I put a finger under her chin and lift it up. “Hey. Chin raised and back straight. Don’t beat yourself up. You just got fooled. He’s the bad guy for being dishonest.”
The corners of her lips twitch, but she doesn’t smile. “Yeah…but I should’ve known it was too good to be true.”
What does that mean?The only thing too good to be true was a maggot-eating invertebrate like Chad getting her to agree to marry him. “Don’t let him win by dragging you down, Klein. I’ve got your back.”
The downturned tips of her mouth begin to lift. She polishes off the first doughnut, then begins to lick the melted chocolate on her fingers. The motion is small and economical, nothing like the disgusting, giraffe-like displays my exes have tried. And I can’t look away, absolutely mesmerized by the innocent act.
The air becomes thick. My dick starts to stir.
Shit.
I tug at my tie, feeling suffocated. Shifting my weight, I glide the plate closer toward her, hoping she doesn’t notice anything.
“I hope what happened tonight doesn’t mess up your future plans,” Klein says.
“Future plans? You mean my dinner with my brothers? Because it really wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“No, you know… Your wedding.” She clears her throat. She can’t quite meet my eyes as she uses a finger to dab up the crumbs on the plate. “You should marry the one you love. And I should, too.”
The words hit me like a series of well-executed punches. It sounds like she’s saying she could never love me. Well, I already knew I wasn’t her type, but hearing it from the source cuts deep. “I don’t have any plans for a wedding.” My voice is a lot terser than I intend.
Her shocked eyes collide with mine. “Still?”
“What do you mean, ‘still’? I’ve never had any.” The kind of women who buzz around me aren’t the type who’d last, not when they find out what I’m really like. Actually, that isn’t precisely correct. To be honest, I don’t even know what I’m really like. I try to avoid giving in to my impulses and instincts as much as possible when I’m around people.
I keep things light. Simple. Make sure nobody takes me too seriously, except for work. I also make sure to not care too much about other people, except my family. That way I’ll never be in a situation where I’ll have to make a difficult choice and learn something about myself I never wanted to discover.
There’s a part of me that wonders what might’ve happened if Ares hadn’t called me when I glared at the hotel she was staying at, the knife clenched in my hand. I managed to conceal the fact that I took Dad’s car out, but I wouldn’t have been able to hide stabbing my own my mother.
Klein’s phone buzzes yet again.
I frown. “Is it important?”
She shakes her head. “No. Just…some spam. Anyway, I guess…she’ll be disappointed.”
“Who?”
“Katt, of course.” Klein gives me a puzzled look.
I cock my head, still not getting it. “Why will she be disappointed?” And why does Klein care anyway? Katt was a complete bitch to her.
“Because she was planning on marrying you, and I just ruined it for her.”
I close my eyes briefly and wait for Klein to elaborate. Why would Katt—and her family, apparently—have ever thought that? She acted like a tramp when she was my client years ago. Has she harbored some weird obsession since then? I shudder. That’s creepy, a lot like Mom’s unhealthy obsession with me and my brothers.
Klein fidgets a little and clears her throat. “I didn’t mean to make things awkward by hiding my relationship with Katt or anything. She doesn’t like it much if I let people know we’re related. I’m sort of…embarrassing.”
What the fuck?What’s embarrassing is Katt and those shitty parents, not Klein.
She continues, “It’s just best if I stay away from her personal life. It bothers her when it looks like I might have an opinion about something related to her life, or—worse—like I might’ve interfered. I mean, she’s doing way better than me anyway. So when she told me about her and your marriage plan, I just smiled and nodded.”
“Okay.” I hold up a hand. “Butwhywould you think I’d marry your sister? It’s not like she can unilaterally just decide to marry me.”
She shoots me a look that says,Are you kidding?“Boss…you’ve been seeing her for seven months, while she’s waiting for you to…get things out of your system. Nobody lasts that long in your dating life.” She shrugs helplessly.
“Seven months? I didn’t even know her name!”
“But…” Klein taps her phone a few times and flips it toward me to show what’s on the screen. “Look.”
