Enchanted (The Accidental Billionaires #4)(39)

Seth let out a low whistle. “Whoa. That happened in two weeks?”

“How long did it take you to decide you wanted Riley?”

“Point taken,” he replied. “But maybe it happened too fast for Andie. Maybe you scared her away.”

I gave up trying to stay mum about what had happened in Cancún. Hell, it was eating me alive. “It’s not that,” I admitted. “We’re just two different people. She likes to frolic around the world without complications in her life. She said she’s the type of woman who likes to take one day at a time. And I’m a planner.”

Aiden frowned. “Maybe you could have slowed things down.”

“Tried that. Offered to do it,” I informed him. “Didn’t work. She said she could never give me forever, so we decided there was no point to the whole relationship. I mean, why would I want to spend more time with her if there was no chance at a future with her at the end?”

“You fell in love with her,” Seth stated. “That sucks.”

“Of course I fell in love with her,” I responded irritably. “I wouldn’t have been thinking about marriage if I hadn’t.”

“What did you like about her if she’s a flake?” Aiden asked.

I downed the last of my beer and slammed it on the wooden table. “That’s just it. It’s not that she doesn’t care about anything. Actually, she cares about everything. Well, everything except me.” I thought for a moment before I corrected myself. “That’s probably not fair. I think she did care about me, just not enough to share her future with me. Andie is . . . a free spirit. She does get totally into the moment. What did I like about her? The question should be what didn’t I like. I liked too damn much about her. The way she laughs. The way she moves. The way she isn’t afraid to outeat a man who should be able to put away a lot more food than she can. The way she connects with people, and her empathy. The way she never really wants to hurt anyone. But she did. She just about killed me. But it wasn’t like she was trying to do it. I don’t think she has a malicious bone in her body.”

“There has to be something more to her statement, then,” Seth said thoughtfully. “Some kind of misunderstanding.”

“I think so, too,” Aiden commented. “I’ve only run into her once since she’s been back, when she was out in town with Owen. But I can tell he adores her. I can’t see him having a friend who wasn’t real.”

“Oh, she’s real,” I muttered. “She just isn’t in love with . . . me.”

Dammit! I hated saying those words because it still made my gut ache.

“I think you should talk to her,” Aiden suggested.

“He can’t,” Seth injected. “Not in person. She’s in Boston with Owen. I spoke to him a couple of days ago, and he was getting ready to leave to go with her.”

I jerked my head up. “She’s gone? With Owen?”

Christ! Why was I feeling . . . betrayed in some way? After all, Owen had been Andie’s friend for a very long time. Wasn’t it normal for them to go somewhere together?

I refused to be jealous of my own little brother because he was spending time with Andie and I . . . wasn’t.

“Owen decided to take a couple more weeks off before he starts at the clinic. The paperwork was held up, and he said he wanted to have more time to catch up on life. Whatever that means,” Aiden remarked.

“It means that he wants to do something other than medicine for a while,” Seth informed us. “He bought himself an e-reader, and he said he wanted to do some pleasure reading that didn’t involve anything medical. Catch up on the current TV shows. He’s lived and breathed becoming a doctor for a decade. He’s feeling a little burned out and out of touch.”

I nodded. “Understandable.” I felt the same way. It was like I’d woken up from a fog and realized there was a world outside of work. No doubt my little brother felt the same way after the intensity of med school and his residency.

“Maybe I should just get a damn e-reader. Right now, I’m jealous of my own brother,” I confessed.

“You don’t really think Andie and Owen are an item, do you?” Seth asked.

I thought for a minute. Nope. I probably didn’t believe that. Andie had been a damn virgin. If she had anything going with Owen, he was pretty damn slow to act on that. Besides, he’d already told me that he and Andie weren’t romantic. “Probably not. He’s been her best friend for years, and there’s never been a romantic connection. But him being with her right now bugs the hell out of me.”

Aiden laughed. “I get it. I really do. I’m starting to think all Sinclair men are possessive bastards.”

“But Owen is our brother,” Seth proclaimed.

I shot him a dirty look. “Imagine Riley going away with one of us, just as a friend, when she wasn’t willing to give you the time of day.”

“Not happening,” he said with a troubled expression. “I get the picture.”

I shook my head. “The problem is, I don’t have the right to her time, or her attention. We ended it before it got too complicated.”

“Why do I have a feeling it’s already complicated?” Aiden observed. “I think you should talk to her when she comes back, Noah. All of this could be a misunderstanding. Do you really want to give her up that easily?”