“Yeah, but I was thinking after this? Sebastian, you can… come if you want?” he says in that way that tells me he absolutely does not want that, but there’s no way Saint is going anywhere alone with him.

  “Maybe,” I say. “Depends on what Saint wants to do.”

  “We’ll see. I’m a little tired from classes all week and then traveling,” she answers as I hand her the glass of wine.

  Brant’s eyes flick to mine in question or maybe judgment. “Well, let me know. It was good to see you both.”

  “Good to see you too!” she says as he walks away before letting her drink hover beneath her lips. “Can you relax? I am not interested in Brant. I never have been.”

  “He’s clearly still interested in you and still a fuckin’ dork,” I grumble as we move away from the bar and toward a private table. I know it’s only a matter of time before more of my family realizes I’m here, and I won’t have a second alone with Saint.

  She lets out a loud laugh before putting a hand over her mouth and setting her glass down. “A dork? That’s what you called him when we were younger.”

  “It still stands.” My eyes flit to hers, and I give her a hard look. “You are not getting a drink with him without me,” I say, and she folds her arms over her chest and responds with a look full of sass.

  “I’m sorry, are you telling me what to do?”

  I glare at her because she'd better be fucking with me. “Do not push me, Saint.”

  “I’m not saying I would, but I don’t like that you’re telling me that I can’t.” She cocks her head to the side and sinks her teeth into her bottom lip in a way that my dick responds to instantly.

  “Oh? Like when Quinn asked about me getting together when we were back in Seattle? You didn’t answer her for me?”

  Saint opens her mouth before closing it. Uh-huh. That’s what I thought. “Fair,” she mumbles out of the side of her mouth.

  “I speak for you just like you speak for me when the moment calls for it. This isn’t new, Halle,” I say before taking a healthy sip of my wine, and I hope she takes my use of her first name as I am not fucking around. Not that I’ve ever been fucking around when it came to Saint, ever.

  “Fine. Just… we said we weren’t saying anything yet. Be cool.”

  I should have known that Sebastian was incapable of being cool. Being cool when it comes to me is absolutely not that man’s strength, especially in an environment where there are a lot of men. I hadn’t anticipated Brant being here, but I suppose I should have, given that he’s the son of Sara’s best friend. But I definitely hadn’t anticipated him openly asking me out in front of Sebastian. Part of me thought he might be testing the situation. I’m sure by now, Elana has told him about Sebastian and me if he hadn’t already figured it out himself. So it makes me wonder if he was feeling out our reactions.

  I’m standing by myself scrolling mindlessly through Instagram after Wild had to take a call from work when I sense someone next to me and then hear his voice. “So my father mentioned that you don’t come home much?” I look up and spot dark eyes, the color of a rich mahogany, staring into mine. His drink is at a higher level than before, so I assume he’s on his second drink. Or potentially more. He leans one elbow on the table and smiles at me.

  Fuck. Wild is going to hate this.

  “I’m just busy with school, that’s all. Business school takes up a lot—”

  “But even before then,” he interjects, and I raise an eyebrow at him, which I hope he takes as, did you just interrupt me? “My dad mentioned you never visited Sara much. As a matter of fact, I believe he went as far as to say you were estranged.” I can’t tell his motive with this line of questioning, but I really have no interest in entertaining it.

  “Just how it worked out.” I take a sip of my glass of wine. “We’re fine.” And while that fact may never be true, I’m not going to rehash all of our history with someone I barely know.

  He eyes me over his glass and nods slowly. “I’m in New York from time to time. Maybe next time I’m in town, we can get together?”

  Oh, great.

  I could just agree and then just… not. But I am actually curious as to why he has this interest in me. “Why would we do that? I don’t even know you.” I give him a polite smile that could be misconstrued as interest, but I hope he doesn’t see it as anything more than sugarcoated rejection.

