Brat Chapter 1

Ethan Cole had been chasing my mom for years.

She’d turned him down clearly and repeatedly.

And he still had the nerve to grin at me and say, “Kid, when I finally win your mom over, remember to call me Dad.”

He got on my last nerve.

So I tied him up and tossed him onto the bed.

Then I slapped his broad pecs until they swelled and grabbed him by the hair.

“Is this what a father looks like after his son leaves him too wrecked to crawl?”

“Stop hounding my mom.”

“Or every time I see you, I’ll make you regret it.”

* * *

The brooch Ethan Cole had given my mom? She refused to keep it.

He turned around and tossed it to me. “A little early gift from Dad, for when you start calling me that.”

“It’s expensive, too.”

I wasn’t taking his gift, and I certainly wasn’t accepting his favor.

I gave his shin a light kick. “My dad is dead. If you want to join him, I’ll call you Dad.”

He didn’t get angry. He just hooked an arm around my neck with a goofy grin.

The warm, masculine scent of his cologne filled my senses.

But there was nothing dignified about him. He acted nothing like a man who had just turned thirty.

He blew lightly against my ear. “What a rude little mutt.”

“Even if I’m not your dad, I’m still your uncle. Is that how you talk to your elders?”