Anyone but Alex (The English Brothers Book 3) (29 page)

“You’re the other new tenant,” said Stratton, finally noticing her hand. He rushed to shake it, holding it way too hard in his haste and she winced, pulling away.

“Yeah.” Looking down, she rubbed her hands together before looking up at his shirt. “Did you go? To Penn?”

“No,” he answered.

“Oh. Do you work there?”

“No.”

“Huh.” She raised her eyebrows, then grinned at him. “Are you pulling my leg?”

“No,” he answered, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Just found that shirt lying around and put it on, huh?”

“No. It was a gift.”

“Oh,” she shrugged. “Okay.”

Amy Colson looked away, her smile fading as her cheeks grew pink, and Stratton knew that he’d just done it again. He was feeling nervous, giving her monosyllabic answers and making things awkward between them.

Her little pink tongue darted out to lick her lips as she pushed her hair behind her ear, and Stratton found himself distracted by the perfect shell of her ear. It looked delicate, yet soft, architecturally perfect like the inner pink curve of a conch shell, and he stared at it for an extra second before looking back at her face.

“Are you an ear-guy?” she asked with a little grin.

“I don’t know what that is.”

“You know, some guys love the eyes, some love the—the…” She pushed her chest out a little, cocking her head to the side.

“Lungs?”

Amy Colson stared back at him, her brows knitting together. “N-No. Not the lungs, the um…”

She bent her head meaningfully toward him and searched his eyes like they were engaging in telepathy.

“I can’t hear your thoughts,” he blurted out, knowing as soon as he said it how ridiculous it sounded.

Her eyebrows had merged into one V-shaped unibrow and two little wrinkles appeared at the top of her nose—almost like a scowl, but more confused. She quirked her head to the side, rubbing her bottom lip with her finger.

“Can you hear
other people’s
thoughts?”

“Absolutely not. That was a stupid thing to say, I just--”

I just don’t know how to talk to girls and you’re making me nervous.

Her eyebrows relaxed and she nodded at him thoughtfully.

“Hey, I know!” She gave him a warm and genuine smile. “Can we start over again?”

This was interesting to Stratton. He’d realized several minutes ago that he and Amy Colson were in the midst of a very awkward conversation, but he didn’t know what to do about it. Her asking for a do-over seemed like an excellent idea, and the suggestion made him relax and warm toward her considerably.

“Okay,” he agreed softly.

She turned around, walked four step away, then pivoted again and walked back to Stratton with a big grin. When she stopped at his door and held out her hand, Stratton shook it lightly right away, and noticed that it was small and warm, her skin soft against his.

“Hi. I’m Amy Colson,” she said, her teeth white and straight and very perfect as her smile widened. “I just moved in two doors down.”

“I’m Stratton English,” he answered, realizing, for the first time, what an unusual and striking shade of blue her eyes were. “I’m moving in today, too.”

“You’re one of the English brothers. From Haverford.”

“Yes. Have we met?”

“Aside from five minutes ago? No,” she said, withdrawing her hand gently from his and Stratton was surprised by how sorry he was to see it go. “But I know your brother Weston a little from the Hunt Club. And I’ve met Alex.”

“Everyone’s met Alex.”

She chuckled lightly and her cheeks flushed pink. “I haven’t met Alex… like
that
.”

He liked the sound of her laugh. It wasn’t high and grating, it was low and breathy. It made his heart beat a little faster.

“So, we’re neighbors now,” she said. “And you didn’t go to U Penn and you don’t read minds.”

He smiled, grateful for how she’d salvaged their first introduction, his heart fluttering a little as he realized that he liked her. He took a step forward, leaning against the door jam, and channeling Alex’s suaveness as best he could, he gathered his courage to ask,

“Amy Colson, want to share a pizza?”

Stratton’s dating life wasn’t very robust. Although he was set up by his brothers now and then, he’d had few girlfriends of his own, likely owing to the fact that he had what Barrett called “no filter.” Especially when he was nervous, Stratton said the first thing that popped into his head, which wasn’t always the most popular or appropriate thing to share. He’d learned to keep his thoughts to himself, except around his brothers, but girls were still a mystery to him that he both longed for and
by which he was terrified. Still, Amy Colson, with humor and gentleness, had given him a second chance and if he believed in love at first sight, Stratton would have acknowledged that he’d just fallen victim to it.

The elevator behind them dinged and Amy turned to look as the doors opened. A tall, dark-haired, good-looking man looked back and forth at the hallway before
catching sight of Amy and flashing her a perfect smile. Stratton’s heart dropped. It was Etienne Rousseau.

