Stuck with Mr. Grump

1. Emilia

CHAPTER 1

Emilia

“ I want to be a bull rider,” my sister murmurs, releasing a small sigh beside me.

Her gaze is fixed to the TV in front of us, watching an undeniably attractive man climb onto a bull and try his best to hold on for as long as he can. Frankly, I don’t get it. Doing something life-threatening to entertain an audience doesn’t seem like a good idea to me.

But according to Anika, these men can earn up to millions of dollars. Weighing the risk-reward factor, it seems like a pretty sweet deal. Then again, you can’t spend the money if you’re dead.

It’s clear the athletes enjoy it, though. The one currently on the bull is a young man with a cocky smile and when he lifts his head toward the cameras, I catch sight of a glint in his blue eyes that shows he’s having fun.

I reach for a bottle of Coke, taking a swig before turning to give my sister an arched eyebrow.

“Last week you wanted Edward to become one so you could marry a bull rider,” I remind her.

She offers me a sly smirk, her brown eyes twinkling, “And now I want to be one. Why get a man when you can do it yourself?”

“Feminist icon, whoo,” I say half-heartedly. “Can we watch something else?”

“No,” Anika immediately protests. “I want to learn how to ride one of those monsters.”

“Nika, you can’t get on a bull, you’ll die. Settle for riding things that can fit between your legs,” I say with a short laugh.

Her nose wrinkles. “You know, for someone who barely gets any, you sure do make a lot of sex jokes.”

“Hey,” I say slightly offended. “I get some.”

Anika gives me a look that says she totally does not believe me, and she’d be right. I can’t remember the last time I was on a date or had sex. I’m twenty-five years old and the only things I’ve got going for me are the café I own and the house I just bought with my little sister.

Anika makes a short dismissive sound. “Please, the last time I saw you with a man was…” She proceeds to think on it for several seconds. “Damn, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with a man. That’s kind of sad, sissy.”

“It’s not sad if you consider the fact that you’ve only known me for four years. I’ve been too busy to date,” I say defensively.

“I doubt you had a wild dating life even before we met,” she points out with a sad smile.

She’s probably thinking about said life before we met. Anika’s my half-sister. She’s about two years younger than me, but up until five years ago, I had no idea she existed. My family history is long and complicated, and half the time I refuse to even acknowledge it or the time I spent before I found the family I have now.

“True,” I admit. “But enough about me. The hot cowboy’s about to be thrown off the bull.”

I manage to successfully divert her attention to the TV, and over the next couple of minutes we watch sweaty cowboys try to control the wild animals that seem intent on killing them. Soon enough, I realize we’re running out of snacks, so I get to my feet, telling Anika that I need to make some popcorn.

She waves me off without looking up from the screen. She’s genuinely interested in bull riding, despite not having any idea it was a sport until about a week ago. But that’s Anika. She has dozens of hobbies and interests, which she picks and chooses every other week. She’s tried everything from mountain climbing to sky diving, always looking for some sort of adrenaline high.

We couldn’t be any more different, despite being sisters. We look different, too. While we share the same father, Anika’s mother is a gorgeous Indian woman with the kindest heart ever. Anika takes after her in the looks department too, with her thick, shiny, waist-length black hair and dainty doll-like face. She looks like a vixen but has this innocent, unassuming air about her that draws everyone in.

I’m making the popcorn when I hear a scream that has my heart leaping out of my throat. I grab a knife from the counter before I can blink and run into the living room despite my racing heart.

Fear courses through me and I want nothing more than to take off in the other direction, but it’s not like I can let my little sister get hurt. Once I arrive there, however, I see that the intruder has Anika in a headlock and is currently rubbing his fist into her hair while she struggles for dear life.

The scene would be disturbing if the intruder didn’t have blue eyes the exact same shade as mine and an extremely punchable face. Annoyance immediately fills me.

“What the fuck, Anika? I thought someone broke into the house or something,” I burst out, the knife in my hand clattering to the floor. I lean against the wall, clutching my still-racing heart.

It’s okay, Emilia. You’re fine. She’s fine. You’re safe. I repeat the words a couple more times in my head before glaring at them both.

