Page 12 of Bound To Be Mine

“He’s not really a fashion person,” Cleo agreed. “He’s never been.”

“He looks like he knows a little something about fashion,” I said. “He could be a model.”

Cleo gave me a look. I realized I sounded like a fan girl but I had eyeballs. Anyone could see he was attractive.

“He is hot,” I admitted. “But hot doesn’t make up for that personality.”

Cleo laughed. “That’s Briggs. All the packaging, none of the warmth.”

Callum poured us each a glass of wine from the very expensive bottle. “To Briggs Blackwell and his immovable hair.”

We all drank.

“I hope you’re going to give us a chance to fix this,” Callum said. “The deal is good. We’ll talk to Adrian tomorrow when we go see the baby.”

“Guys, I don’t know if this is going to work,” I said. “I can’t work with a man like that. He sure doesn’t want to work with me.”

“We want to work with you,” Cleo said. “It’s a good plan. A great arrangement. Briggs will get onboard. Don’t take anything he says too seriously.”

“He was a jerk, but I hope you know the rest of the family is not like that,” Callum said. “He’s uptight, but the stick up his ass isn’t usually so obvious.”

“I’ve had a few hours to process,” I said. “The sting has subsided. I’m pissed, but it’s fine. He can think whatever he wants about me.”

The food arrived a few minutes later. We ordered the special, lobster tail with steamed veggies and a pasta dish. It was decadent and exactly what I needed after the shitty afternoon.

We were all a little buzzed and probably not using our best manners. The wine was flowing. The food was good. Almost enough to make up for the horrible afternoon.

“You ever think how funny it is that we’re building a wedding brand and none of us are married?” Callum asked. “None of us have ever had a wedding.”

“Wedding,” I said with a laugh. “None of us have the time to even date. We’re selling love and we don’t know the first thing about it.”

“I read romance novels,” Cleo offered. “I think that counts.”

“Maybe it’s better for the brand,” Callum said thoughtfully. “We have no personal bias.”

“We have no personal experience,” I corrected.

“I’ve been to plenty of weddings,” Cleo said.

“As a guest. And for me, I’m there in a professional capacity, watching other people do the thing.” I set down my fork. “I love weddings. I have planned a hundred of them. I am always the one making sure everyone else’s day is perfect, and I will go home tonight to a very nice hotel room, alone, and order champagne from room service. With strawberries because I’m feeling like I need something fruity. And maybe I’ll take advantage of the jacuzzi tub.”

“Always the wedding planner, never the bride,” Callum said.

“You’ll get there,” Cleo said. “We all will.”

“I don’t have time to go on a bad date, let alone meet someone worth marrying.” I finished my wine and waved my glass to get Callum to give me a refill.

“I dated someone for four months last year,” Cleo offered.

I wrinkled my nose. “Are you talking about Jared?”

“Jarron,” she corrected.

“Ugh, that’s so much worse,” I said. “Cleo, you had four dates with him in four months. That’s not dating.”

“He was a musician. He was on the road a lot.” She smiled. “We made the most of the time we had together.”

I rolled my eyes. “Do you even remember what he looked like?”