A whole-ass date, and I hadn’t once mentioned I had a twin brother. Why couldn’t I have talked more about Branson and his bride?
This whole mess could have been avoided, and I could be on Silas’s street to pick him up for another date and another amazing night together.
Instead, I had a sick pit in my stomach, wondering if I’d blown my only chance with him—and ruined my brother’s wedding at the same time.
CHAPTER 7
Silas
I tooka big gulp of wine and crammed a fresh-baked cookie into my mouth, ignoring the sharp ding-ding-ding of my phone’s notifications.
Jamie, who usually reserved his baking prowess for the dogs, had taken pity on me and whipped up a batch of fresh chocolate-chunk-walnut cookies. He used dark chocolate, and it paired beautifully with the red wine I was guzzling like it was Kool-Aid.
I’d texted both my friends a 911, and they’d offered to meet up at Jamie’s place as soon as they got off work. While Jamie baked the cookies, I’d poured out the whole sorry story to him and Maverick. Hank had wisely made himself scarce.
Now I was ensconced in the couch, content to stay there forever.
“Your phone is blowing up,” Maverick pointed out.
“Yep.” I shoved another cookie into my mouth, avoiding the begging eyes of three dogs. Jamie’s two Labs were tough enough, but I had a real weak spot for the little Frenchbulldog that had moved in with Jamie’s boyfriend, Hank, a couple of months ago.
“You don’t even want to hear what he has to say?” Jamie asked tentatively.
“Wha’ er’ oo ere.”
Jamie’s brow creased. “What?”
I swallowed my cookie and smacked my lips. “What’s there to hear? He already gave me his farfetched story.”
“Maybe it’s true,” Maverick said.
I laughed sharply. “Right, because we live in a rom-com where there’s two gorgeous, sexy-as-fuck twins running around romancing wedding planners. C’mon.”
“To be fair, only one guy romanced you,” Maverick said.
“Exactly! Because he’s one man. One lying, cheating, deceitful, unfaithful, unattainable, untouchable?—”
“That’s a lot of adjectives,” Maverick said.
“—unacceptable,undeniableasshole!”
Jamie winced. “I just can’t believe someone would do that. It’s awful.”
“Plenty of men lie,” I said with a tired sigh, having exhausted myself with all those adjectives.
I lifted my cookie, then lowered it, unable to take another bite. My stomach was sloshing with chocolate and wine, and nausea was creeping up my throat.
“It’s not like you to get so worked up about a guy,” Maverick said. “This one really got to you, huh?”
“It’s not like I care about him,” I said dismissively. “He fucked with my job. That’s not okay.”
Maverick tilted his head, staring at me, and I shifted uncomfortably. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?” Jamie asked, adorably befuddled.
“Silas actually liked this guy,” Maverick said. “It takes a lot for a guy to impress you.”
“Yeah, so?”
