“Oh, sure, tons of fun.”
An uneasy feeling filled Dylan’s stomach as he listened to the two of them chatting and laughing together. As much as he hated to admit it, he was beginning to understand what his older brother had seen in this woman. She was smart, funny, beautiful, charming. On the surface, she was the complete package.
However, he’d endured too many of her snooty remarks and judgmental opinions to buy her Miss-Cute-and-Lovable act.
“What did he say to you?”
Dylan frowned when he realized Claire was talking to him. “What did who say to me?”
“Chris.” Her voice was soft now, lacking humor. “When he told you he didn’t want to marry me, what was his reason?”
“I already told you. He said you weren’t right for each other.”
“I’m sure he said more than that.”
Dylan hesitated, taking a moment to decide how much loyalty he owed to his brother at this point, if any. He and Chris had been close when they were kids, but over the years they’d drifted apart. These days, his brother felt like a complete stranger to him. Hell, Chris hadn’t even contacted him since he’d taken off to Aruba, except to send a quick text letting Dylan know he’d landed safely.
“He didn’t think you were a good match for him,” he finally revealed.
“And?” she pressed.
“And he mentioned something about you sharing personal details with some of the country-club women.”
A groove dug into her forehead. “Personal details? What kind of—” She gasped, and then her brown eyes darkened with disgust. “Oh my God. Did he dump me because I told a few rich girls about my vibrator?”
The outburst startled both him and Aidan, and damned if Dylan didn’t immediately envision Claire lying naked on a bed holding a sex toy between her legs.
The arousal hit him hard and fast, like an injection of heroin right into the vein. He gulped, trying to banish the dirty images wreaking havoc on his brain, but it was too late. They were branded in there forever.
“Is that it?” Claire demanded, practically glaring at him.
“He didn’t give me specifics,” Dylan said awkwardly.
“Wow. Your brother is really something else. I mean, wow. He asked me to get rid of it, by the way. The vibrator.”
Aidan choked out a laugh. “For real?”
“He said only single women needed them. And you know what? Those women at the club? They all have secret sex toys hidden away too. Apparently their conservative defense-lawyer husbands share Chris’s view on mechanical interference in the bedroom. But I guarantee you none of them owned up to it when they were gossiping about me to their husbands.” Her lips tightened in a thin line. “What else did he say?”
Dylan stifled a sigh. But hell, he was already in this deep. Might as well get it all out in the open. “He may have implied that you were unfaithful.”
Claire’s cheeks hollowed as if she was grinding her teeth together. “He actually said I cheated on him?”
“Not quite. He used the word indiscretion. But again, he didn’t provide any details.” He studied her face. “You don’t seem shocked by that.”
“That’s because I know exactly what he’s referring to.” She must have noticed the way Dylan’s shoulders tensed because she hurried on. “I surprised him at the office one day for lunch and I had a run-in with one of his colleagues. This guy named Pres Maxwell, a total slimebag.”
Maxwell… Dylan recognized the name. That was the same man who’d warned Chris that Claire wasn’t a “good prospect”. He kept that tidbit to himself, though, mostly because he didn’t want to add more fuel to the fire burning in Claire’s eyes.
“Chris had to finish up with a client, so I went to wait for him in the associates’ lounge. Maxwell showed up and started pawing at me.” Scorn dripped from her every word. “I told him to get lost, but he was very persistent. He tried to convince me that all the associates slept with each other’s wives.”
Aidan snorted. “Nice guy.”
“I told Chris about it at lunch, but he brushed it off and insisted Maxwell must have been joking around. But that slimebag was not joking—he definitely wanted to get in my pants.”
“Are you sure you didn’t lead him on in any way?” Dylan regretted the question the moment it slipped out of his mouth, but it was too late to take it back.
In a nanosecond, Claire’s expression went from annoyed to enraged. “Are you serious?”
He quickly tried to backpedal. “I’m just saying, maybe the guy thought you were sending some kind of signal and—”