Probably because Peter was a pushy asshole.
At a corner, I stopped running to catch my breath and found myself in front of Wyatt’s cottage.
Right. Well. Maybe there was food inside.
I banged on the front door. “Open up asshole! I need to eat!”
The door swung open and a petite brunette with the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen stood on the other side of the door.
“I hope I’m not the asshole,” she said.
I gaped at her.
“No, of course Wyatt’s the asshole,” she said with a dazzling smile. I was dazzled. “What has he done now?”
“You’re ah…you’re…”say something smart like I’m sorry or nice to meet you or I’m a big fan of your work.“You’re Sydney Malloy.”
She smiled, like she heard idiotic stuff like that all the time. “I am. And you are?”
“I’m Nick. I’m Wyatt and Liam’s…”
Her eyes went wide with pure delight. Authentic and real, and if I wasn’t already in deep with my best friend, I might have fallen for her in an instant. Her smile was that powerful.
“Oh my gosh, it’s you,” she cried. “Come inside,” she took my hand and pulled me in, shutting the door behind me. “Wyatt told me everything about you. Well, everything about you he knows. He says you’re hard to get to know, but he’s working on it. Oh shoot. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”
“The fuck, Nick? Was that you banging on the door?” Wyatt came down the stairs wearing sweats, a black t-shirt and a scowl.
“I…I didn’t realize she would be here.”
“Of course she’s here,” Wyatt said, planting a kiss on top of her head. It was true. My grumpy, blunt neanderthal of a half-brother was engaged to musical pop princess Sydney Malloy. “She’s been away too damn long. Did I hear you need to eat? We’ve got some bagels left over from this morning.”
“Yes, Wyatt couldn’t eat all six,” she said, hip checking him.
“A man needs food, woman,” he growled.
“A man needs to watch that he doesn’t turn soft now that he’s not playing hockey.”
“I wasn’t soft last night, honey,” he murmured into her ear.
“Maybe I should go,” I said. Clearly they were catching up after her being away in Los Angeles.
“Absolutely not,” Sydney insisted. “I want a chance to get to know you. Now, we have bagels and orange juice and some coffee. How does that sound?”
“Like heaven,” I admitted.
“Well, come on,” she said and I followed her into the kitchen. I sat in the sun at the kitchen table and she put a spread of food out in front of me which included two types of cream cheese to go with the bagels. Wyatt set a mug of fresh coffee down and sat across from me at the table.
“What really brings you here?” he asked.
“I need a reason?” I asked around a mouthful of everything bagel and veggie cream cheese. “You stop by my place all the time.”
“If you think I’m buying you just stopped by…oh shit. Wait. Last night was wedding number two. How did that go?” he asked, looking at me over the rim of his coffee. Beside him Sydney watched with wide eyes.
“Wedding?” she whispered. “Whose wedding?”
“Nick was his best friend’s date to two weddings. The first wedding he got a dick twitch and I’m guessing something good happened at the second wedding.”
“Oh my gosh, you’re falling in love with your best friend.” Sydney clapped. “It’s like a song.”
