Chapter 3

~ Knox ~

“Who’s the blonde hugging on Cat and making me damn jealous of your girlfriend?” Riley asked me as he came through the kitchen pass-through door and sidled up to the bar.

“You mean my fiancée,” I corrected.

“Yeah, right. My bad. You skipped right over girlfriend and went straight for the gold. Fucking overachiever.”

I laughed.

But then I shot a quizzical look over my shoulder at Riley’s point of entry—when most people used the front door.

To my silent inquiry, he nonchalantly said, “You realize this place is packed, right? Venue du jour and all of that. Even the fucking parking lot is so damn crowded I had to leave the Wrangler around the corner.”

I couldn’t argue the fact. “Cat put out low heaters on the event deck and had a party vendor from the Heights bring down a tented canopy to cover the space so we could make use of it tonight. Seriously unreal that upstairs, downstairs and outside are at max capacity. If not a bit over. Fucking fire marshal might get on our asses, but, hey—it’s Cat’s party and I’ll pay whatever fine he slaps on us.”

“You realize you’re sickening in love, right?” Riley quipped.

I resisted slugging him. I knew how much he adored Cat and that he was happy she’d finally found her path.

As was I.

Especially since it’d finally led her to me.

I told him, “Really, no one’s going to argue that we have a nicer facility for New Year’s Eve than anything that’s ever been offered around this town. Caroline’s is comparable in ambience, but not in physical space.”

“Yeah, well, I’m expecting next year’s festivities to be at yours and Cat’s sprawling estate on the ridge.”

I grinned. “We’ll certainly have the room for it. But don’t be a douche and mention the option to her. She’ll be crushed if we host anywhere other than right here.”

With a shrug, Riley concurred. Then he returned to his previous quest. “So Blondie’s not from around here.”

Riley would know. He was a true connoisseur of gorgeous women and I was damn lucky he’d kept his hands to himself when it came to Cat. Especially since they were next door neighbors.

I considered that I was about to bust his bubble when it came to Bree, but then I figured that if she really had something substantial going on with her musician dude, she’d been in Vienna tonight—not in Birch.

So I didn’t immediately mention she had a boyfriend (I genuinely wasn’t sure how loose that term was) and instead told Riley, “She’s my executive assistant, Briana Styles.”

“Mm. She is rockin’ that outfit. Tight black leggings and the matching sky-high suede ankle boots.” He took her in from head to toe. “Curve-hugging white sweater trimmed with silver-fox fur at the wide cuffs and the collar, down the front of her to where the zipper reveals a lacy black tank or bra or whatever she’s wearing underneath that’s driving me wild… Fuck.”

I laughed. Now, I did slug him. “Dude, you’ve been hanging out with Jen too much. All that fucking fashion-magazine talk.”

“Yeah, I know—she showed me that same sweater from Barney’s or Bloomingdale’s or some other upscale ‘B’ joint. That’s where I got the description.” He rolled his eyes. “Someone give me a lobotomy.” With a groan, he added, “And yet… Damn. Your Heights friend is the hottest thing I’ve seen since I can’t remember when. If ever...”

I whistled under my breath. “That’s saying something, coming from you.” I knew how much territory Riley covered.

He spent a few more moments admiring Bree’s long blonde hair, I guessed. She’d pulled it up on the sides, leaving the curls to tumble down her back. My gaze only landed a second or two on her before it shifted to Cat. And I grinned.

Yes, Bree was incredibly beautiful. Only a blind man would miss that.

But Cat… She was truly the most gorgeous thing I’d ever laid eyes on.

Riley was still caught up in Bree, however, mumbling about curves for days and how she was an enticing way to ring in the New Year.

I had no choice but to give him the 4-1-1: “Dude, she’s got a boyfriend. Some international musician/superstar/stud from Russia.”

“I’m a stud from Birch,” Riley quipped as he accepted the martini Jen set before him, since Jen knew Riley’s drink preference as easily as he seemed to know her choice of New York stores that she, unfortunately, could not afford to shop at, but hoped to someday model for.

