I ran six miles on the treadmill the next morning, trying to focus my mind on training.

Emalee’s hurt and fiery eyes had lodged themselves in my brain.

As I laid awake last night, alone in Cory’s lavish apartment, I felt something I hadn’t felt in a while: regret.

I was a dumbass and was only focused on gratifying my own selfish desires. I didn’t stop to think how it would hurt her.

Fuck, I was an asshole.

I tried calling Cory first thing in the morning, but it went to his voicemail. After it beeped, I started talking. “So… uh. I messed it up. Your girlfriend probably hates you forever. But she hates me now, too, so… I guess we’re square? Anyway, I think only you can fix it. She needs you to fix it if you want her back. Yeah. Kay. Bye.”

I hung up and got dressed, heading for the complex gym.

Now, as I sopped up my sweat with a towel, my phone vibrated and I glanced at a text from Cory.

This is your mess, ahole. You fix it.

The fuck? Sure, I had messed it up. But he had wrongly commissioned me in the first place. I pocketed my phone, gritting my teeth. That Californian number continued to call and text me.

I actually only came to NYC to see you again. Remember what you said to me when we met?

Tristan, stop ignoring me. I need to see you.

If you don’t respond I’ll hurt myself or someone else. And it’ll be your fault.

I had had enough. When I next saw Cory, I was going to tell him about my mysterious stalker. He was working with a security company now, after all. Maybe they could put an end to it.

After a round of bench presses and curls, I called it a day.

I took a long shower, trying to recall all of my conversations with Emalee to get a feel of how I should apologize.

She liked attention, though she wouldn’t admit it.

She wanted to go to Paris, obviously. If I could convince Cory to finally go with her… maybe she’d forgive me. Maybe.

But for now, I’d have to settle for chocolates and a sincere apology.

I dressed in plaid and tight jeans, deliberately skipping a shave. No more pretending to be Cory. Emalee would see me – the real me.

I browsed little trinket shops and a chocolate shop, making a few purchases here and there. I somehow managed to find a collage of photos of the Palais Garnier, the Paris opera house she had been telling me about. The one the Phantom famously haunted. I found an Eiffel Tower keychain, which was corny, but whatever.

Finally, I grabbed her a large box of an assortment of chocolates.

I knew it’d never be enough, but it was worth a shot.

I showed up at McLaughlin Books, swallowing down my pride. Entering the bookstore, the first face I saw was Amy’s. She frowned at me. “Tristan?” she asked.

I nodded. “Can I see Emalee?”

She glanced towards the back of the store before saying, “She’s not working today.”

Amy was a terrible liar.

I strode right in, passing her by the register.

“Wait,” she called after me. “Tristan, I insist that you leave.”

Emalee emerged from behind a bookshelf. “I’m right here,” she said tightly.

I froze when I saw her. She was as gorgeous as when I first laid eyes on her, even though she wore a loose t-shirt and leggings today. Somehow, it increased her sex appeal. She stared at me, waiting for me to speak.

“I… I’m sorry,” I stumbled.

She bit at her bottom lip, glancing down at my bag of treats. “Those for me?”

I nodded and handed them over. The first thing she pulled out was the keychain. Her brows rose and she fixed me with a stare. “Really?”

I shrugged and watched as she dipped her hand back in, pulling out the chocolates. “And you call me cliché,” she said.

I watched as she removed the collage. Her eyes widened and she stared at the photos, her lips parting.

Bingo.

Finally, she cleared her throat and replaced the gift, handing the bag back to me. “Take them back. I don’t want anything from you.”

“Pretty sure you wanted everything from me last night,” I said before I could stop myself.

The smack across my face stung. I blinked, frozen in disbelief. “I… deserved that,” I admitted. It was unexpected and strangely arousing.

“Yeah, you did,” she said, and bent back to the lower shelf, inserting a few books.

I stared down at her. “Hey, I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, love,” I said gently.

“No, you wanted to trick me to get what you want. It was disgusting.”

I winced. “You’re right,” I admitted. “But believe me when I say that yesterday was the most fun I’ve had with a girl in a long time.”

She straightened, fixing me with a skeptical look. “I highly doubt that,” she said.

“It’s true,” I insisted. “Surprising you at lunch, seeing your eyes light up when you talk about Paris, the way you held your breath whenever the Phantom sang…” I stopped myself, shaking my head. “You are intoxicating. My brother is a lucky man.”

She didn’t reply. She twisted her hands together. “I’ve tried calling Cory today,” she said quietly. “He hasn’t answered.”

My heart twisted at the callousness of my brother. He was supposed to return to NYC this morning. “I’m sorry,” I said.

Her green eyes met mine. “Can you go to him?” she asked. “Ask him to give me a call? I’m afraid I’ve done something wrong.”

“You haven’t done anything wrong,” I assured her. She looked at me expectantly. I sighed. “Fine. I’ll go see Cory. I haven’t been able to talk to him yet, either.”

She seemed to relax at my words. “Good. I’m not the only one,” she said.

I hesitated, then offered her my bag of gifts. She ignored me, walking away.

I left them on the front counter.

Tom recognized me when I walked into Covill Security. I asked for Cory, and he rang up my brother’s secretary. He frowned, setting the receiver down. “I’m afraid Mr. Walker is unavailable right now,” he informed me.

