Falling for the Wingman (The Kelly Brothers, Book 3) Read Free

of her beer. “So, what do you want to know?”
    “How long has Kourtney been back?”
    Alex’s brown eyes widened, and she took another long drink. “A while.”
    “How long?”
    She finished off the remaining beer in the bottle and reached for a new one. “Listen, I know what my sister did to you was really shitty—”
    “How long?” he repeated, this time with a growl edging into his voice. The more she evaded his question, the tighter his gut squeezed.
    Alex focused her gaze on the bottle in her hand as she opened it. “She moved back home shortly after you left.”
    He jumped to his feet, his hands curling into fists. He needed to punch something now. “Motherf—”
    “Hey, watch your language.” She rose from her chair and pushed him back into his, handing him her open bottle in the process. “Here, drink this and calm down before I have to call in a favor to keep you out of jail.”
    Now it was his turn to take a long swig. The beer she’d given him was more intense than the bland lager he’d been drinking, with a strange fruity note at the end. He glanced at the label. “Purple Haze?”
    “Yeah, I know—girly beer. But at least it goes down easily.” As though to prove her point, she opened another bottle for herself and took another long drink. “So, tell me the real reason why you’re here.”
    The anger drained from his shoulders, and he slid back in his chair. It had been bad enough to come home and find the woman he’d come to love gone, but now he was reeling from the shock that she’d moved on so quickly. “You wouldn’t understand.”
    “Try me.” She gave him that relaxed smile that reminded him how easy she was to talk to.
    “What’s the use? She’s marrying that prick in a week.”
    Alex snorted with a laugh. “You’re dead-on about Ryan. And technically, it’s less than a week since the wedding is Saturday.”
    Caleb groaned and pressed his palms to his face, dragging the heels of his hand from his eyes to his temples. “This is not the homecoming I was expecting.”
    “What were you expecting?” she asked, her voice unusually serious.
    “Kourtney, waiting for me at the airfield with the other families, ready to welcome me back by wrapping her arms around me and giving me a kiss that would help me forget about all the shit I’d gone through during the last nine months.”
    Alex nodded, her gaze sympathetic. “I’m sorry she did this to you.”
    “Not as sorry as I am. I knew she didn’t like the idea of me being gone for so long, but I figured she’d at least wait for me to come home, especially since each letter she’d sent me seemed to imply that.”
    “Shit,” Alex whispered under her breath before gulping her beer. “Would it help if I told you you’d be better off without her?”
    He snorted. “I know you don’t get along well with your sister—”
    “That’s putting it mildly.”
    “But you don’t know her like I do.”
    Another snort, this time without the mirth. “That’s where you’re wrong. I know her far better than you ever will, and as much as I hate to say it, I’m not surprised she did what she did.”
    He stiffened like she’d just drenched him with cold water. “Why?”
    “Because Kourtney has always needed to be the center of attention. Your deployment left her alone with no one to worship her, so she came back here and found a new dumbass who was wowed enough by her cleavage to tolerate her behavior.”
    It would be all too easy to accept Alex’s explanation and walk away, but he couldn’t forget the woman who’d written those emails.
    Courage is doing what you know is right, even when you’re afraid. Hope is what gets us through the dark moments when we doubt ourselves. And love is what makes the impossible possible.
    He closed his eyes and let her words ease the doubt in his soul. That was the Kourtney he wanted to know. She was more than just a pretty face. She also had a beautiful heart that spoke to him in a way no