  “Well, I was hoping we could change that,” he says, and I realize it’s time to shut all this down before Wild comes back and does it for me.

  “I’m not sure what your intentions are, but I have a boyfriend. A very serious boyfriend.” My lips form a straight line, and I tuck some hair behind my ear.

  “Is that so? Why isn’t he here, then?” he asks, his voice laced with smug arrogance.

  “He couldn’t make it,” I respond without missing a beat.

  “Really? Thought maybe you’d be wary about introducing him to your stepbrother.” He leans down on his other elbow and drags his finger along the rim of his glass. “I heard you two were… close,” he stresses, and I understand now what the point of this conversation is.

  “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

  “Oh, come on. We’re family now.” He chuckles, and I find myself looking over my shoulder for an escape route.

  Just walk away from him.

  “Or…” He snaps his finger. “Do you want to hear my other theory?”

  “Not particularly, no,” I say while still looking over my shoulder. Now in search of Wild.

  “That you and our stepbro are still… close.”

  I turn my attention back to him and give him a saccharine smile. “Well, good thing your ‘theory’ on my relationship is really none of my concern.” I shrug. “Can you excuse me?” I say without another word.

  “Of course.” I hear him speak up from behind me, but I don’t stop as I continue through the venue toward the exit to look for Wild. He’s been gone for about ten minutes, so I hope it’s nothing serious with work. I make it to the hallway and pan my gaze around, searching the space for Wild, but I only see a few people congregating, one of whom is Sara’s sister, Emily, who has never liked me. She’s talking to a few other women, so I hope she doesn’t break away to talk to me. I’ve been actively avoiding her, but as she moves toward me, I realize that I no longer have a choice.

  “Halle, it’s good to see you!” She wraps her arms around me, engulfing me in a tight hug and pressing a kiss to my cheek. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her, probably close to seven years, so her dark hair is now shorter and peppered with strands of silver, and she now wears glasses in front of her powder-blue eyes.

  “Hi, Emily. It’s great to see you as well. How are you?”

  “Good.” She lets out a sigh before putting her hand under my chin, almost adoringly, which is surprising. “I can’t believe how long it’s been. You should have come home more. Sara has missed you a lot, you know.”

  “I know it wasn’t as often as maybe I could have, but I did come home from time to time.”

  She twists her mouth before looking toward the venue, and when I follow her gaze, I find Sara and Mike smiling with a group of their friends. “That’s my baby sister, you know?” When I turn my eyes back to her, she’s still looking at Sara fondly before her smile falls and turns back to me. “She did her best, Halle.” Ah, here it comes. This is the Emily I know. I don’t respond because I’m really not interested in arguing with her again. I spent most of the summer, while Sebastian was staying at her house, arguing with her every time I showed up to see him. It wasn’t often because Sara didn’t want me driving to visit him, so I was rarely allowed to use my car. But the few times I was forced to interact with her were not pleasant. “What you did in response to her just trying to survive a tragedy was cruel.”

  My eyebrows pinch, and anxiety blooms in my chest at the impending conversation. “I’m sorry, what exactly did I do?”

  “Cutting her off. Never coming home. Alienating Sebastian and making it absolutely impossible for her to be close with her son.” She shakes her head with eyes full of judgment. “You are the reason Sara and Sebastian are not close as well.”

  “What? You can’t be serious. Her relationship with Sebastian has nothing to do with me.”

  “It has everything to do with you. It has always been about you.” She scoffs. “What she gets for raising you, I guess.”

  Anger and guilt and sadness are making a cocktail in the pit of my stomach, and combined with actual alcohol, it’s all making me emotional. Tears spring to my eyes in response, and I’m about to speak when I sense Wild’s presence next to me. “What did you just say?” I feel his anger in my bones, and when I turn my head, I see him glaring at her.

  “Sebastian.” She smiles curtly, and I’m surprised by this energy. I know she thinks I’m the root of the problems, but I wasn’t expecting her to be angry with Wild too. “Well, you are damn near killing your mother.”

