with the most important person in the room, trying to impress – right now, he’s playing carols on the piano for the Chairman of the Board and his wife – Asher is always with the prettiest woman in the room.
Usually, I leave him alone. As much as I hate to admit it—and I never have out loud—of the three of us Hawthorne brothers, Asher is the expert on women. He knows just what to say to them, how to catch their eye, make them laugh, make them swoon and crawl into bed with him. The women throw themselves at him and he knows just what to do with them. He enjoys it, too. And while he sometimes gets into trouble, most of the time he just has his fun and moves on.
Well, I’m not letting him have fun with Claire. I’m not letting him have anything with her.
I march over to the 17-foot tree. Asher sees me and grins.
“Well, look who’s decided to join us. My little brother who just joined the family company recently.”
Recently? It’s been three months since I joined the Mergers and Acquisitions Department at Hawthorne Holdings as a Junior Analyst. I was thinking of joining Marketing at first, but my dad convinced me I’d do better at M&A. My brothers agreed.
Asher turns to Claire. “You remember Ryker, don’t you?”
Remember me? I’m her brother’s best friend. And yet, she doesn’t say anything. Is she ignoring me? If so, I’d like to know why but first, I have to get rid of Asher.
“Asher.” I place my arm around him. “Mr. Thorpe seems to like music. Maybe you should bring out your guitar and play something for him.”
He glances at the piano and shakes his head. “Nah. No matter how well I play, I’m not going to be CEO anyway. And I don’t want to be. It’s too much hard work. No time for play.”
He winks at Claire. I give him a warning look before turning to her.
“Have you seen Joel?”
“Nope,” she answers. “I’m not my brother’s keeper.”
Her spunky tone takes me aback. So she didn’t just grow a foot taller and a couple of bra sizes bigger. She has claws now, too?
Asher laughs. I narrow my eyes at him.
“What?”
“You look like someone just poured a bucket of piss over your head,” he says.
That doesn’t make any sense. Then again, a lot of what Asher says doesn’t make any sense.
“Let me tell you something, little brother.” Asher places his arm around my shoulder. “Never ask a woman where someone else is. It’s not a good pick-up line.”
“I wasn’t—”
“Actually, don’t let a question be the first thing you give a woman. She’ll just seize the opportunity to shut you down before you’ve even started.”
“Like the great Asher Hawthorne has been shut down before,” Claire says.
Asher chuckles. “Seems like someone’s heard of me.”
I push his arm off. “You mean Claire has heard of the games you play? Of course she has. Joel knows so she knows.”
Asher’s eyebrows furrow. “You told Joel about my sex life?”
I shrug. “He’s my best friend.”
“And I’m your brother.”
“Who won’t shut up about all the women he has sex with. It’s not like it’s some big secret.” I point out.