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“Oh, really?” I deadpanned.
“Not details about Merritt,” he corrected. “You’ve always respected that privacy.”
I shrugged. “I was just curious.”
“You’re lying,” he shot back immediately. “Now, tell me what’s going on, or else I’m going to send Sumner to China for a month on an all-expenses-paid vacation.”
“It’s one of my favorite things to do,” I confessed. “So, I was just asking.”
“You mean that it’s one of your favorite things to do with Aelix,” he remarked. “Don’t bullshit me, Cotter. I’m not in the mood after having spent an eternity locked in the elevator with your assistant.”
“I saw her having lunch with a coworker yesterday, and…I didn’t particularly care for the cozy picture that they painted,” I admitted.
Cutter leaned back in his seat. “So, the mighty have fallen,” he smirked.
“Don’t be an asshole,” I scowled.
“So, what’s the problem?” he asked, brushing off my insult. “Tell her how you feel, get married, then live happily ever after.”
“I can’t tell her how I feel because I haven’t processed how I feel yet,” I explained. “This is the first time that I’ve ever had feelings like this for a woman, so I’m not trying to jump the gun.”
“What’s there to process?” he asked. “There’s only one reason that a man ever feels jealousy, Cotter. I mean, what all were they doing?”
“Having lunch,” I answered.
“And?”
“That’s it. Just having lunch.”
“You got caught up in your feelings because she was simply having lunch with someone?” he asked incredulously.
“Not someone,” I corrected. “Another man.”
“A coworker,” he pointed out. “Something that she probably does all the damn time.”
“Yeah, but I’ve never seen it before,” I replied.
Cutter eyed me. “Why were they having lunch?”
“They’d just won a big case that morning, so they were celebrating,” I answered.
My brother arched a brow. “So, let me get this straight…you saw Aelix having a celebratory lunch with a coworker in the middle of the day, and it bothered you enough that you’re still bothered by it?”
I nodded. “That about sums it up.”
“Yeah, sounds like love to me,” he quipped. “Seriously, Cotter. No guy gets that upset if it’s not.”
“Do you ever feel jealous over Merritt?”
“Not sure if jealousy is the right word,” he mused. “People get jealous over things that they covet, so that doesn’t fit my narrative because Merritt belongs to me. I’d say that I’m protective or…maybe territorial when it comes to her. While I trust her explicitly, I like to make it known to whatever man that comes near her that she’s spoken for. Less court dates that way.”
“I just don’t see this ending well if Aelix doesn’t return my feelings,” I told him honestly.
“Never been dumped before?” he snorted like a dick.
“I’m just not sure if I’ll be…agreeable to her ending things if she doesn’t feel the same way,” I clarified.
“That’s doesn’t sound ominous at all,” he drawled out, still being a dick.
