Tough Luck Hero by Maisey Yates

his sisters.
    Even with Sierra visibly pregnant, and married, he preferred to pretend that neither of them would have any idea of what he was talking about.
    He didn’t really have any idea of what he was talking about. Because he still couldn’t remember.
    â€œAnyway, obviously I’m going to have to have a talk with Mom,” he continued.
    â€œObviously. And maybe a therapist.”
    â€œThank you, Madison. Would you kindly refer me to yours?” he asked, a little bit of bite in his tone.
    â€œMy therapist quit and retired to the Bahamas with all of the money I paid him. He said it was really nice that working with me was so financially successful for him, but unfortunately he was going to have to use a good portion of that money to pay for his own therapy,” his sister said drily.
    â€œMaybe it’s just as well. Lydia is going to be moving into my house today. So I’ll be a little busy.”
    â€œThis is borderline scandalous behavior,” Maddy said, her lips curling up into a smile. “How nice of you to join the rest of us in disgrace.”
    â€œYou know, you could work a little harder to look concerned for my well-being.”
    â€œI’m just saying,” she said, lifting her shoulder, “it is a bit daunting to be the sister of Saint Colton West. And more than a little satisfying to see your halo get tarnished.”
    He looked at Sierra. “Sorry,” she said, not sounding apologetic at all. “It is kind of nice to know that you can make impulsive decisions.”
    â€œImpulsive, maybe. But I stand by it,” he reiterated.
    â€œYou’re too stubborn to do anything else,” Sierra said.
    It was easy for Sierra and Madison to sit there and give him side eye. Yes, Madison knew what it was like to be the center of a scandal. And the town, their parents and the dressage riding community had all been unkind to her when she had been caught in an affair with an older man when she was seventeen.
    Colton had wanted nothing more than to break the other man’s jaw. Before he killed him. Slowly. But far too many people had held his underage sister responsible for the whole thing.
    Madison made a practice of laughing it off now, but Colton knew that she didn’t really find it all that funny.
    â€œI’m steady. All things considered, you should appreciate that. I’m not the kind of person to run for the hills when things get difficult.” It was always easiest to turn the condemnation to Gage. Their oldest brother had left town under a cloud years ago.
    â€œSo instead you ran off and married a near stranger.”
    â€œI told you, Lydia isn’t a stranger.”
    The moment he said that he realized what a lie it was. He had seen Lydia out of the corner of his eye at events for years. Hadn’t really started speaking to her until he’d gotten involved with Natalie. And then, every time they’d spoken, it had ended pretty badly.
    He always managed to get her hackles up, and he didn’t feel a whole lot more sanguine about her.
    Of course, now he was going to be dealing with her long-term. In close proximity.
    Maybe this was what happened when you spent years being responsible. Eventually, it all imploded and you made one decision that was so bad it rendered all the others useless.
    And, thinking of said bad decision, he had to go yank it out of its den and force it over to his place. And he was imagining that was going to go over well, even though they had agreed on it yesterday. Why? Because he and Lydia couldn’t seem to have an interaction that went well.
    Actually, they either didn’t go well, or they went too well.
    He had the sudden impression of fingertips trailing over his bare chest and the sensation shocked his system like a bolt of lightning.
    â€œAre you okay?” Madison asked. “You look like someone just let a hamster loose in your shorts.”
    He frowned. “Thanks for that. I