Winning her Brother's Best Friend (Tea for Two, #2) Read online

“I’m trying. It’s not like I’ve been obsessing over her all this time or anything. I just... I don’t know. It just feels like I’m always trying to recreate what I had with her, and nothing even comes close.”

  Patrick didn’t look surprised or confused. Ryan thought he was pretty good at putting on a friendly, casual front for the world, but his friend obviously hadn’t been fooled by it. “So you want a serious relationship with someone else?”

  Ryan shook his head. “Not really. I mean, that’s not what I’m looking for. I just want to... stop thinking about her.”

  “She’s still your friend.”

  “I know she’s my friend. That’s one of the things that has made it so hard to move on. But it’s time.” Ryan nodded, feeling a swell of resolution in his chest, a hope that a fresh start was really possible, a day in the future when he wasn’t still haunted by memories of being with Ginny, touching Ginny, loving Ginny. “It’s definitely time.”

  “Then you’ll want to tape this box shut and put it in a far corner of the basement.”

  Ryan’s heart wrenched, but he pushed his way through the pain. “I’m going to do better than that.” He grabbed one of the black markers he’d brought down with him and scrawled TRASH on the flap of the box. “I’m moving on for real.”

  Patrick’s eyebrow had lifted again, but he didn’t argue or question. He just nodded. “Then you better move it over there. We can start a trash pile.”

  Ryan did as Patrick had suggested and placed the box on the floor.

  He’d loved Ginny for too long, even long after he’d known it was hopeless. She was never going to be the woman he’d wanted her to be, and he wasn’t going to be a fool again and hope that she would change.

  He hadn’t known his impulse to sell his cars and organize his basement had meant anything other than cleaning up a little, but he now realized they’d been unconscious signs.

  This was it.

  He was moving on from Ginny for good.

  And he wasn’t going to let anything tempt him to start wanting her back.

  DESPITE THEIR ATTEMPTS, they couldn’t drag Patrick to the club that evening, but the rest of them showed up. Ginny, Noah, Emma, Ryan, and Carol.

  At ten o’clock, four of them were standing around a tall table in a corner, drinking fancy drinks with literary names and laughing at Ryan, who was across the room, hitting on an attractive redhead.

  Ginny found it vaguely annoying since Ryan was supposed to be hanging out with them. The rest of them just found it funny.

  “I don’t know how he does it,” Carol said, shaking her head as she watched her brother. “He just talks to a girl for a minute, and they’re handing him their phone numbers. I wish it ran in the family.”

  “I’m sure guys would give you their phone numbers if you asked for it,” Noah said. He had green eyes like Ginny’s, although his hair was darker than her blond.

  “You think I’m just going to go over and ask a guy for his number?” Carol’s eyes widened in obvious amazement. “Ginny’s the only girl I’ve ever known who does that.”

  Ginny wasn’t sure what to make of that statement, but she assumed it was a compliment. She never had any trouble interacting with men. It was easy. Simple. It came naturally to her.

  It didn’t mean anything.

  They were all still watching as Ryan pulled out his phone, obviously having gotten the girl’s number.

  Ginny wasn’t surprised. Ryan was built like a football player with broad shoulders, long legs, and fantastic arms. He had reddish-brown hair, gray eyes, and a square-jawed, handsome face.

  He was as good-looking a guy as they came. Girls watched him wherever he went. Plus he had a good job working with large animals in the Animal Science department at Tech, and he could make anyone smile.

  But still...

  Ginny couldn’t help but be bothered that he’d so blithely come on to women when he was hanging out with her, as if their former relationship didn’t mean anything at all.

  Ginny still thought about it all the time, but he obviously didn’t.

  She pushed the thought away. She and Ryan were friends now, and she didn’t want anything—even extraneous wistful memories—to jeopardize that.

  “Here he comes,” Carol said, smiling as her brother approached. “Make sure we all give him grief when he gets here.”

