To Have And To Hold: The Wedding Belles Book 1 (28 page)

She opened her mouth, desperate for something witty to say. A casual little quip like the women of
Sex and the City
always had at the ready.

But she didn’t want a quip. Wasn’t sure she wanted casual, either.

Hell, Brooke wasn’t sure what she wanted.

All she knew was that she didn’t want him to leave.

S
ETH WASN’T
ENTIRELY SURE
what he was expecting from a private investigator.

A Hawaiian shirt, maybe. Or perhaps a cheap leather jacket and sunglasses worn indoors. An off-the-rack brown suit that was too big in the shoulders.

But whatever it was he was expecting, it certainly wasn’t Tommy Franklin.

The PI Seth was a heartbeat away from hiring to do some digging on Neil Garrett was . . . normal.

Tommy was slightly taller than average and had the broad, bulky frame of a man who liked his carbs but tried to combat that affection with plenty of time at the gym. There was no bad suit or Hawaiian shirt in sight, just a black sweater, dark jeans, and loafers. With his dark blond hair, blue eyes, and even features, the PI had the type of face that was attractive enough to be pleasant but not so attractive you’d remember him.

In other words, exactly the sort of person who could blend into the crowd, asking questions that wouldn’t get a second look.

“Thanks
for coming,” Seth said, extending a hand toward the guest chair and inviting Tommy to sit.

“Not a problem,” the other man said affably, sitting down. “Lots of fakers out there. Always happy to give my clients whatever validation they need to feel comfortable.”

Seth had contacted the PI by email a few weeks earlier, but had held back on actually making the move. Hell, even now he still wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do, but he was losing sleep over the thought of his sister marrying this asshole, and he didn’t know what else to do.

Still,
comfortable
was a bit of a stretch.

Seth wasn’t sure any man would feel comfortable with the fact that he was about to hire someone to spy on his sister. Well, not his sister so much as the man she’d decided on.

But wasn’t that just as bad?

Hell, maybe even worse. It was flat-out saying that he didn’t trust Maya’s judgment.

Or Brooke’s, for that matter.

Which on paper made Seth a complete asshole.

And yet, no matter how hard he tried, and Seth had tried, he couldn’t shake the pervading sense low and dark in his gut that Neil Garrett was not the right man for his sister.

There were plenty of areas in life where his sister bested him. Charm. Wit. Likability. She was better at tennis, golf, and chess. She was a better cook and could negotiate like nobody’s business.

But when it came to reading people, Maya was too trusting. Giving people the benefit of
the doubt they didn’t deserve. That was where he came in.

“So your email said your sister’s gotten in with a bad guy,” Tommy said as both men settled in their respective seats and studied each other.

Seth gave a curt nod. He’d gotten Tommy’s name from Dennis, an old college buddy, who’d hired the man to follow a cheating now ex-wife. Cliché, yes, but then the twenty-two-year-old ex had been a bit of a cliché, too, carrying on with a half dozen of Dennis’s wealthier friends, likely to hedge her bets when he eventually dumped her.

Which he had.

Point was, Dennis had trusted Tommy, and Seth trusted Dennis.

“You mind if I take notes?” Tommy asked, pulling an iPad out of his briefcase.

Seth waved his permission.

“So this boyfriend—”

“Fiancé,” Seth corrected curtly.

Tommy nodded and tapped something. “Name?”

“Neil Garrett.”

“And you don’t like him.”

“I do not.”

Tommy continued to tap. “Gut reaction? Or something specific?”

“Gut reaction,” Seth said, grateful that he didn’t have to explain it. Grateful that he didn’t have to say out loud that he was having his sister’s choices researched without so much as a shred of evidence that the man she was marrying was anything less than smitten with her.

“The
gut often knows best,” Tommy said with a nod. “How long’s Garrett been in the picture?”

“They got engaged after dating for three months. Casually, apparently, as I wasn’t even aware of the guy. They’ve been engaged for about a month now. So, four months altogether,” Seth said.

