Dating His Brother: Forbidden Affair (Heartstring Dating Agency Book 5)

by Lauren Wood

“It’s not at my firm. Don’t worry. I gave up on that notion a long time ago,” he told me, shuffling around a stack of paintings with a scrutinizing look. “No, it’s actually for an old client of mine who had an advertising firm. He needs a copywriter, and I told him I knew the perfect guy for the job. You know what copywriting is right?”

  “Yes,” I groaned. “I know what it is. I’m not an idiot. I’m also not a copywriter…or a writer at all.”

  “But you are a creative, and that’s exactly what they need,” he argued. “Think about it, Daws. I know you don’t like handouts, so this is perfect for you. You can get your foot in the door with this position and then work your way up onto the design team or something.”

  “If I wanted to be a designer, I would be one. That’s not what I do. It’s not visceral. It’s not the same as having my hands in the paint. Besides, I thought I made myself very clear before about you and your job offers. I don’t need them and I don’t want them. I’m perfectly happy as I am.”

  “Come on, brother!” He threw his head back with a dramatic moan. “I happen to know the guy who owns your building and I heard through the grapevine that your landlord has been complaining about you always paying your rent late.”

  “Late, maybe. But I always pay it eventually.”

  “Why live like that when you don’t have to?” he scoffed. “I know a ton of guys who would kill to be in your shoes, to have me sitting here giving this kind of offer. I mean, a ton of guys would kill to have a millionaire family that he could live off of, but I know better than to get into that with you again.”

  “Good. I’m glad you know better,” I scowled. “I know how our grandfather made our fortune, with his ponzi schemes and dirty deals, screwing over hardworking people. Robbing them of their life savings so he could hoard all that money for himself. I don’t want any part of it.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” he griped. “I’ve heard it all before, but my mind still hasn’t changed. I think you’re a fool. Who cares how he made it? Money is money. And it’s not a real crime unless you get caught.”

  “Maybe you can sleep at night knowing your bed, your sheets, your expensive cars and clothes, the roof over your head and everything under it was paid for with that money, but I can’t.”

  “Forget it,” he huffed. “I should have never come here. This was a mistake. And I would have been better off not seeing how pathetic all of this is. How pathetic you are.”

  He started storming off for the door, but when he swung it open—we were both surprised to see a dark-haired good-looking guy in an expensive suit standing there. His hand was curled into a ball, held up in the air like he was just about to knock before Richard opened the door himself.

  “Hey,” Richard pointed, furrowing his brow. “Aren’t you that Heartstring executive guy? John…or is it Josh?”

  “Jack,” he replied. “Jack Landson. Nice to meet you, Richard. I believe you’ve already met my wife, Jada.”

  “Izzy’s brother,” I blurted in shock. “Where’s Isabella? Is she okay?”

  “That’s none of your concern,” he barked, bursting into my studio, forcing Richard back inside. “Nothing about my sister is your concern.”

  “Of course it isn’t,” Richard scoffed. “Why would it be?”

  Jack’s eyes darkened over him. “I think you better ask your brother about that. Are you going to tell him, Dawson? Or should I?”

  “Why are you here?” I asked him, realizing how furious he was with me.

  He lunged forward, getting in my face with a vicious scowl. His nostrils flared as he growled, “I’m here to beat your ass.”

  “Whoa, buddy,” Richard stepped in. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but no one’s beating my brother’s ass but me. I decided it wasn’t worth it and was about to leave. I suggest you do the same.”

  Jack kept his eyes glued to me, ignoring Richard’s threatening suggestion completely. “I know all about you and Izzy and the mind games you’ve been playing with her. But it’s all over now. I talked to her and told her all about who you really are and what you really wanted with her.”

  My voice dropped low and my face turned gravely serious. “You know nothing about me and Izzy or what I want with her.”

  “Daws and Izzy?” Richard burst into laughter. “You’ve lost it, Jack. I’m the one dating Isabella. And I know for a fact she’d never give this loser the time of day.”

