Chapter 2
Teddy was glad Nate and Eloise were home from America.
He’d missed his older brother and his girlfriend more than he’d expected while they were away.
He accepted the beer his dad, Wilbur, passed him and continued listening as Eloise detailed the RV trip they’d taken once her work exchange program had finished.
Nate watched his girlfriend with rapt attention, like this was all brand-new information and he hadn’t been on the same trip.
It was cute. In a totally besotted and happy way that Teddy was, for some reason, finding harder to stomach than usual.
“The whole thing was perfect,” Eloise said.
His mother, Lulu, sniffed and dabbed at her eyes with the corner of a serviette.
“Aw, Mum.” Teddy gave her a cuddle. Eloise paused, her happy smile disappearing when she noticed Lulu’s shining eyes. No problem, Teddy knew exactly what to say to make everyone chuckle. “It’s okay, Eloise. We’re just so grateful that someone can put up with him.”
“Theodore!” Lulu slapped his side. “That’s not true! I want all my boys to be happy and loved, and I refuse to apologise if seeing that makes me emotional.”
“You’re such a dick,” Nate said to Teddy, but there was laughter in his voice, his eyes. The path to love for Nate and Eloise hadn’t been easy, but now? They radiated happiness and contentment. Good for them.
Nate’s happiness did present Teddy with a large problem, though.
It was no secret Lulu was determined to help each of her four boys find love.
She’d even roped her friends into helping.
Nothing got past the Old Girls. And the James brothers?
They were dropping like flies. First, Teddy’s other brother Owen had proved that even super clever lawyers could be dummies.
How Owen had thought no one had noticed how besotted he was with his client Alice still made Teddy laugh.
As Alice’s then-roommate, he’d known all about their ‘sneaking around’ thanks to the thinner-than-wafers apartment walls.
It was kind of offensive how they’d assumed he was so wrapped up in his own life that he hadn’t noticed how Owen was always at their place or that Alice would disappear for days at a time to stay at his.
With Nate now off the market as well, that only left Teddy and his oldest brother Rafferty as prey for the Old Girls.
But he was pretty sure Lulu would give Rafferty a leave pass while he continued to nurse his broken heart over his last girlfriend.
“How’s the job?” Nate asked Teddy.
“It’s okay.” Since finishing university last year, Teddy had been working at a dental clinic in Somers Gully, the next town over. “But my boss still hates me.”
“I didn’t think it was possible for anyone to not like you.” Eloise flicked her dark braid over her shoulder.
“That’s just women,” Owen teased, inserting himself into the conversation as he handed Alice a glass of rosé. Maybe they could do Teddy a solid and get married soon; a wedding would be an excellent distraction for Lulu.
“Speaking of women …” Lulu pounced.
“Thanks a lot,” Teddy muttered to Owen, rolling his eyes.
Nate and Owen chuckled. Those smug, happy bastards. “When’s Raff getting here?” Teddy asked in such a poorly veiled attempt to change the subject that he may as well have wrapped his words in cling wrap.
“He’s stuck at work,” Lulu said with a frown because Raff was always at work these days. Or, because she knew exactly what Teddy was trying to do. “What’s going on with your love life?”
No way was Teddy going to share that he’d recently been chased out of a secretly married one-night stand’s house wearing only a sheet. Teddy plastered on his failsafe cheeky grin. “You know me, Mum, I’m having fun.”
Or at least he used to be.
“Why does your boss hate you? This is Dr Nolan, right?” Nate asked, and Teddy shot his brother a grateful smile.
Teddy nodded. Eloise was right—being disliked was something he didn’t have a lot of experience with.
He’d been making people laugh ever since he was little.
Chalk this up as another reason Teddy had been feeling off-kilter recently.
“No idea. He’s very serious and, well, I guess he thinks I’m not?
Maybe I was too friendly and casual at the beginning?
I’m hoping we’ve got off on the wrong foot. ”
And I’m hoping he signs off on my probation period soon.
“He teaches at uni as well, right?” Alice asked.
Teddy sighed. “Yep. He’s the head of the orthodontist course I want to do once I have enough practical experience.”
“Eeek,” Alice said, which made everyone laugh.
“Don’t worry.” Teddy feigned the confidence everyone expected from him, even if it felt like putting on clothes that didn’t fit anymore. “Everyone falls in love with me eventually.”
Later, after a delicious dinner of lamb shanks with his family, Teddy found himself at the bar ordering another round of drinks.
It was still odd to be on this side of it.