Saying aloud that Neil and Maya had been engaged for a month made Seth realize that he’d only known Brooke for a little under a month.

Which seemed strange.

Strange, because she’d managed to wiggle more determinedly into his life and under his skin in the span of thirty days than Nadia had in three years.

The realization was unsettling, although not entirely unwelcome.

“Your sister is wealthy?” Tommy said, his tone matter-of-fact.

Seth nodded once.

“And Garrett. Employed?”

Seth shrugged. “Apparently he’s starting up his own business. But whenever I’ve pressed for details, I can’t get so much as a name, much less a sense of when he starts to plan making money from it.”

“ ‘Investment mode’?” Tommy said with a little smile, making air quotes around the words.

Seth snorted. “Exactly.”

“Anything else I need to know?” Tommy asked. “Where the guy’s from, what his schedule’s like?”

Seth shook his head. “I’m not entirely sure. He and I aren’t exactly cozy. I know he’s been out of town on work lately. Investment opportunities or
some bullshit. Seems to be more often than not, but I don’t have a sense on specifics.”

Tommy nodded, tapped something else on his iPad. “That’s where I come in. My job is to get the specifics and get them to you so you can make an informed decision about the next steps you need to take.”

Seth swallowed. He was doing this. He was really going to hire this man.

Tommy slid his iPad back into his bag and then leaned forward, the alert sharpness of his expression telling Seth that there was a shrewdness hiding behind the easy smiles.

“All you have to do is say the word, and I’m on it,” Tommy said.

Seth gave a half smile. “Why do I get the feeling there’s a warning in there somewhere?”

Tommy didn’t smile back. “I’m discreet. Your sister and Garrett will never know I’ve looked into him unless you want them to.”

“But?”

“But, the toll of these things often isn’t paid by the person I’m following.”

“Believe me, I’m very aware who’s paying for this,” Seth replied wryly. Tommy Franklin was not cheap.

“That’s not what I mean,” Tommy said, looking a little grimmer. “I’m saying that invading the privacy of a loved one, even if it’s in their best interest as it is here, can wreak emotional havoc.”

The PI’s words struck a chord, but Seth kept his voice impassive. “I’d rather lose sleep over my own guilt than worry over my sister’s future.”

Tommy studied him a bit longer, but he seemed
to see the resolve on Seth’s face, because he nodded, clapped his hands against his legs, and then stood, hand outstretched. “We’re in business, then.”

Seth hesitated only briefly before shaking Tommy Franklin’s hand.

The moment he did, Seth became horribly aware he’d made a deal with the devil.

Only in this case, the devil wasn’t the private detective so much as it was the cold chunk of ice that lived in Seth’s heart.

Tommy had already explained his payment terms over email, but Seth listened as the other man explained them once more. Half up front. A quarter more with the first report, due in a month or shorter. The last quarter when the job was done.

The men shook hands once more, and Seth showed Tommy to the door. Seth’s hand was just reaching for the door handle when the door burst open from the other side.

“Yo, Tyler. Take me to lunch, and tell me every detail about what’s going on with your wedding planner hottie,” Grant said, striding into the office with the confidence of a man who’d done so a hundred times before without knocking.

Seth’s best friend halted when he saw that Seth wasn’t alone. “Ah. Shit. Shit. Sorry, man. Etta said you didn’t have anything on your calendar when I called earlier this morning.”

Fuck.

Seth didn’t have anything on his calendar. He’d purposely asked Etta to keep his lunch hour free so he could catch up on email, and then insisted Etta
take her dopey intern to some overpriced lunch so he could meet with the private detective in peace.

A peace that was shot to hell now that Grant was studying the other man curiously.

Tommy Franklin was no slob, but he also wasn’t wearing the usual Tyler Hotel Group business uniform that other men wore. There was no suit, no monochromatic tie. Grant would know immediately that this wasn’t a standard business meeting.

