Jessa James - His Brother's Fiancée

His Brother’s Fiancée: Copyright © 2020 by Jessa James

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical, digital or mechanical including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning or by any type of data storage and retrieval system without express, written permission from the author.

Published by Jessa James

James, Jessa

His Brother’s Fiancée

Cover design copyright 2020 by Jessa James, Author

Images/Photo Credit: Deposit Photos: VitalikRadko

Publisher’s Note:

This book was written for an adult audience. The book may contain explicit sexual content. Sexual activities included in this book are strictly fantasies intended for adults and any activities or risks taken by fictional characters within the story are neither endorsed nor encouraged by the author or publisher.

This book has been previously published.

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1. Effie 1

2. King 2

3. Effie 3

4. King 4

5. Effie

6. King

7. Effie

8. King

9. Effie

10. King

11. Effie

12. King

13. Effie

14. King

15. Effie

16. King

17. Effie

18. King

19. Effie

20. King

21. Effie

22. King

23. Effie

24. King

25. Effie

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Also by Jessa James

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1

Life isn’t fair, is it? Effie thought as she ran her fingers through the rabbit-like fur of the senior ragdoll cat. Certainly not for this cat, anyway.

Effie was stretched out on the machine’s cool plastic as she watched Dr. Yung stare at the screen. In most aspects of her job as a vet tech, Effie played it cool, but she felt nervous as Dr. Yung finished up the MRI.

“Still the same?” Effie asked.

“Unfortunately. He’s not in heart failure yet, though the arrhythmia is about the same. But at least we can tell his family he’s stable.”

Dr. Yung pulled off her gloves while Effie hoisted the languid cat up. The old cat peered into Effie’s eyes, searching.

“He has the most amazing eyes. Like a galaxy.”

“Actually, I think his eyes are quite like yours,” Dr. Yung said.

Effie glanced up at the older woman. “You mean my eyes are like a cat’s, or the other way around?”

“Both, I suppose. Go ahead and clock out once you’ve crated him back up, and I’ll go talk to the family. The next client canceled, so we’re done for the day.”

Effie encouraged the big cat into the crate built for small dogs. He seemed happy to return to barred security.

She pulled the band from the end of her braid as soon as she slid into her Explorer. Both the second and third rows were reclined, and there was evidence of various animal fur all over the taupe interior. Effie sighed as she combed out her loose braid and shook out her thick mahogany locks.

As soon as she started the car, her phone buzzed.

“Hi, Yaya,” she said with a smile as she turned on the speaker phone and pulled out of the veterinary clinic’s parking lot.

“Hi, baby. Pós eísai ? Good?”

“ Eímai kalá ,” Effie said, aware of how stiff and off her Greek was.

“Ah! You have been practicing!” her grandmother said in her thick Greek accent.

“Don’t ask me anything else, that’s about all I have,” Effie said with a laugh.

“Okay, okay. I wasn’t sure if I’d catch you, I couldn’t remember what time you were off.”

“I got done a little early, a client canceled.”

“I see. So what are you doing? Going to Thorne’s?”

“How’d you guess?”

“ χρυσό μου , where else would you be going? The boyfriend’s or work, that is all. And that is good, as it should be. I’m sure King will be happy.”

“Tho—nevermind,” Effie said.

She bit her lip. She still felt a stab at her heart whenever someone mentioned King’s name. It didn’t help that it happened all the time.

Even if Yaya wasn’t heading into dementia territory, being engaged to your ex’s brother doesn’t exactly mean you’ll never hear his name, she reminded herself.

“How are you, Yaya?”

“Oh, fine. Just fine. Remember we need more thyme. Will you pick it up? Clem, don’t forget this time, yes?”

“Yaya, this is … okay, yes. I will pick it up.”

She swallowed the protests that bubbled to the surface when Yaya called her Clem. It wasn’t the first time that Effie had been called her mother’s name, and it wouldn’t be the last.

Effie flew past the WELCOME TO GLENCO, ILLINOIS sign and reached blindly into the console for a scrap of paper. As she took Thorne’s exit and pulled up to the stop sign, she scribbled a note to herself.

Buy thyme.

Effie had no idea if they were actually out of thyme, but if Yaya got into a cooking mood, missing thyme was a full-fledged disaster. She tried to rack her brain for what the spice rack looked like the last time she’d seen it, but couldn’t remember.

“And the oregano. The one in the glass bottle this time. Plastic and glass, it makes a difference, you know.”

“Yes, Yaya, I know,” Effie said.

“Effie?”

“Yes?”

“What is it?” She heard the worry in Yaya’s voice, the hint of clarity that told her Yaya was—at least for the moment—lucid.

“Nothing. What do you mean?”

“You sound… I don’t know. Sad, maybe. What is wrong?”

“Nothing, Yaya, really.”

“Effie, I know you. What is there to be sad about? You have perfect fiancé, so polite. Good job—”

“Yaya, I’m fine. Really. I’m just tired. It was a long day at work.”

Yaya sighed. “Sadness, it is not pretty.”

Effie almost pulled directly into the rear end of a little Mercedes coupe parked in Thorne’s driveway. “Crap!”

“Effie!”

“Sorry, Yaya, I have to go. I just got to Thorne’s.”

“Only if you promise you are not sad.”

“I’m not. Promise. I love you.”

Effie slid the call off as she ran over the curb trying to squeeze the SUV into the limited space for street parking. As soon as she turned off the engine, the gray skies opened up and the downpour began.

“The sun will come out… eventually, right?” she muttered to herself.

The storm was sudden and intense. She could barely get the door open with the strong gusts of rain. Effie pulled up the hood of her jacket, a dark maroon trench coat covered in white cat hair.

She sprinted up the custom stone steps of Thorne’s brand-new condo built in mid-century fashion with floor-to-ceiling windows. Even in the North Shore affluent suburb of Chicago, Thorne’s building was a standout architectural gem. And he— well, it would be them soon enough— had the entire penthouse floor and exclusive elevator.