Page 172 of Boyfriend of the Hour
“She is beautiful,” he seemed to agree with his mother as he smiled down at me. “In every way.”
Lillian blinked as if her son’s agreement wasn’t exactly what she was hoping to get out of our particular exchange. I, however, was thrilled.
“Thanks, babe,” I murmured, allowing him to pull me into his side.
“I see the de Vrieses over there,” Radford said suddenly, as though he couldn’t take one more minute of niceties. “Spencer, come with me. They’ve got a stable on Long Island, so they might be interested in a stud.”
With a gleeful eye roll, Spencer followed his father through the crowd.
“I’d best join them,” Lillian said. “My husband is very good at business, but he always needs a bit of extra help with the pleasure.”
Before I could wonder what she meant by that, she was gone, leaving Nathan and me alone with Carrick, who seemed completely uninterested in leaving.
“They seem…nice,” I offered.
Nathan raised one brow.
Carrick snorted. “Our parents are many things, but ‘nice’ is not one of them.”
“Then, what would you call them?”
“Conniving, controlling, and manipulative all come to mind,” he replied.
“Sounds likesomeoneis projecting,” I muttered.
Nathan chuckled, and when he received a dirty look from his brother, he only shrugged. “She’s not wrong.”
Carrick’s eyes flared at me as he grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing server. “Hey, Mac, get me a scotch, will you? The bubbly’s not gonna cut it.”
The server, a kid who probably wasn’t even my age, just bobbed his head and scurried away with his now empty tray.
Carrick turned to me and grinned, looking again like the wolf—or maybe the snake—he claimed he was.
I didn’t know what else I’d been expecting, really. Obviously, things were going to be weird. He’d made himself scarce since the gambling night, and I hadn’t had a chance to make peace. Or decide if that’s even what I wanted with Nathan’s jerk of a brother.
“Did you tell him?” Carrick asked as he swirled his drink and raised it in a silent greeting to another guest.
I pretended to smile at someone as well. “Of course I did.”
Nathan scowled. “Don’t, Carrick.”
“Don’t what?” Carrick asked. “Don’t make sure Little Miss Striptease isn’t about to take you for a ride?”
“Stop.” This time, I was the one to speak.
“Make me, sweetheart,” Carrick cut back before finishing the champagne and setting the glass on the nearby table with an audible crack. “I dare you.”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came not. Not a sassy comeback, not a flirty retort. Nothing.
I was done for.
Again, Carrick faux-greeted someone else before turning back to us with a face like steel. “Wrong answer,” he said before striding away.
Fear sliced through me. What did that mean?
I turned to Nathan. “He’s…he’s not going to tell anyone, is he?”
Nathan’s hands cupped my shoulders and rubbed my arms. “You don’t have to worry about that. But even if it did, would it matter?”
