MY BROTHER'S FORBIDDEN FRIEND ((The Greene Family #9)

Chapter 1

My first crush on a boy started when I was five years old, after I’d caused my mother’s death.

I think a lot of girls have that one all-consuming crush. The one guy she never forgets and just can’t seem to shake.

Unfortunately, mine is my brother Fisher’s best friend, Cameron Baker. I never even wrote his name in my diary for fear of my crush being discovered. It doesn’t help that he’s five years older than me and isn’t the settling down type. Which would be fine with me—I’m not looking for marriage either—but if I hooked up with Cam, my brothers would have something to say about it. To him and to me.

I was too young to get those butterflies in my stomach when my crush started, but it was the first time I didn’t see him as another older brother who just wanted to boss me around.

After the “accident,” my mom’s wake was being held at our house. I can remember it all like it was yesterday.

I was sitting on my swing set in the dead of winter, wearing a purple dress that was too small for me. I’d worn it the year before when we visited some relative of my mom’s who lived in the lower forty-eight. My hair was off-center in a knotted ponytail at the back of my head, after my grandma had fought my snarled hair for twenty minutes.

“There you are.” Cam came out the back door of our house. He was dressed in a suit much like the ones my brothers wore, but his pants didn’t sit inches above his ankles and his jacket didn’t look as if the stitches were going to break.

While my mom usually passed down the suits from brother to brother, they didn’t have a lot of reason to wear them in our small Alaskan town. We weren’t poor, but when my dad had said he was going to take us all shopping to buy presentable clothes for the funeral, we fought him long enough that he retreated to his room, as he did a lot, and he never brought shopping up again.

“Is someone looking for me?” I asked.

I didn’t want to go back in there. I felt like everyone was blaming me for the fact that my mom had fallen through the ice on the lake and died. They were right to blame me. It was my fault for wandering out there in the first place.

“Yeah.” He smiled, the one where his left dimple indented. “I was.”

He trudged across our yard with his big boots on and sat on the swing next to me, setting a plate of food on his lap. My stomach growled, and his smile deepened as if he was satisfied with himself.

Picking up a meatball on a toothpick, he held it out to me, steam rising off it from the cold air. “Want one?”

I shook my head.

“Come on. I can’t eat all this.”

I looked at his plate. Cam was known to eat all of our food, and he always asked for seconds when he came over for dinner. But I was hungry, and I didn’t want to go inside, so I accepted it.

After my first nibble, I mumbled, “Thanks.”

He continued to offer me food, blabbering about how he didn’t realize the egg rolls had so much cabbage in them and that he didn’t like cabbage. Or how his mom told him he couldn’t have any more sweets for the day, so he had to sneak the brownie that was on his plate.

“Are you cold? I can get your jacket.”

I was a little cold, but I’d been numb since the day my mom had died and I didn’t much mind the biting cold on my skin. I shook my head. “If I sneak into my bedroom, will you not tell anyone?”

“I’ll do one better. I’ll help you.”

“I don’t need help. Just say you don’t know where I am if someone asks.”

I got off the swing and walked to the side of the house, where my mom had installed a white ladder thing last year. In the summer, it would be covered in green ivy. I remember the day before she died, she made a joke to my dad that they’d have to take it down when I became a teenager. I tried to commit everything I could from those last days to memory.

I started to climb the ladder but looked down at Cam. “Don’t look up my dress.”

He chuckled as if that was the most absurd thing and held his hands up, stepping back. Seeing my seriousness, he sobered. “I won’t.”

I eyed him once more, then climbed the ladder. When I was straddling my windowsill, I looked down at him. “Thanks for the food.”

I climbed the rest of the way in and shut my window before he could say anything else.

The next few years weren’t great for me. I was a little obsessed with always wanting to be with my dad and ended up seeing a therapist. Everyone walked on eggshells around me, but Cam was always there to lighten the mood with a joke. I gravitated to him when he came over, even if it meant just sitting in the same room and playing Barbies while the guys played video games. He’d make me forget that I felt like the reason the heart of our family was missing.

Years later, when those butterflies came, I didn’t really know what to do. Because at the same time as I started to thrive off his attention for a different reason, Cam started to discover girls, and one never seemed to be enough.

Now, as I walk down the dock toward my boat—which I only have one more year of payments on before she’s all mine—I mentally prepare myself for another fishing excursion with a bachelor party. At first I enjoyed them. Bachelor parties were always entertaining, and I could charge top dollar for the experience. Plus, I grew up with four brothers, so I was used to being the only girl. But lately, I’ve grown annoyed with the immature behavior of these men who need to celebrate the groom’s freedom as if the old ball and chain is going to lock him in a closet for the rest of his life.

“Careful there, Vic. I might have to tell Polly you aren’t behaving yourself,” one of the guys on the docked boat says.

Vic, I guess, holds up his hands and points at the guy next to him. Must be a greenhorn because he doesn’t look familiar. The way they find these guys and fly them in to see if they can handle the wicked weather out on the seas surprises me.

“Get to work,” a voice yells from behind me.

A voice I recognize. That’s why I deliberately pretend I don’t hear him.

Cam follows me for a few steps. “So, you’re ignoring me?”

