“Lucy!” Amanda called her over.
Lucy met his gaze and tipped her chin a bit higher as she joined them.
“Hi. Enjoying your party?” she asked Amanda, ignoring him and not meeting his gaze.
So she was still mad at him, but she obviously wasn’t about to avoid him. That was the woman he admired.
“I’m having the best time. It was a great idea to have an engagement party for friends so just family can escape for the wedding next week,” Amanda said, clearly excited.
The wedding itself would be an intimate destination affair on the island of Eden, consisting of Decklan’s older brother, Gabe, and his wife, Isabelle, Max, and Lucy. If nothing else, their trip to Eden would give him a chance to seduce her in private.
Decklan pulled Amanda close, kissing her on the lips. “I can’t wait to make this beautiful woman my wife. It’s been too long a wait.”
Lucy smiled wistfully at her brother, and Max caught the flash of pain in her expression before she vanquished it.
But Max had her all figured out. He ought to considering her issues basically mirrored his. Fear of loss and abandonment. He knew it well. Had been force-fed it by Daniel Carver, his psychiatrist pal.
Lucy was happy for her brother, but with another one marrying, she was building up her walls even more, deliberately making herself the outsider in a family that only wanted to pull her in and keep her close. The New York Dare siblings were tight, and the fact that Lucy still lived in L.A. had more to do with her fear of loss than the desire to remain in California.
As Gabe and Decklan formed their own families, Lucy drew further and further away. She came home less often. He understood her in a deep way because he knew her and because she engaged him on a fundamental level he’d been forced to ignore. Until now.
“Hi, all,” Gabe said as they widened their circle to include both him and Isabelle.
“Iz, thank you for letting me use your makeup earlier. I needed a touch-up.” Lucy blushed, deliberately not meeting Max’s gaze.
He caught Decklan’s stunned expression, as he probably figured out why she’d needed to fix herself. Well, what had the man expected when he’d given Max free reign?
“What’s mine is yours,” Isabelle said. “We’re sisters, after all.” She squeezed Lucy’s hand.
“I can’t wait,” Lucy murmured.
“I wish you lived in New York,” Isabelle said.
“I know but my career is in L.A.”
“Is it?” Gabe asked, pinning his sister with a knowing stare.
Max picked up on his opening. “My understanding is that all the Elite clubs have been remodeled, and you have no new ones in the works.”
Lucy shot him a nasty glare.
“True,” Gabe said.
“Well, I can use Lucy in New York.”
“What?” Lucy’s wide-eyed gaze finally met his.
He grinned at the panic in her voice. “For business, princess.” And more, but she wasn’t ready to hear that yet.
The idea had come to him while thinking about her earlier. Max was a restaurateur with a brand new project on the horizon. He also understood how tricky it was to nail ambience. People were fickle, and it was difficult if not damned near impossible to satisfy everyone, which was why New York City alone boasted an over eighty percent fail rate. New restaurants shut down within five years of opening. Nightclubs were no different.
“The decorator I used on my other restaurants recently suffered a bout of debilitating Lyme disease. She’s basically bedridden.”
Lucy and the rest of them winced. “I hope she’s okay.”
“It’s going to be a slow recovery. I need someone with your expertise to run with the new project.”
He knew what she’d done with all the Elite clubs, and Lucy had more than proven her ability. She had an innate sense of what worked. She might be able to fight their sexual attraction and put up emotional walls, but she couldn’t turn down a career-boosting opportunity. And what Max had in mind could put her on the map, opening up new avenues with big clientele.