  “My mother is fine. She’s happy,” Wild says, anger laced in his tone.

  “She misses you. And you have let your obsession with this one,” she says, pointing at me, “destroy your relationship.”

  He drops his eyes to the drink in her hand, and the obvious glance makes me realize I may be missing something. “My mom did say you’ve been drinking more than usual. She just didn’t mention that you became an angry drunk.” He shakes his head. “Is that why you and Uncle Cole are having problems? I notice he’s not here,” he says, crossing his arms over his chest.

  “Wild…” I don’t want him to go too far, even if she does fucking deserve it.

  Pain and horror flash across her face, and then her eyes narrow into angry slits. “You’re still up to this shit, aren’t you?” She grits her teeth before taking a low breath through them. “Well, there goes my theory that you’d eventually grow out of it.”

  “Emily…” I start, wanting to tell her for the millionth time that my feelings for Wild were nothing I was going to “grow out of.”

  She points her finger at us, waving it back and forth between us. “No one will ever accept this. Haven’t you gotten this through your heads yet? Or are you still just thinking like immature, horny teenagers?” She chuckles before downing the rest of her drink.

  “We are done with this conversation,” Wild says, moving me away from her and through the lobby.

  There’s no one around or in sight, but I’m still surprised when he presses his lips to mine in a possessive, bruising kiss. He cups my face gently, but his lips are hard and aggressive, and the complete opposite of how he’s holding me. His tongue strokes mine slowly at first and then faster while it explores my mouth as his hands move down my body to grip my ass. I push him off slightly because not only is this not the place for it, but often when he kisses me like this, it’s because something’s wrong or he’s feeling jealous and possessive. “Hey, hey,” I whisper against his mouth before planting a light, gentle kiss on them, trying my best to calm his nerves or whatever has him on edge. “What’s going on? Talk to me.”

  “I’m sorry I was gone so long. I know you’re not exactly comfortable here.” His expression is worried, and I put my hand on his cheek in an attempt to calm him.

  “I’m okay. Everything’s fine. Only Emily said something, and I’m not worried about her.” I look up into his eyes, and it’s incredible how sometimes he still reminds me of that same five-year-old boy. “This,” I say, pointing back and forth between us and our current state, “isn’t about her, though. Talk to me.”

  He exhales slowly as he lets his eyes close. When he opens them, his eyes aren’t on me but trained on a spot on the wall. “The head of my PR team called.” He runs a hand through his hair, pulling it slightly at the root.

  “Okay?” I ask, wondering why that would have him so agitated. “Is that bad?”

  His hands ball into fists as he begins to pace, and it feels like he’s a bull ready to charge. “Quinn Prescott ran her mouth about… seeing me in New York… with you.”

  I gasp, and my heart begins to accelerate. “You said she wasn’t going to say anything!”

  “I didn’t think she would!” he says, responding with equal exasperation.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, have you never heard the phrase hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? She’s pissed you rejected her. Of course she was going to fuck you over!” I exhale, trying to calm my nerves, but I’m already feeling defeated. “What does all of this mean?”

  “My team is a little… worried about the optics. We have a few huge deals in the works, and they want to make sure nothing interferes with that.” He shakes his head. “But I’m not doing what they want.”

  “Which is?”

  “They think I should start dating someone… publicly.”

  I blink at him, stunned. “What? That’s a thing? Companies actually ask people to ‘fake date’? If that’s the case, I don’t like my part in this potential romance novel,” I respond sarcastically although I’m very serious. I’ve read this scenario enough to know that fake dating can become real dating at any moment.

  Wild rolls his eyes. “I’m not doing it.”

  “Do you have a choice?”

  “I own the company.”

  If he’s this bothered by their request, it means they do actually have some say in this decision. “My question still stands.”

