“Mm-hmm.” She smirked. “The brooding, impossibly gorgeous one with the perfect jawline and is, unfortunately, completely faithful to his wife.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t see why that’s unfortunate. Shouldn’t we be happy that there are still men out there who take their vows seriously?”
“Not when the man in question looks like him.” She grinned shamelessly. “Anyway, why are we digging into your own mother?”
Because Regina played everything close to the chest, but CC, from what Harrison had said, loved to gossip. I would imagine that as her eldest, Sterling might know something the others didn’t. If anyone knew the real story about why our mothers loathed each other, it was him, but this way, with Megan doing the digging, it wouldn’t be coming from either Harrison or myself.
I took another sip of my latte, trying not to let my eagerness show. “It’s just curiosity. My mom doesn’t even greet them, which struck me as odd, and she’s always going on about how the Westwoods exclude us from everything. It felt like it was about time I found out why.”
Megan’s eyes lit up with gleeful suspicion. “Oh my God. You like one of them, don’t you? Which one? Wait, don’t tell me. It’s Callum. Or is it Harrison? Shit, it doesn’t really matter with that family. They’re all gorgeous, but I need details. Just so you know though, apparently Callum is entirely faithful to his wife, too.”
I tried to keep a straight face. “I don’t like anyone. I just need answers about my own family.”
“Uh-huh,” she said, singsong, clearly not buying it, but she sipped her coffee and finished it before she raced off to Pilates.
Relief washed over me when she was gone, but I knew that I would owe her so many details once the news of my engagement to Harrison broke. I could’ve told her today. He and I had only discussed our mothers not finding out, not our friends.
But I kept it a secret because I hadn’t quite wrapped my own mind around it yet, and maybe also because deep down, I wasn’t ready for anyone to poke holes in our arrangement yet. The truth was that I was actually getting excited about this.
I would never admit it out loud, not even to myself most days, but Harrison had surprised me. He wasn’t the playboy I’d heard whispers about or just another entitled Westwood with a jawline carved by the gods.
He’d been brave enough to suggest we go out on our own, even though he was comfortable at his family’s company. Even though he clearly looked up to Sterling. That took guts.
Plus, if I was being totally honest with myself, he was everything I always would’ve wanted in a husband—if I’d ever allowed myself to really think about it, which I hadn’t. But the point was that Harrison was like a sexy best friend I wouldn’t mind hooking up with, who made me laugh, but who also made me feel safe in a way I hadn’t realized I craved.
For the first time ever, I felt like someone had my back. Someone who had my best interests at heart, who knew my dreams and my goals, and who actually believed that I could and should pursue them all. That was also the reason I could never hook up with him regardless of anything else. Still, he was nice to look at.
When I got back to my apartment, I went straight to the spare bedroom I’d decided would be my office from now on. The brand new desk was still bare, the walls unadorned, but I stood there imagining files, spreadsheets, and blueprints for ventures Harrison and I could tackle together, and I saw something real.
A future. A future in which he was my business partner at the very least.
The rest? Well, maybe it would come. Maybe it wouldn’t. For now, it was enough to know that he’d actually followed through on what we’d drunkenly talked about.
The ring proving it was hanging warm and heavy against my chest, literal evidence that he was serious about what he said, and that when he went after something, he gave it everything he had. And that? That kind of dependability was what I needed in my life.
More than romance. More than love. More than anything else, I needed someone to take me and what I wanted seriously—and to my greatest surprise, Harrison Westwood was turning out to be that person.
CHAPTER 17
HARRISON
Sterling’s new place was ridiculous, even by Westwood standards. A sprawling modern mansion right on the edge of our parents’ estate, he’d had the structure that used to be here completely renovated over the last few months.
I shook my head as I parked, then grabbed the bottle of wine I’d brought and strode to their front door. Landscaped gardens surrounded the mansion now too, an expansive lawn at the front and back for their little girl—who wasn’t even born yet—to play when she got older.
State of the art playground equipment had already been installed at the front. A new swing-set, climbing frame, and slides waited for a child who probably wouldn’t need them for years, but Sterling had wanted this to look and feel like a family home. At the back was an in-ground pool complete with a splash-pad and a designated, shallow area for little ones to play.
The house itself was no less impressive. Glass walls with strings of white lights framing them. Laney’s touches of warmth, greenery, and about a thousand holiday bows softening my brother’s hard edges.
I hadn’t thought I’d see the day Sterling moved back to the estate. As soon as he’d finished high school, he’d moved to thecity, and for all these years, he’d insisted that he liked being on his own. He’d been pretty adamant that he enjoyed being where he was and that he wouldn’t move back. Soon after Laney had gotten pregnant though, he’d realized he wanted more space.
Instead of buying a house in the city, he’d started the rebuild here, extending the original floor plan and redoing just about everything about the interior. He and Laney had moved in a few weeks ago and so far they were loving it.
Jameson and Sadie, as well as Callum, Maisie, and Brody, were on the property now too, leaving me as the only one living in the city.Go figure that when I move out there, they’d all move back here.
I sighed, but then an incredibly pregnant Laney opened the front door and I slapped a grin onto my face. “You can relax now. I’m here.”
She laughed, lifting an arm for a hug and leaning into me. “You’re late.”
