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I rolled my eyes. “So he has money, so what?”
“I don’t think it’s the money,” Annika said.
“It’s the whole package,” Audrey agreed.
I shuddered. “Please don’t talk about his package.”
Audrey laughed. “No, I mean he’s the whole deal. From what Mari said, he’s refined and acts like a gentleman.”
“And he seems like he’s really into her,” Annika added. “She couldn’t stop talking about how attentive he was.”
“Plus, he’s not pressuring her into anything,” Audrey said. “He swept her off her feet in a huge way on their first date and none of it meant he expected her to do anything she didn’t want to do.”
A sick feeling spread in the pit of my stomach, making me want to gag. “She didn’t want to, right? I mean, she didn’t…”
“I don’t think so,” Audrey said. “That’s what I mean, he took her on this lavish, expensive date and it wasn’t to manipulate her into bed.”
I leaned back in my seat and crossed my arms. I hadn’t thought the helicopter guy would be much of a problem. They’d been out on a couple of dates, so what? That didn’t mean he was actually a threat. They weren’t exclusive. And I was confident if she really gave me a chance, she’d kick that guy to the curb and choose me.
But what if I was wrong? What if she was already on her way to choosing him?
That wasn’t good. I couldn’t let that happen.
Which meant I had a twofold mission. One, get rid of Preston so he couldn’t get in the way. Two, convince Marigold I was in love with her and give her the chance to fall in love with me.
“That look on your face is worrying me,” Annika said.
“What look?”
“That one.” She pointed at me. “The one that says you’re up to something.”
“I am up to something. I thought I was being pretty transparent. I’m trying to figure out how to get rid of the helicopter guy and make Marigold fall in love with me.”
“Oh, Z.” She closed her eyes for a second. “I have such mixed feelings about this. Not about you having feelings for Marigold, that’s kind of amazing. But I don’t know how I can be involved without putting myself in an impossible situation. I can’t help you sabotage my best friend’s relationship with a guy she really likes.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not right. Yes, you’re my brother, and if you really love her and you wind up together, that would be incredible. But I feel like you’re about to ask me to feed you information about their dates or something, and I’m not comfortable with that.”
I glared at the table. Damn it. She was right, I was thinking she could feed me information about their dates.
“Girl code,” I muttered. “I get it. You have best friend loyalty you can’t break.” I glanced at Audrey. “What about you? You haven’t known her as long.”
Audrey shifted in her seat. “I can’t help you sabotage her relationship either.”
I groaned. “Stop calling it a relationship. Two dates isn’t a relationship.”
“I know that isn’t what you want to hear, Z, but—”
“I’m not giving up.” I looked them each in the eyes. “If she really doesn’t want me, not because of some other guy, but because of me, fine. I can’t force her to fall for me. But I gotta try.”
Audrey sighed. “You have to admit, this is really romantic.”
“I did not see this coming,” Annika said. “Look, I’ll do what I can without compromising my loyalty to you as my brother and to her as my best friend.”
“Same,” Audrey said. “Except for me, it’s almost-brother.”
It wasn’t exactly the inside job I’d been hoping for, but at least they believed me. I’d have to make it work.
