Which was probably why I decided to give Nick a pass this time…another in a long line of passes. “Come back in and update me on how it’s going with you joining Manchester United.”
“I really don’t feel up to it,” he whined. “Anyway, you prefer Brazil’s national football team.”
“Not as far as you’re concerned. I love hearing about…”
I saw Morgan’s expression and it hit me—Nick probably had an erection and they were heading off to shag. There was no negotiating with these two.
Nick brightened. “Are you staying at the Waldorf Astoria?”
“Yes.” The hotel was closer to his place than our family estate. I’d hoped to spend some time with him. “I thought we might hang out?”
He smirked. “I’ll hang out with you tomorrow at Mum’s during the party.”
“What party?” I cringed at Mum’s never-ending attempts to introduce me to high society girls. In her mind, her thirty-three-year-old son should be married by now. Didn’t she know she’d put me off marriage…tainted my desire for that level of commitment? I’d witnessed too much heartache in my dad to ever romanticize love.
Not so for my brother, who was always flirting with someone. From the way Nick couldn’t keep his hands off Morgan, I could see he was infatuated with the stunning blonde.
“We really need to go,” he whined again.
“See you later, then.” I let out a sigh of frustration because there was no arguing with him. “Nice to meet you, Morgan.”
She fluttered her eyelashes and I wondered if that ever worked on the weak-minded. From the way my brother was besotted, the answer was clearly yes.
“Phone.” I held out my hand.
“I’ve already asked Morgan to delete the photo,” said Nick.
I glanced back at Daisy. “She’s your ex?”
He nodded. “Have no idea why she came here.”
Not only was he bailing, he was leaving me to deal with his mess.
Great.
“Phone,” I insisted.
Morgan rolled her eyes and handed it over.
With a few swipes, I deleted the photo of Daisy. I didn’t trust these kids. If that photo was released with me in them, it could cause quite the scandal. Still, Daisy seemed like a sweet girl caught up in my brother’s emotional baggage. She looked like the type to go away quietly.
I handed the phone back to Morgan and turned to Nick. “See you tomorrow night. Don’t be late.”
“Oh, I’m staying for the whole show,” he said with a grin.
“Our family is not a show.”
It was a show.
What with my hotheaded Brazilian mum and Nick’s side of the family, the entire evening promised to be full of entertainment—more like a horror show, actually.
Nick waggled his eyebrows. “By the way, thank you for taking care of that.”
“Daisy?”
He nodded. “This is out of character for her.”
“Boring as hell,” muttered Morgan.
“She’s not boring,” said Nick. “She just plays it safe. All. The. Time.”
I ignored that. “Happy birthday, bro.”
“Thanks for being here, Max.” He gave me an affectionate glance before reaching over and shutting the door in my face.
Their car pulled away from the curb.
I swore under my breath.
I’d landed at Heathrow a few hours ago and had raced to check into The Waldorf so I could change and make it here on time. So much for trying to beat the Friday night traffic and be the good brother.
I headed back to Daisy with my game face on. Negotiating with a jilted ex was the last thing I’d had on my agenda for this evening. A nice cold beer had been in my future. A quiet evening fighting jet lag and catching up. Anything but having to deal with this.
“Hi.” I smiled at her warmly. “Nick sends his apologies for leaving.”
She looked surprised. “I think Morgan took a photo of me.”
“Nick had her delete it.”
“He did?”
“I made sure of it.” I gestured to Carl. “Can you wait in the car, please?”
We watched him get comfortable in the driver’s seat.
“Carl’s a bit overzealous, I’m afraid. Your glasses…perhaps I can give you something for them?”
She gave me a thin smile. “You must not visit often? I’ve never met you before.”
I visited frequently—every few months, at least. But Nick had kept Daisy a secret from me, even though they apparently had been living together. It made me wonder why he’d not introduced us. My mother would certainly have mentioned her.
She seemed nice enough for our family.
I glanced at my watch. There was enough time to get back to the hotel and put in a few hours of work.
“I’m so embarrassed,” Daisy said softly.
“No one saw.”
“Everyone saw.”
Not that it mattered now, but I still decided to ask. “Why did you come here?”
“I needed to talk with Nick.”
“About?” I suddenly realized she might be a little more challenging to handle. “Are you wanting money?”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m just trying to figure out why you’re following my brother.”
She let out an irritated sigh. “Well, it’s been fun, Max, but I think I’ll call it a night.”
“How are you getting home?”
“Same way I got here.”
“By Tube?”
She looked over at a blue Mini Cooper parked on the curb across the street. “My car’s over there.”
“Let me give you a ride home. Can you even drive without your glasses?”
“Probably not. Now, if you’re quite finished accosting young women…”
Quite the sucker punch after I’d been the only who’d been decent to her. Daisy had this annoyingly cute pouty mouth. I wanted to give it a good hard kiss as punishment for her attitude toward me.
“Daisy, may I advise you to stop finding yourself in the same place as my brother. These things can get out of hand.”
She gave me a what the fuck look that may have scorched a lesser man, and pulled her broken glasses out of her purse.
When she put them on, I pointed at the spider-webbed lenses. “Surely you can’t see through those?”
She pivoted away from me and headed off.
And then walked right into a lamppost, smashing her face against the pole.
“Can I get you anything else?” asked Max.
He sat beside me in the back of his SUV, throwing glances of quiet contempt my way—unless I was misreading his broodiness.
“I’m fine, thank you.” The driver had found a cold pack in their first aid kit and it was making my face numb.
The humiliation was endless.
I should never have had the brief thought earlier, after seeing my boyfriend at Isobel’s with Morgan Hawtry, that things couldn’t get any worse.
Things had gone downhill so fast I was still spiraling. Having to be driven home by Nick’s arrogant brother had rounded out the evening’s fuckery quite nicely.
Nick had mentioned he had a Brazilian half brother. Though he’d not shared how dreamy he was. This man was so hot I could feel the burn coming off him. His foreign accent was doing strange things to me. Making me all flustered. Or maybe it was because Max had asked the driver to turn the heat all the way up.