  “Give me grief about what?” Ryan asked with a lazy smile as he joined them.

  When he smiled like that, Ginny’s heart skipped a beat. It always had—even years ago when they were middle school.

  “About hitting on anything with a skirt,” Emma explained.

  “Hey, she’s gorgeous,” Ryan objected. “I don’t hit on everyone. Just the gorgeous ones. It’s not my fault they all like me.”

  Ginny rolled her eyes but refrained from making a snide comment.

  Everyone at this table knew her too well. They might read something beneath the sarcasm that she didn’t want them to know.

  “I know,” Carol said with a friendly pat on his back. “If I could get phone numbers so easily, I might do the same thing. But you’re the only one who can do that.”

  “What do you mean?” Ginny asked, genuinely surprised by this statement. “I can get a guy’s phone number just as easily as he can get a girl’s.”

  Ryan turned his gray eyes to her for the first time. Something passed between them that made her heart skip again, but she couldn’t really label what it was.

  Just history.

  Nothing but history.

  “You think you can get a phone number in five minutes like I just did?” Ryan asked, dry amusement in his tone.

  “I can get one in less,” Ginny said. She knew a challenge when she heard one, and she wasn’t about to let Ryan come out ahead.

  “Let’s see it then,” Ryan said, nodding toward the rest of the club. He was still smiling.

  He was almost always smiling. It was one of things she loved most about him. Despite his annoying womanizing ways, he had such a big heart and warm spirit.

  Ginny managed to turn away from him and scoped out the room. There were a lot of couples here tonight and several larger groups of friends. It was hard to walk up to a big group since everyone would stare and listen in, making the other person feel awkward. She spotted a decent-looking guy standing at the bar alone, a beer in his hand. He’d been eyeing the room, but now his eyes landed on her, catching her watching him.

  He gave her a little smile.

  Easy.

  She headed over, smoothing down her short skirt. With her heels on, she was almost six feet tall. She hoped she wasn’t taller than this guy. Some guys didn’t like that. And she needed to get his phone number.

  Faster than five minutes.

  She knew Ryan was watching her, and she wasn’t going to lose this challenge.

  RYAN WATCHED GINNY stride across the room and fought back an automatic stirring of desire.

  It was impossible to look at Ginny—all long blond hair and gorgeous long legs and clever green eyes—and not be hit by lust, but he was used to it and normally didn’t let it distract him.

  She had a way of walking that matched her personality. Direct. Purposeful. No hesitation. Like she knew what she wanted and went to get it—no matter what it was.

  Years ago, all that purpose and passion had been directed at him.

  He had to fight to push back that thought too.

  But he did. He was moving on. He wasn’t going to hold on even to memories of her.

  Emma and Carol were giggling as they watched their friend approach the stranger. “She’s amazing,” Emma murmured. “I’d never be able to do that.”

  Ginny was amazing. And the guy obviously thought so too. His expression had turned hot with interest as Ginny chatted with him.

  He would take Ginny home without a second thought if she had given him the slightest provocation.

  Ryan definitely had to force himself not think about that.

  When Ginny tossed
her long hair behind her shoulder and laughed, Ryan knew she would get what she wanted.

  He was right.

  In almost no time, she was returning to their table with a little smile playing on the corner of her lush lips.

  She had the guy’s phone number.

  And it had only been four minutes.

  The girls were laughing and cheering as she joined them, and Noah was shaking his head. “My sister. Is this something I should be proud about?”

  “Of course you should be proud,” Ginny said. “I just beat your best friend in a fair fight.”

  “Hey!” Ryan objected. “I wasn’t playing to win before. I was just being myself. If it were a real competition, you wouldn’t stand a chance.”

  “You think so?”

  Ryan’s heart was beating faster, and his blood was starting to pulse. He didn’t know why, but he was hit with the sudden, unavoidable desire to kiss Ginny soundly.

  He didn’t, of course.

