Black Swan Affair by K.L. Kreig Read Free Book Online Page A

his wife. Gucci was the Shepard boys’ pet bearded dragon that died just last year. He lived primarily on lettuce.
    “Shep, stop.” She throws him her signature ugly face. “You know I’m trying to lose a couple of pounds.” Jillian is about a size two. On the first day of her period. The rest of the time she’s a size zero.
    Kael clears his throat and my lips are pressed together tightly. We’re both biting back a laugh, which will totally set Jilly off.
    “Oh, and bring us a pitcher of Miller Light, too,” Kael adds before Patsy smartly decides to slink away.
    “You don’t have any extra weight to lose, Jillian,” Killian growls.
    “You don’t know anything about being a woman, Shep. I’ll feel better if I lose five pounds.”
    “So now, a couple of pounds has turned into five?”
    “Well, everyone knows the first two are just water weight.”
    “Apparently not everyone,” Killian mumbles while tearing the edges of his paper napkin to shreds. I hate that I know it’s a sign of his building anger and that his own wife has no fucking clue.
    “Tell him, Maverick,” she says.
    “Tell him what?” I shoot back, pissed she’s trying to drag me into this stupid conversation. And this is yet another difference between my sister and me. I’m a curvy size ten and though every once in a while, when I glimpse a pocket of cellulite on the backs of my thighs, I wish I was smaller, my weight has never once been an issue for me.
    “You know. Tell him how good it feels when you lose a few pounds.”
    Bitch.
    I let my mouth curve into a sugary smile. “Well, I wouldn’t know, Jilly. I’m perfectly comfortable in my own skin.”
    Both Kael and Killian start snickering. Jilly just huffs and turns her attention to the booth behind us. When her gaze cuts back to mine, I can already see the blather winding up. Instead of doing anything productive with her life, my sister lives off her trust fund and has deemed herself Dusty Falls’ own Gossip Girl as her full-time job.
    “Did you hear that Sally Jameson hooked up with that Isaac Newton?”
    Yes. We have an Isaac Newton. His mother is a science teacher at the public high school and apparently wrote her PhD thesis on Sir Isaac Newton’s views on space, time, and motion. She obviously became a big fan.
    “What’s wrong with Isaac?” My jaw now hurts because of all the retorts I’m biting back.
    “Jillian,” Killian warns her.
    “Well, he’s totally beneath her, of course. I mean…he’s a mechanic for God’s sake,” she says in a whisper that’s more of a yell. I think half the restaurant probably heard what she just said. I’m so embarrassed I wish the floor would swallow me. Her . Make that her instead.
    “Wow,” Kael mutters beside me. Killian looks like he’s ready to blow, his napkin all but destroyed.
    Have I mentioned my sister is a classless, unfiltered, egotistical bitch who is nothing like me? No? #Truth .
    “Yes, a talented one who owns his own business. It’s not easy to own your own business, you know,” I challenge loud enough to avenge Sir Isaac.
    “I know.” She shrugs as if she didn’t indirectly put down what I do. I’m just a lowly baker, after all. Her words. Not mine. “I’m just saying he works with his hands all day.”
    Oh, how I hate her. I can’t believe we share a single cell of the same DNA. More and more, I’m convinced I’m adopted.
    Suddenly I can’t take any more. Of her. Of Killian’s not-so-sly examination of every touch Kael’s giving me. Of this godforsaken tension. It’s making it hard to catch my breath. I have no idea why the “Illians” just showed up unannounced, but I’d bet my half of the DeSoto inheritance on the fact it was Jilly pushing Killian into it. She thrives on rubbing it in that she’s married to not only the man she knows I loved all my life but one of the hottest men to ever be bred in Dusty Falls. She parades around with Killian Shepard like he’s some goddamn prized quarter