Liz strode deliberately across the room, dropping her drink off as she passed the bar. She didn’t stop until she was directly in front of him and she could see the blue eyes gazing mischievously back at her.

“Found you,” Clay said.

Liz shrugged. “How are you, Clay?”

“Probably better than you.” His dimples showed as his eyes crawled her body.

“Probably.” She found it hard to argue that point.

“So, this whole time you were f**king my brother,” Clay said with a shake of his head as if he should have known all along.

Liz bit back a snide retort and breathed out slowly. “Could we maybe talk about this somewhere else?” she asked, realizing just how public they were.

Clay nodded. “Yeah, let’s get out of here.”

Liz followed him out of the bar and out onto the sidewalk. He latched on to her arm and smiled at her. “You wouldn’t let me take you home before. Come with me now.”

Liz pulled her arm away from his. “I’m not like your girlfriend; you can’t just yank me around.”

Clay smirked. “No, you’re nothing like Andrea.”

“How long before you’re married anyway?” Liz asked, deflecting that statement.

“As long as I can postpone it,” he told her, walking up to the valet and handing over his ticket.

“How did you find me?” Liz could feel the alcohol from that last drink clouding her mind. “There are too many places I could have been.”

“I asked Savannah where she would go,” he said with a shrug.

Liz’s eyes widened. “Did you tell her you were coming to see me?”

“Um . . . no. Why would she care?”

She opened her mouth and then closed it. She wasn’t sure that she wanted to disclose the information about how close she and Savannah were, but it seemed too late now. “We’re friends. We work on the paper together.”

“You seem to be affiliated with everyone in my family somehow.”

“All of you by accident.”

“Well, it’s not an accident tonight,” he said with that same smile.

A sleek black car pulled up in front of them. The valet hopped out of the car and handed Clay the keys.

Of course he has a Porsche.

“After you,” he said, holding the passenger door open for her.

Liz walked up and stood directly in front of him. “Why are you even with Andrea if you don’t want to marry her?”

“Why did you f**k my brother when you knew you had no chance together?” Clay shot back.

“Those two things aren’t even comparable,” she said with a shake of her head.

Clay smirked. “Just get in the car, Miss Carmichael.”

Whatever. It wasn’t as if she had anything better to do. Brady wasn’t an option. Hayden had f**ked up royally. She was drunk and couldn’t think of a reason not to go with Clay.

“Fine,” she grumbled, looking over her shoulder to make sure no one heard him use that name.

She sat down on the plush leather interior and Clay shut the door in her face. She watched him walk around the front of the car, open the door, and take the seat next to her. Clay revved the engine and then pulled away from the bar. Liz didn’t even know where they were going, and at that moment she didn’t care. It was nice to not think for once and go along with whatever was happening.

“My roommate is probably freaking the f**k out,” she said, leaning her head back against the seat.

“Why is that?”

“Because she picked you out in the bar and told me to go home with you.”

Clay cracked up laughing. “She has good taste.”

“Usually. I’d say she was questionable on this choice.”

“You’re cute when you’re lying,” Clay said with that cocky attitude. “So, how did it all happen?”

“How did what happen?”

“You and Brady.”

Liz cringed. It was too fresh to even think about them like that. Things had gone all wrong.

“Coincidence. Serendipity. All that,” she managed to say with a shrug, glancing out the window. “You read the article. We met after he announced he was running for Congress.”

“How remarkable. Starting a clandestine affair off of a chance encounter.”

“What does it even matter to you, Clay?” Liz asked, turning back to face him. “You wanted to f**k me, and your big brother got there first. You lose again.”

She didn’t even know where that had come from. What the f**k was wrong with her?

Clay chuckled softly. “You know, I always knew there was something different about you. That first time we met on the Fourth of July and every time after that. I knew that you weren’t some abject drone following my brother around because you believed in his stupid policy speeches or, worse, his pleas for attention by speaking about personal issues. I went and read your articles about Brady from two summers ago, and I think that you were right. You said the things I was telling you about Brady all along.”

“That was before I knew your brother.”

“Exactly. Back when you saw him for what he really was, not what he wanted you to see. Tell me something. Do you honestly think that he didn’t f**k someone else when you guys were together?” he asked, glancing over at her.

“Do you have a point?” she snapped. She couldn’t think about that. It didn’t even matter.

Clay turned a sharp corner and began to weave down back streets. “With me you know exactly what you’re getting. With Brady you never know.”

“Is the lawyer trying to tell me that he’s honest?” she quipped.

“The lawyer is trying to tell you that after everything he still wants to take you home and he still wants to f**k you. I doubt Brady is saying that.”

Liz choked back a gasp at his frankness. “You just want me because your brother had me.”

“Correction: I just want you more.”

“So what? You want to get me out of your system so you can go back to your heiress?” Liz demanded.

Clay smirked and shot her a devious grin. “Lucky for me, I have a pretty insatiable appetite.”

Liz knew that she was at a low point in her life. She had never felt so completely and totally destroyed. And at this point, she just didn’t care what happened. And maybe, even a small part of her knew that if she couldn’t have Brady then she just wanted to be close to him however she could. Even if it was a completely f**ked-up notion. Clay was as close to Brady as she was ever going to get again, and it was good enough for her in that moment.