Chapter Twenty-Three

Amber

Harry had called to talk last night, which had been kind of strange. It was the first time he had called to talk. I told him about the situation with William. He told me to ignore his brother. According to Harry, William was feeling the pressure from all the wedding planning and was not in the greatest of moods. I did understand—a little—but the guy had been a bear the first two days of the week. I was not looking forward to another day of walking on eggshells. We never know what or who was going to piss him off when.

“Good morning,” I said several times as I made my way through the building to my desk.

I smiled and made small talk as I quickly moved through, not wanting to get sucked into a conversation about my wedding. I wasn’t trying to poke the bear, and I never knew where he would be at a given moment. He liked to sneak up on me it seemed like.

I sat down and glanced around, looking for signs that William was already in. His office door was closed, but that told me nothing.

“Is he in?” I whispered to one of the ladies who was already sitting at her desk about ten feet away from me.

She shook her head.

Great. That meant I was going to have to see him when he did come in. That did not make me excited. I got right to work, focusing on my task. It was a good thirty minutes before I realized I hadn’t seen William.

That was not normal. I checked my watch and noticed it was after nine. William was usually in the office by eight, sometimes earlier than that. I began to worry. He had not been acting like himself lately. Would he do anything stupid?

I reached for my phone to text Harry. He had said he’d had dinner with William last night. Maybe William had had an emergency meeting with a baker or a caterer. I started to type out a text, focusing on my phone that I was holding slightly under my desk.

“Texting at work?” William’s voice startled me, and I ended up dropping my phone on the ground.

I looked up. “Hi,” I said with a smile.

The man looked as if he had been through the wringer. His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked pale.

He stared back at me. “Well?”

“What?” I asked, caught off guard by his sudden appearance as well as by his overall look. He did not look well.

“Were you texting? Maybe you were worried about me?” he said with what was supposed to be a smile but looked more like a grimace.

I smiled back. “Actually, yes, I was worried. I was going to send out the search parties.”

He chuckled. “Sorry. I overslept and then got caught up looking at swatches or something stupid.”

I nodded. “Wedding stuff?”

“Yes. I now understand why you are only supposed to get married once. It is too much of a hassle to get married the first time, let alone go through all this again.”

I laughed along with him. “Well, I’m glad to see you are alive and in one piece. Can I get you some coffee?”

“Yes, please. I’m going to need it,” he mumbled, and he headed for his office.

I sat there a moment, trying to align the William I had just talked to with the man who had been in the office the past two days. They were different people. Was he finally over my engagement to Harry? I wondered if Harry had talked to him last night and told him to back off. I felt silly that one brother had to tell the other to back off. I hadn’t told Harry about any of the problems at the office. I wondered if someone else had.

I quickly stashed my phone back in my purse and set off to get William his coffee. I liked having our normal routine back in place. I knocked on his office door once before walking in.

“You’re not going to dump that in my lap, are you?” he teased.

I smiled. “No. I’m sorry about that. I shouldn’t have let my temper get away from me.”

“It’s okay. We are both having some trouble with all this wedding business—yours and mine. Do you think that means something?” he asked softly.

“What?” I asked, my mouth suddenly dry.

He shook his head. “Never mind. Forget I said anything.”

I nodded my head. “Do you need anything else?”

He looked up at me, his eyes searching mine. My heart jumped. He looked lost, as if he were looking to me to help him find his way. I wanted to reach out and cup his cheek and tell him everything would be okay. I couldn’t. He was marrying another woman. I wasn’t going to be the one to get in the way.

“No,” he whispered. “Yes.”

“Yes?” I asked, my own voice a whisper to match his.

He squeezed his eyes closed. I could see him fighting for control. When he opened his eyes again, it was the cold William looking back at me.

“No, I don’t need anything else,” he said in a clear voice.

I nodded and left the office. The man had one hell of an inner war going on. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. I had to remind myself this was a war of his own making. I had been there. I had laid my heart on the line, and he had stomped all over it. I had to protect my heart and not get sucked into those deep blue eyes.

I sat down at my desk and took a couple deep breaths. I heard my phone vibrating in my purse. I leaned down, saw Harry’s number, and decided to answer. I hoped William didn’t reappear.

“Hello?” I whispered.

“Have dinner with me?” he blurted out.

I laughed. “You’re so romantic.”

I heard his warm laughter on the other end of the line, and it made me smile.

“Should I have shown up with a dozen roses?”

“It wouldn’t have hurt,” I quipped.

“Actually, it probably would have. I don’t think big brother would appreciate me interrupting your workday. When your coworkers saw me walk in there looking dashing and carrying roses, they would have swooned.”

