I chuckled at him. I didn’t know why I found him so cute. Maybe it was because he was ridiculous. “You think you’re that good in bed, do you?”
“I know I am, but I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about adventure, about something new. About standing on a cliff, looking over the edge, and knowing that what’s down there is everything you’ve ever wanted if you can just have the courage to jump.”
His eyes were dark. In the shadows, it looked like their depths went on forever. I couldn’t take in a full breath. I felt as if I were standing on that cliff, and I couldn’t tell if stepping over the edge would allow me to fly or crash to my death.
He bit his lip. “Can I touch your hair?” he asked again.
I nodded. I didn’t mean to, but it was too late to take it back. He reached out one hand slowly and ran his finger down a lock of my hair. He lifted it and brought it to his lips for a kiss. When had he stepped so close?
“Mm. Looks like fire. Feels like silk. Smells like lavender.” He held it to his nose and looked at me with those melting eyes again.
His smile was crooked as he dropped his hand and raised one eyebrow as if to ask again if I wanted to come home with him.
Lights flashed as a car turned down the drive. I jumped back, my heart beating.
“I take it, that’s your ride.”
“Yes. Thank you.” He grinned again, and I cursed myself for thanking him. For what?
“No, thank you. For everything you did tonight. My aunt had a lovely wedding, and you made it happen, Bernadette.”
“Birdie.”
“Bye-bye, Birdie.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ve never heard that before.”
I could see Eddie in the car, impatient to be off. He liked spending time out in the Hamptons, but he didn’t particularly like having to pick me up from jobs. Yet he was the one who wanted the car so that he could go places, so he had to pick me up. He opened the car door.
“Goodbye, William.” I picked up my bag from where it sat on the porch steps and got into the car. William watched me and then turned and went back around the house.
“Who was that you were talking to?” Eddie asked, his voice mulish.
“Just one of the guests at the wedding.”
“He was flirting with you. I don’t like it.”
“He flirts with everyone, Eddie. I’m not special.”
“You’re special because you’re mine.”
I nodded and leaned across the dash to kiss him. He seemed to be appeased, and that was good because before he drove up, my instinct was actually to go home with William. He’d never guess what was going through my mind, though, because that was the rule. Never let them see you sweat.
Chapter Two: Will
“Couldn’t get the waitress to go home with you?” Dave mocked me as I slid into the taxi next to him. He’d gotten rid of his jacket and his tie. Now that we weren’t trying to behave for our mom, there was no need to look proper. We were heading out to a party out in Sagaponack that promised to be a wild time. Proper wouldn’t fit the bill.
“If I could have, do you think I would be in this car with you, asshole?” He was my twin, but he was not any better company than that redhead would have been. I imagined taking her back to the hotel and running my fingers through that silken hair like cool fire, and I imagined tasting the alabaster column of her neck, making her whimper.
“She was hot, in an ice princess way. You just know that once you get her to melt, she’ll be a vixen in bed.”
“Hey,” I snapped. “Keep your mouth off her.”
He sat back. “Protective of some waitress you couldn’t even get to hook up with you? That’s not like you.”
It wasn’t, damn him. “Shut up. There’d better be some hot girls at this party.”
“Would I steer you wrong?” He looked far too cocky.
“You absolutely would.”
“Fair enough, I definitely would, but I’m not tonight. I got a hot tip about this party. Everyone who’s anyone will be there. Plenty of girls will be there. Listen. I give you leave to make as much of a distraction as you want.”
I looked over at him. “Distraction?”
“Scene. Take it as my apology for being rude about the waitress. Get drunk and loud. Find yourself a hot girl. Or two. Take a dive into the pool. Start a fight. Whatever the hell you want to do, do it. You are the king of the night.”
“I don’t need your permission to make an ass of myself,” I scoffed.
He nodded. “You certainly don’t.”
“And what are you going to be doing?”
“Getting into trouble.” He grinned.
“Of course. I should have known.” Suddenly, I realized the other musketeer of our three that night was not in the car. “Hey, what happened to the kid? He didn’t want to come out with us?”
Dave shook his head. “I couldn’t corrupt Matthew. I would have felt like a creep.”
“He’s nineteen, not ten. I’m sure he’d be fine.”
“Couldn’t do it. I think he went after that waitress, anyway. I didn’t want to stand in the way of that.”
“The redhead?” I didn’t know when he would have gone after Birdie. I’d been watching her all night. No one had bothered her at all. Except me, that is. I didn’t like the idea.
“No, not the redhead.” He looked at me like I was crazy. “You are so obsessive. When you like a girl, the rest of the world just disappears. The cute little brunette.”
Had there been a brunette?
“Curly hair? Huge blue eyes? Freckles?” Dave prompted.
I hadn’t noticed. “Listen, there’d better some girls hot enough to make this party worth it.”
“Guaranteed,” he said.
In the end, there weren’t any girls who managed to take my thoughts from Birdie, but after drinking enough, I found a couple who were good substitutes. Two of them. Sorority sisters who didn’t mind sharing. I didn’t mind being shared, either. We found a room and did what would distract me the best. It was very hot. Well, what I could remember was hot.
But was it worth it? Not really.
I woke up naked in a bed with two girls and a camera flashing in my face.
Oh, this was not good, not good at all.
Years later, after my memory had gotten fuzzy around the edges, a process helped along by lots of alcohol and many—I mean many—other girls, there was still one thought that went through my mind. If that cute redheaded waitress had gone home with me, I would never have gone to that party with my brother, and I would never have gotten into the kind of trouble that I did. I wouldn’t have to deal with it now.
“Are you listening to me, Will?”
I dragged my eyes away from the New York City skyline visible through my window and back to the public relations specialist I’d hired to makeover my reputation. Her name was Suzanne Cook, and she was pretty cute, with that sharp, short blonde bob and killer heels.
“No, not really,” I admitted.
She grimaced. “Look. You hired me to help you, but I can’t clean up your image without your assistance. So, if you really do want to run for office and eventually work on becoming president, you’d better start taking this seriously.”