MY SISTER'S FLIRTY FRIEND (The Greene Family #4)

Chapter 1

“Jed, I need some help out here!” Molly calls from the hallway then knocks on my office door.

I stop what I’m doing and don’t mind a bit. I’m working on the business end of running a successful brewery. My stepbrother, Cade, usually handles all things paperwork, but he’s asked me to take over some of his tasks while he plans his perfect wedding with his fiancée, Presley.

Since we began this business venture after college, he’s handled the business and I’ve handled the beer making and staff, so I forgot how much I loathe this s**t. Plus, I am the personality of the bar, so I should be out in front of customers.

No offense to Cade. People love him. He’s lived in this town his whole life while I’ve only been here since I was a senior in high school. My mom married his dad—which is a whole other story—and we went from being enemies to friends to brothers. I love the guy, but his wedding is becoming way too much, if you ask me.

I open my office door and trudge down the hall. Sure enough, the brewery has filled up pretty fast. I should’ve expected as much since it’s the last day before tourist season begins in our small town of Sunrise Bay, Alaska. I’m surprised Molly didn’t bang on the door sooner.

She’s working behind the bar, dressed in fitted black jeans that are frayed in certain places, along with her Truth or Dare Brewery T-shirt that always fits a little snug, especially in the chest area. I shouldn’t notice because Molly is my sister Nikki’s best friend. Nikki would gouge out my eyes if she knew the thoughts that go through my head sometimes when Molly’s around.

But she looks so damn good all the time and she flirts with me, so it’s not like I’m alone in my thoughts. But then again, that’s Molly. She’s been the town flirt as long as I’ve known her.

“About f*****g time,” she grumbles, passing me to grab a can of our new hard seltzer. She cracks it open and passes it to a blonde waiting at the bar.

“There’s a lot of office s**t to do, and once again, Cade is MIA.” I take a man’s order and pass him a beer.

“He’s getting married.”

“And we all know how I feel about marriage.”

The two of us continue serving the bar that’s now three deep while the serving staff takes care of the customers at tables. I really should’ve scheduled more help for us tonight. Cade said he’d be late, but I didn’t think he meant this late.

It’s usually a Greene family tradition that everyone in our family finds their way here the night before tourist season starts up.

Nikki elbows her way through the crowd, stealing a stool right before George from Handyman Haven was going to sit down. “I’m exhausted.”

“Sorry.” Her husband, Logan, comes behind her, apologizing to everyone as they eyeball Nikki. “Pregnancy.”

Nikki rolls her eyes. “Do not apologize for me. I’m carrying around a damn watermelon and you thought it’d be romantic to walk around the bay.”

Molly laughs and slides a water to her. “How are you holding up?”

Nikki looks blankly at her. “How does it look? If people thought I was a b***h before, they’re going to think I’m Cruella de Vil before this baby pops out.”

“Stop being a b***h then,” I say, taking an order from a group of women. They each take turns looking me up and down with a flirtatious smile. What can I say? I am a ladies’ man.

“Watch it, Jed,” Nikki warns, but I’m too busy filling the women’s orders to worry about her idle threat.

“Seriously, she’s on the verge of getting in the ring with anyone who crosses her.” Logan’s eyes widen in an expression that says to take him seriously.

“Speaking of…” I take the credit card from the woman paying for the round of drinks and cash her out while talking to Logan and Nikki. “Fisher and I are having a fight night at our place Sunday night.”

“Why?” Nikki’s forehead scrunches up. “Logan’s not fighting anymore.”

“It’s a good excuse for us all to get together.” I shrug and pass the woman back her card.

Nikki’s eyebrows rise. I don’t blame her. Who would’ve thought I’d want the entire family over at my place? Usually the only good thing that comes from it is that my mom cleans the house. But ever since three of the siblings in our blended family have found their one and only, I’ve started to feel our family’s deep-sewn threads tug in different directions.

“Okkaaayyy.” Nikki glances at Molly, who only shrugs and continues to serve customers.

“Are you judging me?” I slide by Molly.

In the time she’s worked here, we’ve perfected how to work together behind the bar. Sliding past one another without bumping into each other because we always seem to be aware of the other’s proximity, keeping an ear out for what a customer wants and passing the other a beer from the fridge if we’re the one who’s closer. Hell, we’ve even perfected the flirtatious vibe between us—all without ever crossing the line.

We’ve come close though. Last year, Molly caught me beating off in the office. I know, unprofessional as hell, but if you’d seen how good she looked that day, you’d understand. I couldn’t wait until I got home for a release if I didn’t want to do something stupid with her. Our eyes locked for a moment when she busted into the office—hers wide with shock and surprise and mine at half-mast with lust. I know I would’ve had a moment of weakness if she had stepped inside, but she didn’t. She shut the door with a yelp. I said, “I know it’s big but it’s not that scary”—after I finished and left the office, of course.

