Wright Kind of Trouble, page 1
Wright Kind of Trouble
Wright Duet Book One
K.A. Linde
Contents
Also By K.A. Linde
I. Wedding
1. Harley
2. Chase
3. Harley
4. Chase
5. Harley
6. Harley
7. Chase
8. Harley
II. Pining
9. Chase
10. Harley
11. Chase
12. Harley
13. Chase
14. Chase
15. Harley
16. Harley
17. Chase
18. Harley
19. Harley
20. Chase
21. Harley
22. Harley
III. Graduation
23. Chase
24. Harley
25. Harley
26. Harley
Also By K.A. Linde
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Wright Kind of Trouble
Copyright © 2024 by K.A. Linde
All rights reserved.
* * *
Visit my website at
www.kalinde.com
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Cover Designer: Okay Creations,
www.okaycreations.com
Photography: Wander Aguiar,
www.wanderaguiar.com
Editor: Unforeseen Editing,
www.unforeseenediting.com
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No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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No part of this was produced with AI.
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ISBN-13: 979-8891690059
A L S O B Y K. A. L I N D E
WRIGHT
The Wright Brother (FREE!)
The Wright Boss
The Wright Mistake
The Wright Secret
The Wright Love
The Wright One
A Wright Christmas
* * *
WRIGHT VINEYARD
One Wright Stand (FREE!)
Wright with Benefits (FREE!)
Serves Me Wright
Wright Rival
Wright that Got Away
All the Wright Moves
Wright Together
Wright Kind of Trouble
Wright Kind of Love
Part I
Wedding
1
Harley
March
“You look like you’re going to a funeral.”
I blinked at my brother and then gestured to my black lace dress. “Excuse me?”
Whitton shook his head as he squared off his perfectly knotted silk tie. “I know you wanted to be Winona Ryder, growing up, but don’t you think this is taking it a little too far? You look like that girl from Beetlejuice.”
“Should I be insulted or flattered that you think I look like Lydia?” I asked with a tilt of my head.
He laughed. “Only you, Harley.”
“Black is fine for a wedding. It’s a neutral color. You’re going in a black suit!”
“I could wear charcoal,” he said with a shrug.
I turned back to the living room mirror to check out the waves I’d put into my long blonde hair. “Don’t be pedantic.”
“Oh no, Harley is using her advanced vocabulary. You must have upset her,” Whitton’s twin, Weston, said as he strode out of the kitchen with a coffee in hand.
My brothers couldn’t be more opposites. If they didn’t look exactly alike, no one would guess they were related. West was a laid-back musician with a go-with-the-flow vibe, and Whitt was all five-year plans, business suits, and strict schedules. The one thing they always agreed on was ganging up on me. But I could give as good as I could take.
“You’re not even wearing a suit coat,” I said then pointed at his feet. “And you’re in Chucks.”
Whitt winced as he looked at West’s attire. “She has a point.”
West raised his coffee to us. “Still wearing them.”
“We could put you in a suit.”
I grinned, having sufficiently distracted Whitt. And he was wrong anyway. I looked nothing like Lydia, as much as it dismayed me. I’d even forgone my normal Doc Martens for a pair of black heels that made my already-long legs look miles long. I’d contemplated a pair of white sneakers, but no way would Whitt have let me out of the house. Boy didn’t understand fashion.
I slung my black bag over my shoulder and dug out my phone. I shot off a text to Mom.
Wedding bound. Make the boys stop arguing.
A second later, in lieu of a return text, Mom’s face appeared on my screen. I clicked open on the video call.
“Hey, Mom.”
Both of my brothers stopped talking and looked over at me. Well, mission accomplished.
“Hey, sweetie. Are you excited for Jordan’s wedding?”
I shrugged. “Sure.”
My mom shot me a quintessential mom look, her short blonde hair falling into her round face—which was my mirror, plus twenty-five years. “So eloquent, my little scholar.”
“You should have come in for it.”
It was her turn to be dismissive. “I don’t know what your brother would have thought about that.”
Which was fair.
Our family was…complicated.
To say the least.
See, our dad was a cheating bastard. In fact, he’d had a whole other family in Vancouver for years before he ever found our mom on a business trip in Seattle for Wright Construction, our family’s namesake. Jordan and his younger brother, Julian, were his kids from his “real” family, and Whitt, West, and I were his dirty little secret. We’d all discovered it a few years ago and confronted Dad about it. I never wanted to talk to his lying face ever again. The boys were more conflicted. Though I didn’t see what was conflicting about it. I’d never let someone treat me the way Owen Wright had treated my mom.
