Nor should she have been, since Kellan had been nineteen at the time.
Drake had cornered Kellan and threatened to not only kick his ass, but have him arrested. When Kellan had dumped her, she’d been devastated.
She hadn’t found out about Drake’s threats until later. And she’d been pissed.
Her brother had always been up in her business. Which she supposed had been fine when she was a teenager, but she was twenty-five years old now. Way too old to have him monitoring who she saw and who she didn’t.
And she still needed to know what Barrett had been talking about, so she waited until Barrett wandered into the backyard by himself with a beer in his hand.
She followed him, one eye on her brother, who was preoccupied with the television, laughing with some of the other guys from the team.
Satisfied Drake didn’t have his eyes trained on her, she slipped out the back door.
Barrett stared out over the garden.
She stepped up next to him. “A little too noisy in there for you?”
He frowned at her. “What are you doing out here, Harmony?”
“Trying to get you alone so I can ask you what you meant by the rule.”
He took a long swallow of his beer. “The rule. The guy rule.”
Somehow she knew she wasn’t going to like this rule. “What guy rule?”
He turned to face her, his body so imposing. She imagined he was quite threatening on the football field. But to her, he was just Barrett. Sexy, incredibly hot Barrett.
“The unspoken rule about not messing with your best friend’s little sister.”
She gave him an incredulous stare. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I’m not a child, Barrett. I’m a grown woman who can make her own decisions. And you’re a grown man capable of making your own decisions as well.”
He looked unmoved by her statement. “You’re Drake’s sister. That makes you off-limits.”
“Unbelievable. What is this, medieval times? Who comes up with this shit? Do you guys get out a notebook in the locker room and make lists?”
He didn’t smile. “This is serious business, Harmony. And no, we don’t make lists. It’s an unwritten, unspoken rule. Every guy knows it.”
If her eyes rolled any harder, they’d roll clear out the back of her head.
“It’s a stupid rule.”
“Nevertheless, it’s there. And I’ll honor it.”
Before she gave herself a headache, she walked off, back inside.
Alyssa joined her. “What did he say?”
She poured herself another glass of iced tea, still wishing it was that dirty martini, because this day was getting more bizarre by the minute. She took several sips of tea and leaned against the kitchen island. “It’s some moronic man code about not getting involved with your best friend’s sister.”
Alyssa gaped at her. “What? That’s dumb as hell.”
“Which is what I told him.”
“Did you also tell him you’ve had a crush on him since the first time Drake dragged him into the house, back when they were in college?”
“I most certainly did not.” She’d never told anyone—other than her best friend—about her years-long crush on Barrett.
“You should tell him. Maybe that would change his mind.”
“I don’t think so. And don’t you tell him, either.”
Alyssa made crisscross motions over her heart. “Your secret goes to the grave with me, sister. You know that.”
Said crush had ebbed and flowed over the years. She’d been nineteen the first time she’d laid eyes on Barrett. She’d taken one look at tall, dark-haired, blue-eyed Barrett and had fallen instantly in lust.
Even though he’d been a few years older than she was, she hadn’t cared. No other guy had existed for her after that. Barrett had been nice to her, though he had largely ignored her, as older guys did to nearly invisible teens.
Still, her crush had endured.
During her college years she’d found other guys who actually noticed her. Then she’d replaced her fantasy of Barrett with real men.
Like Levon.
She snorted.
“What?” Alyssa asked.
“Just thinking about my journey in the man department over the years.”
“Oh. Yeah. You’ve chosen some true keepers, Harmony.”
Harmony pursed her lips. “It’s not my fault. I’m smart, I’m kind, I’m generous, I’m funny, I’d like to think I’m a proud, damn fine-looking woman, and I’m hot as hell.”
“Hell yes,” Alyssa said.
“And yet for some reason I keep attracting these losers.”
Alyssa gave her a look of commiseration. “It’s not like I’m dating winners of the year, either. It’s hard to find a good man.”
They looked at each other and grinned.
“And good to find a hard one,” they said simultaneously, then laughed.
“Too bad Barrett is off-limits,” Alyssa said. “That man is the definition of hardbody.”
Harmony didn’t believe in off-limits. She wasn’t giving up just yet.
Three
Barrett stood outside, thinking.
Thinking and watching Harmony and Alyssa inside in the kitchen, both of them talking and laughing.
Not that he was paying attention to Alyssa. Alyssa was pretty and had a banging body. But it didn’t seem to matter, since his gaze was focused on Harmony, on the way she put her entire body into it when she laughed, the way she tilted her head back, exposing the soft column of her neck, the way she reached for Alyssa’s hand when she had something important to say.