“Like you? Is that what you do? You get background checks done on the people you date? Kind of like how you checked up on me before the Millennium penthouse showing?”
“No. Although I would have no problem doing that. But I wouldn’t be going on a blind date in the first place.”
“By the way,” she said, “I never asked. If you knew I was lying on my application that day, why did you agree to show the penthouse to me?”
“Because I wanted to teach you a lesson, humiliate you for wasting my time.”
“You get a rise out of humiliating people?”
“If they deserve it? Yes.”
I could feel the weight of her staring at me. My tie suddenly felt like it was choking me. I loosened it a bit.
“What?” I snapped.
“Have you dated anyone since Allison?”
Great. I was trapped in this car and wouldn’t be able to escape this question. I had no desire to discuss my dating life with Charlotte.
“That’s none of your business.”
The truth was, there’d been a few meaningless trysts, but nothing more significant.
“Well, you seem to think that my business is your business, so maybe you should think first before offering me dating advice.” She let out a long breath. “‘Blind Date’ was just code anyway.”
“Code for what?”
“I didn’t want people to know that I was going out on a date with Max. And before you say anything . . . I know for a fact that the company does not have a nonfraternization policy.”
What?
A rush of adrenaline coursed through my veins. The car came to a screeching halt as my foot hit the brakes in the middle of Manhattan traffic, a couple of pedestrians nearly getting hit in the process.
“What?” I spewed, even though I’d heard her loud and clear.
Horns were blaring behind me, but I barely noticed.
She repeated, “Max and I are going out tomorrow night. And you’d better move this car before you get us into another fender bender.”
She was right. I needed to pull over.
Parking illegally in front of a Dean & Deluca, I put my hazards on.
It was quiet for a few moments before I turned to her and looked her dead straight in the eyes. “You’re not going out with Max, Charlotte.”
“Why not? He’s—”
“Charlotte . . .” Her name exited my mouth in a warning tone. My ears felt like they were burning.
“Yes?” She smiled.
My anger seemed to be amusing her.
It was like a jealous beast that could no longer be tamed had ripped its way through my body. “You’re. Not. Going. Out. With. Max.”
Without any real justification for my actions, I waited for her reaction. I couldn’t articulate the reason why she was forbidden from dating my brother because I didn’t even truly understand my rage. I just knew that I couldn’t handle even the idea of Charlotte and Max.
I was expecting a big argument, one that included her insisting that I had no right to tell her whom to date. But she surprised me when she said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll cancel my date with Max on one condition.”
My pulse rate began to slow down. “What is it?”
Whatever it is, I’ll fucking do it.
“Tomorrow night is also the last tryout at the Brooklyn Tabernacle. I’ll cancel with Max if you go.”
Christ. You’ve got to be kidding me. Now Blondie was an extortionist?
“You’re bribing me?”
“Bribery makes more sense than the unwarranted alpha-male behavior you’re exhibiting against me with no explanation right now, don’t you think?”
There was no way I was going to sit back and do nothing while she went out with my brother, so I gave the only answer I could.
“Fine.”
“Fine, you agree with my statement on bribery, or fine, you agree to go to the tryout?”
“Fine. I agree to go to Brooklyn. But I’m going alone. Got it?”
Charlotte looked all too pleased. “Yes.”
“Good.”
I put the car in “Drive” and pulled out into traffic as we continued our ride back to the office. A slow and satisfied smile spread over her face as she leaned her neck back on the headrest before closing her eyes.
How the hell this car ride had gone from talking about Dorothy’s grandson to my suddenly agreeing to try out for the choir was beyond me. But this was typical Charlotte. Typical annoying, insistent, sometimes clever but always . . . beautiful Charlotte. Fucking beautiful Charlotte. Fucking beautiful Charlotte who was not going anywhere near my brother.
I could keep her from dating Max—perhaps for now—but I had no right to dictate her life. My need to do so had to end. I needed a distraction from this woman, and I had to figure one out, and fast.
When we returned downtown, Charlotte seemed to be in a rush as she headed back to her office. Meanwhile, I headed straight down the hall to talk to Iris about something that had been on my mind since we’d left the business lunch.