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“So it was arranged?” Brian huffed. “The rich really are different.”
“Not so much. I assure you most rich people still marry for love or lust or something like it. My father still lives back in the time of the railroad barons. He would fit in there well. He rules with an iron fist and thinks of little but profits.”
“Why did you go through with it?”
Now they were in the danger zone. This was something his father knew but wouldn’t want anyone else to know. The Nash family was beyond reproach. Well, they had been. This was something Brian could report back to his father and cause trouble with. Still. He was feeling reckless. He’d lost Tasha. Did he have to be friendless? Did he have to view every single person in his life with suspicion? “Because I have two younger siblings. Half siblings. My father controls everything about our lives, and if I step out of line, he punishes them not me.”
“Fuck, man. I’m sorry. I thought that might be the case,” Brian admitted. “I’m observant and I’ve noticed you take a lot of responsibility for your brother and sister. Way more than an older brother normally would. So if you’re not still in love with your ex, are you still bitter about the divorce? Is that why you’re shying away?”
“I’m shying away because Tasha walked out. She left a note that clearly said she wasn’t going to see me again.” Was that really the only reason? He sighed as the waitress returned, placing the drink in front of Brian. Brian didn’t seem to notice how she looked him over like she wouldn’t mind serving him in another way.
“All I know is I’ve never seen you react to a woman the way you did Tasha,” Brian said as the waitress walked away. “It seems a shame to not take advantage of the time we have here to get to know her.”
“Maybe I am still bitter about the marriage, but not in a way that I would put on Tasha. I worry if I got close to her, she would end up getting hurt. Or at the very least hearing some unsavory rumors about me.” He wondered. Brian had only been working for the company for half a year. The divorce had been finalized by the time he’d hired on, but gossip never died. “Have you heard anything about my marriage?”
“That I believe? No.”
Damn it. Well, he should be happy Brian hadn’t brought it up. “I never abused my wife. She found out that in my younger days I was involved in an alternative lifestyle, and she used that to get out of a marriage she hadn’t wanted in the first place. I didn’t blame her for wanting out. I wanted out. I blame her for cutting me up as she left.”
“Now that is interesting.” Brian’s gaze had gone sharp, a look Dare hadn’t seen on his friend’s face before. “Does that alternative lifestyle happen to involve bondage and sex clubs?”
He felt himself flush and cursed the weakness. “It’s not always about sex.”
“No, it’s about control and being honest about your sexual needs,” Brian corrected himself. “Sorry. I’ve read up on the subject lately. I was interested in a woman who spends time in clubs like that. I educated myself a bit. Not that it helped me. I think I might be doing it wrong.”
“Is it someone at work?”
“She’s work adjacent,” Brian demurred. “But the point is yes, I’ve heard some rumors. Most of the employees I know don’t believe them, but you hold yourself apart enough that a lot of people don’t know you.”
There was a reason for that. “If I get close to someone, my father can use them against me, and that is why I should stay away from Tasha. I could manage a couple of weeks with her, but if I tried to have even a long-distance relationship with her, he would find out.”
“Why not take the couple of weeks? Have a little happiness?”
Dare wasn’t sure he would be allowed that. “It’s out of my hands.”
“It’s back in your hands because guess who turns out to be a pharmaceutical rep and is attending the conference right here in this hotel?” Brian’s lips turned up in a smirk.
“Tasha isn’t a pharmaceutical rep. She works at her father’s company. I think they’re in security.” He’d found out that much. She was close to her family, as evidenced by her visit here with her cousin, toting her sister along.
“No, but Kara is.”
Her cousin would be here in this hotel? They’d switched over to the conference hotel the night before. It was a downgrade from his place on the beach, but his father had still ensured he had a large suite. Couldn’t have a Nash stay in a room with two queens and a view of the HVAC system.
