Snow Job by Tara Wyatt (best large ereader .txt) 📗

Sebastian noticed the way his eyes kept drifting back to Lauren, a possessive heat in his gaze.

Sebastian was pretty sure he kept doing the same thing with Kayla.

“She seems really good for you,” said Theo, tipping his head in Kayla’s direction. “Now that you two aren’t at each other’s throats.”

“She is good for me.” He sighed and sipped his ginger ale. “I think I’m falling in love with her.” God, it felt good to say those words out loud.

Max snorted and shook his head. “It’s way too soon for you to be in love. You’ve only been together for a few weeks.”

Theo shrugged, coming to his defense. “I proposed to Lauren like two months after we got together. And really, we were only ‘official’ for a few weeks before that.”

Max shook his head. “That’s not the same thing. You two were best friends for a freaking decade and we were all waiting for you to get your head out of your ass when it came to Lauren.”

Sebastian leaned forward on his elbows. “Kayla and I worked together for three years. She’s not a stranger or someone I just met. Yeah, there was animosity there, mostly from her and entirely deserved, but we knew each other.”

“That animosity was probably a good thing because boss-employee relationships are a fucking horrible idea,” said Max, sipping his whiskey. Sebastian followed his gaze, finding it trained on Willa, who seemed to be flirting with Max’s friend Miles. She blushed and laughed at something he said, and Max’s knuckles went white around his glass, a muscle in his jaw jumping. Sebastian and Theo exchanged a meaningful look.

“I don’t know,” said Theo with a shrug. “From a strictly legal standpoint, a boss could date an employee, as long as it was consensual and you disclosed it.”

Max shook his head, not taking his eyes off of Willa and Miles. “It’s a sexual harassment suit waiting to happen.”

Theo shook his head. “Not my area of expertise, but simply asking someone on a date isn’t sexual harassment. You wouldn’t be creating a hostile or offensive work environment with a request to grab coffee sometime. I mean, if she says no, then yeah, leave it and don’t bring it up again. And you can’t hold the fact that she turned you down against her. Like in a performance review or something. That would definitely be harassment. Not that I think you’d do that,” Theo added quickly when Max turned to him with a thunderous expression. Saying nothing, he returned his attention to the flirting, continuing to glower at Miles. After a moment, he tore his gaze away and tossed back the rest of his drink.

Just then, a man in a suit approached their table and bent low to say something to Lucian. Sebastian couldn’t hear much over the jazz music floating through the air, but he thought he caught the words “he’s here.”

Lucian pulled back with a grim smile on his face. “Oh, really? I’ll be right there.” He turned to his brothers. “Excuse me. A little business to attend to.” He stood and followed the man through the restaurant, disappearing behind a door near the bar.

Max was still staring at Willa, a look of pure torment on his face.

“You know,” said Sebastian, glancing over at Theo who nodded in encouragement, “if you like her, you should ask her out. Life’s too short to let good things pass you by.”

Max turned to him, his nostrils flaring. “You don’t need to lecture me on how short life is. I’m well fucking aware, thanks.”

Theo laid a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Max, the accident was a long time ago now.”

He shrugged off Theo’s hand. “Could we maybe not talk about the worst day of my life on my birthday?”

Theo held his hands up in apology. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Max stood, his face a stony mask. “I need some air.” He tossed his napkin down on the table, stalking toward the door.

And Willa watched him go, her face twisted in concern, her fingers curled around her napkin.

Lucian dropped back into his vacated chair. Sweat beaded along his brow, and he’d lost his tie somewhere, his shirt now open at the collar.

Sebastian smirked. “Where’d you go?”

Lucian smiled. “I told you. A little business to take care of.”

Theo frowned. “What’s that on your collar?”

Sebastian leaned forward, taking in the tiny bright red drops dotting the white collar of Lucian’s shirt.

Lucian quirked an eyebrow. “Spaghetti sauce. I was in the kitchen.” His gaze held an air of quiet challenge.

“I…didn’t think you served spaghetti here,” said Sebastian carefully.

Lucian smiled again. “We don’t, but I made an exception for a customer I’ve been wanting to see for a long time.” It was then that Sebastian noticed that the knuckles of Lucian’s right hand were red and starting to swell.

Theo’s eyes were wide and he sat back in his chair. “I need to not hear any more of this conversation. The less I know, the better.”

“I agree,” said Lucian casually. “I think I’ll go change.”

“You might want to burn that shirt,” Sebastian murmured. He knew what kind of circles Lucian ran in. He’d once famously admitted to Lauren that he wasn’t in the mafia, just mafia adjacent. Whatever the hell that meant. But Sebastian wasn’t going to question it or give him shit because Lucian and his sketchy connections had bailed him out countless times. He was a ruthless bastard but relentlessly protective of anyone he considered family.

He stood and then clapped Sebastian on the shoulder. “I really like Kayla. She’s beautiful, smart, and clearly good for you. And you obviously adore each other. Be good to her, Bastian.”

He grinned. “That’s the plan.”

18

Kayla adjusted the blanket around herself and then took a sip of her tea. Night had fallen over the city, and a cold, icy rain smacked against the windows of her apartment. March was always one of her least favorite months because the weather was so lousy. It was like this limbo between winter and spring,