Casanova(17)

Lx



“Ugh.” I tossed the old diary to the side and sat on the bed. It fell to the worn-out carpet with a light thud. I glared at the tatted old notebook before dropping back onto my bed.

I don’t know why I picked it up. I must be a sucker for torture because I did and worst of all, I read it. It needed burning, that dumb thing. With fireworks. And dynamite. In a cartoon.

Or by Seamus Finnegan in Harry Potter.

I rubbed my hands over my face and looked into the mirror that stared back at me. I’d barely changed Grandma’s spare room. To do so right now felt like a little strange, but I’d personalized it for sure.

Holy shit, who was I kidding? I wasn’t thinking about the bedding. I was thinking about Brett.

Rather, I was thinking about not thinking about Brett. It wasn’t going well.

Fucking Brett Walker.

What possessed me to say yes to his father? Oh, I know. Not the money—I didn’t even look at the check properly until I got home—but my own defiance. The absolute need to prove to Brett that I was somebody.

That I wasn’t the person he thought he knew.

Although...I did that pretty well earlier, when I thought about it. I also blushed when I thought about it. Did I really say that to him?

Of course I did.

If there was one thing Brett Walker could do, it was push my buttons. All the wrong ones.

I shoved myself off the bed. I’d spent all afternoon in the hospital with my sister because her doctor was running late, only for Connie to proclaim me the world’s worst sister because I didn’t know I was looking at her baby’s face and not her butt.

In my defense, those ultrasound things were about as clear as a drunk person giving directions to a New Zealand tourist in the middle of Mardi Gras.

I didn’t know what to wear. What was someone supposed to wear for a dinner non-date with someone they used to know?

This was so, so dumb. And if our last two meetings were anything to go by, it wasn’t going to end very well.

Yep... It was going to end very badly.





As I pulled up in the large, circular driveway of Walker House, having successfully navigated the gated security system for the second time that week, my stomach flipped in a way so nauseating I actually felt bile creep up and burn the back of my throat.

Dear god, what was I doing?

No, seriously. What. Was. I. Doing?

I knew I was about to walk into a pretty painful night, yet here I was, still doing it. Why did I agree to this evening? Why didn’t I insist upon tomorrow?

I rubbed my hand down my nose, instinctively missing my mouth despite the long-stay lipstick I was wearing. Nothing could get that stuff off. It was the waterproof mascara of the lip world. Peering out of my window toward the house, I sighed heavily as the sight of the door cracking open caught my attention.

Great.

I all but dragged myself out of the car. The moment I looked up and saw Brett’s face in the doorway, regret over my shoe choice slammed into me. Lace-up, knee-high, suede boots were maybe not the best decision I could have made, but at least they weren’t really high, right?

Right. Plus they looked great with the jeans.

I grabbed my purse, my laptop tucked away inside it, and shut my car door. Brett’s gaze burned into me as I tucked my hair behind my ear and forced myself to walk up the wide steps leading to the front door. His intense scrutiny of me was almost uncomfortable, so I tried to ignore it when his attention dropped to my lower legs and his eyebrows rose.

“Is this a business meeting or...?” He pulled his gaze back up to me with a smirk.

“This is a business meeting. It just happens to come with weapons in case someone oversteps his boundaries.” I accented my words by kicking my right foot out to the side so he could see the heel.

“Don’t worry.” He stepped back, pulling the door wide open for me. “I don’t intend to overstep anything.”

I looked him dead in the eye and said, “Rip up your plan. You might stand half a chance of sticking to it then.”





CHAPTER SIX


BRETT



I smirked. God, she was hot when she sassed me like that. I’d put money on the fact she probably had no idea just how fucking hot she was.

“Come in,” I said. “We’ll walk through to the annex. The food’s already there.”

It was fucking pointless. Nobody was here except the chef dad had hired for this dumbass meeting. A giant damn house and we were relegated to the annex that was only used whenever somebody came to visit. I didn’t know what he was trying to, but it only served to annoy me.

The annex was small. Cozy. Comfortable. What my sister would refer to as cute.

Everything a meeting with Lani needed to not be.

I’d rather we sat outside.

At least there weren’t candles set up...

I led her right through the house. Thank god I was in front of her, because if I had to look at those fuck-me boots one more time, I was going to have a big problem to hide.

Something that was never easy when it was eight inches long and pushing against your zipper.

Not for me, at least.

“Why are we out in the annex?” Lani asked. Her heels clicked against the patio as we walked across the path from the main house to the annex.

I shrugged. “I guess for privacy. Until everybody left anyway.”