Escorting the Groom (The Escort Collection Book 4) (8 page)

A glimmer of something, possibly the real human emotion of hurt, flashed in Serena's eyes for a moment. But it disappeared so fast, I assumed I'd imagined it. "You go right ahead. What Robert and I had was real, no matter how disappointing he turned out to be." Serena had packed her husband off when he began suggesting, on a regular basis, that she quit the Boston social scene and either focus on a career or on having a family. Or both. I'd always liked Robert, but he'd pushed my sister too far.

Serena sat back in her seat, taking us both in. "Let's get back to you two because you're the ones on the hot seat. Not me. I paid my dues and complied with the terms and spirit of the trust. The only way that you're getting that money is if you do the same. I can and will run a background check on you, Blake. You're too stunning to never have graced a society party before. I can check to see if you've received any money or property in exchange for marrying my brother. I'll see if any legal documents have been filed at the Registry of Deeds—if Lucas has gifted you any property, for instance. I could also check to see if any large sums of money have been transferred from his accounts."

I leaned forward, wanting to smack the smug look off of her face. "You'd need a subpoena to check my accounts, and you know it. Good luck getting one."

"I don't need luck," Serena said. "I have a team of top-notch attorneys that I'm going to put on this. They'll find a way."

I sat back in my chair and put my arm around Blake. "I wouldn't spend all that money on legal fees, seeing as you're only getting half of the inheritance you've been expecting."

A pulsing vein appeared on my sister's forehead, and I wished it would pop. "Don't you start threatening
me
—"

"Not only are you being rude, you're jumping the gun a little bit, my dear," my father told Serena, interrupting her. "They haven't even gotten married and hit the one-year mark yet. No one gets the money until then. Not even you."

"Except I would be inheriting the money in three weeks if he wasn't pulling this," Serena said, indignant.

The server brought our entrees, but none of us ate. We all just pushed our food around angrily, the atmosphere crackling with tension.

"We're getting married next weekend," I finally said, breaking the awkward silence. "You're all invited, of course."

"Great," my father said. His eyes sparkled as he looked at Blake, probably imagining dancing with her.
I was so not letting that happen.

"Wonderful," Elizabeth said, sounding as if she were enjoying the latest family scandal. She was probably relieved there was finally some bigger news than her leaving me to marry my dad.

"Why bother inviting us?" Serena asked. She stood up and angrily shoved her chair against the table.

"Because I, unlike you, care about this family. And I would like your blessing." I wasn't sure how I managed to keep a straight face, but I did. It was almost impossible for me to care about the family since my mother had died and everyone had shown their true colors. But my sister's blessing, or at least her belief in the truth of the marriage, was exactly what I wanted. What I needed. "I'll send you an invite, anyway. Do what you want with it."

I wanted to add that she was more than welcome to shove it, but since I needed her approval or at least the absence of her disapproval, that seemed ill-advised.

"Well, I'll be there for everything. Every last moment. Because I'm going to catch you in the act, little brother." She tossed her curls over her shoulder dramatically and turned to Blake. "Good night. I'd say it was a pleasure, but you actually just gave me a headache."

Blake didn't miss a beat. "It was nice to meet you, too."

After Serena rage-grimaced one last time and hustled out of the restaurant, we engaged in awkward small talk with my father and Elizabeth until the check blissfully arrived. "I've got it," I said, waving them off. "And I'll be in touch soon with the wedding details."

Before they left, my father hugged Blake more than necessary, and Elizabeth's complexion went molten again. When they finally walked out, I drained my wine glass in a silent, thankful gulp. When we were finally alone, I turned to Blake. "See what I mean?"

She nodded. "They're tough."

"Why were you putting your hand down my pants, anyway?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

She shrugged demurely. "I wanted you to stay alert. And to seem like you're into me." She looked up at me through her lashes. "You don't mind, do you?"

I shook my head. "It worked."

"Good." Blake smiled. "We need to stay on our toes. Speaking of which, dinner made me think about what you said about the wedding."

"Which thing?"

She bit her lip, looking guilty. "That your family would hate the idea of a Vegas wedding."

I grinned at her. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

She nodded, her eyes sparkling.

"They deserve a spectacle." I filled our glasses with the rest of the wine and raised mine in a toast. "To Vegas, baby."

She clinked her glass against mine. "To Vegas."

L
ucas was
quiet on the ride home. "That must have been stressful for you," I said, trying to draw him out. He needed an ally against his family, and it looked as though I was all he had.

He shrugged, looking out the window. "I wasn't expecting anything different."

"Have they always been so…" I searched for a word that was fitting but not too insulting. "Dysfunctional?"

He shot me a look. "Yes." He was quiet for a moment. "No. I don't know."

I waited to see if he would go on.

Lucas scrubbed his hands over his face. "They were all better-behaved before my mother died. Elizabeth at least had the decency to wait to jump ship to my father's bed a respectable few months after that."

"Oh. Wow."

He chuckled darkly. "She's a piece of work, all right. But my sister… she was still married when my mother died. Robert was a nice guy."

"So why does Serena seem to…" I didn't want to finish the question.

