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She threw her head back and started laughing. “Me too. This place has a large master bathroom with a two-headed shower stall and a huge garden tub. Want to join me?”
He followed her down the hall to the master bath and stood there enjoying the sight of Quinn stripping and singing to Taylor Swift’s “Lover” as she did so. He had his buzz from drinking but he was certain it came more from being with Quinn than from the alcohol.
He stripped off his clothes and followed her into the shower. He took his time soaping her body, running his hands over her freckled skin and making sure he didn’t miss an inch. In the morning, when he had to walk away, he wanted this night to have been enough to last for the rest of his life. Because as Quinn had said, this was it. They weren’t going to fall into each other’s arms again.
She was a distraction, and he knew she wouldn’t approve of what he’d done to Nick’s business deal before he’d learned they were half brothers. She wouldn’t approve of him at all, he thought. Behavior like that was why they were no longer a couple.
But for this one night none of that mattered.
Six
Logan was still hung over from last night. He looked around Gran’s den at his family and realized the rest of them were in misery, too. His mother was...well, not herself. His father sat in the corner, nursing one of the Bloody Marys that Gran’s butler, Michael, had made for them. Zac had a tortured look on his face. Right before coming here, he’d had a confrontation with Iris, his date for the wedding, and was in real hot water.
It turned out that a private conversation Zac’d had in the lobby of his hotel, in which he’d confessed that Iris had paid to date him, had been recorded and the video had gone viral. Iris was angry at Zac, and Logan didn’t blame her. But it was just another piece of kindling thrown on the fire that was slowly burning down the Bisset name.
The only silver lining—or silver-plated lining—was that Zac’s problem was a welcome distraction from thinking about the situation with Nick Williams—and about Quinn. But his brother was broken. His feelings for Iris had intensified over the course of the weekend, and now his chances with her were virtually nil. Normally, Zac was carefree, looking at the horizon and longing to get back on his yacht and sail away. But even the ocean seemed to be closed to him now. He sat in the den at Gran’s house where Carlton looked like he was going to implode if another one of them revealed something scandalous.
“Is this it? Are we all here?” Carlton asked.
Mari breezed into the room alone. Her fiancé, Formula One driver Inigo Velasquez, was racing this weekend. She pushed her Wayfarers up on her head and surveyed them all. “Who died?”
God, Logan loved his little sister.
“Um, Zac was caught on tape saying Iris paid him to be her date. There’s been some fallout from that,” he said. “I think what you are seeing is that shell-shocked look that comes from being hammered by hurricane-force waves.”
“Geez, Zac, are you kidding me?” Mari asked, going over to Michael and taking one of the drinks he’d prepared. “Can I have something to eat, please, Michael? I’m starving.”
“Yes, Miss Mari. Anyone else?”
“I’m hungry too,” Zac said.
They all joined in asking for food and Michael left to prepare something. It had been a long time since the family had been together in one room. The family he’d grown up a part of and thought he’d known so well until yesterday’s revelations.
“What are we going to do?”
“Zac, you have to apologize to Iris. To be honest, this is probably going to be a nice distraction for the paparazzi from the entire Nick thing. But she’s not going to see it that way,” his mom said. “Then we need to be prepared to present a unified front on...Nick.”
“I agree,” Carlton said. “I have a statement ready to release and I think that will help to mitigate most of the speculation. I want to stress that Cora Williams kept the name of Nick’s father to herself. And it was only when they were forced into the same room that she admitted the truth. We need to continue to stress that there was no ulterior motive in keeping the secret, just two lives that went on separate paths.”
Logan wanted to believe things would be that easy, that one statement would make the paparazzi go away. But he knew it wouldn’t. As soon as his business deal hit the papers—and it would on Monday—there would be more interest.
“Great. What about business? Are we going to mention that Nick is the CEO of our biggest rival?” Logan asked.
“And that Logan and he hate each other?” Leo asked. “I mean I think most people know that.”
“You’re not helping, Leo,” Dare said. As a politician, he was usually the one to find the most diplomatic way of saying things. Logan realized that he needed his big brother’s advice before the news broke on Monday.
“I’m just saying the kind of stuff that’s going to crop up on social media. The kind of comments we are going to have to address,” Leo pointed out. “Carlton, you know your stuff when it comes to the legitimate press but influencers are going to come for Iris and for Logan once the news breaks. I think my PR team could help Iris with that since I work with influencers all the time.”
“I like that idea,” Zac said. “Iris isn’t talking to me so, can I reach out to her and tell her?”
“Sure,” Leo said. “Dad? Should I call my PR team up here?”
His dad looked at Carlton, who nodded. “Do we have time to wait or should we video conference?”
His father put down his drink and stood, and Logan realized the old man was taking control of the situation.
“All of us in this room have a vested interest in making sure that the spin goes our way. Zac, your comment and your decision were unfortunate. We will help you fix it because that’s what this family does. Leo and Carlton will work on the message. Everyone needs to smile and stay on message. Adler is your mother’s only niece—her last connection to her sister—we are not going to allow anything to ruin her wedding.”
