“I mean, that’s a harsh word. It was an amateur sexual film,” she said. “Or something like that. There was no butt stuff.”
I whipped the phone away from my ear and glared at in disgust. Was this even my sister? What the hell had gotten into her? Kara had always been on the selfish side, but to do this? “Kara. Kara, what the fuck have you done?”
“Don’t be such a prude. It was two consenting adults and a camera crew. It wasn’t like—”
“Is this a joke?”
“No. Look, I think I’ve found my new calling,” she said. “I’m really good at it.”
“I’m going to be sick.”
“Grow up, Hazel. Plenty of people do porn. It’s a natural thing. We were all tested and clean, and I’m totally on the pill, so it’s safe.”
How had my sister gone from a long-term boyfriend to porn? It didn’t compute. “Kara. You can’t stay at the house.”
“I’ll pay rent,” she said. “I’m going to have plenty of money now. But I was wondering if you’d be OK with me filming in the—”
“Absolutely not,” I thundered, and this time, I didn’t care which crotchety old dude caught sight of me. “If you’re going to do that, you do it somewhere else. And you don’t tell Dad. It will break his heart.” I hung up on her, breathing like… well, like my twin sister had just told me she was a porn star.
Damien caught my eye, but I waved at him and forced a smile then turned and headed for the ladies’ room. I couldn’t tell him about this. I couldn’t tell anyone.
In the bathroom, I splashed water on my face and stared at my reflection in the mirror. My reflection that was pretty much identical to Kara’s, barring a mole on my left earlobe.
Should I go home?
No. Everything was technically fine with Dad. It wasn’t like Kara had been arrested. And my father was with his nurse and safe. I only had one more day of this damn weekend to get through, and then it would be over, and I’d be back.
I’d still have another thirty days on the contract with Damien, but at least I’d be home where I could look after my father and deal with my sister’s bullshit.
I cleaned myself up, applied a layer of lip gloss, straightened my shoulders, then headed back into the bar area. God knew I’d need my wits about me if I planned on dealing with Mortimer. He’d already asked several awkward questions about how long we’d been seeing each other and what my intentions were with his business. Not his son, but his business.
Money was all that mattered to—
I turned the corner and walked into someone. “Ouch.” I rubbed my hand. “Ouch.”
“You OK?” The calm voice came from Damien’s brother, Seth. He wore a suit and a sheepish smile. “My bad.”
“No, it’s mine. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
“Distracted?”
“A little.”
“Anything I can help with?” Seth brushed fingers through his blond hair, and I was suddenly aware of just how handsome he was, and the fact that he was definitely checking me out.
I wasn’t interested, of course. Damien was… an obsession, and Seth was just—well, he didn’t have the same vibe as his brother. And there was no history there.
“No, I’m good. Thanks.” I touched my thumb to the inside of the engagement ring again. “I’d better get back to Damien. And you’d better…”
“Use the toilet,” he laughed. “Right, yeah. Listen, I’m really happy that you’re with my brother. Between you and me, I didn’t think he’d ever settle down. You remember how he was in high school.”
“Vividly.”
“Right, so just knowing that you two could overcome that is pretty great. I’m happy for you. And for him,” Seth said, and he seemed genuine. “I’ll admit that the turnaround has surprised me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, a couple weeks ago he was in France, and I’m pretty sure that he was seeing women there. Several of them. Now, he’s engaged and happy.” Seth paused. “You do know my father wanted him to get engaged, right?”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, because neither Seth nor Mortimer could find out we were faking it. Mortimer wanted his son to actually marry someone within thirty days, the friggin’ loon. “That’s part of the reason we decided to take our relationship to the next level. We were sort of on again, off again, trying to pretend we didn’t love each other, but… well, love wins out, right?” God, I hoped he bought that plate of stinky cheese.
“Right.” Seth’s brow furrowed slightly. “Just be careful.”
“Huh?”
“I love my brother, but he’s got a habit of hurting women. And my father… he’s got a habit of hurting everyone. Marrying into the Woods family isn’t a decision you should take lightly. Don’t get me wrong, I really want Damien to get married, it’ll mean I can continue doing what I want with my life, but I want him to be happy first and foremost. You too.”
“Thanks, Dr. Phil,” I replied, with a wink. “I think we’ll be fine.”
Seth’s warm laugh followed me as I headed for Damien at the bar. His words lingered too.
Damien was a playboy. He’d been dating multiple women as recently as weeks ago, and here I was, having a weekend fuck-a-thon with the man.
Don’t fall for him.
Don’t.
I was starting to worry it might already be too late.
23
Damien
“I can’t keep my hands off you,” I growled and walked her through the door to our shared suite, nipping her earlobe. I brought my mouth to her neck and sucked a trail up and down it, my hands working against her breasts over the preppy golf shirt.
“Damien,” she moaned. “You’re bad. We’re supposed to stay for dinner.”
“Fuck dinner,” I replied. “We spent all day with that prick. It’s my turn with you.” I spun her in my arms and kissed her, bringing every ounce of passion