  He’d been down the road before, and he wasn’t going back. No matter how ridiculously attracted to her he still was.

  He’d made the decision that afternoon. He’d sold his cars. He was cleaning his basement. And he was getting over Ginny Hart.

  He wasn’t going to always be attracted to her like this. One day he would finally be over her for good.

  “Yes,” he said, arching his eyebrows. “I think so.”

  “Sounds like a challenge to me,” Carol said with an excited giggle. “You all should make it a contest.”

  “What kind of contest?” Ginny asked, looking genuinely curious.

  “I don’t know. Just some sort of competition about which of you is more irresistible to the opposite sex.” Carol obviously thought this idea was hilarious. “Who can get more phone numbers or something.”

  Ryan wasn’t sure he liked the idea of Ginny racking up endless phone numbers from guys—guys she might actually fall for. But he could hardly say so or show hesitation since he wasn’t supposed to care about her personal life. And maybe this was a good idea—a manifestation of how he was finally ready to close that one chapter of his life. “I’m game if she is.”

  Ginny met his eyes without wavering. “Of course I’m game. So what is the goal, exactly? Who can get the most phone numbers in what? A week? A month?”

  “We’d need to do it in a controlled environment,” Ryan said quickly, thinking he’d be a lot more comfortable about Ginny hitting on a bunch of men if he was around to see that it didn’t go anywhere. “We’d both need to be present for the numbers to count.”

  “All right. So let’s say a month. Four Saturdays. We go out each week and collect as many phone numbers as we can. Whoever gets the most at the end of the month wins.”

  Ryan nodded and held out his hand. “Done.”

  She shook his hand, and he tried not to think about how cool and small her hand felt in his, how perfectly his own fingers wrapped around hers.

  “So is there a prize for the winner?” Emma asked, looking as amused as everyone else at the table.

  Ryan shrugged. “No need. Whoever wins has the glory of being victorious. That’s stakes enough.”

  “Definitely.” Ginny slanted him a little look that made his whole body tighten in his interest. “Just so everyone knows, Ryan is never going to win.”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  Ryan made sure to sound casual, like he was amused and not taking this challenge seriously.

  But he was actually wondering what he’d gotten himself into.

  All he wanted to do was get over Ginny after all these years. He hadn’t planned on doing it like this.

  He hoped he hadn’t made a big mistake.

  Two

  Ginny’s father had walked out on her and Noah when she was about to turn eleven, and the two of them had moved with their mother into her grandmother’s three-bedroom ranch house on the outskirts of Blacksburg. Her mother had died from pancreatic cancer right before her high school graduation, so Ginny had continued living with her grandmother ever since.

  In college, she’d lived there to save money on expenses, but after college, she’d stayed because Nan was frail and couldn’t live on her own. Ginny didn’t mind. She loved her grandmother and was happy to be able to help, but occasionally she wondered what it would be like to have a place of her own.

  She was almost twenty-six now. At her age, most women weren’t still living in the house they were raised in.

  She was thinking about this—and wondering what kind of place she’d choose if she was finding a home of her own—as she drank her coffee the following morning and glanced over her email and Facebook notifications on her tablet.

  When she started to feel guilty, she stopped thinking about it. The only way she’d be moving out was if something happened to Nan.

  And she definitely didn’t want that to happen.

  Before she could feel too bad about it, the side door leading into the kitchen opened and Nan came in from outside.

  Ginny blinked. She hadn’t even known Nan was awake yet. It was just after seven. Nan usually woke up fairly early but just to drink tea, read the Bible, and do crosswords.

  “You weren’t walking without your cane, were you?” Ginny asked, nodding toward the landing station where Nan’s cane was leaning against the wall. Nan had broken her hip a few months ago and was still not back to walking the way she used to. Ginny wasn’t sure she ever would be.

  Nan shook her head and raised the mug Ginny hadn’t noticed she was holding before. “I was just sitting outside in the garden.”

