Chapter 216: The Protective Brother
Realizing it was Alexander, Catherine slipped out of Maximilian’s embrace so fast she nearly stumbled over the edge of the couch. Maximilian leaned back with a long sigh, rubbing a hand over his face as though mourning the cruel timing of the universe.
"Stop right there in the foyer!" Catherine shouted.
Alexander, who still had one hand on the doorknob, frowned. "Catherine?"
He closed the door behind him and instinctively took a step forward.
"Stop!"
That made him freeze completely.
Catherine hurriedly fixed her dress, cheeks burning as she tried to smooth down her hair. It was hopeless. She could still feel Maximilian’s warmth all over her skin.
"Are you okay?" Alexander asked immediately, concern overtaking his confusion.
"Ugh! Learn to knock!" Catherine snapped. "Stay there. I need to get dressed!"
Alexander’s brows slowly rose.
Then rose higher.
For a long moment, silence stretched between them as realization settled in.
Learn to knock?
At his little sister’s house?
He suddenly felt very tired.
Footsteps echoed from the stairs, and Alexander finally walked farther into the living room with the expression of a man questioning every decision that had led him there today.
Maximilian was already standing near the foot of the stairs, looking annoyingly composed for someone who had been half-undressed moments ago.
"You may want to avoid that couch," Maximilian said calmly.
Alexander stared at him.
The audacity.
The sheer audacity of this man to say that while standing inside his baby sister’s house...
But before outrage could fully form, Alexander’s logical side interrupted coldly.
His baby sister was Maximilian’s fiancée.
Catherine was engaged now. She had chosen Maximilian. And judging by the state of things... very enthusiastically.
Alexander closed his eyes briefly and inhaled through his nose.
Another sigh escaped him as his gaze drifted toward the couch. Then toward the armchairs. Then back toward the couch again.
No.
Absolutely not.
Maybe he would just stand.
After all, he had gotten married recently too. He understood exactly what kind of activities couples got up to when left alone.
Which was precisely why he no longer trusted a single piece of furniture in this house.
Catherine took a quick shower, and of course, Maximilian slipped in right behind her as though the bathroom belonged to him by divine right.
"I love the way your scent lingers on me, Catherine... I don’t want to wash it away."
"Keep your hands to yourself, Professor," she warned when his palms immediately found her waist, sliding over her damp skin with dangerous familiarity.
A low chuckle vibrated against the back of her neck.
The sound alone made her throat tighten.
His hand settled against her stomach, warm and heavy, resting just beneath her navel as though deliberately keeping her guessing whether it intended to wander higher... or lower.
"You’d enjoy that professor-and-student taboo play, wouldn’t you?" he murmured beside her ear.
Catherine opened her mouth to deny it instantly.
But for one very unfortunate second, her imagination betrayed her.
Well... That did sound...
She snapped herself out of it immediately.
"Geez, Moosemilian," she huffed, trying to hide the heat creeping into her face. "My brother is downstairs."
Then she escaped before he could say anything worse.
Maximilian watched her leave shamelessly, his gaze trailing from head to toe. Halfway out the door, Catherine turned around and blew him a quick flying kiss before disappearing completely.
The bathroom fell quiet.
Maximilian stared at the empty doorway for a long moment before dropping his head beneath the stream of hot water. One hand braced against the tiled wall as he exhaled deeply.
The warmth of her he felt when he almost slipped inside her...
If being that close was this perfect... how good would it be when he was inside her...?
"Damn it..." he muttered under his breath. "You’re going to kill me, Catherine."
Warm water rolled down the hard lines of his shoulders and chest while he stood there trying—and failing—to regain composure.
After a while, he straightened again slowly, a helpless smile tugging at his lips.
"All mine..." he murmured softly, almost like a prayer.
-----
Catherine walked downstairs after a few minutes, her hair still slightly damp from the shower. Alexander was leaning against the wall near the foyer, hands in his pockets, looking oddly tense for a newly married man.
The moment he saw her, he straightened a little.
"Congratulations, by the way," Catherine said softly.
Whatever emotions she had felt earlier, she knew she should have said it the moment he announced it.
Alexander’s expression eased into a smile. "Thank you." Then his voice gentled. "And congratulations to you too. I should’ve answered your calls. I’m sorry, Cathy."
Catherine looked at him carefully then. Truly looked at him.
And suddenly, she noticed it.
The heaviness that had clung to him for years seemed lighter somehow. His blue eyes carried a warmth she had never seen before, as though some invisible burden inside him had finally loosened.
"You look younger," she said before she could stop herself.
Alexander blinked, then laughed quietly. "Do I?"
"You do."
The bitterness lingering inside her faded little by little as she watched him smile like that.
Because in the end... wasn’t happiness the most important thing?
Catherine hesitated before asking softly, "So... you knew her before?"
Alexander understood immediately what she meant.
A complicated emotion crossed his face, followed by something unbearably tender.
"Yes," he admitted quietly. "She was the innkeeper’s daughter."
His gaze drifted somewhere far away, somewhere only he could see.
"We never even considered being together back then. I only realized how much I loved her after she was gone."
His voice broke slightly near the end.
Catherine’s chest tightened.
She didn’t ask for more details. She didn’t need to. Some griefs were too deep to force into words.
Instead, she smiled faintly and said, "Thankfully, you found her this time, brother."
Alexander looked up at that, and the smile that appeared on his face carried relief, gratitude, and something almost boyishly happy.
"I did."
Silence settled between them afterward, quiet and warm.
Then Alexander stepped forward and pulled her into his arms.
"Are you happy, Cathy Bean?" he asked softly.
Catherine closed her eyes the moment she felt the familiar warmth of her brother’s embrace. The scent of him, the steadiness of him, the love that had protected her all her life—it made something ache deep inside her chest.
"I am," she whispered.
And it was true.
She was happier than she had ever been.
But as her fingers curled lightly against the back of his jacket, they trembled ever so slightly.
Because beneath all that happiness...
She was scared, too. In the warmth of the brother she loved and trusted the most, she allowed herself to be a little vulnerable.
"I am happy for you too, Alexander..." she said.
She didn’t want to involve him in the fight she was facing, when he had a family now.
"Is something wrong?" Alexander, of course, felt the little tremble on Catherine’s finger and asked. "How’s that thing with Blackwood?"
Catherine looked up at him.
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