With his eyes glued to Amy, Etienne sauntered over, grabbed her around the waist and kissed her passionately. Instead of looking away, Stratton stared, fascinated, as Amy moaned, wrapping her soft, warm hands around
Etienne’s neck. Watching her, Stratton’s body tightened with arousal and jealousy and he took a step back into his apartment, jerking his head down, surprised by the strength of his feelings.

“Oh! Ten. Ten, stop,” Amy said in a breathy voice, giggling as she pulled away from
Etienne. “You have to meet Stratton, my new neighbor.”

Etienne kissed Amy’s nose, then looked up at Stratton, offering a cool
smile. “English.”

“Rousseau.”

“Wait! You know each other?” asked Amy.

Etienne still had his arm around Amy’s waist, and now he pulled her possessively against his side. “Your
new
neighbor is my
old
neighbor.”

“We grew up on the same street,” Stratton explained.

“How great!” exclaimed Amy. “We’re all friends and Stratton just invited us for pizza.”

Us. Us? Friends? What the—

Stratton was about to retract the offer when Etienne smirked at him. “My guess is that he asked
you
for pizza,
petite
.”

Amy turned to Stratton, her bright eyes questioning.

“No. We can all… have pizza,” he answered, staring at the cerulean blue of her eyes and wishing that he’d known she was dating Etienne Rousseau
before
he’d fallen for her.

“Thanks for the invite,” said Etienne, “but I’m taking my girl out for a real dinner.”

He leaned down and kissed her again, pulling her body flush against his as he pillaged her mouth right in front of Stratton.

When Amy drew back she was flushed and breathless and all Stratton could think was that he wished it was him who’d made her look that way. He clenched his teeth together when she flashed her perfect, beautiful smile at him.

“Raincheck?” she asked him, taking Etienne’s hand.

“Sure,” mumbled Stratton, watching as they walked down the hall, stopping by the elevator to kiss again. It made him ache to have met such an amazing girl, only to find out she was already taken by such a douchebag.

For years people had compared Alex to Etienne Rousseau—they’d grown up on the same street, attended the same Catholic school and both had a penchant for the ladies—but while Alex had a reputation for being a good-natured playboy, Etienne’s reputation was far darker. He didn’t just date women and discard them, he played mind games, he cheated, he hurt them before he was finished with them.

And he was dating the kindest, sweetest girl Stratton had met in a long time. His heart had sunk as he watched them slip onto the elevator, but at the last minute Amy had darted out, caught his eyes and given him a quick wave. And it was that little wave that secured his fate. Whatever it took…Whatever he had to do…Stratton would find a way to pry Amy away from Etienne.

STANDALONE BOOKS
:

Four Weddings and a Fiasco: The Wedding Date

(a Kindle Worlds novella)

Buy
THE WEDDING DATE
now!

Playing for Love at Deep Haven

Buy
PLAYING FOR LOVE AT DEEP HAVEN
now!

The Vixen and the Vet

Buy
THE VIXEN AND THE VET
now!

THE ENGLISH BROTHERS
:

Breaking Up with Barrett

Buy
BREAKING UP WITH BARRETT
now!

Falling for Fitz

Buy
FALLING FOR FITZ
now!

Anyone but Alex

(Thank you for reading!)

Seduced by Stratton

(coming
11.4.14)

Wild about Weston

(coming soon!)

KATY REGNERY, Amazon bestselling author, has always loved telling a good story and credits her mother with making funny, heartwarming tales come alive throughout her childhood. A lifelong devotee of all romance writing, from Edwardian to present-day, it was just a matter of time before Katy tried her hand at writing a love story of her own.

As it turned out, one love story turned into a series of six
Heart of Montana
romances, following the love lives of the Yellowstone-based Lindstrom siblings. When Katy’s fans asked her to turn up the heat, she wrote the New Adult/Adult Contemporary hybrid romance,
Playing for Love at Deep Haven
, which offered steamier romance to her readers. Katy is also proud to offer
The Vixen and the Vet
, a standalone romance that benefitted Operation Mend, an organization that helps heal the returning wounded of our armed services.
The English Brothers
is Katy’s second series and first indie series.

Katy lives in the relative wilds of northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, where her writing room looks out at the woods, and her husband, two young children, and two dogs create just enough cheerful chaos to remind her that the very best love stories of all are the messy and unexpected ones.