My phone started ringing, and I jumped from surprise. I checked the caller ID, expecting it to be Adam, but it was from a number I didn’t recognize.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Liz, this is Zach. I was hoping you’d have time this afternoon for an early dinner.”
It had already been a day since I’d been with Adam, and I didn’t know what to say. I’d been hoping Adam would call and ask me to dinner.
“I don’t know. I might have other plans,” I said.
“If you’re waiting for Adam to call, don’t bother. He’s out tonight with friends.”
I wondered how he knew what I was thinking.
“Who said I was waiting for Adam to call?” I asked.
“Just a hunch. Come out to dinner. I’d like to get to know you a little better now that we’re siblings,” he said, and then he clicked off the phone.
That was quite forward of him. It didn’t so much feel like I was being asked, as it did like I was being told. Still, his professional and confident attitude had me curious about what he wanted to discuss.
I didn’t take long getting ready, and just before I could finish there was a knock at the door; a driver was ready to collect me. I grabbed the remainder of my things and trotted off for the ride.
My assumptions had been correct, and we pulled up to a lavish restaurant downtown. I had chosen to wear a slinky black dress, and I knew I looked good in it. I was already getting a few glances from some of the older men escorting their significant others.
The host showed me directly to a table where Zach was already waiting with a bottle of chilling champagne chilling.
“So, what’s the occa—”
“I guess you don’t like to take people’s advice,” he said.
I had a feeling this would be a long night, so I plucked my already full champagne glass from the table and sipped from it.
“What are you accusing me of?” I wondered.
“You slept with him. I can tell,” he said. He hadn’t yet made eye contact with me since I’d sat down. He continued to stare out the window.
“And what of it?” I asked. “I’m not some prize to be claimed.”
He turned to me with the same piercing green eyes I remembered from the other day.
“I understand that, but do you think he does?” he asked. Then he gestured for me to look out the window.
I rolled my eyes at his ridiculous question but turned to humor him. I was shocked by what I saw. Adam was sitting across the street at a nearby café. I couldn’t make out who he was with, but I could tell it was another woman. My heart sank as I realized that I was just another one of his conquests.
“He is a shrewd businessman. Part of the reason the company has expanded so quickly the last few years is because of his confident ability to close deals that favor us. I assume that he took you out for some extreme sport, and while your heart was beating hard he took advantage. That’s the man he is,” Zach said.
I slumped in my chair and finished off the champagne in my glass. As much as I wanted to walk across the street and slap Adam in the face, I knew it would be a futile gesture. It was not as though we were an item.
“You’ve made your point,” I said. “Did you call me here to gloat?”
“Far from it,” he replied.
“Then what are we here for?” I asked.
“I wanted to tell you the truth about what happened almost a year ago to the day,” he said.
I pulled the bottle from the ice and poured another glass.
“From what I’ve heard, he stole your fiancée. Is there really much more to it?”
“A little,” he said.
“Let’s hear it then,” I said.
“Yes, he stole her heart from me, but when she thought he would always be there, he showed his true self. We were so much in love, but I couldn’t reconcile our relationship. She started abusing drugs, and I tried to help her, but she wouldn’t have it.”
“Where is she now?” I asked.
He went silent and finished his drink.
“I think I’ll have more of that champagne,” he said.
I wanted to reach out and take away all his pain. A smirk played at the edges of his mouth—not because he was happy, but because he didn’t want to appear sad.
“I’m not looking for sympathy. I’m just trying to help you understand the man he is,” Zach said.
“Thank you,” I said.
“It’s no problem. I just didn’t want to see another woman go through the same—”
“No. Not for the warning,” I said. “Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me the truth.”
He smiled. It was a genuine smile I knew he had been hiding for quite a long time.
We ate in comfortable silence. I struggled with myself about Zach. He was almost more gorgeous than his brother. He had an aura about him that felt so masculine and stoic. Unlike Adam, Zach seemed like the type of man who would hold you when you were sad, the type of man to be there when you needed him most. I needed that now more than ever. I had given in to my lustful desires, and they had betrayed me.