Billionaire Romance Boxed Set 1(85)
They drop Cassie and Caleb home with the usual goodbyes and love declarations of “We’ll catch up this very night when we work off our hangovers”. Then it’s time to take Sam home.
Sam is pensive beside him.
“Benjamin Franklin for your thoughts.”
She sighs. “They aren’t worth a twenty.”
“Let me guess. You’re thinking that I’m a bigger asshole than I really am.”
“I’m just thinking about my family and why I am the way I am.”
“Funny, I was thinking the same thing too.”
“About my family?” she says in surprise.
“About why you are the way you are.”
“And why am I the way I am, according to the Gospel of St. Brian?” she demands.
“If I give you the extended version, promise not to claw my eyes out?”
She turns away with a flinch. “Who am I kidding? No, I don’t want to hear it. You’re just going to say something that will lower my self-esteem and make me feel all rotten inside.”
That remark strikes him. No, it more than strikes him. It’s like someone has taken a sledgehammer to his kneecaps.
Ow.
“Do I really lower your self-esteem?” He crinkles his brow. That would make him no better than Lori Fox where Sam is concerned.
“Well … you don’t mean to, I’m sure, but the world is just one big farce to you. You don’t care about anyone or anything, or at least … you give the impression that you don’t through some misguided notion that everyone would think you’re the weaker for it. But behind the scenes … ” She shakes her head.
“What?” Woah. This conversation is getting dangerous. Did Lori say something? “What exactly do you mean by ‘behind the scenes’? You make me sound like some sinister puppet master.”
“Maybe you are.” Her big blue eyes turn to regard him. “I’ve been talking to Caleb, and he told me what you did for him in a bizarre, roundabout way that led to this weekend.”
“He’s deluding himself if he thinks I did anything for him.” Brian chortles. Still, his insides are runny all over suddenly, as though they are in a state of melting.
They reach her apartment building. He stops the car in front of it, aware that this is the last time he would be seeing her again. That is, if Caleb and Cassie don’t decide to become an item, in which case they might string him along just to see who Sam will be fucking.
She says, “I guess this is it.”
“I guess it’s your lucky day, being rid of me forever.”
Her features soften.
“Thank you, Brian, for the weekend and … everything else.”
The melting feeling hasn’t left his guts. It’s almost as though he’s coming down with the Spanish flu.
He says quickly, “Yeah, you and I know I was forced into it. Won’t be happening again, you can count on it. You need help with your bags?”
“OK,” she says gratefully.
He carries her suitcase up to her apartment, which is a loft. It’s tastefully decorated with the sort of minimalist furniture he hasn’t expected – all modern white sofa set and chrome and glass tables. He would have pegged her to be the rose-and-other-petals type. It just shows that you can’t typecast anybody.
He can tell that she’s discomfited by him just being in her loft.
“You want some coffee?” she asks.
“No thanks. I’ve got to be heading back.” He’s feeling awkward as well. “Well … goodbye.” He holds out his hand, well aware that he has been naked with this woman and sleeping in the same bed just the night before. It had never mattered to him before, but Sam is … different.#p#分页标题#e#
She takes it. Her palm is soft and firm at the same time, and there’s a slight tremor to it that he can marginally detect.
He says softly, “I’m sorry for being such a putz to you in middle school.”
She gives him a crooked smile. “It’s OK. I’ve forgiven you a long time ago.”
“Well. See you around.”
He has never said ‘see you around’ to any woman before, particularly to a woman he has slept with. But he has never slept with Sam, so maybe it just came out naturally.
“See you around,” she says.
She still hasn’t let go of his hand. There’s a wistfulness in her blue eyes that he hasn’t seen on any woman for a long, long time, and he realizes it’s because he’s never gotten to know a woman long enough to see that kind of look in her eyes.
It’s exactly what he has been consciously or subconsciously trying to avoid for his entire adult life. He doesn’t want to be in a relationship. He knows what happens to relationships. Just look at his parents. They have seemingly everything – money, beauty, pedigree, even health. Everything except compatibility and happiness.