Chapter Seven

Amber

I was seriously considering my mom and Courtney’s suggestion to get another job. I didn’t think I could make it through the next four months. William and Tiffany’s wedding was all anyone was talking about. Since my little show in the library, William had been very cold toward me. I had expected that, but I didn’t expect to feel so rotten about it.

I couldn’t believe he had gone from hot to cold so quickly. I should have seen the signs. After our weekend away, he had been pulling back. I had chalked it up to him being busy. I should have realized I had been a fling. I had fallen for his smooth-talking ways and gone to bed with him. I was an idiot. I couldn’t really put all the blame on him. I had willingly gone to his bed and let myself fall for him.

“Here she comes,” one of the women whispered over my cubicle.

“Who?” I asked, focusing on William’s schedule for the following week.

“Tiffany,” she hissed.

I froze. The woman had made it her daily routine to show up at lunchtime and whisk William away. It was getting old. All the women in the office fawned over her. They acted as if the woman walked on water. The ass-kissing was enough to make me want to vomit.

“Hi, Miss Warner!” one of the women said. “You look nice today.”

I turned and glared at the woman who was practically drooling over William’s fiancée. I had heard every detail about the ring so many times, I didn’t even have to see the thing to know what it looked like. Unfortunately, I did see the thing. You couldn’t miss the shiny basketball attached to her finger. It was a disgusting show of wealth.

“Can I go in or is he busy?” Tiffany stopped to ask me.

I wasn’t his secretary. It pissed me off that she assumed I was. I was an assistant who managed the entire acquisitions department.

“I don’t believe he’s busy,” I said with a fake smile. “I’m sure he won’t mind if you do interrupt him.”

“Great. Thanks!” she said with a bright smile and turned to head into his office.

If I could have thrown my stapler at the back of her head and gotten away with it, I would have. Instead, I properly glared and sneered like a mature adult.

“I’m going to lunch,” I said, grabbing my purse.

It had become my new routine. She came in and I left before I had a chance to see the happy couple leave together. It was more than I could handle. I knew I would have to see it eventually, but I wasn’t ready. Not yet and not on an empty stomach.

I took a long lunch, hoping to miss the happy couple’s return. I happened to run into Tiffany as she was leaving. It took every ounce of self-control I had to keep my mouth shut. I so wanted to tell her I had been with her fiancé a short few weeks ago and it had been my name on his lips.

I managed to get through the day knowing I was going out for drinks with Courtney that night. I needed to blow off some steam. I had holed up the past couple days trying to come to terms with getting shut down so hard on Saturday night. My ego was seriously bruised.

I stripped off my business jacket and went with my sleeveless blouse—unbuttoned a couple buttons—let my hair down, and considered it a good enough transformation from work to bar attire.

“There you are!” Courtney greeted.

She was sitting at the bar, sipping on a martini. “I got stuck making changes to His Highness’s schedule.”

“Sorry. I still think you need to look for a different job. He has way too much power over you.”

“I know. I’m thinking about it. If I have to see that woman come prancing in on her big-ass heels with that big-ass ring on her finger another day this week, I’m going to lose my cool.”

“Good. Let’s get you a drink,” she said, waving a hand in the air.

I was delivered an apple martini, which I quickly dug into.

“I hate them,” I groaned. “She is so wrong for him. She is very materialistic. I don’t know what he sees in her.”

“You know what he sees,” she said with a sigh.

“I don’t think I’m prettier than her, but I know I’m smarter. I mean, what kind of conversations can they have? What’s his favorite color? Should she get a boob job?”

Courtney let me bitch about William and Tiffany for a while before she finally had enough. I knew I was obsessed. It wasn’t healthy. I had to get a life.

“No more. I don’t want to hear his name or hers. Period. I’m over it. You’re really obsessing. You’re never going to get over him if you don’t stop talking about him.”

“She’s right,” a male voice to my right said.

I turned to look at him. I groaned. “Oh God, when did you get here?”

“I’ve been here long enough to hear you carrying on about my brother enough to make me sick. Why are you so obsessed with him?” Harry asked.

I rolled my eyes. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me. I’d like to know what it was he said or did that wrapped you around his little finger.”

Courtney giggled. I spun my head around and shot her a look before turning back to Harry. “I’m not wrapped around his little finger.”

“You are. Remember, I was there for the most embarrassing moment of your life—your words. He doesn’t deserve you.”

“Exactly what I’ve been trying to tell her!” Courtney chimed in.

“You wouldn’t understand. We were, uh, dating, kind of. It was only a month ago.”

He smirked. “Dating? Isn’t that called a fling or an affair? And I knew about the two of you.”