  He circled around the room, laughing harder and harder. But he unknowingly found himself in front of the very thing Izzy had warned me about. I really meant it when I said Richard would never step foot in my place. I never saw this coming, much less with her own brother standing there too.

  His laughter faded as the nude painting caught his attention. I watched his face drop as he pulled it out to inspect it closer. Then his eyes turned to me, full of rage and hatred.

  “You bastard,” he seethed, his face twisting into disgust. “You knew Izzy and I had a thing going. You saw us together at the gallery. It’s all over the internet for christ’s sake! You knew!”

  “I met her before the ball,” I defended hopelessly. “Before she even knew who you were. I didn’t know who she was then. Not really. I didn’t mean to betray you, but…I’m sorry, Rich. She doesn’t love you.”

  “Love!?” he shouted. “Who said anything about love!? I don’t expect her to love me! But I also know there’s no way in hell she loves you either!”

  “I think she does,” I said softly. “I definitely know I love her. I can’t ignore that because of some ridiculous marketing campaign.”

  While I was trying to explain my feelings to Richard, neither of us noticed that Jack had slipped past us and was walking over to see what painting had set my brother off. I tried to stop him the moment I realized it, but I was too late.

  One look at the painting sent him hurtling across the room, crashing into me. We both went flying back against the kitchen counter, knocking the table out of our path as we went. I got my bearings just in time to see his fist rearing back, and managed to whip my head out of the way at the last second. He cried out in pain as his fist slammed into the countertop instead.

  He got off of me, flicking his hand in the air to try and shake off the pain. He danced around in circles, wincing and growling.

  While Jack endured the sting of his hand, which was probably broken, Richard started in on me again—still fuming in disbelief.

  “She knows we’re brothers,” he raved. “So she knows you come from money. Has she seen the way you live? Does she know that you’re choosing this life? She’s accustomed to having anything she wants. She’ll never be happy slumming it with you. Whatever you think you two have, you’re wrong. Or else she wouldn’t still be the Heartstring bachelorette. She’s not planning to be with you, Daws. Surely you realize that.”

  “You two don’t understand,” I argued. “Jack, I’m sorry you’re angry with me about this. I can see why you’d be worried or overprotective, but I would never do anything to hurt Izzy. She’s the one who kept coming back to me. I told her the last time had to be it. That it was over between us unless she made up her mind and decided to be with me…only me.”

  Jack charged again, grabbing me by my shirt and slamming me against the wall. If he wasn’t Izzy’s brother, I would have fought back. But I knew she loved him, and I didn’t want to hurt him.

  “You listen to me,” he hissed in my face. “I’m about to walk out that door, and when I do, you forget you ever met my sister. Forget her face, her name. I’m taking that painting you did of her with me, and I’m going to burn it. As of this moment, nothing ever happened between the two of you and that’s the end of it. If you do anything to go against what I just said…If you even so much as think of her again and I find out about it…I’ll make sure you never lift a paintbrush again. You’ll be a dead man. Got it?”

  He yanked his hand away from my shirt and glared at me for a moment before leaving, snatching up the painting on his way out.
/>   Richard and I were left alone in heavy silence with him brooding over everything he had just found out. Finally, he started to walk towards the door as well.

  But he stopped and faced me one last time. “I second Jack’s orders. If you ever see her again and he doesn’t kill you, I’ll do it myself.”

  19

  Isabella

  Even after taking a long hot bath and pampering myself in every way I possibly could, I still couldn’t shake the gross and icky feeling that had crept over. I guessed it was better than the panic I felt before, but not by much. This was an awful sick feeling in my gut that had me regretting absolutely everything.

  I was curled up on my couch in a fluffy white robe and slippers, sipping tea to try and calm myself down. I had my house staff light every candle in the place, hoping some aromatherapy might do the trick. I even sent them out for a box of my favorite snacks from the bakery. I was desperate for any amount of comfort I could get my hands on.