I frowned. “What, is he in a meeting?”

Tom shrugged. “I got voicemail.”

“Fuck this.” I walked past his desk, making my way to the elevator.

“Uh, sir!” Tom called. “You’ll need to wait here in the lobby, sir!”

I ignored him, pressing the up button. The elevator arrived, and I didn’t hear anything more from the front desk. He had given up quickly.

I marched my way to Cory’s office door, which was closed. I peeked through the small side window. Someone was in there, alright. Without another thought, I opened the door and stepped right in.

Cory scrambled, sitting up in his chair and reshuffling papers on his desk. “Tristan!” he said. His cheeks flushed. “I… what are you doing here?”

My eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Checking up on my bro,” I said, closing the door behind me. “Besides your douchy text, neither Emalee nor I have heard from you. And I think we need to talk about the situation from last night.”

I settled myself in the chair across his desk.

“I… um. Now’s not really a good time,” Cory muttered.

I cocked an eyebrow. “Why? Too busy? Looked to me like you were falling asleep. Or…” I smirked. “Masturbating.”

Cory’s flush deepened, and he sighed. He looked under the desk. “Come on out,” he snapped.

To my utter shock, the secretary, Brittany, poked her head out from under his desk, wiping at her mouth, her brown eyes large, her face flushed. But then again, maybe it wasn’t such a shock after all.

I cleared my throat. “Getting a little action at work, dear brother?”

Cory scowled at me. “Emalee hears nothing of this. Okay?”

I eyed Brittany, who stood awkwardly beside Cory, straightening her pencil skirt and running her fingers nervously through her hair.

Yeah, she was hot. But not Emalee hot. What the fuck was he doing?

“First we talk. Then we’ll see if I can promise that,” I told him.

He sighed, dismissing Brittany with a wave. “You can go, Brittany.”

She nodded, and swept past me, keeping her head down. She closed the door behind her.

I fixed my brother with a stare. “You know that would destroy your chances with Emalee, right?”

Cory scoffed. “Please. You’d rotate through the same three girls throughout high school and see three others on the side. You don’t have a faithful bone in your body.”

Well. That was true.

“Still…” I said, unable to get past the knotting in my stomach. “I thought you were trying to win Emalee back. It seems like you’ve… given up.”

Cory scowled at me. “After your royal screw up last night, I might as well. There’s no way Emalee will take me back now.”

“That might be true,” I said. “But Emalee sent me here. She wants you to give her a call. You might still be able to salvage something.”

Cory grit his teeth. “I don’t have time to deal with this.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Clearly.”

I watched my brother pop a handful of tictacs in his mouth. “I’ll talk with her tonight,” he said, turning back to his computer and unlocking the screen.

Something in me cracked, and I suddenly felt hostility towards him. “No,” I growled at him. “You call her now. She’s hurt, Cory. She needs to hear from you.”

He pointed a finger at me. “None of this would’ve happened if you had just taken her to the opera and left it there. I said have sex with her if necessary. You pushed it too far. Haven’t you learned to keep your pants on?”

“Hey, I was doing a hell of a job. She was about to cancel the break. What triggered her suspicions was that I was too nice to her. Me, too nice. That’s really saying something, mate.”

Cory ignored me, typing away at his computer. I sighed heavily.

“I’ll even give you roundtrip flights to Paris,” I said. “Only if you call her right now.”

Cory frowned at his screen. “Why would I want to go to Paris?” he asked. “And I don’t want anything from you. I could buy the entire airline.”

I rolled my eyes. “Uh… cause you promised Emalee you’d take her.”

“No one actually wants to go to Paris,” he said. “She’ll get over that fantasy eventually. I don’t want to go with her and she shouldn’t go alone.”

I watched my brother carefully. “You really don’t know Emalee at all, do you? You haven’t taken the time to get to know her.”

“Of course I have,” Cory sniffed.

He refused to look at me. I tapped a finger on the arm of my chair, watching him. “Why do you want her?” I asked quietly.

“What?” he snapped. His eyes were still glued to the computer.

“Why do you want her back, goddamit?” I cried out in frustration.

“Because it’s the next step,” Cory said, finally looking at me condescendingly. “Emalee is everything one could want in a wife – beautiful, smart, hardworking, cleanly, submissive… I want to marry her, but there’s something… missing.” He sighed. “The commitment will wear down on me, that’s for sure.”

I stared at him, my eyes wide. “You want… to marry her?” I barked out a laugh. “You, getting married? I don’t care if it’s the ‘next step’ to make you look successful. You don’t know the first thing about being a husband.”

“I only have to look like a good husband in public,” he snapped. “And Emalee is the perfect companion for that.”

I shook my head. “You don’t deserve her,” I told him. “And your libido sucks. That’s what’s missing.” I stood. “Call her now or I’ll fucking tell her what I walked in on today.”

Cory scowled at me. Finally, he reached for his phone and pulled up Emalee’s number.

His scowl was replaced by a forced smile when she picked up. “Hey, honey,” he said. “Sorry I missed your call. Yes, I know. I know. I’m sorry, babe. Listen, we can talk it over tonight. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Okay. Bye.”

He hung up and fixed me with an irritated stare. “Happy?”

“No, but she is.” I walked out of the office and made a point to slam his door shut behind me.