Page 10 of Making It While Faking It
Ipace my office floor like a caged bull. Rarely do I let my nerves get the better of me. It’s been three days since I’ve seen Treasure Grove. I don’t remember her being so drop-dead gorgeous. I stop to touch my eyebrow as I squeeze my eyes shut.Damn.She’s not even my type. She strikes me as irresponsible and flighty. Who in the hell shows up to sign important documents wearing faded blue jeans? Bell-bottoms? Is this the seventies? That was unprofessional of her.
But the way her jeans cradled her ass…
The mounds of honey-brown hair pinned loosely on the top of her head, drawing attention to her pretty heart-shaped face… I didn’t know she had a smattering of freckles across her nose. It’s cute. She’s cute. And her lips…
“Shit.”
I flex my fingers as if grabbing at the air. I don’t like being anxious, and thinking about her makes me anxious. I’ve been wishing I would’ve made Orion step up to the plate and do something for the family for once. I could’ve ridden his ass all the way to the finish line. But it’s too late to back out now. I’ll have to keep my distance from Treasure Grove. I have no doubt she will stay far away from me.
Why did she give me so much attitude anyway?
And I called her a debutante?
I don’t remember that. “Debutante” isn’t even in my vocabulary. When I found her and Orion in bed together in the manor on our grandfather’s private island in Nova Scotia, admittedly, I was incensed. But my anger was directed at my brother, not her. She was the injured party, caught up in Orion’s dark allure.
“Shit.” I did call her a debutante. I rub the back of my neck. “She remembers that?”
Finally, Orion blows into my office as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. “Remember what?” He plops down on my sofa, spreading his arm across the top, legs wide, slouching.
Glowering at him, I take full responsibility for his blasé attitude. I, and a host of other enablers, have been picking up his slack for far too long.
“You’re twenty-three minutes late,” I grumble.
He spreads his legs wider and humps the air with his crotch. “I had business to take care of. I’ll be a married man soon. So I had to sew some wild oats.”
His grin is salacious. No wonder Treasure Grove doesn’t want anything to do with him. I don’t know her that well, but judging from the way she carries herself, she’s too good for him.
I slap the top of my desk and snap, “Sit the fuck up.” I wanted to take a more sympathetic approach with him, but he’s making that impossible
He slowly gives me the posture I want him to have. “What the fuck, Achilles?”
I shake my head, gradually bringing my anger under control. The sight of him sitting in front of me without a care in the world while lazily waiting to hear that he’s going to be given the ultimate prize annoys the hell out of me. I’m worried all the damn time. He’s never worried. I carry the weight of this family on my shoulders. And he sucks us dry. But he’s still my brother and I love him. That’s why I’ve been stressing about telling him that I’m the one who’s going to marry Treasure Grove. The news isn’t going to go down easy.
I stretch my neck from side to side. The act fails to relieve the tension in my shoulders. It’s time to get it over with.
“We heard back from Treasure Grove,” I say.
His lips hike up into a smirk as he flagrantly grabs his cock. Treasure’s not here to see him but I’m offended for her. “Oh, I can’t wait. I’m going to be good to her, Achilles, real good to her.”
I snort like an angry bull. “Why the hell are you grabbing your cock?” I want to slap some manners into him. “The way you’re behaving is the reason she refuses to marry you.”
Orion’s eyebrows quirk up, holding for a moment before dropping way low. “What do you mean she’s refusing to marry me? Who the fuck is she going to marry if not me?”
I stop biting down hard on my back teeth to say, “I’m marrying her.”
He flies to his feet. “What?”
“It’s because she wants nothing to do with you.” I point at him like I want to poke his eye out. “And it’s your fault. Look at how you walked in here, thrusting your cock in the air and shit.”
Mouth agape and face suddenly drained of blood, he looks like I stole his lunch money. I’m sort of surprised by this reaction of his. They hadn’t been together since they were eighteen or nineteen. Unless they got together again between then and now. That would make sense. The older and wiser Treasure got a taste of his bullshit. But I love him, and I feel sorry for him. Shit, he looks like he’s about to pass out.
“Just sit back down,” I say.
He slowly, carefully does as I ask.
“Maybe I can talk to her,” he says. “Sometimes, I like to push her buttons. But I’ll let her know I won’t do that.”
I’m shocked he’s fighting for her. If she knew it, I wonder if she’d change her mind. But it doesn’t matter any longer.
