Walking inside the restaurant, Rose watched Georgiana rise to her feet to greet them. Tyler’s girlfriend looked resplendent in a short dress made of lace flowers, white from the waist up and pale pink on the skirt.
“You’ve made it!” she said. “Here, come meet the others.” She did a quick round of introduction, starting counterclockwise and working around the whole table.
Rose stood there awkwardly, looking around at half a dozen strangers. In particular, the guy sitting at the edge of the group, who Georgiana introduced as Ethan, made her self-conscious with all his staring. Rose met his gaze shyly. He had bright, unsettling light blue eyes that looked somewhat familiar. Short black hair, high cheekbones, and a square jaw made the dude good-looking in that arrogant vampire-flick-villain kind of way.
Embarrassed by all the attention, Rose delivered her gift to Georgiana—a noncommittal makeup palette—who thanked her without opening the present. With nothing left to do, Rose wanted to shrink away and play invisible for the rest of the evening. Sitting down was the first camouflaging step. A quick scan of the table told Rose where she stood in the food chain. The seat beside Her Birthday Majesty was obviously intended for Tyler, and the ones nearest for her court. Rose didn’t want to be anywhere near the couple, anyway, so she backtracked to the opposite end of the table. Georgiana protested with no real conviction that she shouldn’t sit so far away, but Rose assured her majesty she’d be fine, and Georgiana didn’t insist further.
Rose had a hunch about the night ending badly for her. She’d never seen Georgiana look so radiant, so smug. At this very moment, Georgiana was watching Rose with an expression in-between triumph and pity. Why? Something was happening, and Rose felt like the only clueless party present. Tyler had been behaving strangely all week, and she couldn’t tell what had changed. Combining that with the evil stare above Georgiana’s smiles only increased her anxiety about this party. What on earth had made her agree to come?
The moment Rose sat down, Ethan got up and whispered something in Georgiana’s ear. He took his half-empty cocktail with him and moved toward Rose. The dude was tall, although maybe an inch or two shorter than Tyler. Speaking of the devil, she stole a glance at Tyler for just a second. He wore an expression of contempt on his face as he followed Ethan’s movements. Good. Serves him right to be the jealous one for a change.
Rose looked around at the other guests and spotted another hostile gaze, only this one was targeting her. The blonde girl who’d been sitting next to Ethan didn’t appear at all happy with his move. Don’t glare at me, lady. I didn’t ask your guy to come talk to me. Is he even your guy?
“Hello,” Ethan said as he took the seat next to her. “It didn’t seem right to have you sit here all alone. I’m Ethan, Georgiana’s brother.”
Ah, that explains why the eyes looked familiar.
“And you’re Rose, right?” he continued.
“Right.” She smiled at him, blushing under his piercing gaze despite herself. Was this what Tyler felt whenever Georgiana looked at him? Rose’s heart sank into her chest.
Ethan was intrigued by the faint blush that appeared on Rose’s cheeks as he spoke to her. In fact, he was intrigued by everything about Rose. When his sister had begged him to seduce her boyfriend’s new roommate, she’d described Rose as austere-looking, but pretty. The woman seated next to him was neither austere nor pretty. To call Rose pretty would be the understatement of the millennium. She was a dark beauty with her long brown hair, olive skin, and almost-black eyes. And to think he’d wanted to stay at the office tonight.
“So, how do you know my sister?” he asked, feigning cluelessness.
“We’re at Harvard Law together, and she’s dating my best friend Tyler,” Rose said.
“You came here together?”
“Yeah, I’m crashing at his place until I can find one of my own. I had a lease mishap.”
“What kind of mishap?” Ethan asked. Georgiana had already filled him in on the drama with the ex-boyfriend, but he wanted to see if Rose would volunteer the information.
She did. “Oh, nothing serious. My ex-boyfriend dumped me a month before we were supposed to move in together, and I’d already canceled my lease on my old place.” Rose shrugged, smiling awkwardly.
Ethan realized he liked her even more after her straightforward answer.
“So, being Georgiana’s brother, can I safely assume you’re a lawyer?” Rose asked.
“I am afraid you can’t,” he said with a naughty smile.
“You didn’t go to Harvard Law? I thought every offspring of the Smithson family went to Harvard.”
“I did go to Harvard Law, as did all my siblings and cousins before and after me,” Ethan replied, amused by the way she’d wrinkled her nose in confusion.
“And after all that pain, you didn’t become a lawyer?”
“Actually, I did.”
“I don’t understand,” Rose said. “What happened?”
“I tried the big studio with the big cases and the long hours for a year and hated it, so I quit.”
“And your father let you?”
“He had little a choice. I’m over eighteen, you know.”
“You stood up to Bradley Smithson. I’m impressed.”
Ethan roared with laughter. “To me, he’s just Dad.”
“So he didn’t make a fuss?” she asked.
“Of course he did. But in the end, when he saw my mind was set, all he could do was make me pay him back my tuitions.”
“For law school?”
“And college, too.”
“Ouch.” Rose winced. “And you managed?”
“Just about. I’m still paying. Having him as a creditor makes me regret not taking out student loans.”
“So what do you do now?”
“I’m in real estate.” Ethan scrutinized her face for a reaction. Was she going to give him the downright sorrowful look of contempt other lawyers reserved for him when he told them his new occupation?
She didn’t.
“My father is in real estate,” Rose said. “What do you do, exactly?”
“I buy places that need refurbishing and restore them. When I’m done, I re-sell them or rent them out.”
“If you have some nice studio apartments to rent, you could show them to me,” she said and then looked away as if she immediately regretted her words.
“So you’re looking to move out?” Ethan said, his eyes never leaving her face.
He saw her throw a furtive, guilty glance at Tyler, who was looking back at her pointedly. “I mean, not that I have much of a budget,” she backtracked.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he promised. “If something interesting pops up, you’ll be the first one I call.”
Ethan meant the words. For once, he found himself united with his sister and her wishing for Tyler and Rose not to live under the same roof. From what he’d gathered from Georgiana on their way here, he didn’t think it’d be a problem for much longer. Still, Ethan wanted Rose out of Tyler’s house as soon as possible. Why? He wasn’t sure yet. He just recognized it as a fact.