The room went silent, the pause stretching long enough for me to hear my own heartbeat. I knew without having to look that Alex and Nate had gone dead still too.
“Elaborate,” Alex finally said, his voice careful but firm. “What else did he say, Char?”
Charlotte swallowed, her shoulders tense and her eyes suddenly fixed firmly on the floor. “Trent has to come to him to make his offer.Today. Or I’m marrying Gregory.”
She didn’t look at me once.
Nate shoved his hands into his hair, raking his fingers through it slowly. “Are you…”
He trailed off, but she seemed to understand the question even if he hadn’t voiced it. “As far as Dad is concerned, my time has run out. He came right out and said it. Once the wheels start turning on these things, the only way it ends is when you’re married. He’s expecting Trent in his office before close of business today, or I’m going to England.”
I nodded. That was all I could do, and then I turned on my heels and left without another word or a backward glance. I had shit to do and none of it was going to be achieved in here.
CHAPTER 23
CHARLOTTE
Ididn’t see Trent for the rest of the day. Or the next day. Or the day after that.
After he’d left Alex’s office, he’d disappeared and, eventually, after going around in circles with my brothers for a few minutes, so had I. The fact was that there was nothing any of us could do to change my father’s mind.
Alex, Nate, and I were equally powerless in this situation, so I’d been staying at Stella’s loft apartment, a safe distance away from my dad’s house, away from the impossible expectations and the suffocating scrutiny. With everything up in the air, I’d thrown myself into my charity work, sorting through donations, answering emails, and catching up with the girls.
Every time my phone buzzed, I wanted to throw it across the room. I didn’t want it to be him, but I also didn’t want it to be anyone else, a conundrum I had no idea what to do about.
Stella called me out on my sour mood on my third morning with her. “You’ve been avoiding him like the plague. Why?”
“I’m not avoiding him,” I lied.
“Uh-huh,” she said, her eyebrows raised as high as they could go. “Sure you’re not.”
I groaned, hiding my face in my hands. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about. Avoiding him would mean that he’s tried to reach out to me, which he hasn’t. I’m just studiously ignoring the fact that he lives in the world.”
“Please, you’re thinking about him every other second and you’re mad at yourself for it. Why don’t you just call him?”
I tried to shrug it off, but it was impossible. Thoughts of him consumed my every waking—and sleeping—moment. Try as I might, I couldn’t push them away. The sudden, tense silence between us, the not hearing from him, was suffocating. One minute, he’d been kissing me in the stables, and what had felt like the next, he’d stormed out of Alex’s office without a word, and now he was gone.
Finally, I looked up into Stella’s big, knowing eyes, and just came out with it. The truth had been begging to be spoken aloud for days and she already knew anyway. I might as well admit it. “I, uh, I think I might have feelings for him. And it’s ridiculous because it’s totally one-sided. He doesn’t even, uh, he probably doesn’t even care.”
Stella leaned back, smirking as she crossed her arms. “One-sided? I don’t think so. You guys spent a week alone on a million-acre ranch. Are you honestly telling me he didn’t make a move or do absolutely anything to make you feel the things you’re feeling?”
“We weren’t alone,” I said automatically. “His parents live on the same ranch. Although, come to think about it, I never even saw his dad. That’s weird, right?”
She rolled her eyes. “First, on a ranch the size of the one I’ve heard they have, one other couple counts as being alone. Besides, you said he has his own house, in which you were, in fact, alone. Second, parents are just weird. Don’t overthink it, and third, none of that answered my question.”
I sighed, but my cheeks heated when I thought about that kiss. The way he’d held me like I was precious, how his lips had brushed against the top of my head and how he’d instinctively pulled me into his side whenever we’d gone out.
“Fine.” I covered my face in my palms and shook my head. “We kissed. Once. Barely.”
She squealed. “I knew it! What happened? Don’t be shy with the details, lady. I need to know absolutely everything. That cowboy is so hot. Please tell me he kisses like he knows it.”
Before I could stop myself, I was nodding emphatically and she let out another squeal, grabbing a scatter cushion and hugging it to her chest. “Okay. Go. I’ve got something to hold on to. Tell me.”
I felt a goofy, stupidly girly smile spread on my lips. “We got into an argument, and before I even ran out of steam, he just came up, pulled me into him, let me get tears and snot all over his shirt, and then, when I was calm, he walked me back until I hit the wall, penned me in, and kissed me.”
Even Stella was blushing now, a dreamy look in her eyes as she sighed. “God, of course he did. I knew the sexy cowboy would have sexy cowboy moves. That sounds hot for sure, but also, for the record, it definitely doesn’t sound one-sided to me.”
“It doesn’t?”