“Let her go, Carson,” I say with a sigh.

My brother chuckles before slowly releasing Anika and stepping back. He swipes the half-empty bowl of crackers on the table, shoving a handful into his mouth before collapsing onto the sofa behind him.

“How are my favorite girls?” he questions with a grin.

“We were fine before you showed up, jerk,” Anika replies.

She tosses a beer can at his head, which he annoyingly manages to catch at the last second. He pops it open with a satisfied smirk, taking a swig before looking at me. His gaze moves from the knife on the floor to the expression on my face and his smile immediately drops.

“Hey, little sis. You okay?”

My heart is still racing but I can feel the rest of my body settling. I inhale a soft breath before nodding once and slipping back into the kitchen. I hear Anika and Carson trade a few hushed words and two minutes later, I can feel my brother’s presence behind me.

Well, smell would be more accurate. He uses this annoying cologne with a musky scent that he swears draws in all the ladies. I’m, like, fifty-percent sure said ladies need to get their olfactory receptors checked.

He places the knife I dropped on the counter beside me, his silence loud and probing.

“I’m fine, Carson,” I mutter, pulling the popcorn out of the microwave and pouring it into a bowl.

“We didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I know. It’s okay. I overreacted. It’s not like I was going to stab anyone,” I say, my tone light.

That’s a lie, though. If the situation arises, I wouldn’t hesitate to go for the liver of anyone that tries to hurt my little sister. Self-defense was one of the first things I learned growing up. It’s the only reason I’ve lived this long.

“You didn’t overreact, muffin,” he murmurs.

I turn around and he’s giving me that look. Like he’s trying to figure out how to talk to me. I hate that look.

“Carson,” I say on a sigh, “you don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’m your big brother,” he states. “Worrying about you and Nika’s my full-time job.”

He’s a very genuine, open person, my big brother. They all are. Carson, Anika, my father, and Anika’s mother, Priya. They’re the type of family to gather around a table to talk about their feelings—an activity that is torturous to me.

“Oh, please. We both know you’re only here to steal our snacks and intrude on girl time,” I state, tossing a piece of popcorn on his face.

It hits his nose before sliding down to the floor. Carson gives me an unimpressed look. He’s a goofball half the time, but he can get very serious very fast. At twenty-eight years old, he’s the CEO of his own company, a small financial advisory firm. Cameron Financials is literally his baby. He put his all into building it and now it’s a flourishing business in Greenville, a city that’s about an hour or so away from here. Carson’s an intelligent, successful young man. He’d be a catch if only he wasn’t such a player.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” I ask, heading back into the living room and effectively putting an end to the conversation.

If I don’t change the subject, my siblings will keep pushing. But thankfully, they always drop it once I do.

“It’s family night tomorrow,” he replies, taking a seat on the sofa.

I settle down next to Anika and she immediately grabs the bowl of popcorn from my hand. Her attention is back to the cowboys bull riding on the screen. I’m getting worried she’ll actually make her way to a competition and somehow find a way to do it. I wouldn’t put it past her.

“Exactly. It’s tomorrow night, loser,” Anika speaks up. “Do you have no friends in Greenville or something? You’re always here.”

“Well, I’ve gotta make sure I always provide you two with the pleasure of my company.”

Anika and I snort simultaneously.

“Why the hell are you watching cowboys?” he questions.

I sigh, leaning back into the couch, “Don’t ask.”

“Can we watch a movie instead?” he asks hopefully, blue eyes fixed on Anika.

“You’re a twenty-eight-year-old man who wants to watch a movie with his little sisters on a Friday night. That’s sad. I miss the old you.”

“I don’t,” I immediately state.

The old him would probably be in a club right now, partying and drinking. It’s nice to have fun every once in a while, but Carson was always at one party or another until a couple years back. Then he slowed down, started taking his firm and his life more seriously.

It was around the time I showed up, actually, around a year after when he started being able to look me in the eye. Before I showed up, he attended all those parties for fun. After I showed up, I think he did it as a distraction from the guilt he was feeling.

“I’m just saying, you need a girlfriend, Boba,” Anika continues. “And I mean an actual girlfriend, not one of the endless women you keep on your roster.”

