Page 28 of Her Brother's Billionaire Best Friend

But I knew for a fact art-fair wouldn’tbe able to handle it.

CHAPTER NINE

(Matthew)

I’m here, the text read.Let me know whenyou need me.

I took a deep breath andslid my phone back into my pocket. This was going to be perfect.Ithadto be,because Charlotte deserved it, damn it.

I’d seen the way she’d folded in onherself during the conversation about age. Which, frankly, I’dfound patronizing as hell. What was it about being almost-fortythat made elder millennials so keen to insist their lives wereharder than everyone’s who were born after them?

I knew from Scott thatCharlotte was still struggling to find herself. I could sympathize;I’d turn forty in two months, and I still hadn’t figured out who Iwanted to be when I grew up. ThewhatI wanted to be had been decidedfor me the moment I became a fertilized egg; the Ashe family ranresorts and spent money. But figuring out an identity alongsidethat? Well, that was the tricky part.

I spotted the lamppost atthe convergence of the two sidewalks where we’d met the nightbefore. A moth the size of a bat swooped over my head, and Iducked.

A laugh floated up the path, and Isquinted to make out the shape moving toward me through thedarkness between the carefully positioned lights.

“Did you just get attackedby a moth?” Charlotte asked.

Of course she had seen the entirething. Why wouldn’t she have?

“I was thinking about howimpressive it is that this resort isn’t more buggy.” And now I wastalking about pest control with the hot chick.

“The way the internet makesthis place sound, it’s supposed to be this charming seaside richpeople swamp,” she said, shielding her eyes as she looked up at thelight. “So, how do you do it?”

“How do we do…?”

She gestured over her head. “Is itbats? Infrasound? Carefully positioned bug zappers?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted.“It’s not a department where I’m real hands-on.”

“But you’re hands-on withthe alligators?” she asked as we began to walk up thepath.

“Did you see me lay myhands on an alligator?” I countered. “I won’t be touching that damnbear either.”

She snorted a laugh, having beenpresent for the discussion of who would walk the bear down theaisle. “You’re going to break Lauren’s heart, you know.”

“She’ll have to take comfortin knowing that I got the damn bear here, then. Because I’m notgetting anywhere near the thing.” Despite Lauren’s assurances thatDaisy was the nicest, sweetest, most gentle carnivorous Ice Agemegafauna around, I wasn’t taking any chances.

“That was a nice thing youdid, though,” Charlotte said. “If I forgot to mention thatbefore.”

“You did forget to mentionit, but I’ll let it slide. You were so impressed you wereoverwhelmed.” I hoped she knew I was teasing. That I didn’t think Iwas as amazing as all the shit I was talking.

I had a hunch that was the case whenshe played along. “Well, you’re very impressive. It’s difficult notto feel overwhelmed.”

“It’s the price you’ll haveto pay to bask in my nearness.” I lowered my voice as a coupleapproached from the other direction. Thank god, it wasn’t anyonefrom Scott’s family. When they passed by, I asked Charlottequietly, “In all seriousness, I want to make sure that you fullyunderstand what’s going to happen tonight.”

She blinked up at me.

“You know, withthe—”

“Yeah, I know what you’retalking about.” She looked over her shoulder before whispering, “Iassume you have some guy waiting to catch us on the roof, and thenwe’ll all fuck.”

“That ruins some of thesurprise, but yes,” I admitted.

“It’s not a surprise if it’swhat we explicitly discussed.”

“Do you expect me to believethat you weren’t a little more convinced once you saw thatbear?”

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