  “It’s not too chilly?”

  “Brisk, but not cold. I love this time of year. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”

  Ginny thought for a moment. Her grandmother was forever quoting the Bible, and most of the time Ginny couldn’t even come close to identifying where the quotes were from. “That’s got to be from the Psalms.”

  “Good guess. Psalm 30. If you’d read for yourself, you wouldn’t always have to guess.”

  Ginny was used to this and just smiled at her grandmother affectionately. “That’s true.”

  “You were out late last night.” Nan poured more hot water into her mug from the kettle and then came over to sit across from Ginny at the kitchen table. “I heard you come in after one.”

  “Did I wake you up?” Ginny tried very hard to be quiet when she came in at night since Nan went to bed at eight every evening.

  “Of course not. I was up going to the bathroom.”

  “Emma said I could stay at her apartment if I’m out late on the weekends since she spends the weekends at Noah’s. I might do that so I don’t disturb you.”

  “You can certainly do it if you want, but don’t do it on my account. I get up every few hours to go to the bathroom anyway. Did you all have a good time last night?”

  “Yeah. I guess so. They’ve fixed the place up nice, and they were really creative about the names of the drinks and food.”

  “You didn’t drink too much, did you?”

  “You know I never drink more than half a glass of anything. If I drink any more than that, I get as sick as a dog and it’s just not worth it.” Ginny had always been that way. Most of the time, she couldn’t drink a whole glass even of wine, or she would get woozy and nauseated and have a headache for days afterward. She’d hated her intolerance for alcohol when she was younger and her friends were getting drunk, but she’d gotten used to it by now. When she was out in the evenings, she would usually just carry around a half-full glass to keep guys from buying her more drinks.

  “Noah was with you?” Nan asked.

  “Yeah, he and Emma were there until eleven or so.”

  “They left you alone?”

  “No, Carol was there until midnight, and Ryan didn’t leave until I did.”

  “Oh good.” Nan was visibly relieved. She was actually pretty good about not chastising Ginny for having fun, even when that fun took forms Nan wouldn’
t approve of. But Ginny tried to be discreet about mentioning some of her activities, particularly those that involved her spending the night with guys. Her grandmother had a much more traditional moral sense than her grandchildren had. “If Ryan was there, then you were fine.”

  For no good reason the words caused a sharp pang in Ginny’s chest. She had no idea why. She swallowed and tried to smile.

  “What is it, dear?” Nan asked, searching her face with a scrutiny Ginny had been familiar with since she was five years old and hadn’t wanted to tell her grandmother she’d broken a fancy teacup.

  “Nothing.” Ginny’s smile was more natural now.

  It obviously didn’t fool Nan. “Is Ryan doing all right?”

  “Sure. Of course he is. He sold his old cars, and he’s cleaning out his basement. He got a promotion at work. Did you hear about that?”

  “Noah mentioned it. That’s not what I was asking though. How are you and Ryan doing?”

  “We’re doing fine. We’re just friends now.”

  “That’s what you always say, but if it’s true, I can never understand why he still looks at you like you’re precious to him.”

  Ginny’s breath caught in her throat before she reminded herself to be reasonable. Nan would have no idea what had gone on between her and Ryan. She’d have no way to interpret any lingering feelings on either side. “It’s not like that between us, Nan. We really are just friends, and we mostly hang out because he’s Carol’s brother.”

  “You were in love with him in college.”

  “Nan, I wasn’t—”

  “Don’t try to lie to me. I was there. I saw you. You were in love.”

  Ginny gave a little shrug and struggled to not get frustrated. She didn’t really want to be having this conversation—definitely not first thing on a Sunday morning after she’d been out late.

  “If you were in love then, why aren’t you in love now?”

  “I don’t really know. It just didn’t work out between us. We only dated for six months.”

  Six months.

  It had felt like a lifetime.

  It was the longest romantic relationship Ginny had ever had in her life.