I giggled. “Swooned? Does anyone actually swoon?”

“When they see me they do.”

I took a deep breath. “Dinner, huh?”

“Yes. Have dinner with me.”

I looked at the door to William’s office. “Okay.”

“I’ll pick you up at six?” he asked.

“Yep. I’ll be ready.”

“It’s going to be casual. My place. Dress comfortably.”

A wave of heat washed over me. Dinner at his place would likely lead to something else. I didn’t want to say no. I was actually looking forward to dinner and whatever followed.

“Okay,” I said. “I better go before the boss catches me on the phone.”

He laughed and hung up. I slid my phone back in my purse and couldn’t stop smiling. I tried to focus on work. I had a lot to get done, and now that I had a date, working late wasn’t an option.

I heard William’s office door open. I looked up and saw him gesture me into his office. I hesitated until he gave me the look that didn’t leave a lot of room for arguing.

I walked inside, and he shut the door behind me.

“Did you need something?” I asked nervously.

“Have lunch with me,” he rushed out.

“I can’t. I’m not taking lunch today. I’ve got a ton of work to get done,” I said, hoping I didn’t offend him.

“It can wait. Please, have lunch with me.”

I hated when he looked at me like that. I wanted to melt at his feet and tell him he could have whatever he wanted.

“William, I really can’t. I have to leave on time today. I can’t stay late to get everything done, and it does all need to get done,” I explained.

“Why do you have to leave on time? What’s so important about today? You work late all the time.”

I shrugged. “Not today. I have a dinner date.”

He stared at me. “With who?”

“Harry,” I said and stepped toward the door.

I could feel him staring at my back, but I didn’t look back. I couldn’t. I knew I would break down and go to lunch with him if I looked into those eyes. I went back to my desk. I looked up and could see William watching me. He didn’t seem angry. He looked sad.

The rest of the day flew by. I managed to get everything done and walked out the door about five minutes late. I rushed home, quickly changed into a pair of jeans, an open-shouldered blouse, and a pair of heels. I left my hair down and freshened up my makeup. As expected, Harry showed up a few minutes early.

“I could have taken a cab to your place,” I told him as we walked toward his car.

He shrugged. “I wanted to take you out, even if it’s to my place. It’s not very romantic if you have to get yourself there.”

I laughed. “You’re worried about romancing your fake fiancée?”

He grabbed me around the waist and gave me a quick kiss before opening the passenger door. “I have to keep up appearances. Besides, I like picking you up.”

“Why?”

He grinned. “Because then you can’t leave until I’m ready to take you home.”

He shut the door. When he climbed into the driver’s seat, I looked at him. “You do know I can call a cab or an Uber and leave, right?”

“But you won’t.”

The man was too cocky for his own good, I thought with a spiral of heat winding up through my belly. When we arrived at his apartment, I was immediately assaulted by a variety of smells.

“You did not cook that,” I said, looking at the lasagna on the stove.

He laughed. “No, I didn’t. I would love to take credit for it, but no. I ordered it from one of my favorite Italian restaurants. I happen to know the chef, and he was happy to do this little favor for me. Now we can enjoy great food in the privacy of my house.”

“Have you been hounded by the gossip tabloids?” I asked.

He nodded and laughed. “How did you guess? Stupid questions about whether we’re going to have a double wedding with William and Tiffany or if you’re pregnant and that’s why we’re having a quickie wedding.”

“A quickie wedding? That’s news to me. I’ve been telling everyone we’re having a long engagement.”

He laughed. “Exactly why I don’t answer any of their stupid questions. I want to lay low and not have my picture taken tonight.”

“Sounds good to me,” I agreed.

We dished up our plates and sat at his tiny table in the large dining room. He probably rarely used the table. He was a man who liked to eat out or while sitting on the couch.

“How was William today?” he casually asked.

I shrugged a shoulder. “He was fine. Late for work, which never happens, but he seemed to be in a better mood.”

Harry shook his head. “I’m not surprised. He was pretty drunk last night.”

“What? William was drunk?”

He nodded. “Yes. Now no more talk about my brother.”

“Works for me.”

We dug into our meals and chatted about little things that normal couples talked about. We didn’t bring up the wedding or William. It was all about us. We took our glasses of wine into the living room and settled in on the couch. Harry put on some music while we unwound and enjoyed each other’s company. I couldn’t help but notice how attractive he was. Every move he made with his hand or the way he crossed his ankles with his long legs stretched out on the coffee table excited me. I could feel the tension heating up between us. I knew he felt it too.