And then I spotted Max.
He grinned as he sped up and strode toward us.
Then he frowned when he saw me on Colton’s arm, confusion coming over his expression.
My heart was beating hard against my chest. If James turned around and saw Max...
Max slowed his steps, taking in all four of us.
His eyes widened ever so slightly, and I caught the moment where he figured out what was going on. He veered off into a women’s clothing shop.
I nearly sagged with relief.
“Brooklyn?” James prompted.
“There’s a lounge over there,” I said and pointed in the opposite direction of the clothing shop. “It should be quiet this time of day.”
I gave Brooklyn a quick hug. “Don’t say a thing,” I whispered in her ear. “We’ll talk later.”
“Tell—” she began.
“Shhh!” I cautioned.
She swallowed and gave me a slight nod.
“Can we hit the pool?” I asked Colton.
“Love to,” he told me. He switched his gaze from Brooklyn to me and mustered up a smile. “Let’s go buy you that new suit first.” His nod to the clothing store told me he’d seen Max, just like I had.
“Perfect,” I said. “See you two later.”
I hated to leave Brooklyn on her own with James, but I had to get Colton out of there, and I had to trade him in for Max before things got any worse.
We found Max quickly.
“What happened?” he asked.
“James is here,” I said.
“I got that,” Max said. “Does he know anything?”
“No so far.” So far, I was the bad guy. I was still miffed about that. More than miffed, really—talk about coming right out of the blue.
“What are you going to do?” Max asked Colton.
Colton glanced back over his shoulder, but Brooklyn and James had disappeared around the corner.
“This is more about what Brooklyn’s going to do,” Colton said.
“I told him you were Colton,” I said to Max. Then I thought about the phraseology for a second. “Or that Colton was you. You know what I mean. I didn’t know how else to explain him.”
“Is Brooklyn going to tell him the truth?” Max asked.
“No,” I said.
“Maybe,” Colton said.
“No,” I repeated. “Not yet. I told her to keep quiet for now.”
“Of course you did,” Colton said.
“She’s not ready,” I told him, hoping it was true.
“It has to be on her own time,” Max said.
Colton looked like he wanted to argue. But then the fight seemed to go out of him. “In that case, Layla, we should get her stuff into your room.”
I had to give him credit for a very good idea.
“There’s only one bed in Layla’s room,” Max pointed out.
“We’ll tell James there was a sale.” I knew he wouldn’t be overly shocked that Brooklyn and I would share a king-size bed. We’d done it before.
“You better slip her a key,” Max said to me.
“I can do that.”
“And then...” Max said.
“And then,” Colton said with a sigh of resignation, “we wait. It’s up to her.”
“You bet it’s up to her,” I said.
“Layla.” Colton sounded like he was summoning patience. “I want what’s best for Brooklyn.”
“No, I want what’s best for Brooklyn,” I countered.
Colton shook his head. “Difference is, I want Brooklyn to be happy. You want James to be happy.”
“That’s not fair.”
Colton’s feelings for Brooklyn couldn’t hold a candle to mine.
For a second, my reaction gave me pause. I was forced to wonder about James’s tirade. Was there a grain of truth in his accusations? Was it possible I’d hampered their relationship all this time?
Was it my fault she wasn’t sure of her feelings?
“I love her,” Colton said.
“You barely know her,” I said.
“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” Max interjected.
Max was right, but I couldn’t back off, especially if I was partly to blame.
“What happens in a year?” I asked Colton. “Or a month? Or a week? What happens when you lose interest in her?”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“It’s impossible for you to know what’s going to happen. Brooklyn isn’t the woman you’ve met here. She’s on vacation. She’s going through a thing. The real Brooklyn is completely different. She has foibles. She has flaws.”
“She squeezes the toothpaste in the middle?” Colton asked with sarcasm.
“She’s addicted to pistachio nuts. She binge-watches fashion TV. She refuses to fill her car up with gas.”
Both Colton and Max blinked at me as if I’d forgotten my own name.
“And a whole bunch of other things,” I said. “Things that James knows about and accepts and loves.”
“I’m not giving Brooklyn up,” Colton said. “But if she wants to give me up, I’ll step aside.”
I didn’t believe him.
“I’ll step aside without a fight. In fact, I’ll back off right now. I’ll make myself scarce for the day or a couple days, whatever it takes.” He started to nod. “She should spend some time with James. That’s the only way she’ll know for sure.”
I agreed with him. What’s more, the offer seemed too good to be true.
“Her engagement ring is in the safe in my room,” Colton said. “Let’s go get it, and move her things.”
“You’d really do that?” I asked him.
I was primed to dislike him. I preferred not to like him. But even I had to admit this was an honorable thing to do.
“I’m doing it,” he said.
Max gave me an I-told-you-so look.
