The Langfield Brothers: Box Set

1. Aiden

ONE

AIDEN

“I think he’s crashing.” The voice is distant and muffled.

My heart will go on.

“Get his heart rate.” Another voice I don’t recognize.

The power of love.

“You need to help him, please .” Lennox. She sounds so sad. Oh, Lennox, don’t be sad.

Because you loved me.

“Is he singing a Celine Dion medley?” Beckett?

“Aiden, please wake up.”

It’s all coming back to me.

I remember my first kiss like it was yesterday. Lennox Kennedy. Strawberry ChapStick. Soft lips and an even softer accidental nipple swipe. Nervous laughter. A vow that our friendship would remain intact no matter what.

“Never have I ever kissed someone,” I whispered.

It was our thing. One of us said it, and the other was obliged to do it. Never Have I Ever mixed with Truth or Dare. The game was so very us. She’d started it—she was always pushing the envelope, always getting us in trouble. But that night, I was the instigator. I had been dying to kiss her. The word crush had never been so accurate. The sensations that bubbled up inside me when I thought about her threatened to decimate me if I didn’t let them out. I was walking around with an anvil on my chest, in a constant state of fear that I’d say the wrong thing and lose her.

The spark of competition lit in her eyes at my statement, though, and I knew I had her.

She held me back with a hand to the chest, her eyes wide and swimming with a mix of fear and wonder. “I’ll kiss you, but you have to promise this changes nothing.”

It changed everything, but I nodded anyway. I’d have said anything to get her mouth on mine.

Lips pressed together, she let out a disbelieving huff. “I’m serious. Friends forever. If either one of us changes their mind, no matter what, and no matter when, all we have to do is say shamrock , and the other person can’t get weird.”

“Shamrock?”

She giggled. It was light and airy. “’Cause you’re the Leprechaun.”

I should have worried that my nickname in hockey would forever remind me of this moment, that shamrocks would become a curse rather than the good-luck charms they were touted as. Even if I had been concerned, it wouldn’t have mattered. I wanted to feel her lips more than I wanted to preserve my heart, so I nodded. “Fine. Got it.”

“Aiden, I’m serious. If one of us says it, nothing changes.”

I settled a hand against her cheek, rubbing my thumb along her soft skin. “Lex, I swear, nothing changes.”

I inched closer, my attention darting between her lips and her blue eyes. My heart pounded out an unsteady rhythm. God, she was so pretty. I was dying to taste her. And when she licked her lips and let out a soft sigh, I knew I’d promise her anything.

Oddly enough, the last word she said to me before disappearing from my life was shamrock. Though I suppose she didn’t even speak the word. It was via text, and it destroyed my life.

That was the worst day of my life. Until today.

As the beeping gets louder and her sobs continue, I will my eyes to open. But as she utters the next words, I wish I’d never woken up.

“Dammit, Aiden. I can’t do this again. Shamrock .”

Six Months Earlier

“Stop fidgeting.” Jill sets her hand on my arm, as if that will stop me from moving. If I’m not singing, then there’s a song playing in my head, and I can’t help but bop to it, even if it’s just my fingers drumming the beat against my knee.

I turn to my fiancée and force a smile. How long have I been forcing smiles? Years, at least. Happiest guy in the room. Faking it till I feel it, or something like that.

“Are you nervous?” She studies me as if she thinks she can read my expression.

I’m surprised she cares enough to even ask.

“You won’t embarrass me, right? This is the most prestigious wedding planning company in Boston. They have a years-long waitlist. We’re lucky the Langfield name bumped us to the top.”

Ah. My stomach sinks. Of course she isn’t actually concerned about my state of mind. She just doesn’t want me to humiliate her. That’s more like it.

I have to bite back a laugh at the absurdity of this. At the stereotype we’re literally personifying. A rich boy marrying the wrong woman—a woman who only cares about appearances and definitely doesn’t care about him. But at least I know that going in. Can’t get hurt if I know what to expect.

“I’ll be fine. Been playing my part in this dog and pony show since I was a kid. I know how to behave.”

She fiddles with the oversized rock on her hand. I almost considered buying a small gemstone, maybe a plain band only, just to see if she’d still say yes.

In the end, I was too nervous to risk it. I need my brothers off my back like I need nothing else in this world. They’re far too focused on the way I reacted when I discovered Lennox Kennedy was back in Boston. I had to do something to shut them up. And this makes sense. Jill and I have been together for three years. She may be difficult at times, but I know how to handle her—for the most part, at least. And I know what to expect when it comes to her. The fewer surprises in my life, the better.

The door swings open, and a burst of energy zaps through the space, electrifying the air. A pink flash darts past me, the breeze she creates causing the hair on my arms to stand on end. As the woman settles into the seat across from us, all the air in the room goes to my head.

“I am so sorry I’m late,” she says, her focus fixed on her phone. “It’s my first day. You’d think that alone would inspire me to be here early, but no, I need to make an entrance.” Her tone is full of self-deprecation. “I swear I’m trying to be better about that. The good news is that since you’re my first couple ever, I will want to make a grand entrance into high-society weddings with you. So yay!” With a clap, she shifts in her seat.

All that air forced into me is suddenly sucked out, stealing the breath from my lungs.

As if the woman could ever not make an entrance. She dips her head and studies a sheet of paper in front of her. And then her widened eyes tell me she’s just seen precisely who her first client is. “The future Mr. and Mrs. Aiden Langfield.” Lifting her head, Lennox Kennedy locks eyes with me.

I swear the world stops. Just like it did for the three years we were together.

And the years before that, when I was just learning that I liked girls.That I really fucking liked Lennox Kennedy.

I don’t have the first clue why the universe is taunting me, but in this moment, I don’t even care. The smile that curls my lips as we stare at one another is genuine. The strong beat of my heart—pounding to the rhythm of “Crazy in Love” by Beyoncé—tells me precisely what I have to do.

At the top of that list? Dumping my fiancée the second we walk out of the office.