Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 95080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
“Besides,” Matt said, “Tracy has a better brother.”
Courtney and April both turned to me.
“Evan’s not better,” I said, defending Alex; it was hardwired in me. “Just different.”
“What does he do?” April wanted to know.
“He’s an actor,” Eric whetted their appetite.
“What kind of actor?” Courtney sounded just as interested.
“Why do you care about this?” Ira asked his fiancée.
“Go get some more drinks,” Matt suggested.
“Somebody needs to drink Jen’s Cosmo,” Eric reminded them.
“Pass it over,” Courtney said with a cackle.
“Spill about the brother,” April prodded me.
“He’s on a show on HBO,” I explained, and watched them both perk up at the news. I smiled. I couldn’t help it. “It’s called Cape Cod.”
It was about a political family, loosely based on the Kennedys, and their machinations to get their youngest son in the White House. My brother was not the golden boy. He was the other guy, the villain who had more fun, the one all the women wanted.
“Oh my God!” April squealed. “I never miss that! I watch it every week!”
“Me too!” Courtney looked excited, a drink in each hand, as she rounded on Ira. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It never came up.”
“You liar!”
“Shit, Tracy!” he groused at me.
“Why is this my fault?”
“Who is he?” April was dying.
“Tracy, who does he play?” Courtney demanded, her focus back on me. “C’mon!”
I had to think. “Bradley Harrison?” Was that right? “Harrodsburg? No, Harrington?”
Shit.
“You’re thinking of the wrong show,” Matt apprised me.
“I am?”
He nodded.
“Which was that?”
“The one on CBS where he was an FBI agent.”
“Oh, that’s right,” I agreed, remembering. “Well, it’s not like he’s been on the new show that long.”
“Three years isn’t long?” Matt arched an eyebrow at me.
“Really? Three years already? God, where have I been?”
“Tracy!” Courtney yelled at me.
“He plays Marco Dahlia,” Matt told them, putting them out of their misery.
They both looked stunned, staring at him wide-eyed.
“Oh yes, that’s the one.” I snickered, grinning wickedly.
“Marco Dahlia?” April asked breathlessly.
“Yeah,” I confirmed.
“Are you kidding me?”
I shrugged. “No. He is indeed my brother.”
“Evan Brandt is your brother?”
“He is.”
“So gorgeous,” April said adamantly. “So beautiful. Oh my God, when is he going to visit?”
“Where does he live?” Courtney asked me urgently.
“In New York. Manhattan. He loves it there, and I love going to see him. I got to go last winter for the holidays with my dad and my part—” I stopped because no. I didn’t have a partner anymore.
“New York at Christmas,” April sighed. “Was it awesome?”
“It was amazing.”
“Does Evan ever come here?” Courtney pried. “Like, ever?”
I glanced over at Ira, and he threw up his hands in defeat.
“Oh, come on, Ira,” Matt teased him. “The man’s on TV. Let her be excited.”
“Yeah, Ira, let me be excited.” She laughed at him.
“I hate you all,” he informed us.
I sat and drank while Matt hit the floor with April, and Courtney with Ira. Eric promised to go save Courtney if Ira’s dancing started to look more like a seizure and less like he had any rhythm.
It was fun sitting there, watching the club fill up until I was unable to see the dance floor even from how close I was.
Alex came by to say goodbye; he was taking Jennifer and bailing. They needed to talk, and trying to communicate over the top-of-the-charts and trance music was impossible. He said to call if I needed him, and then he was gone, Jennifer clinging happily to his hand.
“Well, that’s just great.” April groaned as she and Courtney joined me. “So who do I…oh.”
From the way April’s eyes narrowed and her mouth went slack, I knew she’d seen something pretty behind me. When I turned, I saw the man who held her interest.
“Hey,” Breckin hailed me as he made his way through the crowd toward our table.
“Hi,” April said, delighted, when he reached us.
He offered her his hand. “Breckin Alcott. And you are?”
Courtney moved close to me. “First your brother for Jen, and now this guy for April. Holy crap, Trace, my friends are going to jump at the chance to go anywhere with you all.”
I watched April move in on Breckin, smile and laugh, and then ask him to buy her a drink.
“Sure,” he agreed. “Any friend of Tracy’s.”
Her mouth opened as he turned to me, running his gaze over my face. “May I look at you?”
“Here?” I teased him.
“Out on the patio, please.”
The man looked good, but really, he always did. The chiseled line of his jaw, the wide breadth of his shoulders, and his warm blue eyes were all stunning. His T-shirt was too tight and clung to his sculpted chest and abdominal muscles.
“You didn’t do laundry,” I commented, knowing he was out of clothes if he was wearing the tight T-shirts that normally were only worn under his scrubs.
He stepped close to me and put his hand on my face, stroking his thumb over my cheek. “I don’t have anyone to remind me.”