“I’m sorry, Lucy.” The words felt inadequate, but he needed to say them. “I’m a fool for leaving the intercom on. I didn’t realize. We have a different system in our New York office.” And yeah, now he sounded like an ass making excuses. “If I’d known Finn was still in the office . . . ” He took the tie to her wrap dress from her hands and looped it through the fabric. “I would have stopped you.”
“I should have checked for him.” She looked up at him with a stricken expression. “I was so determined to march in here and give you a . . . a . . . a—”
“A fireworks show?” He tied a bow at her waist.
“Yes.” She nodded but didn’t look away. Her brow furrowed as if she was stuck in a maze and couldn’t find her way out. But she’d stopped trembling. “But now my brother knows. I’d planned to talk to him. Once I knew for sure what this was. Us. Together. That’s when I wanted to tell him.”
Jared exhaled. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and share the relief rushing through him. He’d been worried she would feel she couldn’t face her brother again. He’d thought she would blame him for accidentally leaving the monitor on.
He cupped her cheeks in his palms. “Lucy, your brother knew from the beginning. I assumed you understood that. I would never try to date my best friend’s sister behind his back.”
“Finn knows?” she murmured.
He massaged his fingers into her hairline, but the wide-eyed, shocked expression didn’t fade. “Philip Ryder?” he said. “The online dating profile? That was his idea.”
“What?” She stepped back, pulling free from his hold.
Jared nodded. “We have his blessing.”
“His blessing?” Her blue eyes narrowed. “His—”
“Go talk to him,” he said firmly. “Order take-out. I don’t know how long this DeVilla meeting will take. Finn royally screwed this deal, so I can’t promise I’ll be free for dinner anytime soon. But you guys go ahead and order something. The Chinese delivery place isn’t bad. Your brother will want to wait around and see how it turns out. Trust me. So go talk to him.”
“I will.” She walked over to the desk and picked up the unicorn. “But we’re going to need multiple orders of eggrolls because someone has a lot of explaining to do.”
Shit.
But he had another crisis demanding his attention right now thanks to Finn. His friend would have to deal with Lucy’s rage—there was no other word for what was brewing in her beautiful blue eyes—alone.
“Lucy,” he called after her. “Your brother was just looking out for you.”
“We’ll see about that,” she shot back.
He shook his head and turned to his desk. Tonight’s date was hovering close to disaster territory. But before he could go after Lucy and fix it, he needed to salvage the DeVilla deal.
Chapter 20
“This is all your fault.” Lucy spoke in a clear voice. Firm, yet not overly emotional. Granted this was her third attempt.
And I’m still talking to a stuffed, rainbow-haired unicorn outside my brother’s office.
“Luc?” Finn’s deep voice called through the door to his corner suite. “I got Jared’s text and ordered Chinese. Are you ready to come inside and talk?”
“No.” This time, her voice wavered. She closed her eyes and hugged the stuffed animal tighter.
She heard the click of the doorknob turning. She raised one eyelid and peeked at him. He wore a blue button-down shirt, but he’d ditched the tie and jacket. In one hand, he held his cell. The other was in his pocket. He offered a reassuring smile.
I know that grin, she thought.
He’d given her that same Everything-Is-A-Okay grin when she’d lost the homecoming queen race. And again when she’d broken up with her first serious boyfriend in high school.
But not when Barrett left. He hadn’t smiled then.
Because in the days and weeks after her carefully planned future moved to Boston with someone else, nothing had been remotely okay.
“Food’s here,” he said. “I’ll be right back.” Then he brushed past her and headed for the reception area.
Everything is not okay! Not this time!