Page 60 of The Billionaire's Second Chance
“Charlie!” I said, and Flora laughed.
“I’m just saying,” he said, holding up his hands, his eyes twinkling. “If that’s the new trend, I don’t know, I think I’ll have to tap out. Whatever happened to romance, huh? What would Jane Austen think?”
I rolled my eyes–and then saw his face shift slightly, the mischief in his eyes dimming as he glanced from me over his shoulder, his jaw going tight as he nodded once. I didn’t need him to tell me what–who–he’d seen.
“Sebastian’s here,” he said. “I’ll go… get him a drink.” I nodded, watching him shoot a charmingly crooked grin at Flora. Before he left, he bent closer. “Find me later, Sami,” Charlie said, his voice low. “If you need me.”
I nodded, very aware of the way Flora was watching. She had no reason to suspect anything, but I knew the way her mind worked now.Too many romance novels.I should thank her for keeping people like me in business. Maybe get her to read a couple queries; she’d be a better judge than Charlie–although, I thought, trying to keep the blush from my cheeks, probably significantly lessfunthan reading queries with him. “Is everything okay with the, er… computer donations?”
“Everything is okay with the everything,” he interrupted, the corner of his mouth curving up. “Computer donations included. Just… I’m here. For you.”
I nodded again, my heart filled with a sparkling warmth, like sunshine glittering on snow.
* * *
I couldn’t avoid my brother forever.
He cornered me casually by James’s bar, James’s crystal lowballs glinting in the last rays of sunshine trickling in over the skyline.
“I’m glad to see you and Charlie are getting along,” Sebastian said, and I stiffened. He didn’t know. He couldn’t. Charlie didn’t kiss and tell. “You two were always friendly in high school.”
“That was a long time ago, Sebastian,” I said.
“Was it?” he asked. “I suppose so. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like any time has passed here since I left.” He chuckled. “You know Ryan and the Martin brothers still go to the Bancroft Club every Friday after work?”
“So?” I asked, and immediately regretted it as Sebastian looked over at me. Sometimes itdidn’tfeel like any time had passed. Like I was still a naive teenager, bickering with her big brother.
“Just an observation,” he said. I stared straight ahead, and after a moment, he looked away. Edie was leaning into James’s side. Her hand smoothed over her stomach once, then twice. She likely didn’t even realize she was doing it.
“She’s young,” Sebastian said, apparently seeing the same thing. “How did you say they met?”
I gritted my teeth, tempted to lie, or, well, not tell the whole truth. It was futile; it was silly to expect Sebastian not to know. “She was his student.”
“His student?” he asked, his brows drawn tight.
“Yes,” I said. But– “You were already away when James left the city. A sabbatical teaching creative writing for a semester.”
He thought for a moment, then his face cleared. “Oh, right,” he said, chuckling now. “Hisexileafter the scandal with–”
“This isn’treallythe place for that kind of reminiscing,” I warned. Sebastian ended his sentence there, but his chuckle remained, grating on me.
“Right. This is a nice cocktail party celebrating the child he’s having with a former student. Certainly not the appropriate venue for scandal.”
“Don’t be an ass,” I snapped. “They may have had an unconventional start, but they’re good together. She’s a writer.”
“Right,” he laughed again. “I heard about that. Herromance novel.”
I bristled. “I was the agent.”
“I heard about that, too.” I fought the urge to roll my eyes. There was nothing Sebastian hadn’t heard. “There’s a lot of money in something like that, and to sell it yourself, rather than let the fuckingNew York Weekget the last word… good for her. And good for you. You’re a good businesswoman. I underestimated you.” My head jerked in his direction, looking up at Sebastian as he looked out over the party. The corner of his mouth twitched, not quite a smile, and my stomach clenched. I’d dreamed of him saying this to me for years, but right now, the dismissal of Edie and her–our–book fresh in my mind, it didn’t taste as sweet as I’d thought it would. “And the New York Lit Award…” I could feel the flush creeping up my face, and I clenched my jaw. “That would be a get for you.”
“How did you know?”
“James pointed out the…patternin the gala attendees to me.”Of course James would notice.It felt odd, though, to have to share James’s friendship with Sebastian once again. Uncomfortable. Not that they had evernotbeen friends, but Sebastian had been across an ocean. Now that he was back, it washewho was James’s friend, was it not? And I wasJames’s friend Sebastian’s little sister,just like I’d been at the gala. “A children’s literacy campaign was a good choice.” He chuckled, glancing over at me for a second before returning his gaze to the cocktail party. “Maybe I have been away for a while. I don’t remember you being so mercenary.”
Sebastian and I looked so alike; anyone could see that we were related. But as I stared at his profile, seeing myself in the sharp angle of his set jaw, the serious tilt of his lips, the gulf between us became unfathomable, a yawning crevasse so deep I felt momentarily unsteady in my nude heels.
Charlie had accused me of the same thing, at our first meeting at the school, and at the time, I’d owned it. Yes, I was mercenary. Ihadto be in order for people to take me seriously.
