Page 3 of Tempting Promises
Olivia taps my leg. “Why don’t you tell her how great you are?”
“Because she’s stupid and hates me for no reason.”
My niece side eyes me with a smirk. “I heard it’s because you cheated on her sister.”
“What is she saying?” Charlotte butts in again, but I ignore her.
“Where did you hear that?”
Olivia shrugs. “Everyone knows.”
Everyone knows, my ass. No one knows because it’s not fucking true. Sure, two years ago I was sleeping with Aurora. We had a fling. One where I made it crystal fucking clear that it was just that—a fling. There were no feelings, no dating. I couldn’t have cheated on her because we weren’t even together. However, I didn’t sleep with anyone else when we were having our sexfest, so it’s bullshit, regardless.
“It’s a lie,” I tell Olivia.
“I know, the Whitlocks don’t like cheaters.”
No, we do not. And there’s a sound reason for it. All of uswatched our mother’s husband number three destroy her world when he cheated on her. It was me, the youngest son, who picked up her pieces and tried to be there for her as she cried at night. I remember how broken she was, devastated that he could do that to her when she gave up everything for him.
I would never, ever cheat on a woman.
However, Aurora didn’t like it when I told her I didn’t want more and so she spread her rumors far and wide.
Charlotte groans. “Do you know how rude you’re being?”
I turn to her, my brows raised. “Coming from you who spends hours doing nothing but talking shit about me? Get over it, sweetheart.”
“Don’t call me sweetheart.”
“Sour-heart? How about no-heart? Or maybe blackheart? I think that’s the most appropriate.”
Charlotte chuckles and lets out a deep sigh. “Please, we all know who the blackheart is here. Spoiler alert.” She leans in. “It ain’t me.”
I turn to Liv and sign.“See? There’s nothing good at the auction.”
Olivia laughs silently and points a finger at me. “Tell her the truth about what I sign.”
I nod.
“Promise?”
“Yes, I promise,” I assure her.
Charlotte groans. “Why are you such an ass? I swear, if you weren’t with your niece, I wouldn’t be this nice to you.”
“Yeah, you’re a ray of sunshine now.” I lift my hands to sign.“Olivia wants to tell you something, and I was promising her that I wouldn’t...interpret the words differently. That’s what we just said. The stuff before is between us Whitlocks.”
My niece looks to the she-devil behind me, and I speak as Olivia signs.“I understand sometimes why you think Uncle Rowan is stupid. Sometimes he is, but he is not a bad guy. If he was, I wouldn’t love him so much.”
Charlotte gives her a soft smile. “He really is stupid.”
I roll my eyes but sign it correctly.
Olivia’s grin grows.“Aunt Brynn says all boys are.”
I’m going to have to talk to my sister about that comment. I sign to Olivia and say it so Charlotte isn’t excluded. See, I can be nice.“All boys your age are idiots. Don’t ever talk to them.”
There. I can impart my unclely advice where needed. Olivia is too young to even think about boys, let alone date. Not that I think Asher would ever let her near a boy, sometimes a father needs backup, which is where I can come in.
