RICH BOY BRIT (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance)(44)

“How? What happened? What did he do?” Amy asked.

“I got a delivery this morning,” Claire said and sat down. “He bought an emerald necklace and had it delivered to my room,” she smiled. “And then he showed up in my room this morning.”

“He did what? So? What did you do?” she asked excitedly.

“What do you think I did? I gave it back to him.”

“You did what? Are you crazy?”

“He didn’t take it back. It’s still sitting in my room, and you know I don’t like men buying me things. It makes me feel cheap, and with him, it felt like a down payment for whatever he wants after. And honestly, by the look on his face, he was expecting me to run into his arms out of gratitude.”

“He’s full of himself, isn’t he?” Amy smiled.

“Is he! He irks me,” Claire said and smiled at Amy.

They sat next to each other on the bed, and for a moment, each of them was lost in their own thoughts.

“He does seem to like you a lot. I don’t think he goes around handing necklaces to every girl who throws herself at him.”

“And that’s another thing,” Claire said, as if she didn’t hear a thing Amy said other than ‘girls.’ “There are always a lot of women following him around. He is clearly a ladies’ man, and I don’t want to get caught up in that.”

“But you know you don’t have to be,” Amy said. “Maybe just have a little, no strings attached. Get Trent out of your mind. He’s putting a lot of effort into getting your attention. I think he deserves a date at least. Remember, we leave here in a couple of days. Maybe you should oblige him just once so you don’t spend the rest of your life wondering what might have happened if you’d said yes to dinner.”

Claire nodded. Chance had told her Trent didn’t deserve her tears; she could see that now. Still, she wasn’t so sure about running off with a playboy, either.

“I’m going to see if Mom is awake,” she said abruptly, rising to her feet. “I feel like I haven’t seen her in ages.”

“I’ll meet you for breakfast in a few,” Claire replied. “I need to wash up first.”

Claire stepped out into the hall just in time to see her mother entering her room. “Mom?” she called in surprise. “Are you just getting in?”

“And what would be so wrong with that?” her mother defended.

“You’re being too defensive,” Claire said as she covered her face. “I don’t even want to know where you have been.”

“Bryan is quite the host,” Willow laughed.

“Gross. No details, please. I’m going to the dining room,” she said before any images of her mother and a man in bed ruined her appetite.

As she waited for her meal, she saw Chance enter the room. Was he stalking her? He had his hands tucked into his pockets as usual, but he seemed unaware of her. She looked at him, willing him to turn and look at her and just when she was about to give up, he looked directly at her. She thought he would smile or wave, but he turned away without doing either. And in that moment, she felt a pang of guilt and tasted rejection again.

Claire wore a dejected look on her face until Amy came down to join her.

“What’s the matter?” she asked as soon as she saw Claire’s face.

“I guess it is a little unnerving when someone has been after you for some time and then suddenly changes their mind.” She offered Amy a fake smile before sticking her fork in the pancake.

“Chance?” she asked. “He said no to you?”

Claire nodded her head. “I saw him earlier and he looked right through me.”

“Isn’t that what you want?”

“I don’t know,” Claire heaved an exasperated sigh. “It was just weird.”

“Or maybe you do like him and are afraid to admit it.”

“I don’t know anything anymore, Ames,” she told the girl. “I don’t know half the time what’s going on in my head. When I agreed to this trip I didn’t expect to find someone like Chance here, and he reminds me of Trent sometimes. Remember how it used to be in the beginning?”

“I do,” Amy said. “I also remember what it was like in the end, and that’s what’s important: there was an ending. That wasn’t even the kind of break up that leaves room for a make-up. It is over, and you need to move on and stop wasting time and energy on that loser. No offense.”

“None taken,” Claire added. “It just reminds me of something Chance said this morning,” she said sadly, her head down.

“What did he say?” Amy wanted to know.

“He told me that Trent doesn’t deserve my tears, and that I am beautiful.”

“You already know that. And any man who doesn’t appreciate you is a fool,” Amy said.

“I guess.”

“Don’t lose out on future happiness because you are too busy being sad about the past, Amy.”

“Well, Chance is the past,” Claire said.

“Are you kidding me? For all the effort he put into this, do you think he would just give up like that? I know men like Chance, and they always have a game. I’m thinking he might just be bruised from his encounter with you this morning. Trust me, he’ll watch you from afar until you show him you want him.”