“How? You couldn’t have. No one did.”

He took a drink of his beer. “You’ve been talking about it the last thirty minutes, and you haven’t been real quiet about it. I now know more about my brother’s sex life than I ever cared to. I feel dirty.”

“You should. Eavesdropping is rude.”

“Ha! It isn’t eavesdropping when something is being shouted from the rooftops.”

Courtney laughed again. “He’s right. You’ve been a little loud. I hope no one in here knows Tiffany.”

I slapped a hand to my forehead. “You should have told me.”

She shook her head. “I don’t care if she finds out. You shouldn’t either.”

“She’d still marry him,” Harry quipped. “She isn’t marrying him because she loves him or cares about who he sleeps with. She cares about the name and the money. She’ll give him plenty of space to sow his wild oats, but it will be with women she approves of. I doubt you’ll be approved of. You’re a threat to her happy marriage. She’ll want women she can control and scare off if she thinks they’re getting too close.”

“I’m not going to be his mistress.”

“Good,” Courtney and Harry agreed.

I rolled my eyes. “Everyone has an opinion. You guys don’t know him like I do.”

Harry scoffed. “He let you see one side of him. Trust me, William is a chameleon. He can be whoever he needs to be in the moment. My parents have trained him well. He can be anybody he needs to be to close the deal.”

I groaned. “Are you saying he played me?”

Courtney cursed. “What an ass.”

“No. There’s no way that was all a game. He was sincere,” I insisted.

Harry put one of his hands on my forearm that was resting on the bar. “Trust me, he knows how to work people. How do you think he’s been so successful? He can make anyone feel as if they are special and that he cares. It’s all an act.”

“Oh God, I’m such an idiot.” I hid my head behind my hand and groaned.

“Let me buy you a drink. Maybe that’ll help you forget about my big brother.”

“No, thank you,” I told him.

He ignored me and ordered another apple martini for me.

“I have to get going,” Courtney said, sliding off her stool.

I turned to look at her, begging with my eyes. She couldn’t leave me alone with the brother. She smiled and waved and left me sitting there with a full drink.

“I guess it’s just the two of us,” Harry said from beside me.

I turned to look at him, and once again I was taken back by how handsome he was. The family resemblance was strong, but Harry had a touch of bad boy that made him attractive in a different way. I had a feeling he knew he was gorgeous. He had an air of arrogance about him. Usually, that would be a turn-off, but he somehow drew me in.

“How long have you worked at the company?” he asked.

“A few years,” I replied.

“Don’t quit if you don’t want to, but I think you’re too good to be working for him.”

“Thanks, I think, but I don’t know about that. I need a job. I don’t have a big fat trust fund to support me. You know, reason number one William didn’t want me,” I said with a sigh.

“You have to let that go. William was always going to marry Tiffany or someone like her. He should have been upfront with you.”

I shrugged. “I knew he was too good to be true. I let myself get taken in by the fantasy. It was my Cinderella story. It was stupid, and now I have to deal with reality.”

He nodded his head. I studied his profile and saw his brow was furrowed.

“What has you in a bar on a Tuesday evening?”

He grinned. “You don’t want to know.”

“Does it have something to do with your brother?”

He looked at me, and I thought I detected a hint of sadness in his eyes. “You could say that.”

“I’m sorry. Really, I am,” I said with sincerity.

He was looking at me in a way that made me squirm. Something shifted between us. I could feel an electric current humming and drawing me in. I knew it was dangerous to get too close. I was going to get burned—again.

“Want to get out of here?” he asked in a husky voice.

I knew I should say no, but when I opened my mouth, that wasn’t what I said. “Yes.”

He jumped off the stool and grabbed my hand. “Let’s go.”

We walked outside, where he quickly hailed a cab. When we climbed into the back seat, he pulled me against him.

“I’m the better brother in all ways,” he said, the innuendo hanging in the air.

I took a deep breath. I had no idea what I was doing. I knew it was stupid.

“We’ll see about that.”

He grinned and moved his mouth close to my ear. “I will give you more ecstasy than my brother ever could. Trust me, I have far more practice in that department.”

I should have hated his cockiness. Instead, it was making me hot. I couldn’t wait to let him try. He couldn’t be all that bad. I knew of his reputation. Besides, what better way to get back at William than to sleep with his little brother?

An orgasm or two would help me get William out of my mind.

“We’ll see what you can do. I’ll decide who’s the better brother,” I said cheekily.

He chuckled. “Oh, you’re going to see. I’m not even worried.”

I looked up at him and straight into the sexiest pair of blue eyes framed by long black eyelashes. The man was dangerous. I had a feeling I had gone from bad to worse.