As luck would have it, Jordan and Julian had moved out of Vancouver to dry, dusty Lubbock, Texas, where the headquarters for the family business were located. West followed while pursuing his music. Then, I got a full-ride scholarship to Texas Tech University, and with the prospect of me leaving, Whitt had agreed to come too.
I’d felt bad leaving Mom behind in Seattle. We’d even tried to convince her to come with, but her job and friends and aging parents still lived in town. She’d spent her whole life there. Even if she wanted to move for us, she couldn’t. Not yet at least.
“Hey, Mom!” West said, veering into the picture and waving.
Her eyes lit up. “West. I heard that you and your brother were bickering.”
Whitt leaned over. “We were doing no such thing.”
“Correct,” West agreed. “Whitt was trying to dictate what I should wear.”
Our mom’s eyes raked his tie-less button-up. “Are you wearing Converse?”
Whitt and I both cracked up and said, “Yes,” at the same time.
West shot us a dirty look.
“It’s fine, Mom,” he grumbled.
“I want you to dress appropriate for your brother’s wedding,” she said.
“You should have come,” I told her. “Bonus mom!”
She laughed at that addition. “I’ll come back down eventually. Just couldn’t get away from work and Grandma.”
I exchanged a look with my brothers. Grandma and Grandpa’s health had been in decline for years. It was running Mom ragged. We all worried and missed her. The only time she’d come to visit was to move me into my dorm.
“Next time,” Whitt said tactfully. “We should get going.”
“Okay. Love you three. Have fun and send me pictures when you can!”
We all agreed that we would.
I hung up the phone and put it back in my purse. “Shall we?”
The boys nodded, and then we headed out to my little Kia. Mom had wanted to get me something fancier for the fucking horrid twenty-seven-hour drive from Seattle to Lubbock. But I knew that fancier meant money from Owen, which meant strings attached, which meant hell. So, I’d been happy with what we could afford. She’d served me well enough so far.
Not that Whitt agreed. “I should just drive the Lexus,” he said, looking mournfully toward the garage where his shiny silver car rested.
“Sure,” I said automatically. A wicked smile coming to my face. “And since I’m the DD, I can drive you all home in it later.”
Whitt blanched. “Fine. No. You’re not driving my car.”
Whitt didn’t let anyone drive his big-boy car. So, it was my Kia after all.
West piled into the backseat, and Whitt took the passenger as I sank into the driver’s side and connected my phone. David Bowie blared through the speakers.
Whitt jerked to life and reached for the stereo. “Christ, do you even have eardrums at that volume?”
I blinked at him lazily. “Earsplitting is the only volume to listen to David Bowie.”
“She’s right,” West agreed, putting his fist through the middle of the seats. I bumped him, and we both laughed at the look on Whitt’s face.
Jordan and Annie’s wedding was on the south side of town at the vineyard that Jordan and Julian had opened with their friend Hollin Abbey. The place had come a long way since its conception with award-winning wine and a booming event business. Jordan had told me once while I was touring the place that it had started as a line dancing dance hall and it was where he and Annie had first gotten together.
It was hard to picture that as I drove up to the immaculate venue. The barn that he’d told me had been half falling down was strong and sturdy with fresh wood stain and a new roof. The vineyards were in their first couple of weeks of bud-breaking, blooming green everywhere in the spring weather. The lawn between the barn and the cellar was a rich green and covered in white chairs and florals. The happy couple couldn’t have asked for better weather. Lubbock was notoriously unpredictable in the spring, alternating between eighties and fifties, breezy days and dust storms, sunshine and flooding.
The parking lot was already packed with what looked like half of the town to celebrate the occasion. I parked at the back of the lot next to a fancy Porsche sports car.
West whistled at the shiny red exterior when he stepped out. “Nice ride,” he said.
Whitt sucked his teeth. “My Lexus is just as nice.”
“Be for fucking real,” I muttered as I admired the car.
“This is a Porsche 718 Cayman,” West said, his voice dripping with lust. He’d always wanted something like this. “This thing goes zero to sixty in less than five seconds. It tops out at a hundred seventy-something miles per hour.”
“Come along before you have an orgasm over the thing.” I pushed him in the back, and he shot me a look.
I grinned at him, and the three of us headed toward the vineyard.
“My car is just as nice,” Whitt muttered again.
I patted his shoulder. “Keep telling yourself that.”
“I wonder who it belongs to,” West said. “Need to see if the guy will let me drive it.”
“Excuse me. It could be a woman.”
West laughed. “Sure, but it’s probably not.”