"Hate me?" Lucas's eyes twinkled in the dim interior of the SUV. "Because she said that I was our mother's favorite. And once Mom was gone, there was no one to keep her in line. My father was too busy sticking it to my ex to notice that Serena had gone off the deep end. She got her boobs done this year. She does Botox all the time. She's thirty-seven, for Christ's sake. Too young to be doing that, and too old to be out partying like she is."

"That's too bad. So she's… jealous? It just seems so petty."

"Why did your sister go after your boyfriend?" he asked gently.

I arched an eyebrow at him. I really wished we were back playing pretend in front of his family so I could run my hands down his backside and put him in his place—under my spell. "Are you analyzing me?"

Lucas's gaze held mine. "Aren't you analyzing
me
?"

I shrugged. "Maybe."

"So, back to your sister. Her motivation was?"

"Chelsea. Her name's Chelsea." I swallowed hard. "She's pretty easy to analyze. If I had a toy, she always wanted to take it. When it came to Vince, things were no different."

"Exactly." Lucas patted my hand. "It's because you're better than her and deep down, she knows it. Same thing with my sister. Serena doesn't want to see me inherit that money because she thinks I've led a charmed life and that I don't deserve any more than I've got. She doesn't understand why I work so hard when I already have so much."

"Why do you work so hard when you already have so much?" I blurted the question out and then I sat there, cheeks reddening, as Lucas gave me a long look.

"You're doing it again. Analyzing."

I nodded at him meekly, worried I'd gone too far.

"Well doctor, let me lay it all out for you." He gave me another long look, but there was no anger in his eyes, just a glimmer of something I couldn't quite put my finger on. "I work all the time because business is what I'm good at. When I started out, I was surprised at how easily it came to me—seeing a company, assessing it, telling early on if it was a good investment. When something comes naturally to you like that, it… feels good. And it's a lot less messy than other things that could occupy my time."

"Like people?" I asked. I couldn't help myself.

"Exactly. Like people. Like my sister." Lucas didn't deny it and he didn't miss a beat. "I don't want to see her inherit all of the trust because she's
never
worked—she's completely out of touch with the realities of the world. She'll spend the money on outfits and trips to Dubai. Give money to her sorority so they'll name a wing after her. That's what she thinks is important in life."

I wanted to ask more about just him, to dig deeper into why he liked to hide in his downtown office and rule his empire from behind his desktop. But he'd switched gears on me and I had to keep up. "But what's wrong with that?" I asked, focusing on Serena. "I'm not trying to disagree, but it's not like she's spending the money on something terrible, something that's going to hurt someone."

"You're right." He shrugged. "There's nothing wrong with it, per se. But my mother would have wanted some of that money to help people. She left the discretion to us, to donate as we saw fit. But my sister isn't interested in that. She'll give money to her pet projects and her alma maters, but she won't do any actual
good
with it, which is in direct opposition to my mother's wishes."

"Why won't Serena honor her wishes?"

He scrubbed a hand across his face. "Because she thinks poor people are disgusting, lazy abominations."

"Oh," I mumbled.

"My sister puts the 'ass' in 'class'."

"Ha ha." But my stomach was sinking.

Lucas looked out the window. "My mother wasn't like that. She believed that we had a responsibility to take care of those less fortunate. I believe that, too. Serena simply thinks that poor people or homeless people need to get jobs. She's incapable of seeing the larger picture—in other words, she lacks imagination. She couldn't dream of a scenario where a person might be forced to make choices that are less than ideal."

I shivered, his words hitting home. I could only imagine what Serena would think of me if she knew the truth.

"I know what you're thinking," Lucas said, his voice low.

I bristled. He was starting to get on my nerves with all of his goodwill and insight. That
Globe
article never mentioned his philanthropic side, which I found disarmingly attractive. "Since when did a reclusive, anti-relationship billionaire like you get so intuitive?" I preferred to keep my own dysfunction, my own problems, below the radar. So I could pretend they didn't exist, like a normal person.

"I don't really like to be around people, but understanding them is part of my business." He loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top buttons of his dress shirt, relaxing against the leather seat. "But back to my sister—talking about her makes me see it clearly. I think we should mess with her. Exploit her weaknesses to our advantage."

Now he sounded like the combative CEO I'd come to expect. "How can we do that? And isn't it dangerous? Don't you need her on your side right now, or at least, not against you?"

"I can accomplish that in part by keeping her off-balance. Serena likes things orderly and controlled. She's not going to get that from us. I'm going to call Elena in the morning."

"Elena? For what?"

He smiled, flashing that dimple. "I'm going to hire some of your coworkers to come out to Vegas."

"Really?" I asked, oddly touched. I hadn't let myself think about it, but I'd been sort of dreading being completely alone at the wedding.

"Really. It'll keep things interesting, and it'll be nice to have some guests on your side of the aisle. And some bridesmaids. But they're going to have to keep up a united front pretending, so that no one knows who they—and more importantly, you—really are. Do you think they can do that?"

