Her brother grunted. “I’m offended.”
“Shut up about my weight, you two.” She huffed again and took another bite of her meal. She was full, but half the dish was left. Self-consciously, she eyed it, knowing both men would notice. Still, she couldn’t stuff her face on it, not without wanting to puke. She was far too nervous, and it irritated the hell out of her that James had noticed, not her usually observant brother.
Adrian got to his feet. “I’ll be back in a minute.” To her, he grinned. “I’ll get the waiter over here with the dessert card, sis. That will entice you to eat if nothing else will.”
When he clapped James on the back then headed through the sparse seating in the upscale restaurant, where white linen tablecloths and leather banquettes married hand in hand, she was left alone with the enemy.
Damning her brother’s bladder, she scowled down at the cutlery, then picked up her fork again and began toying with a potato.
“Why don’t you tell your brother what’s really going on?” James asked.
The question could have been snide. But it wasn’t. If a
nything, it was curious.
“What are you talking about?” she immediately replied, dismissing his words with a shake of her head that sent her hair over her shoulder.
“I mean, you’re so tense it’s ridiculous. Be thankful he’s too blind to notice stuff like that otherwise you’d have been interrogated from the start of this meal.”
Too blind? That was how James saw Aidan? Huh.
She always thought Aidan saw far too much.
Still, that didn’t hold her attention for long. She bit off, “The implication being that… what? That’s how you’d have handled me?”
Because that was exactly what she needed. Handling.
James' grin was sly. “You know me well, sugar.”
“Don’t call me sugar,” she snarled, instantly bristling. “I’m not one of your blonde sluts who asks how high when you tell her to jump.”
“Such anger, Hailey,” came the immediate response, but she could feel him eying her up, trying to suss her out like she was a puzzle in need of solving. “If we ever got together, you’d never be able to lie to me. You’re adorably horrible at it,” he told her silkily.
“You’d never be able to handle me if we ever got together, James. Then you’d have to care about someone other than yourself,” Hailey said in a tone that could only be described as sharp.
He cocked a brow. “That’s a little harsh, wouldn’t you say? I care about Aidan, and I care about your parents, and believe it or not, I care about you.”
“You don’t need to care about me. That’s not what I want nor is it why I’m here.”
Almost too quickly James asked, “The reasons for which are…?”
She slashed a hand through the air. “I’m not talking about this with you.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s none of your business,” She snapped, the frustration building.
“What isn’t?”
She blinked, startled to see that Aidan had reappeared, and just in time to hear her last hissed retort. Jesus, she had all the luck today.
“Nothing,” she said with a weary sigh. “Nothing that matters anyway.”
Aidan frowned. “If it matters to you, then it matters to me, sis. You know that.”
“I do, but now isn’t the time.” She shot him a weak smile.
“I was asking Hailey if she’d like to try out the Orion with me, Aidan.” James cleared his throat. “She said yes.”