CHAPTER 1
Jonathan
I swirled the bourbon in my glass, watching the amber liquid wash over the oversized cube of ice, coating the inside of the glass before sliding back down to pool at the bottom.
I brought the glass to my lips and tossed back the contents in one swallow before setting the glass down on the coffee table with a thunk next to the half-empty bottle.
In front of me, flames in reds, yellows, and oranges licked at the logs I’d stacked in the fireplace an hour ago.
Since then, I’d worked steadily at getting blindly drunk.
Based on the warmth humming through my veins and the fuzziness in my head, I’d say I was more than halfway toward accomplishing that goal.
I picked up the bottle to pour another round—this bourbon wasn’t going to drink itself—when the door to the tiny cabin burst open, blowing in a gust of cold air and startling the shit out of me.
The bottle slipped through my fingers as I turned in reflex to see who the intruder was. Glass shattered on the hardwood floor beneath me and liquid spread in a puddle around my feet, but I made no move to escape the mess.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Good to see you too, brother.” He flashed me a grin, then shook his head and stomped his feet, leaving a mess of snow on the floor around him.
“Close the damn door. Jesus. You’re letting snow in, and it’s making a mess.”
A chill slithered up my spine as the warmth of the cabin dissipated amid this assault from the storm raging outside.
Hayden, my stepbrother, turned and closed the door behind him, dropping his bags, and what was that?
—a guitar?—on the floor next to the entrance.
He toed off his boots and began removing his winter-weather gear, spreading snow everywhere in the process.
I would need a mop to deal with the mess he was making. Figures.
My thoughts came to a record-scratching halt as he began removing his jeans.
In the middle of the entryway.
Right in front of me.
His thick thighs and toned calves were covered in a layer of dense dark hair.
His firm ass was clad in a pair of red boxer briefs with candy canes all over them, and when he turned, I caught sight of the very prominent bulge his hoodie did nothing to hide.