Method

“That’s not smart,” I laugh.

He looks down at me, his eyes softening. “So, you’re the one my brother’s decided on.”

“I think so.”

“And have you decided on him?”

I shrug in his arms. “I’m screwed. The man got me to fall in love with him before telling me he was the villain.”

He chuckles and spins me effortlessly out of his arms before pulling me back to him. “Don’t worry, beautiful, that role’s taken.”

“By you, I presume?”

He smirks. “My brother represented me well. You know,” he says, maneuvering us expertly across the floor, “he’s always taken this job too seriously.”

“You don’t take it seriously?”

“Not as much as I used to, not anymore.”

“Why is that?”

He pauses our dance as if lost in thought and then resumes it. “You ever heard the story of the ant and the grasshopper? You know, the ant works hard every day warning the grasshopper not to sing and play, because if he sings and plays all summer, by winter, he’ll surely starve.”

He doesn’t give me time to answer before he dips me low bringing his lips a centimeter from the divot at my throat. His eyes dart past my profile, and a victory smile lights up his face. I follow his line of sight to see Lucas’s glare from feet away and can’t help the draw of my conspiratorial smile when I turn back to face Blake.

“Oh, you are terrible,” I say, openly laughing.

“Everybody has to pay the devil his due.”

He slowly pulls us back to stand and resumes our dance and conversation as if his head isn’t being lasered off by violent green eyes.

“Where were we? Right, the ant and the grasshopper.” He guides us into another song with no care for Lucas’s ticking clock. “Well, the way I see it, we are taught to work like ants, not to think like grasshoppers.”

I nod.

He looks down at me with prodding brown eyes. “But eventually that ant has to wipe his brow and wonder if that singing grasshopper had the fuller life.” He twirls me again and brings me back to him.

“And you think Lucas is an ant?”

“Yes,” he answers easily, “and so are you. But it’s the best way to be, I promise you.”

“So, who’s going to save you come winter, grasshopper?”

“That’s easy,” he says, turning us both to face a gorgeous redhead I recognize as his wife, who is now dancing with Lucas. Blake leans in so we’re cheek to cheek. “I married an ant.”

The ride back to my house is mostly silent. The heaviness of what he revealed to me thick between us as we both come down from the party. I sense Lucas’s gaze on me as I stare out the onyx window.

“Fuck this.” In seconds, I’m in his lap. “I didn’t do it to scare you away.”

“Well, you did a shit job of that. Couldn’t you have just said it? Warned me a little more with a, ‘Hey, I’m a bit of a sociopath’ for a living, and I’m about to demonstrate.”

“That’s what you think of me?” His voice has an icy edge, and I take the cue and slide off his lap.

“You used me, made fun of me to try to benefit your career. It’s not something I’m willing to forget because you look incredible in a tux.”

He slowly exhales. “Mila, it wasn’t personal. It’s what came to me.”

He lifts his cell. “I just got an email. Dobs wants a meeting.”