Page 17 of Love on the Edge
No.
Nina’s brother.
I stare straight ahead, my body rigid, my heartbeat hammering against my ribs, but I already know what’s coming.
"Val! Come here! I want you to meet my brother!"
Before I can move, before I can think, Nina grabs my wrist and pulls me toward the open double doors. My body stumbles forward, my brain stuck.
I see him before he sees me.
Ethan.
The same Ethan whose hands had traced fire down my spine. The same Ethan whose mouth had left me breathless. The same Ethan I was supposed to never see again.
He turns just as Nina throws her arms around him, squeezing him tight in the way only a little sister can.
And then his eyes meet mine.
A flicker of something—recognition then realization. A pause, sharp and fleeting. A single breath held a second too long before his face smooths over. Meanwhile, my entire body feels like it’s short-circuiting.
Nina beams between us, completely oblivious.
"Val! This is my big brother, Ethan! Ethan, this is Val. I can’t believe you never got the chance to meet. I meant to introduce you two at the party!"
No one says a thing.
I can’t move, can’t even breathe.
My stomach drops and my pulse pounds so loud I can barely hear anything else. The cold air feels sharper now, the rink suddenly too small, too bright, too much.
Ethan doesn’t react—not really. He stands there, hands in his pockets, shoulders loose and casual. Like this is just another introduction. Like this is just another day. Like this is just nothing.
But it’s not nothing.
Because I feel it. The same pull I felt last night. The same low heat curling in my stomach, sharp and immediate. He’s still devastatingly handsome—tall, broad, built like he’s spent his entire life working with his hands. His dark hair is slightly tousled, his jaw sharp, his mouth a little too perfect. And his eyes—those deep, unreadable eyes that had locked on mine in the dark, just before he kissed me like he was starving.
That mouth was on mine. That body was pressed against me. I only knew his name. Nothing else.
Nina had talked about her older brother before, but I never paid attention, never asked for details. He’s married. When he’s not at work he’d spending time with his daughter.
Now I know exactly who he is. And he knows exactly what we did.Wait, MARRIED?My thoughts start to spiral, I’d slept with a married man.
I swallow hard. Nope. Not thinking about that.
I need to say something, anything. But my mouth refuses to work, my brain refuses to function, and all I can do is stand here, staring, as reality crashes down on me.
Ethan Crosse. Nina’s older brother.
The man who had his hands on me. The man who had me gasping, unraveling, breaking beneath him.
I slept with Nina’s older brother. Nina'smarriedolder brother.
This isn’t happening. It can’t be happening.
But it is.
And there’s no way out.