I purposely increase my speed which isn’t easy since I’m carrying a case of beer in my hands. “We’ve been over this. I can fight my own battles out here.”

“I just told them to get to work. I’m technically their boss.”

I shake my head. “You aren’t their captain.”

“Jesus, Chevelle.” He grabs my wrist and spins me around.

“Careful there, Baker. She’s got a tough right hook,” someone shouts from the boat. I can’t be sure who it was.

Cam doesn’t grant them an ounce of his attention, keeping his gaze on me.

I raise my eyebrows, and he huffs, as if I should know why he’s tracking me down on the dock.

“Yeesss?” I draw out.

“I was just checking the log. Another boat full of guys?”

I roll my eyes. “No one ever told me we couldn’t have orgies on the boat. Then again, is it an orgy if it’s just me? I guess that’s probably a gang bang, right?”

I watch his muscled chest expand with a deep inhale. You’d think I was being serious with the way he’s reacting. “We’ve been over this. It’s not safe.”

I glance at my boat and back at him. “Did we become business partners, and I forgot? I’m not sure why you think you have a say in how I run my business.”

“It’s my job to protect you. I’m your brother’s best friend.”

I groan. “Have you not noticed that I’m a grown woman now, Cam?”

His gaze falls to my chest for a moment, and I bite my lip to keep from smiling.

This is the game Cam and I are currently playing. In truth, I have no idea if Cam is interested in me for anything other than my body. He’s not been one to settle down, even though all of the guys he used to party with—most of whom are my brothers—are all coupled up now. But we enjoy pissing each other off. I do it because, well, I’m pissed that he’s always telling me what to do and what to wear and who I should date. Then again, maybe I’m pissed because I want him to fall on bended knee and tell me he’s always been in love with me. That the reason he pays me so much attention isn’t because he considers it his duty because of my brother, but because he cares about me.

“Yes, Chevelle, I’m not the only one who notices that your t**s are out half the time.”

I narrow my eyes. “Bye, Cam.” I turn my back on him and walk down the dock to my boat.

The guys today asked for a sunset fishing excursion, which means they aren’t really the fishermen they’re pretending to be. We’ll arrive back in town just as the bars are getting packed, and they’ll migrate there and drink until closing time.

My boat isn’t painted pink or purple or what some would consider a girly color. Although if it wouldn’t have affected my business, I might’ve painted it that. It’s yellow, blue, and burgundy, but mostly white.

I climb on board and head into the galley, setting the case of beer on the ground. I have the first beer in my hand to put on ice when Cam climbs on right after me.

“I’m sorry, you need to ask permission to board my boat.” I put my hand on his chest. His rock-hard chest.

“I’m serious about these guys. One of these days, it’s gonna end in disaster.” He crosses his arms.

While most of the guys out here are dressed as actual fishermen—orange overalls, water boots, and other items to try to keep them dry—Cam is in khakis and a polo because his dad owns the marina and he’s training Cam to take over. One day Cam will be the man who decides what I pay to dock my boat here. Perish the thought.

“It’s my business. I cannot keep going over this with you, Cam.” I stack the beer in the cooler, then head to the fridge to start the snack boards. All of my excursions come with food and beverages if they choose, and the bachelor parties always choose them.

“I’ll go with you.” He sits down.

I laugh somewhat manically, because I’d be seeing pigs fly rather than seagulls if I ever allowed that to happen.

“That’s a hard pass.” I tug at his arm, but he’s too big for me to move.

“See how strong I am?” He arches an eyebrow.

“You fishing for compliments now?” I put the meat and cheese tray, along with the fresh sushi, back in the fridge before making sure the rest of the boat is clean and the poles are ready.

“I was proving my point.” He comes up behind me.

I ignore the way a tingle races down my spine to my ass, as if I can feel the direction of his gaze.

Static comes over the outdoor speakers of the marina. “Cameron Baker, report to your office. Now.”

We both look up at the windows in the building, and there stands his dad with both hands on his hips, staring down at us.

“What the hell does he want?” Cam mutters.

“Oh, Cam’s in trouble. What happened? Did you take too much money out of the petty cash, or did you request a raise?” the fishermen shout various things from the decks of their boats, all of them laughing.

“This isn’t over, Chevelle.”

Cam stomps off my boat and back onto the pier, trudging toward the boathouse that’s more of an actual office building. His dad’s office is on the top floor, and Cam’s is on the second floor, right smack in the middle.

“Have a great night, Cam.” I wave with a smile just as the bachelor party walks toward me, reading the directions I gave them at top volume. Most already have beers in their hands.

Cam scowls at each of them as they pass.

“Welcome to Reelaxing Fishing Tours,” I call.

“I told you I didn’t want a stripper,” the man who I presume is the groom says, needing my assistance to come on board.

“I didn’t. She’s the captain.” The face of the man who booked me blotches red. “Sorry, they’re already s**t-faced, for the most part. I’m the designated sober ass for the day.”

“Man, I was hoping she was a stripper,” one of the other guys says.

I pretend to smile. Cam has a point, but I can take care of myself. I always have.

After my introductory speech and safety lecture, I start the engine and look toward the marina offices, where Cam is staring down at me. Maybe I’m so argumentative with him because it gives me his attention. I’ve always been a sucker for Cam’s attention.