He let out a quiet chuckle, shoulders shaking as he shook his head. “Touche, brother, but okay. Who is she? Tell me about her.”
I straightened up a little. “What do you want to know?”
“How did you meet her? Where did she come from? When did you put a ring on her finger? More specifically,whydid you put a ring on her finger? I didn’t even know Dad had?—”
“He hasn’t,” I cut across him as my throat went tight. I glanced at Aurelia again, my old-school Hollywood, blonde bombshell of a friend who I happened to be engaged to. I could’ve dodged Jamie’s questions. I could’ve deflected with a joke or simply told him to mind his own business, but Jameson read people too well. Besides, I wanted to tell him the truth.
“We met by chance,” I started, bringing my gaze back to my brother’s under the harsh fluorescent lights. “Both of us were going after Kingsley, but something just clicked between us and we decided to do the deal together. It went well, obviously.”
“So you decided to marry her?” Her eyebrows shot up. “That’s interesting reasoning.”
“I’m not marrying her just because we made a good team.” I shrugged. “Something is just different with her than it has been with anyone else.”
Jameson studied me for a beat, his expression unreadable. “Yeah, I saw that.”
“What do you mean yousawit?”
“It’s easy to see something when you know what you’re looking for, but I saw how you guys leaned on each other in conversation. How you silently check in. The way you’re constantly angled toward one another.”
My heart rate spiked and I shifted my weight against the wall, trying to act casual. “You got all of that from half a dinner?”
He pumped his eyebrows at me once. “Again, it’s not hard to see these things when you know what they look like. It’s good, though. I’m happy for you. I still don’t really get why you’re rushing intomarryingher if it’s not because of Dad, but hey. Whatever floats your boat.”
I rolled my eyes. “We’re going into it for the same reason you all did. We both have something to gain. It’s business. There’s no romance involved.”
He tilted his head, a single eyebrow raised, and I could see he wasn’t buying the wholejustbusinessline. “Is that so? Because I’ve been watching you, little brother. You’ve been staring at her for hours.”
I groaned. “It’s not like that. We’re friends, is all. She gets me. I get her. We work well together. It’s a solid deal.”
Jameson smirked, an infuriatingly knowing look in his eyes as he pushed off the wall. “Alright then. If you say so. For now, I’m taking my wife home.”
He glanced over his shoulder at the glass door and the hallway beyond. “If Laney gives birth tonight, we’ll come see the baby tomorrow. Otherwise, I’m going to enjoy the quiet of my own home while I still can.”
I nodded, feeling a faint twist of envy that his life somehow always seemed so effortless, but I knew it hadn’t been. I knew he and Sadie had fought for what they had now, and I knew that I should learn from that.
Sadie and Jameson’s quiet exit triggered Maisie into action. Before I knew it, she had gathered her boys and slipped out the door, leaving just Aurelia, my dad, and me. Since Dad was still fast asleep, I went over to Aurelia and nodded toward the corridor that led to the exit.
“We should go, too.”
She nodded, rising and glancing at my dad with a soft smile on her face before she followed me to the exit. When we climbed into my car, the clock on the dashboard read almost two a.m. The city streets were washed in a soft, yellow glow of streetlamps reflecting off the wet pavement.
We drove mostly in silence, but my mind was far from quiet. Jameson’s smirk kept replaying in my head.What did he mean? Why doesn’t he believe me? Does he think I’m falling for her faster than I’m admitting? Maybe he’s right. Maybe I am. I shouldn’t be, but shit.
Aurelia sat next to me, her profile illuminated by the dim lights of the dashboard and her eyes fixed on the quiet streets outside. She seemed lost in thought herself, and for just a beat, I wondered if she was struggling with the same thoughts I was.
“Almost there,” I said quietly.
She didn’t look at me. “Yeah, it’s late. You should just stay with me.”
The invitation hit me like a jolt. I lived just a few hundred yards away from her and she knew that, which meant she was inviting me to stay because she wanted me there, not to save me a long trip back to my own place at this time of night.
“Sure. Yeah. That’s a good idea. Thanks.” I swallowed, keeping my eyes on the road and feeling that tension between us settle somewhere deep in my chest.
Yeah, I’m in over my head, but the worst part is that I don’t think I would want it any other way.
The moment the front door of her apartment clicked shut behind us, it was like the world narrowed to only us. Only now. Only the fact that we were completely alone, spending the night together because neither of us had wanted to be without the other.
The soft hum of the city outside seemed to vanish, leaving just the two of us and the faint echo of our own breaths as westood in her foyer. Aurelia turned toward me, her eyes wider than they had been back in the car and no longer tired at all. In fact, she was looking at me like she could see every thought running through my head.