“‘Endless’ is a bit of a stretch,” Carson says with a wolfish grin.

“Manwhore,” Anika says, shaking her head in disappointment. “One of you is practically a virgin?—”

“Hey,” I protest.

“And the other one isn’t even close to settling down. And these are the elder siblings I’m supposed to emulate?” Anika muses.

“There’s nothing wrong with being almost a virgin, Nika. Be like Emilia. There’s no man that’s worthy of either of you,” our brother says seriously.

My nose wrinkles. “That sounds sexist. You get to chase after anything in a skirt and we can’t chase after things in pants.”

Carson snickers, his eyes meeting mine, “You might actually benefit from something in pants.”

“Ew, gross. Never again, Carson!”

“Yeah, you’re right. I feel a little sick,” he says, looking genuinely disturbed.

Anika laughs. “The two of you need to be in happy healthy relationships. Look at me and Edward—we’re happy.”

“Sure,” Carson mutters.

He’s not a fan of Anika’s boyfriend. Edward’s in a band, which would be cool if it didn’t mean he’s an unemployed twenty-three-year-old. They’re high school sweethearts, though; they’ve been together for years, and he treats her well. I’m happy as long as Anika’s happy.

“Hey, how are things at the shop?” Carson asks after a couple of minutes.

My lips turn down in a frown. “Fine,” I mutter.

I really don’t need a reminder about how bad things are right now with my business. My brother’s the CEO of a successful firm, while I’m barely keeping things together at my small coffee shop. It’s embarrassing.

“You know I’m always here if you need help right, muffin?”

“Sure, Carson.”

Anika eventually agrees to switch to something we can all enjoy, and the three of us settle in to watch a movie about a heist gone wrong. We’re about an hour in when Carson suddenly sits up.

“Shit,” he mutters under his breath.

The both of us look toward him. He’s holding his phone in his hand, his finger scrolling down. I arch an eyebrow in question.

“What’s wrong?” Anika questions.

He doesn’t say anything for several seconds which immediately has me worried. When he doesn’t reply, Anika gets up and moves closer so she can read over his shoulder. She gasps, like, a minute later and now I’m too curious to sit down.

“Did someone die or something?” I ask, moving toward them.

The first few words I see on the screen of Carson’s phone make no sense.

My brows furrow. “Who are the Harringtons? And who is an illegitimate child?”

Carson looks up at me with wide eyes. “You’re joking, right? The Harringtons? They’re the people who own, like, half the buildings and prime real estate in this town.”

“Oh. Them,” I say, remembering the super-rich family I’ve heard so much about. They apparently lived here for a long time but eventually moved, establishing the headquarters of their multi-million dollar company in New York. “What’s this about illegitimacy?”

“They’re saying Sterling’s father isn’t his real father. What the actual fuck?”

He really looks upset. If I’m remembering correctly, Carson and this Sterling guy used to be best friends until Sterling moved away. They apparently still keep in touch, but I’ve never met him or any of the Harringtons.

Anika’s holding her phone now. “The blogs are blowing up. They’re saying Sterling doesn’t deserve to inherit the company. They’re saying Aunt Lana had an affair. And this person just commented that Sterling’s a bastard. It’s really bad,” she says, chewing on her bottom lip.

Damn, that’s really mean.

“Shouldn’t you call him?” I ask my brother. “You’re friends, right?”

Carson leans back with a small sigh. “On the off-chance he’d even pick up my call, what would I even ask, muffin? ‘Yo, I just read an article talking about how you’re not really your father’s son. Are you okay?’”

“Yeah,” I say on a nod. “I’m sure he’d appreciate a friend checking on him.”

Carson smiles softly. “Sterling’s not that type of person. He’d hang up on me if I tried that shit. The guy’s not exactly sunshine and rainbows. I am worried about him, though. This must be rough.”

“Something like that will have damaging effects on their company as well, won’t it? The issue of succession aside, corporations rely on publicity,” Anika points out.

“Yeah,” Carson huffs. “If the rumors are true, both Harrington Holdings and the Harrington family are about to have a rough couple of months.”