I wince and force myself to the next barrel.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Whit leans into the phone. “I mean, seriously. You’re supposed to be the smart one.”
Sienna is shaking with silent laughter. “I have to sit down,” she gasps. “You’re so dumb. You’re dumber than Aiden. You’re dumber than Whit, which is really difficult. He’s been hit on the head so many times his brains are coming out of his ears.”
“Hey,” Whit protests mildly. “Just the left one.”
I groan and drop onto the dusty floor. It smells like sawdust in here. The angel’s share is nearly tangible. It’s the portion of each barrel that evaporates. Aiden worships it. I spend my time wondering how much each barrel can tell me about the contents before it ages.
There’s a scrape on the floor before Aiden drops down next to me.
“Oh good,” I mutter. “Gang’s all here.”
“Tristan proposed,” Sienna says gleefully. “She said no.”
“Taking it slow, I see,” Aiden says thoughtfully.
The twins cackle with laughter and I raise my head to glare balefully at my older brother. He raises an eyebrow at me, but his gaze is amused.
“What did she say?”
The twins lean in on the video.
“She said no, and she said something about bodyguards not marrying billionaires. She’s scared. I know she’s scared.” I slam my palm against the floor, and sawdust rises into the beam of sunlight. “I just don’t know how to fix it.”
“Hold on a second. Have you told her you love her?” The question comes from Aiden, whose head is cocked.
“Love?” I swallow. “I, ah, I haven’t. I don’t know—”
“Fucking hell,” Sienna mutters.
“What?” My head jerks up. My throat feels like it’s closing.I think about delving that deeply inside myself, admitting to some fundamental weakness that leaves me exposed, the way I was all the time as a child. Panic threatens to cut off my air. “My way is fine. I’m winning her over.” My words tumble out.
Aiden’s hand lands on my shoulder. “Okay.”
Sienna looks pissed.
Aiden is in full problem-solving mode, and I shove down the sick feeling that rises.
“I risk losing her, don’t I?” I look between my siblings.
Aiden sighs. “You have time, Tristan, but not much. You need to show her you’re a man she wants to be with. Not just a friend. More. And don’t fucking push her to marry you.”
The twins grimace. We hang up.
I shut my eyes and knock the back of my head briefly against the barrel. I have literally never done this. I’ve never tried to win anything like this. I don’t let myself get in this deep, this desperate.
I don’t leave myself exposed.
Maybe that’s the point.
I think about Katie on the boat yesterday. How her lips trembled like she wanted to say yes to me but was holding herself back.
There’s something there. She wants a man who is willing to feel small. To lead with his heart.
“How would I know if I was in love with her?”
Aiden looks up at me from where he’s crouched, checking the date on one of the barrels. “What do you mean?”
