When We Kiss Read Free Page A

maybe,” Kyle said. “But damn, brother, seems like you’ve had a drought the past year or so. Unless you’ve been keeping someone secret.”
    Liam nearly choked on his next drink of beer. Aubrey might be a secret, but he couldn’t call her a girlfriend. And if she was to be believed about their thing being over, she wasn’t even a secret anymore. She wasn’t anything except the attorney administering their brother’s trust and handling this stupid zoning appeal for the property.
    And why hadn’t she been one of his girlfriends? She met every single one of his requirements and then some.
    Duh, because she lived in Ribbon Ridge, and he lived in Denver. It was hard to have a relationship, even the casual ones he preferred, long-distance. A voice deep in his head said it was the and then some that was the problem. Aubrey was unlike any woman he’d ever known. Aside from being crazy attracted to her, he liked spending time with her. And that wasn’t good for a guy who preferred to keep things unfettered. He liked to be in total control, and sharing your life with someone meant sharing control. Pass.
    Kyle pulled a stool out from the bar and sat down. “Looking back, it seems like you went dormant after Alex died. You never talk about him, about what happened. You okay?”
    He flashed Kyle a smug smile. “King of the world, man.” Liam knew Kyle was genuinely asking about him, but he didn’t want to go there right now. If he ever did. Instead, he defaulted to flipping him shit, which was their norm. They’d been particularly competitive in their youth, with sports and girls and popularity. Kyle had struggled academically, washing out of college in the first year and then going on to culinary school, where he’d found his niche. He’d become a rock-star chef until his gambling addiction had completely derailed him and driven him to Florida for several years.
    Liam had felt like he’d won, but that was stupid. And looking at Kyle now, it seemed that he was the winner—happily engaged with a five-star restaurant set to open. Provided Aubrey could make this zoning problem go away.
    Damn, Alex’s entire project—his dream—hung in the balance because of some asshole who didn’t want a commercial property adjoining his acreage. An acreage on which Liam was pretty sure sat an empty shed, a creek, and not much else. “Who’s behind the appeal again? I forgot.”
    If he’d ever known. He’d kept himself out of pretty much everything to do with The Alex—they’d even named the hotel after their brother, a decision Liam had also had nothing to do with. Just what they needed, another reminder of the brother who’d cut a hole in each of them by selfishly ending his life.
    â€œRuss Parker,” Kyle said. “Do you know the story there?”
    Holy fuck. Liam would’ve remembered that name. And yes, he goddamn well knew the story, but he sure as hell wouldn’t say so to Kyle or anyone else in his meddling family. Wait . . . If Kyle knew the story, he would’ve called Liam months ago and yelled at him to fix it. So whatever story Kyle was referencing couldn’t be what Liam knew . . .
    â€œWhat?” Liam asked cautiously.
    â€œParker used to date Mom in college. She dumped him to go out with Dad. He’s hated Dad ever since.”
    Son of a bitch. Not many things rendered Liam speechless, but for a moment he simply couldn’t form words. This was a total clusterfuck. If he’d known about that, he never would’ve started up with Whitney Parker a couple of years ago. Had she known?
    When Liam had heard her father’s name a minute ago, he’d assumed she was the reason behind the appeal. She’d been pissed when he’d ended things with her eighteen months or so ago. But she’d run her course. Although she’d been a long-distance hook-up, Liam had still