He glares at me, his jaw clenched tight. He’s entirely fucking serious. “This is the one thing I’m asking of you, Nathan. The only thing I will ever ask.”
I bark a humorless laugh. “Getting married and having a couple of kids is a pretty big ask, Dad.”
Sighing, he runs a hand through his thick gray hair. “I always knew it would be you. You’re not my firstborn, but you’re the child I most see myself in. You were born lucky, son. Just like I was. You can take any situation and make it work. It’s not like you’re ever going to fall in love, so what are you really giving up? A couple years of meaningless encounters?”
“What if I don’t want kids, Dad?”
He scrutinizes me with narrowed eyes. “Don’t you?”
I swallow hard. Damn him. I’ve always been honest about wanting a family of my own, and now it’s about to bite me in the ass. “Of course I do. One day.”
“Then make one day come soon. While I’m still here to enjoy my grandkids. What the hell are you waiting for?”
“To find someone who wants to have kids with me would be a good start.”
He gives me a triumphant smile. “Don’t worry. I have that covered.”
Chapter
Two
MELANIE
“Tea, Melanie?” my mother asks with a saccharine smile as she holds the bone-china teapot aloft.
“No thanks, Mom. I better be heading home soon. I have an early start tomorrow.”
Sunday afternoon tea at my mother’s house is a torturous weekly affair. My penance for being such a terrible daughter—at least in my mother’s eyes. She regards me with disdain. She hates my job, thinks it’s beneath me. Well, not necessarily beneath me as much as beneath her to have a daughter who works as a veterinary nurse.
Her lip curls with the faintest hint of a sneer. “Bryce has something to discuss with you before you leave.”
My heart rate kicks up a notch, and my eyes dart around the room. “Bryce is here?”
“He does live here, darling,” she replies with a sniff.
I grit my teeth. “I know. He’s not usually around is all.” And that’s exactly how I like it.
She gives the tiniest shake of her head, like she’s dusting off any suggestion that my older brother isn’t my favorite person in the world. He doesn’t even make the top twenty. “Well, he has some good news for you. He’s managed to perform a miracle.”
A miracle? Has he had his own head surgically removed from his ass? Pressing my lips together, I stifle a snicker. I glance at the clock on the mantel and groan inwardly. I have plans with Tyler at six. He’s going away tomorrow for eight weeks, and I want to spend every second I can with him before he leaves. But what my mother and Bryce want, they get.
I place my cup onto the intricately patterned saucer and drum my fingers on the table.
“Stop fidgeting, Melanie,” my mother admonishes me.
I roll my eyes and blow out a breath. Thirty years old and still being chastised like a teenager. “Is Bryce going to impart this wonderful news any time soon?”
“He’s a busy man. He’ll be down when he’s ready,” she huffs.
Yeah, busy playing online poker or jerking off to cam girls.
I stare at the clock, watching the minutes tick slowly and painfully by while my mother and I sit in silence, waiting for her precious firstborn. Fifteen minutes later, he finally decides to grace us with his presence, strutting into the room like he’s the king of the goddamn world. He’s not even king of his own bedroom. Spoiled mama’s boy.
He flicks his ash-blond hair out of his eyes and preens in the mirror before taking a seat at the table. I resist the urge to roll my eyes, not wanting to ignite his legendary short temper.
He puffs out his chest. “I’ve found a solution to our money problems, dear sister.”
Not my money problems, jackass. You were in charge of the trust fund. You misused it and left our family almost broke. But I bite my tongue and smile sweetly. It’s the only way to handle him and our mother. “That’s good to know. I’m happy for you.”
His right eyelid twitches. “It’s not just about me. I’m doing this for all our futures. For you and Ashley too.”
The mention of our younger sister’s name makes annoyance prickle beneath my skin. He’s never done anything for her other than screw her over. She almost lost her place at the college of her dreams because of him.
“I don’t need money, Bryce. I’m happy at my job, and I love living with Tyler.”
He snorts. “You’re thirty years old, and you’re happy living with our eccentric cousin?”
“If by eccentric you mean incredibly successful, gregarious, and funny, then yes, very happy, thanks.” Bryce has always hated Tyler. He is faster, stronger, smarter, and better looking than my big brother, and that’s always pissed him off. I suspect his use of eccentric is code for gay, because in addition to his many other flaws, my brother is also a raging homophobe. Not to mention the irony of a thirty-five-year-old man who still lives with his mother calling me out for living with my best friend, who just happens to be my cousin. Tyler and I were born on the same day and have been almost inseparable since.
Bryce’s face twists in a sneer. “Well, this proposal is much more suited to a daughter of Luke and Miranda Edison.”
The way he says proposal has the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. “What exactly are you talking about? What does any of this have to do with me? I told you, I have no interest in the family money. Not that there’s any left.”
He raises his hand like he’s going to smack me across the face for that last remark, but he quickly remembers where he is. My mother and her housekeeper are watching, and hitting his sister in front of them might just tarnish his good-guy reputation. No, he prefers to wait until we’re alone for that. Not that I think my mother would even care.
“There’s nothing left because our father made such poor business decisions,” he spits.
Anger simmers inside me. That’s a dirty lie, and he knows it. But I clamp my lips shut. I’ve been conditioned since I was thirteen to never question Bryce Edison. Placing my hands on my lap, I dig my fingernails into my palms and try to suppress the rage that wants to erupt out of me.
