“You seriously have to ask?” I grumbled. “I just weathered the most demanding, stressful, and important event of my entire career, all captured by a fleet of cameras, and you’re wondering why I seem wrung out?”
Logan eyed me as he chewed his meatball sub. I could tell he was teeing up a zinger.
“You love working. You thrive under pressure. I’m not buying it, bro.”
“Yeah, agreed,” Harrison added. “That sort of challenge usually energizes you. Plus you had the world’s most competent wingwoman at your side through the whole thing. Gwen is still raving about how Emilia saved the day at our party. She’s going to be the best thing to happen to the Ashford Carmel.” He paused. “Andyou. Don’t try to tell me that everything we saw at the party was for show. You two are perfectly matched.”
They were tag-teaming me and they weren’t going to let up until I caved.
“We broke up, okay? It’s over.”
“Oh, shit. Sorry to hear that.” Logan reached over to clasp my shoulder. “You okay?”
I shrugged his hand away. “Totally fine. It’s no big deal. Truth be told, it’s a good thing, because now I can focus on possibly building a new property in Hilton Head. Emilia was a distraction.”
Harrison frowned at me. “Seriously? You want to take on a new propertynow?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
It came out sharper than I’d intended and he held his hands up in surrender. “Fine, fine. Do what you need to do. I just thought that maybe you should downshift a bit as we figure out this transition of power.”
“Did Emilia decide not to take the job after all?” Logan asked, bringing the conversation back to the very topic I was trying to avoid.
I shook my head. “She decided not to take the position after all. I even tried to offer her more money.”
“Dammit, that had to hurt,” Harrison said. “She’s a real asset.”
“In more ways than one,” Logan added. “Shame you can’t see it, too.”
I had a feeling that they weren’t going to let up on me, and I was in no mood to filet my love life for them, so that meant it was time for this lunch to come to an end.
“I need to run, guys. I guess we’ll talk soon,” I said as I gathered my things and re-wrapped my untouched sandwich.
They paused to watch me.
“We’re here if you ever want to talk,” Harrison said.
“Aboutanything,” Logan added. “Not just business.”
An emotion I couldn’t quite place welled up inside of me, and left me a little unbalanced. We’d been close as kids, drifted apart, and now we were fighting our way back to one another. It felt … right. Three brothersshouldbe close.
But that didn’t mean I wanted to open about what had happened with Emilia.
The less I thought about her, the better.
29
EMILIA
“How much butter is too much butter?” Nora called out to me from her kitchen.
“The limit does not exist,” I yelled back from my spot on the couch. “Drench it.”
Honestly, I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to stomach the popcorn she was cooking up on her stovetop no matter how much butter was involved. We were getting ready to watch the Carter and Kristen wedding special and my gut was already twisting just from the teasers coming on. No surprise, it appeared that Drew and I had become a full subplot.
“Should I leave some plain for Winston?” Nora asked. “A little treat for our viewing party?”
“Nope, that’s not on the approved foods list. But he says thank you anyway.”
