 by Kaylee Ryan.jpg)
Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82265 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82265 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
It’s always been her, and I just never realized. Now that I’m looking at her that way, I can’t unsee it… and I don’t want to. Alyssa has been my best friend since kindergarten, and these intense new feelings could cost me our friendship.
She’s the one I share everything with, good or bad. It makes sense to share my life with her. But I can’t risk losing the only woman I’ve ever loved, which will happen if she doesn’t feel the same.
Alyssa
Falling for my best friend is easy, but keeping it to myself while figuring out what to do about it is the hard part. Because in a small town, everyone knows everyone… and their business.
Sterling is the perfect guy—handsome, with a heart of gold and a protective streak. I know he’ll do anything for me… except maybe admit he feels the same way I do.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
CHAPTER
ONE
Sterling
“Uncle Sterling!” My niece, Blakely, giggles as I spin us around in a circle. I hold her tight in my arms as her head falls back, her hair rippling with each turn.
“Faster?” I ask.
“Faster!” she agrees.
I move my feet, spinning us faster. Her laughter reaches in and binds itself around my heart. This little girl has us all wrapped around her little finger. Knowing that she just had a big slice of her birthday cake with ice cream, I slow until we’re no longer rotating. Blakely places her head on my shoulder, and I don’t have to see her face to know she’s still smiling.
“That was fun.” She snuggles into me.
I kiss the top of her head and squeeze her tightly. I love my brothers and my parents, but when Blakely came along, it was a whole different kind of love. One I’d never known. I remember the first time I held her. She was so damn tiny, swaddled up in a pink blanket. I recall thinking that my brothers and I were fucked, because she was going to rule the roost.
I wasn’t wrong, and we all love every minute of it.
Don’t get me wrong. She’s not a brat. In fact, she appears to be much older than today’s birthday party represents. She’s five going on fifteen. She’s spunky and cute as hell.
“Are you hogging the birthday girl?” Ryder, one of my younger brothers, asks. There are nine of us in total.
“Yep.”
“Uncle Sterling, Mommy says you have to share,” my niece scolds.
“But I’m your favorite,” I tease. We all do.
“I have lots of favorites,” she admits with a toothy smile.
“My turn.” Ryder pulls her from my arms and tickles her belly as they walk away. Looking around my brother Declan’s backyard, I seek him out. I spot him and his wife, Kennedy, our brother Brooks, and his wife, Palmer, all sitting on the back deck. I make my way to them, leaning over the back of Kennedy’s chair and kissing the top of her head. “A boy. Congratulations.”
Declan reaches over and places his hand protectively over her growing baby bump. It’s something that he often does. Hell, they all do. My brothers do not shy away from showing affection for their wives and unborn children. Over the past few years, our family has grown. I have three new sisters-in-law, and we’re adding three new babies to the Kincaid clan. Then, our cousin Ramsey, who is more like our little sister, is getting married next month. In just a couple of weeks, we’ll be adding Deacon to our list of added family members.
“Is this where all the cool kids hang out?” my oldest brother, Orrin, asks.
I watch as he pulls a chair out for his pregnant wife, Jade, and waits for her to sit before taking one of the open seats next to her at the table.
“You know it.” Palmer, my brother Brooks’s wife, smiles, rubbing her belly.
“Not much longer,” Jade tells her.
“I know. I can’t believe we get to meet her in a handful of weeks,” Palmer replies.
“It feels like we’ve been waiting to meet her for years.” Brooks leans over and kisses his wife.
We all laugh. If there was ever a man excited to be a father, it’s Brooks. That’s not saying that Declan and Orrin are any less excited, but Brooks, he tells anyone who’s willing to listen that he and his wife are expecting their first baby. My big brother is a softie. Then again, out of the nine of us, three are married, and every single one of them is a big ole teddy bear when it comes to their wives.
“Tink!” I call out to my best friend, Alyssa. I call her Tink because she’s a tiny thing compared to me. She just walked around the corner of the house. She’s laughing at something the twins are saying. Shaking her head at them, she turns to head in our direction. “Come sit.” I pat the empty seat next to me.