  But none of it could erase Jack’s word from my brain. It wasn’t my brother’s fault. He loved me and was only trying to protect me. He was the only family I had left. He had Jada, his son Nathan, and a new baby on the way, but I was his one and only baby sister. I couldn’t blame him for being cautious and looking into Dawson like that any more than I could blame him for telling me what he found.

  The shock of it got the better of me, forming a hard lump in my throat that brought tears to my eyes. I closed them and let the hot stinging tears stream down my cheeks. I hadn’t cried since my mother’s funeral. I hadn’t had a reason to. But my heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces in a whole new way now. I couldn’t keep it bottled up anymore.

  Thinking about Dawson had never been welcomed. His face, the sound of his voice—those mementos had always crept in at the worst times, driving me mad. But at least then I could still cling to the false notion that he was a good guy. That was all shattered now, right along with anything I ever believed he felt about me. It was all a lie.

  I wished none of it had ever happened, that we had never met. Because even worse than being deceived by him, I had changed. He changed me, making it impossible for me to pop all the pieces back into their old places and carry on like none of it ever happened. I couldn’t go back to the way things were before. I still needed that passion Dawson made me realize I was missing in my life, however tainted of a source of inspiration he was. The result remained the same.

  I wiped my hands across my cheeks, trying to suck it all up and keep it pushed down. No man had ever made me cry before. One thing was for certain. I would never let it happen again.

  I didn’t resent the Heartstring campaign anymore. Now it would be my saving grace. It was exactly what I needed. A transactional marriage that I would never get in over my head with. I needed a predictable man who was everything that Jack and everyone else expected me to end up with. I didn’t want any more surprises.

  I was getting ready to call Jack and Jada to tell them that very decision when a knock came to my door. The maid raced into answer, but I shooed her off. “I got it.”

  I immediately regretted that choice when I saw Dawson standing there. I tried to slam the door shut in his face, but he squeezed his foot in just in time to stop me.

  “Isabella, please. I need to talk to you,” he insisted. “I don’t know what Jack thinks he knows about me or what he told you. You don’t even have to want me anymore. But I’m not going to let you walk away from this believing a lie.”

  “I’m not in the mood for this, Dawson,” I sighed, not moving the door an inch. “Move your foot. Go home. Or go to one of your dirty little pubs. I don’t care. Just leave me alone.”

  “I love you, Isabella. Please.”

  I realized he wasn’t going to be deterred so easily. Of course not. He never was. The longer I heard him speak, the more fed up I felt. I decided to let him in simply for the purpose of telling him to go to hell.

  “Stop saying that,” I groaned, rolling my eyes as I let him inside. “I’m not falling for it anymore.”

  My words rolled right off of him as if he hadn’t heard any of it. “I know I said that night was the last time,” he said frantically. “And it should be if you still don’t know how you feel, if you don’t think you really feel the same way for me. But goddammit, Izzy. I don’t want that to be the last time. Just be with me. Screw everyone else. Forget what your brother thinks or says. This is your life and I know you feel something for me.”

  I spun around, crossing my arms as I glared at him. “That’s funny. I told Jack that very same thing. That it was my life and I had to make my own decisions for my own happiness.”

  He perked up. “You did?”

  “Yeah,” I scoffed. “Before I knew the truth. The game’s over, Dawson. I know all about why you want me. And why you’re so desperate to convince me to be with you. Jack told me everything.”

  “Jack doesn’t know anything about why I want to be with you,” he argued.

  “He talked to your friend, Pete,” I told him, carefully watching the reaction on his face. “He knows, and now I know, why you showed up to that ball that night. Hell, for all I know you stalked me down in the park on purpose, because you did recognize me. Pete says you two were both on the prowl for a rich woman to con into falling in love with you. You wanted a sugar mama to fund your lifestyle, apparently, and thought I fit the bill. How perfect for you, right!? And to think I actually almost fell for it. You probably thought you hit the jackpot with me!”

  “Izzy, no. You’ve got it all wrong…”

  “All while you have your own family money that you refuse to use, pretending to be some poor boho starving artist,” I seethed, shaking my head. “Pathetic.”

