Manhattan (Becker Brothers #3)

by Kandi Steiner

“I’ve been waiting my whole life for you to kiss me, Michael Becker,” I said, voice trembling and hoarse. One lone tear slipped from my left eye, and I swiped it away before it could fall past my cheek bone. “How dare you do it when you’re thinking about her.”

“And I know that we all handle days like this in different ways. Some of us get sad,” he said, looking at me. “Some of us hide from it all,” he added, looking at my dad. Then, he raised his hand. “Some of us get angry. But, no matter how we handle it, we all have something in common.” He paused. “We miss the one we lost too soon. And we wish they were here with us.”

“I can’t believe you did all this for us,” I said. Mikey put his arm around me, pulling me into him with a smile. “You’re my girl,” he said — effortlessly, like I always had been, like it was so obvious I should have already known. “I’d do anything for you.”

I wondered how a girl had somehow stolen that joy from me, and how another girl — the one with me tonight — had somehow brought that joy back. She’d brought music back into my life. No… she was the music in my life.

“I love you, too, Kylie,” he breathed, a smile flashing over his lips before it was gone again, and he swallowed. “I always have, ever since we were kids. But, now… I am in love with you. I am, without a doubt, head over heels, can’t get enough, want you every day, need you every night, stupidly and disgustingly in love with you.”