He grinned. "There has to be some benefit to having all this money."
Reluctantly we headed back to the conference for the last day. Mace's car was also magically in the condo garage, and he put our bags in the trunk. He slipped his sunglasses on then sat in the driver's seat, staring at the parking deck wall.
"Earth to Mace? Did I break you last night?" I joked.
He turned to me and pushed the sunglasses up on his head. His expression was serious.
"When I said yesterday that I liked you, I didn't mean it," he said.
"Okay, what the hell—"
"I love you," Mace said, grabbing me. "I know you think this is just a fun fling, but I don't work that way. I don't want to live without you. Even if you take a job in Manhattan, I will tell my brothers that you can't be there all the time and that you need to work remotely."
"Okay," I said. I was slightly shocked. I didn't know how to respond, so I pulled him down for a kiss. All the while my thoughts were racing.
I couldn't tell him I loved him, even though I guess that was the right response. But did I love him? I was basically lying to him about Anke. And despite what Willow said, I knew when he found out that this perfect thing with Mace would all come crashing down. You don't lie to people you love.
58
Mace
Itook a huge risk telling Josie that I loved her. And she didn't say it back. Did I miscalculate? I had to tell her—it was the truth. Maybe she didn't want anything permanent, but I did. I shouldn't have fallen in love with her. But I did. What was going to happen? Would she move to New York City? She couldn't live in a tiny house on my property forever.
I avoided Josie as soon as we stopped at the booth. I dropped my stuff and basically spent the rest of the time in meetings or attending sessions of potential big clients. All through the remainder of the conference, my thoughts spun. Had I blown it? Was she just going to stay in Manhattan and not even come back to Harrogate? Was she mad? Did she hate me?
I was a complete wreck late that afternoon when the conference was officially over. I paid the tab at the coffee shop in Archer's hotel after meeting with the CEO of a large research university that wanted to partner with PharmaTech, and someone nudged me.
"Dude," my twin brother said. "You look like a wreck. Late night?"
"I think I ruined my life," I whispered.
"You are the most dramatic, emotional person," Archer scoffed.
"I'm not emotional," I snapped. A few people turned around to gape at us.
Archer grabbed me by the suit coat sleeve and pulled me to his office. He had one in every hotel that he and his cofounder and our half brother Mike shared. He shut the door and took out a bottle of whiskey, pouring me two fingers. "Drink that and don't puke on my carpet," he ordered. "This is an imported alpaca shag rug made by the nicest little old Peruvian lady."
I sipped the whiskey.
"Let me guess what happened," Archer said, leaning back in his chair. "You did your crazy Mace thing and told Josie you couldn't live without her and you loved her to the moon and back."
"I didn't say it like that," I growled.
"And then I bet you freaked out and didn't give her a chance to process it, and now you think she's already found someone better, richer, more handsome than you in the last, oh, five hours and is already planning on running off to southern France with him. Is that right?"
I scowled at my twin.
"Wait, of course it is! I know exactly how you think." Archer leaned over the desk. "Your thoughts devolve into the worst possible scenario. You overreact. It's a good trait for a CEO who makes products that could literally kill people if not designed and manufactured perfectly. However, it makes the rest of life unnecessarily stressful."
My twin poured me another drink.
"Let me reassure you," Archer said. "I am the only person better looking, friendlier, and better in bed than you, and I have not seen or heard from Josie today, so you're safe on that front." He leaned back, a self-satisfied smile on his face.
I stared at him. "You're terrible," I said finally.
"And you're paranoid and crazy," Archer said affectionately. "With you and Remy bouncing around out there in that huge estate house, it's a good thing I'm planning on building that conference center. I'll have more time to make sure you two aren't building matching bunkers."
"What do I do about Josie?" I asked through my teeth. I loathed admitting I didn't have control over a situation, but I was willing to throw all my rules to the wind if it meant I wouldn't drive Josie away.