I looked to Whitt for help, but he just shrugged and agreed with West.
“Y’all are the worst. One day, I’m going to stop all this gendered shit from you two.”
West threw his arm around my shoulders. “And one day, we’re going to stop you from using the word y’all as if you’re from the South.”
I pushed him away with an eye roll. I’d adopted y’all as soon as I moved to Lubbock. It was superior to other options. My brothers were just ribbing me.
We stepped into line with the rest of the crowd. I’d only been in Lubbock for a few months and didn’t know all of the Lubbockites. I’d met my Wright cousins—Jensen, Austin, Landon, Morgan, and Sutton—as well as their respective partners. The other guys at the vineyard were familiar, as well as the girls who were on the soccer team I’d subbed in exactly one game for. I’d played casually in high school, but my joy from the game had been more…social than fitness-related. Everyone else at the wedding was a relative stranger.
Including West’s roommate, Nora, who he was super into. Even if he hadn’t exactly admitted it.
Finally, we reached the front of the line. West and Whitt were engaging with the ushers while my eyes roamed the outdoor space. Now that I had a full view, I could tell they’d sunk money into this wedding. Good for them.
I turned to try to wrangle my brothers when my eyes landed on a guy dressed in a tailored navy suit. My breath caught at the sight of him. Beautiful and pouty and tortured perfection. The consternation that played across his bold features was at odds with the occasion. As if he’d walked into the wedding off the street and was trying to figure out what he was doing here.
The light played across the soft curl of his ash-blonde hair, highlighting the golden strands threaded through the darker color. His eyes were a blue that shouldn’t be legal. Like falling into a pool of water. They kept glancing up at the altar and quickly away, as if he didn’t want anyone to see him looking. His hand kept going to the inside pocket of his suit, like he needed whatever was in there for courage.
For a split second, it was as if he could feel my eyes upon him. His gaze swept in my direction, and then they locked upon me. My mouth went dry. My body felt like it had been electrified. Every nerve stood on end. Just from a glance.
With those high cheekbones, a razor-sharp jawline, and pretty, pouty lips opened slightly on a question, I was a goner.
I didn’t even know his name.
“Harley,” West called.
I jumped, breaking eye contact and turning back to my brother. “Huh?”
“Let’s get our seats.”
I nodded and followed them down the aisle, closer and closer to the man who had captured me in one look. I was still looking at him when I nearly ran into Whitt’s back. He gave me a strange look and then turned into the row.
I was momentarily frozen as I saw that I was directly across from him. He caught my gaze again, and a smirk crossed his features. The first look that wasn’t full of irritation. My stomach flipped, and heat came to my cheeks.
Then the music began. The wedding was about to start. His frown returned, bigger than ever, and he sank into his seat.
I quickly took mine, coming back to myself in increments.
I had no idea who he was.
He had to be ten years older than me.
My brothers would not be chill with this.
Fuck.
2
Chase
The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and I was at my ex’s wedding as she married my enemy.
Annie stood at the front of the room with her hands in Jordan Wright’s as a tear trickled down her cheek. Her friends and family were on all sides as she spoke her vows to the man she loved. The man who wasn’t me.
My hand inched toward the flask in my coat pocket. It’d probably be rude to pull it out in the middle of the ceremony. Right?
I sighed and slouched back further.
It wasn’t that I was still in love with Annie. We’d been best friends, growing up. We briefly dated in high school, and then, as I was off to Yale for my undergrad, we made a pact. If we weren’t married by thirty, then…we’d marry each other. A part of me had always assumed that my person would be Annie. Now, I was twenty-nine and watching her marry someone else.
I was happy for her. In a way…because she was happy. Though not about who she was marrying. If it could have been anyone other than Jordan Wright, that would have been preferable. Considering the long-held rivalry between the Wrights and the Sinclairs, which had only doubled when they opened this winery and when Jordan fell for my girl, it was shocking that I’d even shown up.
I’d gotten some looks when I arrived.
But Annie had personally delivered the invite, and even if we weren’t what we had been, we had too much history for me to deny her.
“You may now kiss your bride.”
I bit back another sigh and forced myself to applaud as the crowd applauded their union.
Why couldn’t I have just stayed home? It would have been easier. My own sister had told me I was a fool for going. She probably wasn’t wrong.
Jordan grabbed Annie’s hand in his and raised it high above his head. The crowd roared its approval, coming to their feet in a triumph of adoration. The crowning jewel of the Wrights, who were fucking royalty in this town. A fact that I very clearly remembered, as I was surrounded by them.
