Been There Done That (Leffersbee #1) - Hope Ellis Page 0,16
you? Why don’t you go first? We’ll let Zora go last—my money’s on her.”
Walker let out a shallow sigh, rocked back on his heels as he stared at the ceiling. Leigh folded her arms and smirked.
“So, it’s like this,” he began, repeatedly running an agitated hand over his low-cut fade. “I, uh—”
“Here we go with some bullshit.” Leigh shook her head. “And from the sound of it, it has something to do with a woman.”
“That’s just part of it.” Walker looked as if he wanted to knock Leigh off the stool.
“Okay, Don Juan. What’s the problem?”
“This girl I’ve been, uh, seeing. She wants to talk—”
“Who?” I interjected. “Do I know her?”
“No.”
“Let me guess.” Leigh’s smile was slow, feline, and designed to infuriate. “She wants to have ‘The Talk.’ To find out what you guys are, where you stand. Because apparently that’s not clear to her. Am I right?”
Walker scowled. “More or less.”
I studied my brother, hoping against hope he wasn’t about to say what I suspected was coming next. “Okay. So, what part of that is difficult for you right now? I mean, do you think you’ll have a hard time expressing—”
“She’s sweet, isn’t she?” Leigh inclined her head toward me, as if sharing some secret insight with Walker. “Still has her delusions about her scandalous big brother. Let’s get to the heart of the matter here, shall we? Won’t be that hard and shouldn’t take too long. Do you like this girl, this woman, Walker? Yes or no?”
He hesitated, tucking his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “I mean—”
“Yes or no.”
“Well, compared to—”
“—That’s a no.”
I sat upright, agog, as I stared at my brother. “Did you just say, ‘compared to?’ As in, you can’t make up your mind because you’ve been—”
Walker sent me a vaguely apologetic look. “I just don’t have those kinds of feelings for her, Z.”
“We’re all adults here,” Leigh said in a sweet, falsely placating tone. “Let the man speak. I think we’ll all learn something. We always learn something when Walker speaks, don’t we?” I ignored the mocking grin she sent me.
He glared at her. “No shade, but compared to the other women I’ve been seeing . . .” He winced.
I shook my head at my brother. “So, let me get this straight. You’d be fine sleeping with her indefinitely, even though you know you don’t have those kinds of feelings for her?”
Walker nodded in slow motion. “Yeah?”
God, men could be the worst. Even my own brother, apparently.
“I see. Seems the decent thing to do would be to tell her that, then.”
“I agree.” Leigh nodded at him. “Preferably the next time your dick is in her mouth. You know, so she can give you her honest, candid feedback.” She bared her teeth, then brought them together with a loud click.
He glared at her. “I didn’t make any promises. I’m upfront with everyone that I’m just trying to have fun and I don’t want anything serious.”
“What’s the other thing?” I motioned for him to get on with it before Leigh started chewing on his hide again. “You’ve earned no sympathy from us so far.”
“Where’s your compassion, Z?”
“I’m at my limit with dicks.”
“That statement deserves a few follow-up questions,” Leigh said, spluttering with laughter. “Like, how many, and where—”
I threw a balled-up napkin at her.
“The other thing is your sister.”
Leigh and I stopped laughing and turned back to Walker.
“Uh-oh.” Leigh’s eyes were bright. “Trouble in the kingdom?”
“Shut up,” Walker spat, and there was enough of an edge to his tone that I leaned forward. He was upset.
I held up a hand to Leigh, signaling for her to ease up a bit. My twin sister, Tavia, had been, until recently, content working in New York’s financial district, managing a hedge fund. I wouldn’t feel so sympathetic watching as my brother’s previously uncontested inheritance was threatened if I wasn’t so familiar with my sister’s bullying tactics. She’d decided to join the family business after all, breezing into town with little warning, announcing her intent to widen the scope of Leffersbee Financial by offering her Wharton-sharpened financial advice to corporations and small businesses. Walker would’ve been fine with that, if that’s all it was, and their separate roles were clearly defined. But we were talking about Tavia. So, the situation was anything but simple. From what I’d heard, each workday brought another challenge, another skirmish, as the two jockeyed for position.