I couldn’t say I exactly blamed him. Colton was busy validating the arguments Max had been making all along—that Colton wasn’t despicable.
He was still wrong for Brooklyn. But maybe, hopefully, he’d meet a nice woman in the future.
I could wish him well somewhere that was not with me and my friends and family. I could do that.
Nine
It was hours before I got Brooklyn alone.
We were at the Triple Palm Café in the hotel atrium and the sun was going down.
“How are you feeling?” I asked her, leaning in as James left the restaurant to talk to the front desk about a room.
He’d been terse with me since I’d joined them fifteen minutes ago. I knew he wanted me to leave them alone, but I couldn’t stay completely away. There was way too much at risk.
Brooklyn’s happy expression faded as James walked away. She looked completely miserable. “I’m more confused than ever.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I didn’t exactly know what she meant. I hoped it was a good thing. I hoped seeing James had reminded her of what they had together.
“Confused how?” I asked.
“James is...you know, he’s James. He’s sweet and patient, and he’s always so good to me.”
Sweet was debatable in my books after this morning. But I didn’t disagree. I didn’t want to interrupt her flow.
“I know what he wants, and I know where we’re going, and I can still see our future together so clearly.”
I nodded.
“But, Colton.” She gave a sigh. “He’s...”
I waited.
She seemed to be searching for the right word.
“New?” I prompted.
“Exciting, fun, exhilarating.”
“He’s got a lot of money to throw around,” I said.
I still thought it was an uneve
n playing field tilted toward Colton.
Brooklyn looked like she was disappointed in me. Well, join the club. “You know it’s not just that,” she said.
“Can I ask...” I wasn’t sure I was ready to take the plunge. But my gut told me it was all-or-nothing time.
Brooklyn waved a hand that said caution should go well and truly to the wind. “Ask away.”
“Do you know how Colton feels about you? I mean do you really, honestly know? People aren’t always what they seem.”
I told myself I wasn’t betraying Colton by questioning his motives and his morals. It was a legitimate question, a real concern. He trotted around the country, maybe around the globe for all I knew, romancing a huge variety of different women.
From what I’d seen of him online, he was active in city after city, at event after event. I’d counted no less than a dozen different women on his arm in the past couple of years. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who was in it for the long haul.
“I’m not looking for a guarantee from Colton,” Brooklyn said.
“If it wasn’t for Colton, would you be giving up on James?”
Brooklyn had to think about that one.
“Maybe,” she said. “I don’t know. Maybe not.”
“So—at least in some ways—you’re pinning your future on Colton.”
“I’m not.”
“Come on, Brooklyn. This is me.”
“Okay, maybe I am, in some ways. I want to be with him. I really want to be with him.”
“I’d so hate to see you make a mistake. After this first blush of lust—”
She looked genuinely insulted. “It’s not lust.”
“Okay. I’m sorry. Infatuation then. But after the first blush wears off, you could be left with nothing. You might spend the rest of your life regretting your choice. Can you tell me right here, right now, with one hundred percent certainty that you’re positive you won’t regret giving James up, giving up your life, your wonderful, incredible life together? Can you?”
Brooklyn sat back in her chair. “Nothing is one hundred percent.”
“Lots of things are one hundred percent.”
We both fell silent.
“What about tonight?” I asked.
“What about it?”
“James is getting a room.”
Brooklyn didn’t seem to comprehend.
“For the two of you,” I said. “To sleep in. Together.”
“We don’t need to have sex.”
I tried not to spend much time—any time at all, really—thinking about my brother’s sex life. But this was a pretty obvious problem.
“You don’t think he might expect it?” I asked.
Again, Brooklyn wasn’t keeping up with the implications.
She looked at me blankly.
“You can’t—” I realized my voice was getting loud and I lowered it. “You can’t jump from sleeping with Colton to sleeping with James like—” I snapped my fingers “—that. I mean, I don’t mean to get all judgey or anything.”
Brooklyn reared back. “I’m not sleeping with Colton.”
I stilled. I mentally backtracked over the past few days. “What?”
“You thought I was sleeping with Colton?”
I didn’t know what to say. I’d been sleeping with Max, and I’d just assumed that Brooklyn and Colton were also burning up the sheets.
“Thanks a ton,” Brooklyn said.
“I’m sorry. I mean, you’ve clearly been...”
I wasn’t exactly sure how to phrase it. They thought they were falling for each other, romantically obviously. And wouldn’t that normally include sex?
Apparently not. My opinion of Colton went up another notch.
“I’m not cheating on James,” Brooklyn said.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated. There wasn’t much more I could do but apologize.
“Would you cheat on your fiancé?” she asked.
“I’ve never had a fiancé.”
“Well, you wouldn’t. I know you wouldn’t. And I wouldn’t, either.”
“I don’t think I would.”
