Chapter 11

I was already frowning as I went back to look for Brooklyn, and not seeing her where I’d left her made my mood even more sour. I looked around, and saw her walking away from a man, who was dragging a distraught woman with him. My eyes narrowed on the woman, feeling like she was familiar, but as Brooklyn walked closer, she blocked their view, and my eyes fell on her.

“Hey,” I said softly when she came to a stop in front of me. “Are you okay?”

She frowned up at me. “Can I get another glass of wine, please?”

“Sure,” I said readily, gently taking her arm and leading her over to a different area.

This was a wine tasting, so there were plenty of different wines to taste, but I wondered if she would taste any of them now. Brooklyn was obviously just looking for something alcoholic to make herself feel better. As soon as I got a glass into her hand, she threw it all back, and I arched my eyebrows as I gave her my own glass as well.

“Why don’t we find some food?” I suggested? “It should be around time for lunch already.”

“Whatever,” she muttered, her arms crossed as she looked off into the distance.

So, I led her over to where the food would be served, a bit of a walk away from the garden. I found a table for us and ordered the food, and I watched as she stabbed at her plate, barely eating. I pursed my lips, wondering whether to ask or not, then decided I was really too curious to keep quiet.

“Who’s that man?” I asked.

She growled, making a hard stab at her chicken, and the fork passed right through and hit the plate beneath. She sighed and picked up the knife to work the fork out of the piece of chicken.

I arched an eyebrow at her. “If you want to get rid of someone, I could help find some people for you? It should be better than dirtying your own hands, yes?”

“Don’t joke right now, okay?” she said, looking up at me.

I shrugged. “Who’s joking? Whoever it was that pissed you off, tell me who it is and what he did. I can deal with him for you. We…might not be together right now, we might not even be close to being friends, but I’ve never stopped caring for you, okay?”

My voice was soft, as if I was trying to coax a cute, angry little animal, and it seemed to work. Brooklyn looked at me for a long time, and when she looked back down, she sighed as her shoulders slumped and took a proper bite of her food.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I don’t mean to take my bad mood out on you.”

I sighed, thinking she wasn’t the only one in a bad mood.

The business I’d hoped to carry out while at the event was impossible. The man I wanted to meet had something come up in the last minute, and he couldn’t make it. Neither could any of his associates. The whole place was crowded because I wasn’t the only one with the same idea, and the man I was after was sought after. It didn’t affect the company too much, but it was still annoying, because it felt like I’d failed.

That was something easily solved, though. If we didn’t get one deal, we could try to get another deal. If it was anything that important, I wouldn’t have waited a whole month to try and deal with it, so it wasn’t a do or die situation. Still, I was in a bad mood because it was something I failed at, and I hated that.

Whatever had Brooklyn in a bad mood didn’t make things any easier for me, though, and it was even worse that it was a man. I’d had some self-confidence when I asked Brooklyn to come to the wine event with me. I had ulterior motives, but I’d genuinely wanted her to have fun. And now, some nameless man had made that much impossible.

“This wine tasting isn’t going as planned,” I muttered to myself.

“Sorry,” Brooklyn apologized again, her voice sounding smaller.

I sighed again. “Why are you the one apologizing? I was the one to ask you to come here, if I’d known you wouldn’t be having much fun here, I would have taken you someplace else.”

“It’s not that I hate it,” she said quickly. “It’s just…”

“You met someone you didn’t expect to meet?” I guessed.

She nodded her head slowly, meting my eyes. “His name is Paul.”

“And how do you know him?” I asked.

“He’s currently seeing Nora. She’s back in New York thinking he’s out on a business trip, and the guy is over here seducing some poor young girl. He’s probably going off to give her some excuse now that he’s been found out. I hope she dumps him,” she added with a sneer.

So, he’s Nora’s boyfriend.

I felt relief flow into my chest. For a moment there, I’d thought he was someone connected to Brooklyn, not her best friend. Worried, was more like it, actually, so this was a lot better. Thinking back on it, I seemed to remember Nora mentioning a Paul when I met them at the bridal shop, so it was probably that guy.

Knowing made me ease up a bit, and I reached for her hand, patting the back of it gently.

“I’m really sorry,” I said sincerely.

“I just know she’s going to be devastated when she finds out,” Brooklyn said fretfully. “I need to think about how to tell her. And what to tell her. I don’t think that bastard will say anything and in a few days…”

She cut herself off, meeting my gaze before looking away. I wondered what she wanted to say, but I decided not to ask.

We tucked into the food, and Brooklyn didn’t lift her head once as she continued to scarf down her food. When she didn’t look like she was full, I ordered some desert for after. Wine came with the food, and I made sure she didn’t drink more than a glass. I would be driving later, so I’d only been taking sips of the different wines since we arrived.

After food, we got up to walk around. We weren’t allowed to walk into the vineyard, but the grounds were big, and we went to an area with the fewest people. The afternoon sun was getting excessively warm, and I slipped off my sports coat and folded it over my arm instead. It really was a lot warmer here than back home, and it felt especially good with the light breeze.

“Have you come to a decision yet?” I asked.

“Not yet,” she murmured.

Brooklyn stood facing the rows and rows of berry trees, and I stood behind her and to the side. I tilted my head to see the side of her face and saw that she was frowning and looking upset and troubled. I didn’t care about that man, Paul, but because he’d bothered Brooklyn, I suddenly wanted to go and look for him and punch him out. I didn’t get that good a look at him, though, and I didn’t think seeing him would make Brooklyn better, so I kept that thought to myself.

“Do you still want to stay for the event?” I asked after a few moments of silence.

She looked over her shoulder at me. “Didn’t you have something to do here?”

