Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 253(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 253(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
After a successful dinner, Austin and I make our way to the bar at the same hotel. Austin is on his second shot as I nurse my first beer since I keep getting lost in thought. I asked someone... fuck, not just anyone–I asked Isabella to marry me. I wait for the panic to settle over me, but it never does. Maybe it’s because I know it’s fake and it’s not going to last. I’m doing this for Granny.
Austin’s smile drops from his face, and he throws his hands up and yells at me in the loud bar. “All right. What’s up? What’s going on with you?”
I lift the beer bottle to my lips. “Nothing is going on with me.”
Austin shakes his head and looks at the women standing at the table next to us. “Well, smile. Act like you’re having a little fun.” He nods at a pretty blonde before looking back at me. “Get your game face on, brother. Incoming.”
He barely gets the words out and the two women come over to our table. The brown-haired woman comes to stand next to me and bats her lashes. “Hi.”
My first thought is that her hair reminds me of Isabella’s. It’s long and straight too. But that’s where the similarities stop. “Hi,” I mutter to her.
I take another drink of the warm beer. I’m not normally an asshole, and this time last week, I’d probably entertain the idea of whatever this woman is offering, but today there is no part of me that’s interested. But the woman doesn’t seem to take the hint.
She slides closer to me and presses the side of her breast to my arm. “It’s loud in here. You want to go somewhere so we can talk?”
I shake my head. “No.”
She laughs but doesn’t take the hint. I stand awkwardly. I don’t want to be a complete dick, but I’m about to be. “I’m going to get out of here,” I tell her before turning to my brother. “Hey, I’m going to the room.”
I walk off and out into the lobby when my brother catches up with me. “What the fuck, Lucas? And don’t tell me nothing. Something’s going on in that head of yours. What is it?”
I sigh and turn the key card to the hotel room over in my hand. “I asked Isabella to marry me today.”
His mouth drops open, and before he gets any weird ideas, I tell him, “I did it because that’s what Granny wants. She’s worried about me, which I don’t understand. You’re the one hooking up at bars and dating women left and right, not me. But hey, whatever.”
Austin crosses his arms over his chest. “First of all, I don’t hook up left and right. What did she say?”
I shrug and hate to admit it, but I do. “She needed to think about it.”
Austin lets out a big sigh and slaps me on the back. “Shew, thank God. Okay, tell her you changed your mind.”
“What? I didn’t change my mind. If she says yes, I’m doing it. I’m going to marry her.”
He puts his face in his hand. “Fuck, Lucas, you can’t marry her. You’ll destroy her.”
I shake my head in disbelief. What the hell do my brothers even think of me? “You’re the second person to tell me this is a bad idea and I’m going to hurt Isabella. What is it you all know about me that I don’t because as far as I know, I never go around hurting women.”
He puts his hands on his hips. “Not on purpose, you don’t. Fuck, Lucas, it’s your MO. You hook up, and it’s never anything serious. The woman knows she’s going to get a good time out of it, no strings attached. But Isabella is not that way. She loves you, and you’re going to hurt her. She’s already a part of this family. Don’t. Do. It.”
I can hear by the tone of his voice how strongly he feels about this, and I try to reassure him. “Granny...”
He cuts me off. “Granny will be fine. Yeah, she hates that you’ve got your heart guarded like Fort Knox, but that doesn’t mean she wants you to use Issi–”
“I’m not using Issi. I told her everything up front. There’s no expectations. She knows the deal.”
He shakes his head in frustration. “There’s no talking you out of this, is there?”
I fold my arms across my chest defensively. “No. No, there’s not. If Bella says yes, then we’ll be getting married.”
I wait for him to argue with me some more, but he doesn’t. “You’d better be completely honest with her. Promise me you’ll tell her the complete truth. That this whole thing is fake, and you’ll never love her. She needs to know it all before she gives you an answer. At least give her that, Lucas.”