  “I’m not doing that. I belong to you in every scenario, real and fake. I don’t even like doing role-plays where I might potentially belong to someone else,” he says just before he takes my glass of wine from me and downs the rest of it.

  “I’m assuming the idea to ‘date’ someone else is to discredit any idea that Quinn’s information was accurate. But… it is accurate? So what would that even mean for us long term? Again, I—we would just be reduced to the shadows? We’d only be together in private?” I wince, thinking about a life where I’m only in a relationship with Wild behind closed doors while he has another relationship out in the open. I hate this idea.

  “Fuck no,” he grits out, and then he’s grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the staircase.

  “Where are we going?” He’s pulling me faster now as I trail him slowly.

  “Privacy.”

  “Here?” I ask as we make it to the top of the winding staircase. The hallway is long and is lined with a few doors as if there are offices up here. Wild opens a door and closes it before doing it to two more down the hall. I follow him, listening for anyone else who may be up here. When he opens one toward the end, he motions for me and pushes me into what I think is a coat closet. It’s pitch-black, but I put out a hand and touch what feels like various types of wool and cashmere. “Saint, I said I wasn’t doing it. I’d never do anything to jeopardize things between you and me. I’d never entertain another woman.”

  My heart is pounding from this situation and from being at my stepmother’s engagement party, and I’d really hate to be caught in a coat closet with my stepbrother. “How bad is it if she goes public? I mean… What's stopping her from doing that now?”

  “I think she already has. That’s why they were hoping my denial of it and me dating someone else would shut all of those rumors down.”

  “Did you deny it…?” I ask before holding my breath because I’m not sure which answer will make me feel worse. Him denying us to protect me, or not denying us, and hearing about the fallout over the truth.

  “To my PR team? I said my relationship was none of anyone’s business. They didn’t agree with that.”

  “So you avoided the question?”

  “I was caught off guard, and I wasn’t ready to tell them yet. So, no, I didn’t explicitly admit it, but they probably read between the lines.”

  “What's the worst-case scenario, then? We come out as a couple, and your company suffers because people are no longer interested in working with you?”

  “Or maybe they won’t care. My team is only speculating over some of the more conservative businessmen.”

  “You said you’re in the middle of a few right now? Could it negatively impact those?”

  “I don’t care. Fuck those deals.”

  “You do care, and you’ve worked so hard—”

  “So I would be good enough for you.” It’s too dark for me to see him, but I still know what facial expression crosses his gorgeous features. Soft, yet stern and honest. “Everything I’ve always done has been so I could be good enough in your eyes. Even if we were never together, your opinion and how you see me have always meant the most to me.” Tears prickle in my eyes while he continues, “I wanted to be successful so you’d be proud of me. So I’d always be able to take care of you, even if you weren’t mine to take care of.”

  I let out a shaky breath, wishing I had my drink still. “Well, congratulations, you’re very successful to the point that your relationships are everyone else's business.”

  “Fuck,” he whispers before letting out a sigh of what sounds like defeat. “I may have to fly back tomorrow.”

  I frown because I thought I was going to have one more day with him. “Okay.”

  “I guess you can’t come with me?” he asks, and I hear the hope in his voice.

  “I have class on Tuesday, remember?”

  “I know,” he murmurs. “Can you come next weekend?” he asks, and I hear the desperation in his voice. “We are not taking a step back, Halle. We are together, and I’ll do anything to keep it that way.”

  “I can probably come next weekend, but is that wise? For me to be out there?”

  “I am not going longer than a week without you. So you can fly to Seattle, or I can come to you. I just know next week is going to be a shit show.”

  “If you… did… agree to date someone publicly”—I swallow, already hating what I’m about to say—“what would that even entail? I mean… a couple of dates? Or do you have to be like… serious?” The thought of Wild doing any of this makes me sick, but I don’t want to be the cause of his company’s downfall. I know some people will have firm opinions regarding us, and those people could cost him millions of dollars, I would imagine.