Page 50 of Secret Babies For My Brother's Best Friend

“I’m Aster,” she said, sliding into my booth, making sure to leave absolutely no space between us.

Gutsy. I liked that.

Just then, my drinks order arrived, and the waiter placed two glasses of Scotch on the table. I picked up my glass and held it out to her.

Aster shook her head with a girlish giggle. “Oh, no thank you. I don’t drink.”

I held her gaze and didn’t move my glass, waiting. She squirmed in her seat, and the giggle turned to nervous laughter.

“I—I guess just this one will be fine,” she said, clinking her glass with mine.

That’s when I finally looked away, downing my drink in one while Aster coughed and spluttered through her first and only sip. The sound of it annoyed me. And if I really thought about it, everything about her had the same effect. There's only one person I wanted to be having this drink with. Aster was far from it.

I didn’t like the way she smelled or the way she looked up close. I especially didn’t like her lack of care for personal space. It didn’t escape me that I was in a place to explicitly avoid personal space, but still.

“You can leave now,” I said, keeping my eyes on my drink in front of me.

“Wh—? Did I do something wrong?” Aster asked. “I really like the drink.” She grimaced through another sip, managing to choke back both the drink and another coughing fit.

I gave her the once over, looking down my nose at her. “You’re pathetic. Tell Coco I want to see her.”

Aster’s face fell, and she slid slowly from my booth, shuffling in the same direction that the hostess had gone in only moments before. My second drink and Coco arrived at the same time.

“Is there a problem, sir?” she asked with a smile.

I knew the smile was paid for and that she was using it to hide her irritation with me. A few weeks ago, I’d have been happy to buy the act and get on with it. But for whatever reason, everything about the people and the place annoyed the shit out of me. I couldn’t stand the fakeness of it all. The emptiness. What was I trying to prove coming here?

“Is Delilah working today?” I asked, placing my final bet on a regular of mine.

If anyone was going to whip me out of my lovesick puppy phase it would be Delilah. She and I went all the way back to when Chord was just a rumor in the venture capitalist mill.

A knowing smile crept onto Coco’s face. “She’s working today, yes. I asked her to wait in your room.”

I sank back into my seat. There was a reason I didn’t frequent any of the other bougie clubs in the city. Coco was the difference. Her customer service was unparalleled. I smiled and nodded my thanks, lifting my glass in salute before downing that too.

Coco left again, and all that was left was for me to make my way to the back. I twirled the empty glass on the table in front of me, considering the chain of events that had led me to that point, that one choice. Scarlett was at the center of them all. I couldn’t deny this feeling any longer.

If I’d walked in there wanting to prove I was still the billionaire playboy bachelor everyone made me out to be, then so far I was failing miserably. I pulled out my phone and shot a text through to my driver. Then I got up with a sigh and went to go collect my coat.

“Is everything okay?” Coco asked on my way out.

“Meeting,” I grunted, pushing through the heavy front door.

I slid into the back seat of my limo overcome with anger. I wasn’t sure if it was about Aster, the club in general, or myself for being so hopeless about it all. A sneaking suspicion tugged at the back of my mind that the answer was me. I was pissed off at myself for ever letting feelings get in the way.

“Home?” my driver asked, looking at me through the rearview mirror.

“Home,” I replied, pressing the button to bring up the privacy screen.

Then I pulled out my phone again. Only that time I didn’t send a text.

“I’m not in the mood for talking,” Scarlett’s voice came through the speaker.

“Shanghai wants an urgent meeting,” I barked at her. “We leave tomorrow.”

“What? Luca, I can’t—”

“And we’re stopping over in Venice on the way,” I added, ending the call before she could get another word in.

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