My Best Friend’s Sister Ran Up Beside Me… Then Grinned, “You Always Make Girls Chase You?”
Chapter 1
Ethan Walker had spent most of his adult life hearing one sentence from his best friend, Ryan Miller.
“Stay away from my sister.”
Ryan had said it when they were eighteen.
He had said it when they were twenty-one.
He had said it again the morning Ethan turned twenty-six.
It had become a joke between them.
Mostly.
Ryan and Ethan had been inseparable since freshman year of college. They had survived exams, terrible apartments, broken-down cars, failed businesses, and one unforgettable road trip where neither of them had remembered to bring a map.
Ryan was the serious one.
Ethan was the reckless one.
Ryan planned.
Ethan improvised.
And women seemed to find Ethan entertaining.
He never chased anyone.
That was the problem.
Girls often approached him first.
He was charming without trying, confident without being arrogant, and had a habit of making people feel comfortable almost immediately.
Ryan hated it.
Especially where his younger sister was concerned.
Olivia Miller was twenty-four.
She had grown up away from home for college and had been working as a junior event planner in Chicago.
Ethan had met her only a handful of times.
At Thanksgiving.
Christmas.
Ryan’s birthday.
A wedding.
Always briefly.
Always with Ryan nearby.
Olivia had been younger then.
Now she was different.
That was the first thing Ethan noticed when he saw her again at Ryan’s weekend barbecue.
She wasn’t the shy college student he vaguely remembered.
She was confident.
Funny.
She wore a simple white shirt, jeans, and sneakers.
Her dark-blonde hair was pulled into a loose ponytail.
And she was carrying three plates while arguing with Ryan about the grill.
“You’re burning everything.”
Ryan looked offended.
“It’s called grilling.”
“It’s called carbon.”
Ethan laughed from across the yard.
Olivia turned.
Their eyes met.
She smiled.
Then she walked toward him.
“Ethan?”
“Olivia.”
She stopped.
“It’s been forever.”
“Almost two years.”
“You remember?”
He smiled.
“I remember people who insult Ryan’s cooking.”
She laughed.
“Good answer.”
Ryan shouted from the grill.
“Don’t encourage him.”
Olivia rolled her eyes.
“Still controlling.”
“Still annoying,” Ryan called back.
She turned to Ethan.
“He hasn’t changed.”
“No.”
“You have.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“How?”
She studied him.
“You look more confident.”
“That sounds like a polite way of saying older.”
She laughed.
“Maybe.”
Before he could answer, someone across the yard called her name.
Olivia jogged away.
Ethan watched her for a second longer than he intended.
Ryan appeared beside him.
“I saw that.”
“Saw what?”
“That look.”
“What look?”
“Don’t.”
Ethan laughed.
“I literally said hello.”
Ryan pointed at him.
“Exactly.”
The barbecue continued.
Later, Ethan was talking to one of Ryan’s coworkers when a woman approached him and asked whether he was single.
Ethan smiled.
“Yes.”
She introduced herself.
They talked for a few minutes.
Then Ethan noticed Olivia walking past with a tray.
She glanced over.
Their eyes met briefly.
He smiled.
She smiled back.
The conversation with the other woman continued.
But Ethan couldn’t stop thinking about Olivia.
It was ridiculous.
She was Ryan’s sister.
That alone should have been enough.
Then, while everyone was eating dessert, Olivia suddenly sat beside him.
“You’re still doing it.”
Ethan frowned.
“Doing what?”
“Making girls chase you.”
He laughed.
“I’m not making anyone do anything.”
She grinned.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“So they just volunteer?”
“Apparently.”
She laughed.
“You’re exactly as annoying as Ryan said.”
“He’s been talking about me?”
“Since college.”
Ethan shook his head.
“That’s embarrassing.”
Olivia leaned closer.
“Don’t worry.”
“About what?”
“I won’t tell him you’re blushing.”
He stared at her.
She laughed and stood.
Then she walked away before he could answer.
Ethan watched her go.
For the first time in years, he wasn’t interested in the girl chasing him.
He was interested in the one who wasn’t.
And that was going to be a problem.
Because Olivia Miller wasn’t some stranger at a bar.
She was his best friend’s little sister.
And Ryan’s warning had suddenly become very serious.
