“Fate didn’t drop anything. Rich men bought property.”
“Which one?” she repeats, ignoring me entirely now. “The dangerous one, the charming one, or the controlled one?”
I point between us. “First of all, that’s a deeply unfair question.”
“Mm.”
“Second of all, none of them.”
Nina gives me a look that’s half sisterly affection, half open mockery. “That wasn’t convincing.”
“It wasn’t meant to be convincing. It was meant to be true.”
Grace tips her head. “Mmhmm.”
I narrow my eyes. “Stop making that sound.”
“The dark one is fun,” she says thoughtfully. “Julian. He has trouble written all over him, but in a very festive font.”
Nina laughs. “Festive font.”
“The blond one,” Grace continues, “is dangerous in a completely different way. Very polished. Very composed. Very likely to ruin your life while asking if you need anything.”
I can’t help it. I laugh.
“Hot tax consultant,” Nina says under her breath, and I laugh harder.
Grace points at her. “Exactly. That one.”
“And Xander?” Nina asks, because it seems she woke up today and chose violence.
Grace’s expression shifts. “Xander,” she says, “is the sort you think you understand until he says almost nothing and you realize that’s worse.”
None of us say anything.
Because she’s not wrong.
I shake it off. “Good thing I’m not interested in understanding any of them.”
Nina’s mouth twitches. “Right.”
“I mean it.”
“Of course you do.”
I lean back in my chair and cross my arms. “I’m serious. Men like that are not for me.”
Grace arches a brow. “Men like what, exactly?”
I open my mouth, then pause, because the answer comes too fast and feels a little too honest.
Men who expect the room to bend.
Men who have always been wanted.
Men whose lives are so far outside mine they may as well exist on another planet.
Men who look at me and make me aware of everything I’d rather not be aware of.