I arched my eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

“I mean, you probably had some business objective attached to this, maybe? Don’t tell me you didn’t. I was so sure…”

My lips quirked in a little smile. “Well, it wasn’t anything that important. I wouldn’t have come at all if you’d said you didn’t want to, but I figured I might as well, while we were here. I can figure out something else for work so don’t worry.”

It would mean more work once I got back to New York. I would have let go of this deal already. The guy wasn’t someone easy to persuade, and even if I met him personally, there was no guarantee I would get the deal. The only reason I was still on it after a month was because the board wouldn’t easily let it go, and were putting in more resources into this than I thought was wise, but even though I was the CEO, I still had to listen to them. I had failed today, so someone else would try or I would get a chance at another meeting later.

“Then, why don’t we do this? I don’t want to meet up with that bastard again, because I’m sure I’m going to embarrass you, so why don’t we go back to the inn?”

I smiled, feeling pleased, but still said, “You don’t have to worry too much about me. I’ll go along with whatever you want, no problem, as long as it’s actually what you want. I can even beat the guy up for you.”

She smiled wryly at me. “Mr. big CEO beating someone up, wouldn’t that get you into trouble?”

I shrugged. “It’s not like there’s a lot of people here that know who I am, and the ones that do aren’t people that want to go against my family. Besides, if we get him somewhere alone…”

She huffed a quiet laugh and lightly slapped my arms. She wasn’t completely out of her funk, but at least she looked a little better. Then she took my arm and led us back to the event.

“It’s fine if we just leave. Honestly, a guy like that isn’t worth so much trouble. I don’t mind going back early if you don’t.”

Of course I wouldn’t mind, I thought, smirking. Going back to the inn meant it was just me and Brooklyn in a room, alone together. I was looking forward to it as we made our way back to the car and sat down, then waited as Brooklyn put on her seatbelt. When she was ready, I started up the car, headed for the inn. It was only about fifteen minutes away and we got back in no time.

My thoughts swirled around in my mind as we made our way to the room. I was looking for a way to ask the question that was burning inside me. I was sure already, but I needed the confirmation from her, or there was no way I could relax.

We made it back to the room, and I sat down on the couch I’d spent the night on, and she sat on the other side from me. She took off her shoes so she could fold her legs under her, and I watched the edge of her dress as it lifted up to flash a bit more thigh.

“There is one consolation,” I said, forcing my eyes up to her face.

She frowned at me. “What kind of consolation could there possibly be in this?”

I grinned. “At least he’s not one of the men you’re marrying,” I teased.

I watched as her expression stilled, then got overtaken with guilt. Once again, I felt relieved, because I hadn't been a hundred percent sure it was a lie. She could have been seeing someone, whether or not a wedding was about to happen. When her expression turned to confusion, I felt my heart freeze in my chest.

“I… don’t really get what you mean? One of the guys I’m marrying?”

“You don’t even realize it, do you,” I murmured. “Every time you’ve mentioned this soon to be husband of yours, you’ve used different names. I think there was John, Kevin and back last night, I heard a Richard.”

“Oh,” she murmured, frowning thoughtfully. “I… guess I wasn’t that great at keeping it a secret, huh?” She sighed. “I’m not used to doing this sort of thing so you can't blame me, though.”

“Why would I blame you?” I said, leaning back in couch, feeling relieved again. “I like that you’re not good at lying, and I like that you’re not actually seeing someone.” I paused. “You’re not actually seeing someone, are you?”

She paused, and I narrowed my eyes at her, because her expression made me think she was thinking of lying to me again. But eventually she sighed and slumped into the couch, giving me a defeated look.

“All right,” she admitted. “A wedding really is in the works, but it’s not mine. Nora is the one that’s supposed to be getting married. That day when you showed up at the shop, I was trying on dresses for her so she could get the best view. I’m actually just the bridesmaid.” Then she frowned. “Well, I’m not one anymore, since Paul is obviously two-timing.”

“I figured that much out already,” I said. I checked the time on my watch. “Now, there’s a while to go before we can have dinner. Is there anything you would like to do?”

“Not really,” she said, shrugging. “Do you have work to do?”

“I have some documents I could be looking over,” I admitted.

“Then you can do that and I’ll read something.”

She pulled her cell out, and in moments, she was engrossed in something on the screen. I watched her for a bit, before taking up work again. I kept an eye on her the whole time. When it was time for dinner, I ordered the food brought over to us. We had it on the couch, and the entire time, we were both silent. I’d had some wine brought with the meal, and as I called for the dishes to be taken back, we both had a couple glasses of red wine, until Brooklyn looked ready to go to sleep.

I watched as she got up, left her glass on the table, and headed for the bedroom.

“Can I move from the sofa to the bed?” I asked, making her freeze.

There wasn’t a door between the living area and the bedroom area, but there was a wall and I couldn’t see around it to the bed. The door to the only bathroom was in the bedroom area, so aside from going to the bathroom, she would be out of my sight the whole time.

We spent last night that way, but I wanted something different for tonight.

Slowly, Brooklyn turned around to look at me with a guarded expression on her face. I got up from the couch, set my own glass on the table after emptying it, and moved closer to her. I stepped close enough to touch, but didn’t reach for her.

“Why do you want to move to the bed?” she murmured, blinking up at me.

“You know why,” I said simply.

I saw a shudder go through her body, and her next breath was shaky.

“I don’t want to get hurt again,” she admitted in a whisper.

I stepped closer, giving into my temptation to touch her, raising a hand to brush my fingers delicately over her cheek.

“Brooklyn,” I murmured, leaning closer. “I have no intention of hurting you. Not to night, not ever. I only want to make love to you.”

Her body shuddered once more, and the next blink of her eyes came slower.