For some reason I pictured Max. I knew there was no way in the world I’d ever cheat on Max, engaged or not.
Not that we’d ever be engaged. Not that we were even truly dating. But while I was sleeping with him, there’s no way I’d have any interest whatsoever in another man.
I gave myself a moment to think that through.
“So you’re deciding this without even sleeping with Colton?”
“There’s no other way,” Brooklyn said.
I almost asked her if she wanted to sleep with Colton, but then I realized that wouldn’t do anything for James’s side in this.
Brooklyn had to want to sleep with Colton. She had to be dying to sleep with Colton. That is, if she felt at all about Colton like I did about Max.
“You know James so much better,” I said, instead.
“You’re right.”
I caught sight of James coming back down the path toward the café.
He had a glare for me that clearly said “Back off.”
“Here he comes,” I told Brooklyn.
She swallowed. “Can we order a drink?”
“Do you think it will help?”
“I don’t think it will hurt.”
“I better not stay,” I said.
James pulled his chair back to sit down, his attention on Brooklyn to the exclusion of me. “These prices are outrageous.”
“We’re lucky we got a sale,” I said, sticking with my story.
“There weren’t any discounted rooms available today,” he said, looking my way, then he looked irritated.
“Did you book something?” I asked, ignoring his attitude.
“Just for one night.” He reached out and took Brooklyn’s hand. “We need to go home tomorrow. Your mom’s antsy about the dress and the cake, and there are still details to work out about the rehearsal dinner. I told them lobster and filet, but you need to look at the menu.”
“Do they have the coconut-cream pie?” Brooklyn asked.
“I’m sure they’ll make it available if that’s what you want. I had to confirm the violet arrangement for the centerpieces.”
Brooklyn smiled. “That was my favorite.”
He gave her a kiss on the hand. “I know it was your favorite. I want everything to be your favorite. And for that, you need to come home.”
James slid his gaze to me. “Layla can always stay a couple of days on her own if it’s that important to her.”
“It’s not Layla’s fault,” Brooklyn said.
“You don’t need to defend her.”
Brooklyn looked confused. “I’m only telling—”
“There’s no reason for me to stay,” I interrupted.
Brooklyn gazed into James’s eyes.
After a moment, she looked down at their clasped hands. His were strong and wide. Hers sparkled with the diamond ring.
She tipped up her chin.
She squared her shoulders.
A bird swooped and chirped from the tree above us, joined by three of its friends.
I found myself holding my breath.
“Okay,” Brooklyn said in a hollow voice. “We can catch a flight in the morning.”
James had his phone out in an instant to book with the airline.
I was filled with relief.
But a split second later, I thought of Max, and my relief turned to disappointment. I told myself to buck up. I’d gotten exactly what I’d wanted, what I’d been fighting for, for days now.
My fling with Max might have been pretty great. It might have been fantastic. But it was always going to be temporary. It was always going to end exactly this way—with me leaving and him movi
ng on to the next hotel in the next city with the next woman.
Self-pity wasn’t going to change a thing.
* * *
“Congratulations on your success,” Max said. His tone was considerably less than sincere.
“I’m not going to apologize for being right,” I told him.
After leaving Brooklyn and James, I’d come straight to Max’s suite, finding Colton there, as well.
I hadn’t wanted to say anything to Colton about Brooklyn’s decision. But my expression must have tipped him off.
He guessed, and I couldn’t lie.
“You’re not right,” Colton said to me. “And neither is Brooklyn.” His voice was laced with a steely determination that made me nervous.
I knew he’d promised to let her decide. But right now he didn’t look like a guy who was about to give up the fight.
“You said it was Brooklyn’s call,” I reminded him, putting an edge into my own tone.
“Is she at least going to talk to me?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” I didn’t.
When I’d walked into Max’s suite, I was operating on the assumption that Brooklyn would talk to Colton directly. But thinking it through now, I wasn’t sure how that could happen with James by her side. And my brother didn’t show any signs of leaving his fiancée’s side before he got her on that plane tomorrow morning.
I was torn. Part of me couldn’t help but sympathize with Colton. In his shoes, I’d sure want a final conversation with Brooklyn. On the other hand, judging by the expression on his face, if he got the chance he might try to change her mind.
I couldn’t imagine how hard that would be on Brooklyn. I didn’t even want to speculate about whether it might work. It was better for everyone if Colton didn’t get the chance.
“James got them a room,” I said.
Colton’s jaw went hard. He swore.
Max shook his head, looking disappointed.
Colton marched for the door.
I didn’t like where this was going. “You won’t—”
He shot me a hard look, and I closed my mouth.
“Break my word?” he asked. “No, Layla. I’m not going to break my word. This is Brooklyn’s decision. I can’t force her to give me a real shot.”
The Twin Switch (Millionaires Legacy Book 13; Gambling Men) Page 15
