Pursued

“Do tell.” Marc gestured to the chair opposite his desk, and though Nic had too much energy to really want to sit, he found himself doing so anyway. As usual.

“What’s her name?” his brother asked.

“Desi.”

“Desi…?”

“That’s all. I don’t have her last name.”

“Well, that’s sloppy on your part.” Marc studied him closely. “Which is not an adjective I would usually use to describe you, so… This must be big.”

“It’s not big. It’s not anything, really.” And yet Nic really didn’t like the way those words tasted in his mouth.

Marc laughed. “Of course not. Which is why you look like you swallowed a bug just saying that.”

“Look, it’s complicated.”

“Dude, it’s always complicated.”

“Yeah, well, this time, it’s really complicated.” And so he told Marc the whole story, about how he’d fallen for Desi’s looks at first sight and her startling quick wit almost as fast. About how he’d taken her home…and how he’d woken up alone.

“But you have her phone number, right?” Marc asked when Nic was finished with his tale of woe. “Please, tell me you were smart enough to get her number.”

“Of course I was. But I was dumb enough to promise her I wouldn’t call her until she called me.”

Marc rolled his eyes. “All these years and have I really taught you nothing about how to woo a woman?”

“Considering you’ve spent the last six years licking your wounds from Isabella, I’d have to say that your own wooing skills are pretty lacking right now.”

“I haven’t been licking my wounds,” Marc growled. “I’ve been busy running a multi-billion-dollar diamond corporation.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Call it whatever you like. Besides, I’ve been right here with you every step of the way, turning Bijoux into the second-largest responsibly sourced diamond corporation in the world.”

“I know that—I wasn’t implying otherwise. I was just saying I haven’t had much time to woo anyone lately. Then again, neither have you. Maybe you’re rusty.”

Nic shot him a look. “I am not rusty, thank you very much.” Sure, he preferred quality over quantity and always had, despite his playboy image in the press. But it wasn’t as if he’d gone months without sex, for God’s sake. His skills weren’t rusty. At least, he didn’t think they were.

God, what if that’s why Desi had snuck out before he’d woken up? Because she’d thought he was bad in— No, no, no. That was one rabbit hole he was not going to fall down this morning. Because if he did…hell, if he did, he was afraid he’d never climb back out of it again.

“I’m not rusty,” he said again, perhaps with more force than was absolutely necessary.

“I’m not saying you are.” Marc held his hands up in mock surrender. “I’m just saying, if you have her phone number, why don’t you use it?”

“I already told you—”

“I know. You can’t call her until she calls you. But that doesn’t mean you can’t text her, right? Or did you make promises about that, too? And let me just say, if you did, you’re stupider than you look.”

“I didn’t, actually,” Nic answered as the wheels started turning in his brain. “I mean, I suppose an argument could be made about the spirit of the agreement—”