I’d say they made a cute couple, but there was strictly a little sister vibe between them—and Riley liked his women more seasoned than nineteen-year-old Jen.

He was, in fact, still fixated on Bree.

“Date Local should be that woman’s new motto,” he mumbled. “While she’s here in our town, at any rate.”

I laughed. “Is date really the word you want to use?”

He snickered.

I said, “She’s a Heights girl. Not exactly your style. Though, you’ve likely exhausted the inner Birch radius. How far’s your reach beyond that?”

“A good sixty, seventy miles south and east. Can’t go west, of course, there’s a fucking ocean.”

“And north?”

Riley grimaced.

“That’s what I thought,” I mocked. “North is the Heights. Definitely not into those women. So Bree’s off-limits. Times two. By virtue of her ZIP code and the fact she’s my assistant. Make that three strikes—again with the international superstar boyfriend she currently has…”

“You’re a total buzzkill now that you’re engaged, Shipley.” His gaze remained on Bree, despite all the warning flags I’d raised. “Think I’ll have your fiancée introduce us...”

Again with that word I fucking loved hearing!

Cat was my fiancée.

Cat was mine.

Finally!

But I digressed.

Riley said, “Because clearly, I need to expand my territory.”

I shook my head. “You douche.”

Of course, he wasn’t. Riley was one of my best friends, one of the good guys, one person I could entrust with Cat’s safety. Knowing he was right next door, their lofts sharing a wall, was what had allowed me to breathe a bit easier when I’d been up the hill at college, on a different continent during my Prague internship, working at the Greystone Heights Country Club while Cat was here at the Birch Bar & Grill.

But we’d been harmlessly cutting into each other since we were kids, so Riley shot back, “Careful there, Knox. Cat’s not married…yet. Still fair game in my book.”

We exchanged a look—one that said I knew he was full of shit…and he knew I knew he was full of shit.

It was one of those bros-forever kind of thing. Not just because we were that close, but because of what we’d just gone through together when Luke had attacked Cat. Riley had been there to lend a hand—but more than that, he’d been there to keep me from going off the deep end, to keep me from tearing Luke’s head off when the very dire and desperate need to do just that had gripped me so fiercely.

Only Riley could keep me in check.

So I offered, “Bree’s situation can’t be all that solid if she’s here tonight when she was supposed to be in Vienna.”

It was the only bone I’d throw to Riley. Whether he latched onto it or not was up to him. If there was any guy I’d find acceptable for Cat’s friend/my assistant to date, it was him.

He drained his martini, spied the bottle of champagne Bree had given Cat, and then told Jen as she passed by, collecting drink orders, “I need three champagne glasses.” He shot me a sardonic look. “You can order your own fucking drink.”

Then he punched me in the arm—evening the score.

I smirked. He laughed.

Then he headed off toward Cat and Bree.

I rolled my eyes. But told Jen to send over four glasses. I polished off my scotch and made my way through the crowd to my fiancée. She was being super-responsible this evening, but I figured a little bubbly would do her good. She’d worked her ass off and she deserved to enjoy the party. Plus, she had a new assistant manager and a great staff to handle tonight’s crowd.

I stole behind Cat, wrapped my arms around her waist and whispered, “You in this tiny silver dress has had me hard all night.”

“You only got here a half an hour ago, Knox,” she lobbed back.

I laughed. “Fine. That’s a half-hour of agony. You really shouldn’t have converted the upstairs office. We could’ve snuck up there and—”

“Mind out of the gutter, buddy,” she told me. “We’re the hosts of this massive shindig. And, hey…let me introduce Riley to Bree!”

She did precisely that. And I didn’t miss how Bree’s gaze swept over all of Riley’s sculpted muscles.

Perhaps Cat was already onto a little matchmaking…

But that wasn’t my game, so I murmured in her ear, “Now that we’ve been cordial, babe—”

“Not leaving just yet,” she teasingly said. “Look—there’s champagne!”

Jen arrived and we all accepted our glasses. I popped the cork on the chilled bottle Bree had brought and poured for the four of us. We all clinked rims, toasting the last couple of hours of the current year.

While I counted down every second until I could get Cat alone…