She razzed me about it not being big and how she probably couldn’t find it with a microscope and a pair of tweezers. I laughed because I appreciate humor, especially in an uncomfortable situation.

Sometime during the next half hour of making sure everyone is served, the rest of the Greenes trickle in, finding their way to a table that Nikki is now protecting as if the chairs are her cubs. She’s definitely not one of those glowing pregnant women you hear about.

When Cade comes in, I groan. “Finally.”

He glances at me and kisses Presley on the cheek before pulling out her chair. “I told you I was going to be late.”

“And now we have to give Molly a raise,” I say.

“Oh, I like the sound of this,” she chirps, pouring beers for a group of guys huddled together at the end of the bar.

Molly delivers the beers and I watch as, one by one, each guy checks her out. It’s clear why. Molly is not the girl next door. She’s a bit on the wild side, always up for anything, and her sharp tongue only makes you want to know what she’d say if you were in bed with her. I have my suspicions she’s one of those women who will tell you exactly what she wants. Which is a huge turn-on, and if she wasn’t my younger sister’s best friend, I’d probably have made a move by now.

After she’s finished serving them, they tip her. With her back to them, Molly tucks the twenty-dollar bill in her bra.

“What happened to the community pot?” I jiggle the tip jar behind the counter.

“Once you’ve got a pair of t**s that bring in a crisp twenty, I’ll be more than happy to split the tips.” She smiles and moves over to my family’s table.

“Fight night at our house Sunday,” I announce to everyone.

“Oh good. I have something big to tell you all then,” my mom says.

All of us siblings exchange glances.

My mom grew up in Sunrise Bay but moved to Arizona with my dad after they married. She only returned after the son of a b***h cheated on her and they divorced. It’s then she rekindled her feelings for Hank, my dad’s cousin, and they were married, blending our families together. The last time she had something big she wanted to share, we were told our little brother Rylan had been conceived. Now I’m not so sure I want to find out what she wants to share with us.

It was another killer night before tourist season. All the townspeople came to the downtown square to enjoy themselves before we’re inundated with tourists and we’re all working our asses off until fall.

I head to the office in the back to take a look at some numbers and see how we did tonight. Cade was willing to stay, but I told him to go home with Presley. I don’t have anything else to do and one of us might as well be screwing someone tonight. Part of the problem with partnering with family is that when they piss you off, you still do what’s right, so you don’t get the satisfaction of being difficult.

I package up the deposit and drop it in the safe to take to the bank tomorrow morning. The office door creeps open as I’m sitting back in my seat.

“I’m heading out. Everything is all done,” Molly says, leaning against the doorframe.

I lean back in my chair and steeple my hands together. “Thanks.”

“Are you almost done? I could wait.” She saunters in and slides up on my desk, crossing her legs.

God, she looks good. Molly’s looked good since the first time I saw her when I arrived in Sunrise Bay. I’ve wondered a few times what would’ve transpired if Nikki hadn’t claimed Molly as her bestie.

I gesture toward the desk. “I should finish what I was already doing before you couldn’t handle the crowd.”

She places her hands under her thighs and tilts her head with raised eyebrows, a teasing glint in her eyes. “It’s not my fault every guy wants to flirt with me.”

“You don’t have to flirt back. The last I saw, the sign outside didn’t say this was a strip club.”

“Jealous?” She smiles, her gaze floating down my body, lingering on the full sleeves of tattoos on my arms.

“Never.”

Lie. All lies. I’ve been jealous of the attention Molly garners. But that’s not to say I haven’t had my own fun. Sometimes I think we’re cut from the same cloth. Neither of us wants a relationship. I’ve never seen Molly show any interest in anyone past a few dates. She always finds something wrong with the guy.

We sit in my office, our eyes locked for a brief moment, though it feels like an hour as the s****l tension rolls in like a thick fog after a storm.

I clear my throat, breaking her gaze, and she hops down from the desk. “See you later, boss.” She pushes her dark hair off her shoulder and eyes me as she exits the room.

“Want me to walk you to your car?”

She stops and coyly glances at me from the doorway. “No worries, I’m a tough girl.”

Not moving from my chair, I admire her body as she laughs and walks out. A few seconds later, the sound of the back door opening and shutting echoes down the hall.

Maybe I’m an i***t for not taking the opportunity. I’m pretty sure she’s more than willing, and we could definitely hide it from Nikki. As I think of all the reasons why it’d be okay to sleep with Molly, I finally come to my senses—Molly is a fixture in my big family. Like every one of my siblings’ friends, my mom has wrapped her in a welcoming blanket as if she’s one of our own. There’s no way she could be like my usual type—the ones I can f**k and forget—because Molly isn’t going anywhere.

And ever since everything went down when I was seventeen, I swore to myself that I won’t do strings.