Breaking Up With Barrett, The English Brothers #1

Chapter 5

Her perfume lingered in the air around him, as Barrett looked down at the ring in his hand.

What the hell just happened?

He held the ring up to the light from the hospital building. Unbeknownst to Emily, it was a princess cut diamond that had cost him over thirty thousand dollars. He couldn't stomach the idea of Emily wearing some gaudy fake, so he'd purchased the real deal, convincing himself he could always sell the diamond back for fair market value later.

It was still warm from her skin, and he slipped it over his pinkie finger, watching the facets sparkle. Speaking of different facets, Barrett was starting to get whiplash.

He sat back in his seat, waiting until his body calmed down before following her inside, and took an overview approach to the evening so far.

They'd started out the evening with familiar, businesslike formality.

She'd decided to veer from their agreed-upon roles, creating an engagement fantasy for the amusement of Hélène Harrison. (He grudgingly gave her credit for establishing a more stable social rapport with the Harrisons that would certainly grease his deal.)

She got up from the table visibly upset by the course of the engagement fantasy that she herself had concocted and perpetuated.

Upon her return she made hasty farewells, due to upsetting news about the state of her mother's health.

At her request, she ended up on his lap, setting his whole body on fire as she kissed him like the world was ending. (In fairness, he'd given as good as he got.)

She broke up with him. (As much as one can break off an engagement that was fake in the first place.)

The overview approach, which was generally so effective for figuring out where a business deal had gone south, was of no use to him, he thought, running his hands through his hair in frustration. He didn't know why she'd decided to create an engagement fantasy, what about it had upset her, why she wanted him to kiss her so badly when she'd never been interested in him before tonight, and—most baffling of all—why she had just truncated their arrangement without cause.

"Damn it!" he bellowed, disliking the unfamiliarity of being out of his depth and in the dark. Especially with Emily, with whom he'd just shared the most sexually meaningful event of his entire life. And they hadn't even come close to having sex.

His body, which had been cooperating with the plan to "calm down" hardened appreciably at that thought, and Barrett drummed his fingers on the windowsill with annoyance, trying to push the image of naked Emily out of his head.

He was grateful for the distraction when his phone buzzed.

The first message was from Emily:

Dr. Knightly is here. We cannot thank you enough for your kindness in calling him. My mother is sleeping soundly, but we are concerned about the reason for her blackout. Please don't wait for me. I will go home with my father. –E

Barrett narrowed his eyes, irritated at being dismissed and further annoyed that he was irrelevant to the situation now. Mostly because he wanted to help more. He wanted to be a part of whatever was going on in Emily's life, especially if it pertained to her mother's health.

He grumbled as he pulled up the second message:

Hélène and I pray that your future mother-in-law recovers quickly from her accident. Emily was a pure delight. We are having a house party at our place in the Hamptons this weekend and Hélène wonders if you two might be free to join us? We'll carve out time to finalize our business. –J.J. Harrison