Love Arranged (Lakefront Billionaires, #3)(26)

Did he get abducted by aliens? If so, how do I convince them to take him back?

Julian’s brows crinkle as his dark gaze swings toward me. “What’s he talking about?”

“What happened while we were gone?” Dahlia asks at the same time.

I could strangle Lorenzo for the chaos he is causing, but my expression doesn’t reflect my innermost thoughts. “Nothing important.”

“On the contrary, I take Lily’s health very seriously.” He pushes my cup of water closer to me.

I respond by kicking my foot out. I aim for the leg of his chair, but I accidentally hit his shin instead. Oops.

“One kind act doesn’t make you a hero,” I reply with a tight smile.

“So you admit I’m kind.”

“Only on rare occasions when it benefits you.”

“In what way did you puking all over my Ferragamos benefit me?”

My sister’s mouth falls open. “Wait. She what?”

“There’s a reason Lily skipped out on her regular passion-fruit vodka seltzer tonight.” Lorenzo has the audacity to look concerned over my health.

My head is reeling from this conversation and Lorenzo’s proximity. If I wasn’t stone-cold sober, I’d question how much I had to drink.

Not enough to make it through whatever he has planned.

For the life of me, I can’t make sense of what changed since the Last Call incident, but I need to think fast, and I need to do it right now before Lorenzo gets too bold.

“I had too much to drink, and Lorenzo offered to drive me home. I ended up feeling sick during the car ride, and the rest is too embarrassing to talk about.”

Julian makes a noise of discontent. “I’m not sure what disappoints me more: you getting drunk enough to think Lorenzo driving you home was a good idea, or you not getting sick inside his car.”

Lorenzo’s smile drops. “I’d never take advantage of her or any other woman, if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

Something in my stomach flutters, and I wish I could crush the butterflies with my fist.

Julian shrugs. “You said it, not me.”

Dahlia crosses her arms. “Am I the only one confused about what’s going on here?”

I’m about to add my two cents when Lorenzo speaks up. “Now that everyone knows about Lily’s and my relationship, I thought there was no point in hiding it anymore.”

Dahlia’s mouth falls open. “Your what?”

“Friendship,” I correct, although it kills me to suggest such a thing.

My sister doesn’t look happy at the word. “You two are…friends? Since when?”

Great question I’d love to know the answer to.

Lorenzo doesn’t look too pleased at my save, but too freaking bad.

“I don’t believe it,” Julian scoffs.

I’m relieved once Lorenzo turns his attention away from my face and looks over at Julian. “Well, you didn’t want to believe me when I told you Santa wasn’t real either, so I’m not surprised.”

I blink twice, and Julian’s face turns red in an impressive five seconds flat.

Dahlia bursts out laughing. “Hold on. Is that the real reason why you hate Lorenzo?”

“No. It’s one of many.” Julian’s posture turns rigid.

“What happened?” she asks. “I thought this was all because he wanted to buy a house you liked.”

“Houses,” Julian grumbles. “He tried multiple times.”

“Only because you made it impossible to get a single one of my offers accepted,” Lorenzo replies.

Their dislike for one another stems deeper than just one misunderstanding, right? It has to, or else I’ll never let Julian live this grudge down.

“You could’ve paid more for a house,” Julian snaps back.

“I wasn’t interested in participating in your billionaire pissing contest.”

“From what I heard on the news, you aren’t one anyway.”

Lorenzo smirks. “Keeping tabs on me?”

“More like I’m invested in your downfall.”

“You are aware I’m still worth a quarter of a billion, right?”

I choke on my drink because no, I didn’t. Obviously, Lorenzo still has money despite quitting his job at Vittori Holdings and selling his shares, but I didn’t realize he had that much.

“Did you selling your shares have something to do with the company’s value tanking from your poor decisions as the director of operations, or was it because you were jealous that your cousin replaced you?” Julian’s chair creaks as he leans forward.

Lorenzo laughs. “Me jealous of my cousin? He is the one who wishes he was me because unlike him, I had the courage to walk away from everything.”

Acid churns in my belly at Lorenzo’s candidness.

Julian raises his brow. “You couldn’t keep your emotions out of business decisions? That doesn’t sound like a trait we need in our future mayor.”

“Julian,” I reply with a hiss, directing my frustration at him. “Enough.”

“?Dije algo mal?”I He tries to look apologetic, but it fails to work on me.

“?Puedes tratar de comportarte bien?”II

“?l empezó.”III He huffs.