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She squeals and jumps off the bed, wrapping her arms around me as we grin at each other in the mirror.
She’s the best friend I’ve ever had. The only reason I’ve been able to convince myself to stick it out in Connecticut. Introducing her to Elijah is the least I can do.
“Now finish getting ready. Our dates will be here any minute.” I get to my feet and shoo her out of the room. “I still have like twenty minutes of makeup to put on.”
Ben is with a few of the other guys getting ready at their frat house two blocks away—something I’ll have to simultaneously thank him for and apologize profusely for. Some of them are fine, but there are a select few that won’t have any problem pitching business ideas to him all night.
Lani leans against my doorframe, a mischievous smirk on her face. “I’m sure your date is just as happy to see you out of makeup—”
“Lani! I don’t want to be late.”
Her laughter rings down the hallway as she glides to her room.
I glance at myself in the mirror and sigh. A lady’s maid who knew how to truly tame these curls would have been a better use of the budget than the fans.
Tucking an errant red lock back, I remind my desperate heart this is just a dance. My date is an old family friend. And no matter how good we are in bed, our lives don’t sync up.
This isn’t a movie where I’ll magically get the duke.
“This is real life,” I mutter to myself, stabbing the last pin in place.
Chapter Ten
Ben
I’ve known Phoebe since the day she was born. I actually remember that day pretty clearly. Elijah and Liam had plans to go to Seattle for the day with some of their other friends.
While I don’t remember the details around her birth, I remember Elijah opting to stay home. All on his own at like ten years old, he decided his baby sister was worth more than a day trip with his friends.
I thought he was weird—and still think he’s a little weird—but him choosing her over Seattle meant I got to go to Seattle with my brother and his friends. Beau was too little to go, and Mila was a toddler.
There’s no reason for me to remember this, other than I need to remind myself she’s Elijah’s sister. She’s not really mine. I’m standing here planning forever when all she did was ask me to a dance.
But I can barely breathe as I watch Phoebe float into the room, arms linked with her friend Lani.
She looks like she stepped off the set of a Regency movie. Her hair is perfectly done, the style accenting her natural curls, despite how she clearly tried to tame them. But I don’t want her to tame herself. I can hardly go up to her, though, and tell her I want to give up everything I’ve built with my brothers—or maybe I want to go all caveman on her and drag her back to Clover Creek where she’ll be mine forever.
She smiles at me, and my remaining thoughts dissolve. I could never drag her away anywhere. I would follow her to the ends of the earth, though. I’m not sure if it’s healthy, but holy shit, I can’t imagine my life without her.
At the very least, she’s mine for the night and I’m going to soak in every single second of this dance before I bring her back to her room and—
“Lord Steel,” she says, giggling behind a fan, cutting through my fantasy with a reality that’s far better.
The sound of her sweet voice as she does a quick curtsey has me biting the inside of my cheek. I’m not about to correct her and tell her Liam would be the lord and I’d just be an untitled nothing.
“Lady Decker,” I murmur, kissing the back of her hand.
Her cheeks flush, and she takes my arm.
“I hope you’ll save a few dances for me.”
With a coy smile, she fans herself. “You’ll have to check my dance card when we get there.”
I lean down, pressing my lips to her ear and dropping my voice low enough no one else can hear. I’m so close it would have caused a real scandal if this weren’t the twenty-first century. “If you think I’m letting another man touch you…”
I don’t have to finish my sentence. She receives the message loud and clear.
“Ready to dance?”