Double fuck.

Tommy gave a polite but bland smile and slipped out the door with little more than a nod to Seth and Grant. It was nicely done. A subtle way of escaping without introductions, and yet there was no sense of rudeness or awkwardness. Just a simple straightforward exit.

Any other acquaintance of Seth’s would have dropped it without a second thought.

Unfortunately for Seth, Grant was not any acquaintance.

“Who was that?” Grant asked, curiosity shining through his brown eyes.

“Nobody,” Seth muttered, shutting the door and heading back toward his desk.

It was the wrong thing to say. Not only was Grant annoyingly inquisitive by nature, he also knew Seth too damned well. Knew when he was lying.

“You would have put
nobody
on your calendar,” Grant said. “And
nobody
wouldn’t have required you sending Etta out to lunch when it’s not her birthday.”

“Not
true,” Seth muttered. “I send her out in the week before Christmas sometimes. She likes to go see the tree at Rockefeller.”

“Right,” Grant said, crossing his arms. “You keep telling yourself whatever you need to, to avoid the guilt that’s written all over your ugly face right now.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Seth replied as he turned his attention toward his computer screen, even though his brain refused to register any of the hundreds of emails in his inbox.

Grant ambled closer to the desk, his easy lope a contradiction to the ire on his face.

“Tell me that man wasn’t who I think he was,” Grant demanded.

Seth spread his hands to the side. “Hard to say. You’re the only aspiring mind reader in this room. Am I supposed to know what you’re rambling on about?”

Grant’s light brown eyes glinted angrily. “Don’t bullshit me, Seth.”

It was the seriousness in his usually lighthearted friend’s face that had Seth coming clean.

He met Grant’s eye steadily. “That was Tommy Franklin. He’s a private investigator I hired to look into Maya’s fiancé.”

“You son of a bitch,” Grant said, almost before Seth finished his sentence.

“I told you I was going to do it,” Seth said, hating the note of defensiveness in his tone.

“And I told you not to.”

“Well,
then it’s a good thing you’re not the boss,” Seth said pointedly.

“I’m not talking to you as one of your subordinates right now, and you fucking know it. I’m talking to you as a friend, although right now I’m seriously debating whether you’re worthy of the word.”

Seth withheld the flinch, but barely.

There were very few people in this world capable of wounding him, but Grant Miller was definitely one of them. And because pain was an unfamiliar sensation he’d never quite learned how to deal with, Seth lashed back.

“This really isn’t any of your business, Grant.”

“The hell it isn’t.” Grant slammed his palms on the desk. “This isn’t right, and you know it. Maya deserves our trust.”

“There’s no ‘our,’ here, Grant. She’s my sister. You made your opinion clear and I noted it, but this is up to me. I’m the one that will have to call this man brother-in-law. I’m the one who will have to pick up the pieces if he hurts her. I’m the one who will have to sort out the financial aftermath if he’s after her money.”

“That’s what this is all about,” Grant said coldly. “The money.”

Okay, that was enough.

Seth slammed his own hands on the desk, standing and glaring up at his slightly taller friend. “That’s not fucking fair. I care about Maya more than anything in the world, and you know that.”

“Well, your brand of brotherly love sucks,” Grant snarled.

“Back
off,” Seth said, taking a breath and trying to cool his temper. “This isn’t your call.”

“Well, it damn well should be.”

“Why, because you’re in love with her?” Seth challenged, the words out of his mouth before he could think better of them.

Grant’s chin knocked back as though Seth had dealt him a physical blow, and because Seth knew Grant every bit as well as Grant knew him, he knew what that reaction meant.

It meant that Brooke had been right. Grant was in love with Maya.

Seth swore softly, his head dipping forward. “You should have told me.”

“It wasn’t yours to know,” Grant said, his tone rougher than Seth had ever heard it.

“She’s my sister. You’re my best friend.”