“It would be a comfortable flight on your husband’s private jet,” I pointed out.
Harper sighed. “I’d love to come there, but I don’t get as much time with Blake as I’d like, and he’s home until the Senate is back in session. I kind of miss the ocean. When we were growing up, I never missed the water. But now the lack of water is the only thing I don’t like about Colorado. What people consider lakes here are actually ponds.”
I smiled because I knew exactly what she meant. “Well, the ocean is here waiting for you when you’re ready.”
“I’ll get there eventually, especially if you’re still there. I need to meet this boyfriend of yours.”
“Greg isn’t exactly my boyfriend,” I denied. “Not at the moment, anyway.”
“He’s still seeing other people?” Harper asked, sounding confused.
Actually, I was pretty sure Greg was still fucking other people. He wasn’t really the faithful type. “Yes.”
“Are you?” Harper questioned.
I hesitated, wondering if being so damn attracted to her husband’s twin brother would count as some kind of infidelity. “I’m not seeing anybody else.”
“If he hasn’t seen you for the treasure you are, then maybe he isn’t good enough for you,” Harper said thoughtfully. “Are you certain that Marcus isn’t right about this guy?”
I rolled my eyes. “Marcus isn’t right about everything, and he has no business getting involved in who I date, Harper. It’s annoying.”
“I think that maybe you like Marcus,” she answered. “You spent a lot of time with him while you were recovering. You said he was nice to you.”
“I don’t like him,” I insisted. “And he was nice to me then. But he cheats at playing chess,” I grumbled.
Harper laughed out loud. “How do you cheat at chess? Oh my God, did he actually beat you?”
“I think he switched pieces around when I wasn’t looking,” I informed her, knowing I was fibbing. Marcus had won fair and square, but I was kind of a sore loser when it came to chess games.
“He did win!” Harper exclaimed, sounding delighted.
“Don’t sound so happy about it.”
“You need a man who will challenge you once in a while,” she declared. “You’re too intelligent to date an ignorant male.”
“Speaking of perfect men, how is Blake?” I asked, needing to change the subject. I pretty much told Harper everything, but because Marcus was her brother-in-law, I didn’t feel comfortable spilling my guts about how much Marcus confused me.
“He’s amazing,” Harper said with a happy sigh. “Sometimes it’s hard to believe that he’s back in my life, and I’m married to him.”
“Believe it. I was your maid of honor. I saw it happen.”
“I know. But it still seems surreal. I just wish you and our brothers could find the same kind of happiness. Mason has gotten so cynical, and I’m worried about Jett after what happened with Lisette.”
“I’d still like to bitch slap her,” I confessed. “How do you dump a guy you love just because he had an accident and has a few scars and a limp? The accident hasn’t changed who he is inside.”
“She didn’t love him. I’m glad she’s out of his life,” Harper admitted. “Jett is too good for her. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to make her happy, and she treated him like dirt.”
“Have you heard from him?” I asked, wondering how my youngest brother was getting along. “I haven’t heard from him for a few days.”
“He had to have another minor operation. But I talked to him yesterday, and he sounds okay.”
Harper and I caught up on the rest of the family, finally hanging up because we both had things to do.
I went to the kitchen to put my phone on charge. I’d just connected it when it began to ring.
I checked the caller ID, my heart beginning to speed up as I saw that Greg was the caller. A surge of adrenaline shot through my body, a familiar feeling because I experienced it every time I talked to or saw Gregory Becker.
I took a deep breath and let it out to calm down before I finally answered the phone.
Marcus
It hadn’t been difficult to get tickets to the charity event being held in Miami Beach at some fancy club I’d never been to before. All I’d had to do was cough up the required money for a ticket, and I gained my entrance into the exclusive gathering, the place where Gregory Becker would come through the door momentarily with his date. I wasn’t interested in him at the moment. I was here because Danica was apparently coming here with him tonight.
Obviously, she wasn’t prepared to listen to my advice, so I was going to have to be more assertive and clear about her staying away from Becker.
Goddammit! Why did she have to be so damn stubborn? What hold did Becker have over her? I refused to acknowledge that she might actually like the asshole.
I looked around the ballroom, a venue that was rapidly filling up with guests. I’d grabbed a table that gave me a perfect view of the only entrance to the room, and I’d already tossed back more than one glass of Scotch while I’d been waiting.
George had driven me here, and he’d be waiting for me whenever I left, which I hoped would be soon. The large space was air conditioned, but the humidity was ruthless, and my tuxedo was starting to become uncomfortable as the place started to get overcrowded with guests.
Yeah, I’d attended plenty of these events, but I wasn’t usually attending because I was pissed at a hot redhead who wouldn’t listen to my warnings. I generally had a reason to come to a formal affair. Otherwise, I just sent a check to my charities and they were perfectly happy.
My blood pressure rose as Becker finally strolled through the door, looking just as pretentious as he had the few times we’d met in the past. But my hypertension was being caused by the woman he was manhandling, his arms around Danica’s waist like he fucking owned her.
If anybody owns her, it’s me!
My random thought startled the hell out of me. I wasn’t a possessive kind of guy, and I’d never wanted a woman all to myself. Sure, I had my share of liaisons with women. My sexual appetite had always been healthy. Well, it had been before I went and kissed an angel who made me feel all kinds of bizarre emotions I’d never experienced before.
Really, I didn’t want to own her, right? That was just sick and twisted.
Maybe own wasn’t a good word, because I had no desire to control her other than moving her away from danger. Okay. Yeah. I didn’t want another man touching her either.