Page 112 of The Bet
But at the fairground, his body had been so close to hers, and when he had his arms around her, he’d been so close she could feel his hot breath. He’d made shivers dance along her spine. She had replayed that moment over and over on her ride home, stopping off only for a short while to take Jacob back, and even when talking to Savannah, her whole mind had been on Xavier, waiting for her in the car.
No, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to show him how to do the reports now. She felt foolish, as if she’d led him on, and then backtracked. She wasn’t going to ask him in. Because the more she thought about it the more she talked herself out of it. Because men like Xavier moved too fast, and girls like her weren’t sure.
“You know what, Laronde? “I think maybe you can show me that stuff another time.”
He was backing out, too?
She shrugged. “It’s no big a deal. Those charts are easy enough, once you get the hang of them.”
“I’m not as clever as you.”
The man who couldn’t stop boasting about his accomplishments was all of a sudden feeling insecure?
“That’s not true,” she said, trying to bolster him. “You drive a Ferrari, and have a gorgeous place in Tribeca. You and Tobias are the epitome of success.”
“Yeah, well, some people would beg to differ. Tobias mostly.”
She wondered if this was about the other day, when he’d mentioned that Tobias had been angry.
“Big brothers can be a pain in the butt, sometimes.”
He placed his hand on the back of his neck, then ruffled up the hair at the base. She noticed he did that sometimes.
“Do you have a big pain-in-the-ass brother?” he asked.
“No. I have a younger brother, though, and he’s told me often enough that I’m a pain in the butt.” But, she wasn’t the one who had to live in the shadows of an older, so blatantly successful, superstar brother. She’d seen the way everyone had swarmed around Tobias at the wedding, and at his birthday party. She had a feeling that even if it hadn’t been his birthday or his wedding, people still would have flocked to Tobias, somehow drawn to him. There was something magnetic about success, wealth, and power, the trifecta which many coveted, but few possessed.
It made her feel for Xavier.
“What was it about?” she asked, her voice a whisper. “The disagreement between you both?”
They were still hovering around in the hallway, neither having taken a step towards the couch or the kitchen. She didn’t want to move, and was hesitant to suggest that he sit down, for fear that he might decide to leave altogether, call it a night and tell her he’d speak to her tomorrow.
She was alone, and she didn’t want him to go.
“Nothing of any significance and nothing that is worth talking about.”
He lifted his head, and gave her the kind of forced smile that was so put so fabricated it looked like it needed scaffolding to keep it in place. She always rooted for the underdog and right now, even though she didn’t have all the facts, Xavier seemed like the biggest underdog of them all.
“Do you want to talk about it? Talking helps.”
“Nothing much to say. He was in a foul mood when he showed up.”
“Why was he mad?”
She listened while Xavier explained the exchange between the brothers, and about Tobias being angry about his former friend and confidante, someone called Matthias Rust.
“What happened with Matthias?”
“They had a falling out.”
“Over what?”
“I have no idea, and each time I try to ask him, I don’t get a proper answer. I’ve asked him plenty of times.”
“That’s not fair, him taking it out on you like that. If you don’t know what Matthias did, it’s hardly your fault.”
“He’s going through some major life changes, what with getting married, and the baby. I don’t know about the deal with Hennessy now. It might take a while before I can get started on that deal. So I won’t be able to give you extra hours.”