  “Isabella. Listen to me.” He rushed over, firmly placing his hands on my shoulders—following my eyes everywhere they tried to go to avoid him. “Pete’s full of shit. He may have made a joke about finding rich women or some nonsense like that, but why would I want to do that? You know I don’t want to live off of my family’s money. How would using a woman like that be any different? I don’t know what goes through Pete’s head, but that’s not why I was at the ball that night. I went for free drinks and a little fun. I swear to god I didn’t know the whole thing was for you. I didn’t know you’d be there.”

  I shoved his hands off of me, putting a safe distance between us. “Give it a rest. I’m not falling for it this time.”

  “Are you going to make me beg?” he asked in full seriousness.

  “What!?” I shrieked.

  “Do you want me to beg? Because I will.” Before I could answer, he dropped down to his knees in front of me. “Isabella, I meant it every single time I told you I loved you. The only lie I’ve told you is not saying I loved you the first time I felt it. I never wanted you for anything other than who you are as a person. Not this shallow heiress you show everyone else…that you keep trying to convince me you are. But you. The real you. The person you are deep down. I know you haven’t let her out in a long time, but I’ve seen glimpses of her just dying to get out. I want to see you let that side of yourself bloom. I want you to blossom in my hands.”

  “Oh, just stop it!” I cried, jerking him up to his feet. “This is it. All there is to me is what you see standing in front of you. I’m rich, spoiled, and have no intention of changing or lowering my standards for you or anyone else. There’s nothing wrong or broken with me. I don’t need you to fix me. I just need you to leave me alone!” My hand flew out in front of me, pointing to the door. “Go! Just get out. Now.”

  He pleaded with me with his eyes, but finally exhaled and hung his head—giving up. “If that’s what you really want,” he murmured.

  “It is,” I barked, pointing again.

  Slowly and silently, he slipped out the door. I slammed it shut and locked it. The moment I did, I broke down in tears all over again. But this time it was because I knew everything I had just said to him was a lie. There was more to me, and not only
was she dying to get out, I was killing myself by keeping her hidden deep inside. I realized now I did want someone to save me, and I thought Dawson could do it. But I was wrong. That was all over now.

  I sobbed on the floor for a long time before pulling myself together. Oh well, I thought. Sure, I lied. But so did he. We were even now.

  I headed for my bedroom, desperate to crawl under my covers and hide away until the next morning. But my phone started ringing before I could make it that far. I glanced at the screen and picked up the call.

  “Hi, Jada. What’s up?”

  “Oh, hey, Izzy! I didn’t know if you’d pick up,” she stammered nervously. “How are you doing? Jack and I have been worried sick about you.”

  “Fine,” I sighed, obviously lying.

  “Right. Okay. That’s good…” she replied, pausing for a moment. “Well, the thing is…We still have the auditorium booked for next week. We really don’t want to put any pressure on you, but we have already spent a lot of money…I mean, that’s not important. It doesn’t matter, really.” She forced herself to spit the words out, but I could tell how much it pained her to say them. “What we do need, regardless of the money or anything else, is a final answer from you. And, well…I’m sorry, but I kind of need that answer now.”

  “An answer?” I wiped my cheeks again. “You mean…which guy I choose?”

  “No, no, no,” she shot back in a hurry. “We’ll worry about that part later. I just need to know if you’re still going to do it. The finale, I mean.”

  I blinked, feeling slightly stunned. I didn’t think I had a choice. But now that I did, in light of everything that had just happened, I knew the answer right away.

  “I’ll do it,” I told her. “I’ll be there, and I’ll pick one of the bachelors, as originally planned.”

  20

  Dawson

  I had never done the conventional, safe thing. I was supposed to fall in line with my family’s expectations, wear a suit to work every day, and enjoy all the swindled money our grandfather left to us. No one understood why I walked away from it all. People rarely understood anything I did. And it wasn’t easy. I didn’t expect my fight for Izzy to be any easier. But I wanted her with the same determination that steered the rest of my life. I wasn’t going to give up, at least not without trying one last time.