He was chatting with his old boss Wyatt when a scream pierced the air, followed quickly by his name.
The busy dining room quietened, and Teddy’s stomach dropped to his feet.
“Oh my God! I never thought I was going to see you again! This is, like, fate.”
Kylee? He hadn’t seen the blonde since that night at the backpackers in Cairns.
Teddy swallowed. He considered hiding for the second time this week—the fucking shame of it—until he remembered that at six foot five, he was a giant-sized human.
His brothers would never, ever let him hear the end of it.
Not even if he told them about how he’d woken up the next day and had to gently tell Kylee that he didn’t think it was a good idea for them to move in together, especially considering they lived in different states.
“Friend of yours?” his oldest brother Rafferty asked, appearing next to him, still in the navy trousers and button-up shirt he’d worn to work. Raff’s dark curls were a mess like he’d been dragging his hands through them nonstop.
“Not exactly.” All his brothers would’ve understood the unspoken subtext, but as a detective, Raff was especially skilled at reading between the lines.
“I see.” Some of the tiredness on Raff’s face disappeared, and there was a whisper of a smile on his lips.
“What are the chances?” Kylee said, pulling Teddy into a hug like they were friends, not two people who’d exchanged a few orgasms one night.
He gently untangled himself, sure everyone would be watching them.
His family. His mother’s friends. Jessica.
She was standing in the kitchen doorway, one hand holding a tray of the pulled pork nachos special and wearing an unsurprised expression.
Teddy blushed. He’d wanted to find her tonight and apologise again about the other morning.
Instead, this would surely only reinforce her opinion that he was a fuckboy.
“What are you doing here?” Kylee was still standing too close.
“Catching up with a few friends,” Teddy said.
Raff choked out a laugh and did an abysmal job of pretending it was a cough. But Teddy’s brothers were his friends—his best friends—so it wasn’t a lie.
“What about you?” Teddy crossed his fingers, hoping Kylee’s answer would be ‘leaving tomorrow’.
“I’ve been thinking about you. Have you been thinking about me?” Kylee’s hand landed on his chest, and she fluttered her lashes at him.
“Uh.”
Next to him, Raff chuckled softly. So much for all that undercover training he’d supposedly done and been good at. Even Wyatt’s shoulders were shaking as he focused way too hard on pouring a beer.
“I’m not even mad you lost my number. At least I assume that’s what happened?” Kylee continued, walking her fingers up Teddy’s chest. “Accidents happen, boo. And I can think of plenty of ways for you to make it up to me.”
This situation had never happened before.
Teddy prided himself on always being up-front about what he was offering.
There were no promises of future hook-ups or meeting parents.
That didn’t mean he hadn’t occasionally spent more time with some of the women he had fun with, but it was rare.
And only when he was sure they weren’t just on the same page of the same book, but that they were reading the same sentence.
“What do you say? Should we get out of here?”
Raff and Wyatt weren’t even pretending not to watch this train crash of an encounter.
“I can’t, sorry. I already have plans tonight.” Teddy attempted a polite smile but knew it would look more like a grimace.
“Another time then?” Kylee pouted, her grip on his T-shirt tightening.
Okay, he needed to nip this in the bud. “Listen, Kylee, it’s great to see you, but my personal circumstances have changed.”
She blinked. “Wait. So, you don’t want my number?”
Shit. Was her lip wobbling?
“I can’t believe it. You don’t want anything to do with me.”
Teddy tried to gently untangle himself, but Kylee clung to him like a stubborn barnacle on a ship’s hull.
“I’m sorry,” Teddy said, and her eyes flashed, her whole demeanour sharpening.
“Congratulations,” Kylee hissed, snatching her hand back and propping it on her hip.
“When you come to your senses, you’re going to realise I could’ve been the best thing that ever happened to you.
People have feelings, Teddy. We’re not supposed to be discarded like rubbish.
” She spun on her heel and stalked out, leaving a trail of silence and stunned faces in her wake.
“I’ve had the worst day”—Raff snickered, his tone more relaxed than Teddy had heard it in a long time—“and this has totally turned it all around. Thanks, mate.”
Teddy rolled his eyes. Good thing someone was enjoying this. “Happy I could be of service.”
Jessica slipped behind the counter and started entering an order into the point-of-sale system. It sure felt like she was avoiding Teddy’s gaze. Or maybe he was just projecting.
Raff handed Wyatt a couple of notes and slapped Teddy on the shoulder. “Come on, boo. Let’s go explain how your romantic circumstances have ‘changed’ to Mum.”