“Junie and her three sisters were already adopted when we were there, and my brothers and I only stayed for a few months.”
“Then what?” I’m aware it’s none of my business, but I want to know more about the serious Hennessy brother. Is he just the strong, silent type around me?
“We went to live with our mom.”
His features don’t change, but his tone tells me a lot. “It was like that, huh?”
“It was the complete opposite of how you grew up.”
“Is that why you don’t like me?”
He cocks his head. “Is that what you think? That I’m jealous?”
“No. I think you think I’m a mess and I take people for granted.”
“You were a day late for your sister’s wedding.” He says it like he’s stating a fact, which, fair.
“Yeah. I was.”
Stanford didn’t want me to go without him, and he’d scheduled a Very Important Meeting the morning I toldmy family I’d be there. I didn’t miss the wedding, but I lost out on a lot of family time.
My second alarm goes off. “Apologies, but I really do have to be off. Stanford and January would like to arrange a tasting, so if you could give me a time that could work, I’ll wait to schedule the rest of their family events until I hear back. I anticipate the rest of the crew will like a tour and tasting too. I have to entertain them for almost three weeks until the official wedding activities begin. Let me know if you want to meet at the ranch sometime in the next few weeks, and we’ll go over where you’ll set up for the various events.”
“Why were you late to Iverson and Jamison’s wedding?” he asks as if I didn’t just rattle off a bunch of details he should be writing down. Does he have a photographic memory, or is he just brushing me off because all of this is frivolous to him?
I’ll worry about that later. I push out of my chair. If I don’t stand, I might keep talking. I planned some buffer time for construction. “Does it matter? I was late. Everyone was irritated.”
He rubs the scruff on his jaw. The faint scrape makes it hard to suppress the thought from earlier about Durban and spread thighs. “The why matters.”
“No, it doesn’t. People hate it when you take their time for granted. I never felt like I was doing that, but now it’s my job to figure out how to be on time, and I’m doing it.”
He stays sitting. “What other tools do you use?”
I scoot around the opposite side of the table toward the door. “Alarms mostly. Apps to block notifications on my phone and laptop. Automated reminders to keep me on task.”
I stop at the threshold, my gaze on the stairs and the network of copper and steel pipes behind them. My parents taught me to take responsibility for myself, and I have. But planning this wedding, what would’ve beenmywedding, and watching hearts-in-her-eyes January hang on a man I used to love... I’m so tired of taking other people’s responsibility. I covered for Stanford while we were together, and I’m still doing it.
“The main tool, the one that has had the most significant impact, is getting dumped by a small cheating man who tried to manipulate my time.”
I leave the room with my chin held high, despite knowing I’ve just shown Durban one more time how pathetic I am over a man who didn’t deserve me.
CHAPTER FIVE
Durban
She bends over me, hair sweeping across my chest as she makes her way down my body. When she reaches the erection bobbing in front of her face, she looks up at me, rewarding me with a sultry grin. Eagerness lights her gray eyes?—
I come awake with a start. My heartbeat throbs in my dick, pounding at a steady rate, demanding I finish what my dream started.
Fuck. Is my brain getting revenge on Natalie by replacing her with Campbell? I have to think of something else.
Definitely not how wet her lips would be?—
No. Not that. What do I need to do today?
My daily to-do list trickles into my head. I have to meet Campbell at the lodge. Must be why she’s on my mind. The revelations from my meeting with her last week have stuck with me.
Stanford made her late for her sister’s wedding. Why wouldn’t she throw him in front of everyone’s judgment?
