Page 80 of The Arrogant One
I’d thought about how to address this, but those thoughts and plans were gone.
Sadie had asked me to start at the beginning, so I voiced, “Walker and Beck have been in the spotlight for a long time.Walker made a name for himself in culinary school, and Beck has been a star since high school. I didn’t want what they had—I never wanted that.”
I balanced the tumbler on my thigh and wiped my lips. “I’ve been open with you about my past and how my dates ended after one night, but what I didn’t tell you is that a majority of, if not all, those women knew who I was, going into it. They knew about our family business and our financial status and my famous siblings. But you, Sadie … you were different.” When my hand returned to the drink, I took a long pull of the bourbon. “You knew nothing, and I can’t tell you how refreshing that was.” I squeezed her foot. “To not have you look at me like I was made of dollar signs. To not have you bombard me with questions about Walker and Beck.” I was rubbing across the tops of her toes and stopped. “Did I let that ride for too long? Probably. Should you have heard my last name before the server gave it to you last night? Yes.” I resumed, but I moved my fingers under her toes and worked my way down. “For that, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for all of it.”
She crossed her arms, still holding her drink. “Initially, the news was shocking, but maybe that had to do with the Celebrity Alert—I don’t know. I had just read it on my phone minutes before the server came to our table with your cocktails, so I went from seeing your pictures and connecting you to being Beck’s brother to having the server say you were the owner of Charred and that you were a Weston, not a Wright.” Her hand went to her forehead and pushed against it. “It was an info dump, and it all happened basically at once.”
“It was a lot, for sure.”
When her hand left her forehead, her thumb went to her mouth, and she chewed at the corner of her pink nail. “I knew whatever you did in hospitality, you did it well. You had to—between your car and your mention of a jet and this house”—she gazed around the living room—“but honestly, it didn’t matter to me.” She went quiet. “I do wish I hadn’t found out from the alert and the server, but I’m not angry.” Her lips pulled inward, and she inhaled a full breath. “I can’t be angry with you for keeping that from me, Lockhart.”
“You have every right to feel however you want to feel.”
“What I’m saying is, I don’t feel like you lied to me. The Wright thing wasn’t malicious, it was a misunderstanding. You didn’t intentionally mislead me. And as far as The Weston Group is concerned, you just didn’t tell me. That’s not lying either.” I watched her throat move as she swallowed. “And I get it—I get all of it.”
“If I’m being truthful, I didn’t think you’d be this forgiving.”
Her head bobbed, and she broke eye contact. “Sometimes … things need to play out the way they’re supposed to.” Her gaze slowly returned to mine. “And things did. With us.”
I massaged her arch. “I like the way you’re viewing this.”
“Lockhart …” Her voice trailed off as she looked toward the wall of windows. “You wanted someone to fall for you—not your brothers, not your family, not anything you have materialistically.” When she gave me her eyes again, she whispered, “You got that.”
“You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say those words.”
Her eyes closed for a moment, and when they reopened, the emotion was working its way out of them. “Now, had this been Bryn, you would have had apretend boyfriendsituation on your hands.”
My brows lifted so fucking fast. “A what?”
“She’s in love with Beck.”
“She’s part of a very long list of women.”
“I’m sure.” She captured my hand between both of her feet. “Things happen for a reason—I truly believe that. Look, youweren’t into dating—you were a one-night-stand kind of man—and I wasn’t really interested in dating anyone because I’d met far too many Mr. Wrongs.” She winked. “We found each other at Horned—a place that fuels both of our passions—and things unfolded. I think it’s the perfect starter.” Her brows furrowed. “The only thing I don’t get is anytime I’ve ever called you Lockhart—even a few seconds ago—you never corrected me. Why?”
“Lockhart is my real name, everyone just calls me Hart for short. Shit, my mother calls me Lockhart. But it goes back to what I was saying about my past. All the others have used Hart. But from the moment we met, our intro was nothing like any of the previous women—and that’s because I told you to call me Lockhart. I liked that. I liked that you had a piece of me that no other woman had. That’s why I never corrected you.” I set the drink on the table beside me and reached across the back cushion, positioning my hand on the base of her neck. “Why I told you to call me Lockhart that night we met at Horned was because I was there undercover.” I chuckled. “That sounds so official, but when new restaurants open in the area, Colson, Eden, or I go and check them out. Walker and Beck can’t—they’d be immediately recognized. So, I was in that bar to assess our competition. I just didn’t make it further than a cocktail.”
She smiled. “Oops.”
“In case a waiter or a patron or the bartender heard me tell you my name was Hart, I went with the name I’m not known for. Even though Walker and Beck are the two most well-known Westons, our family is extremely public with what we own, and—who knows—there was a chance someone could have connected me, and I couldn’t take that chance.” I brushed under her chin.
She gave me a large, almost-emoji-like grin. “I’d say quite a few people know who you are now.”
I hissed out some air and shifted my hand to her shoulder. “Yeah, about that.”
“You were all over the internet today.”
I shook my head. “Make it stop,” I groaned.
She laughed. “You said it yourself—you have a famous family. It’s probably a miracle your face hadn’t already blown up over the internet.” She mashed the gloss across her lips. “It’s such a pretty face too.” She winked. “I can see why all the women are melting over you.”
“Sadie, you’re not helping the situation.” I still chuckled despite my response. “I already lost my shit on the phone with Beck when he told me there were fucking reels made of me. I don’t want that.”
“I might have scanned some of the posts.” She pushed her lips out, attempting to prevent herself from smiling. “Beck’s not wrong. But there’s more than just reels. You’re on every social media site, and the posts are … well, they’re exactly what you’d expect from a bunch of horny women who find you irresistible.”
I sighed. “Fuck me.”
“Looks like I’ve got some major competition out there.”