I nodded. "They're professional pretenders. That's what they do." I thought of several of the girls I worked with who were a little wild. They could and would pretend to be friends of mine, but that rowdy streak couldn't be disguised easily. "That's really nice of you. But don't you think your sister's going to freak out? With all the, er, riff-raff hanging around?"

A small smile played on his lips. "It wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen to her. But I know what is, and I'm going to do that, too."

"You're full of surprises," I said. "Care to let me in on that last one?"

"First, I'm going to see if I can pull it off. Then I will surprise and delight you with my ruthless ingenuity." His eyes glittered in the semidarkness, and I admired the handsome, rugged planes of his face. I had no doubt in his ability to accomplish what he set out to do.

Not a one.

* * *

L
UCAS

"Well, good night." Blake and I were in the hallway of my penthouse, getting ready to go our separate ways.

"Are you heading back to the office?" she asked.

I shook my head. "I'm off tonight. And tomorrow, actually. We have some things that we need to attend to."

"Oh? Like what?" She tilted her head up at me in a way that was both attractive and annoying. Attractive because she was beautiful, and annoying because it was the perfect angle for me to kiss her. I wondered if she was attempting to prove something to me again, like when her hand had skimmed over my belt earlier.

If she was trying to get under my skin or make me want her, she didn't have to work so hard. But this was a business arrangement that I wouldn't allow to fail, and I wasn't going to complicate it by letting things get physical between us. Because if I did that—if I did
her
—I would push her away afterward. I was a one-and-done sort of fellow. And I didn't know if she had the emotional wherewithal to deal with that, then live with me and pretend everything was great for a whole year afterward.

I took a step back from her.
Nope. No way. No how.
I didn't do self-destruct. I wanted this to work, and I wasn't about to let my dick get in the way.

Still, Blake was looking up at me expectantly, with her shiny blond hair and her perfect pink lips, which were slightly parted. She knew what she was doing—tempting me.

"Why're you looking at me like that?" I finally asked.

She tossed her hair and licked her lips. "Like what?"

Yeah, right.
"You're giving me a fuck-me look again. Why?"

Blake promptly closed her mouth and stood up straight. "Sorry. I was trying to see if you wanted to,
you know
. Just get it out of the way."

"I told you I'm not interested." The lie sounded harsh as it hung in the air between us.

A flicker of hurt might have passed over her features, but it was gone before I could be certain. "Then I'll stop trying to make it easy for you." She smiled at me as though my rejection had rolled right off her back.

I took a step toward her, inhaling her scent. It was her hair; it smelled fantastic. I wanted nothing more than to wind my hands through it, throw her over my shoulder, carry her to my giant bed, and bury myself inside of her. Explore her body. See her breasts freed from the tight bondages of her prim lace dress. Run my hands down her naked skin.

Christ, I was getting hard again.
Down, boy.

"It's not like I don't want to." My voice came out husky. I allowed myself to trail a finger down her arm, relishing her responsive shiver. "But I told you before: I don't do complicated. And I can't imagine that anything good could come from us compromising the integrity of our agreement."

Blake watched my finger with fascination as I trailed it back up her arm, which was raised with goose bumps. "Just one question about that." She still watched me but sounded alert and focused.

I let myself wrap a hand around her arm, stroking her. My cock was getting treacherously hard. "What's that?"

"Why would sleeping together complicate things?" She sounded genuinely curious. "You and I are both adults. We've agreed to a business arrangement. If we have sex, it would be just that—an extension of the agreement. We both know it has an expiration date." She stepped closer and looked up at me expectantly. "But I understand if you don't want to."

"You're pushing me." Heat and longing filled me. My erection tented my pants, trying desperately to reach out and touch her. "Christ." I let go of her arm and took a step back. "I
am
a breathing, human male. Of course I want to. I just don't think it's a good idea."

"Okay," Blake said simply. She stepped back, dismissed.

"Do you need an ego boost or something?" I asked, annoyed. I wasn't sure what she was playing at, making me ache like this.

She let out a surprised bark of laughter. "No. It's just that I want you to be happy with the arrangement. And I wanted to make it easy for you in case you changed your mind. I didn't want you to be… embarrassed… if you had to make the first move after all your proclamations and decrees against it."

I laughed in spite of myself. "Proclamations and decrees, huh?"

"You
have
been going on about it," Blake said under her breath. "I thought it was like a 'protest too much' kinda thing."

I stopped laughing. My cock was still throbbing, irritated as hell that it wasn't going to get what it wanted. "Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself. And I don't get embarrassed, babe."

"Of course not." It was like a veil was lowered over her face; she seemed to shut down her openness and any honest emotion on cue. "Well, good night. So I'll be seeing you tomorrow?"

"Yes." Disappointment flashed through me as she headed to her room alone, just like I'd instructed. "We have things to do. A wedding to plan. Venues to book. Dresses to buy."

"Dresses? As in my wedding dress?" Blake whirled back toward me, her hair swinging, emitting that scent that made me stiffen even further.
Fuck.
I was going to have to go back to my room and jerk off
again
.

Her eyes were sparkling with excitement, and I noticed, much to my chagrin, that this pleased me a great deal.