Page 69 of Her Brother's Billionaire Best Friend

“He’s worried that I’m goingto do the same to you,” I said grimly.

“You’re calling to breakthis off, right?” she asked bluntly.

“Did he tell you that?” Howthe hell had he known?

Her face fell and froze. “I told him Ididn’t want that. And I was hoping you didn’t want that,either.”

“I don’t.” A tide of reliefswelled against the dam of resolve I’d built around myCharlotte-related emotions. I held it back. “But should we? Forhim?”

“No!” She shook her headfirmly. Then all the resolve went out. “Maybe? On my end, itdoesn’t matter. He’s my brother, not my keeper, and he doesn’t ownyou. But you’re his best friend and there’s obviously a differentcode of conduct there.”

“Plus, he got left at thealtar.”

“Which is affecting hisability to reason,” she said with an eye roll. “I love my brother.I know you love him, too. But it’s ridiculous that two grown adultsare tiptoeing around the feelings of a third, fully uninvolvedperson.”

That was reasonable. Tooreasonable.

“I think you’re talking meout of canceling,” I admitted reluctantly.

“You’d better not cancelthe trip you promised me,” she threatened. “If I’m not fucking you,I’m sure I’ll be able to find someone else. It seems unfair to robme of that chance.”

The thought of her going toAscend Red without me seemed more unfair. And unacceptable. Ofcourse, she would be able to find other sex partners there. But Ididn’t want her to have sex with them. I wanted her to have sexwithme. Or, withmeandthem.

“I think what we need totalk about here is whether or not we’re actually hurting Scott,”she went on. “Or if he’s hurting himself because it’s easier to beconcerned and overly involved in our sex lives than it is to dealwith the end of his own relationship.”

Now that she mentioned it…“I guess I hadn’t thought of it like that but maybe you’reright.”

“I know I’m right. Not justbecause I want a vacation,” she added with a sly raise of hereyebrow.

“And not because you thinkyou have to please everyone?” I asked cautiously. “Scott suggestedthat might be the case.”

“If I were trying to pleaseeveryone, wouldn’t that include Scott?”

I didn’t have an answer forthat.

“I know I’m screwed up,okay?” she said, an undercurrent of brokenness beneath her wordsthat I identified too easily. “But that doesn’t mean that everyaction I take is due to the thing that screwed me up. Scott feelsresponsible for anything and everything that’s ever gone evenslightly wrong in my life, and that’s nice of him, I guess, butit’s not okay to butt into my private life to protect me frommyself. If you want to call this off out of loyalty to my brother,I can’t force you not to. But I’ll think you’re making a shittychoice, and I will still be expecting those planetickets.

“Fair enough.” I took adeep breath and made a split-second decision. “I’m not calling itoff. But let’s not tell Scott that.”

“You want to lie to yourbest friend?” She seemed patently unimpressed.

“No. I want to stopdiscussing the subject with him. Unfortunately, I made agentleman’s agreement—”

“Ah, an agreement between‘gentlemen’ about a totally unaware, female third party. That’s notgross, creepy, or infantilizing at all,” she snapped.

“Now that I hear it outloud, it does sound…”

“Misogynistic? Archaic?Outright unacceptable?” There was no humor or teasing present."First and final warning: that behavior is what’s going to end thisarrangement. Not my brother.”

“Noted. And I’m sorry. Ishouldn’t have done that.”

“As long as you can itadmit it, we can be on the same page about it.” She rubbed herforehead, a similar gesture of frustration to one I’d seen herbrother make tons of times. “I like what we have.”

“I like what we have,too.”

‘Then let’s not end it. Andwe’ll stop talking about it and maybe everyone will politely ignoreit until it goes away,” she said hopefully.

“That sounds like anunhealthy tactic,” I pointed out. And I didn’t want it to goaway.

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