“Sure she would,” Magnus said, letting the sarcasm drip through his voice. Levi was such a dreamer when it came to women, unlike Magnus, who was a die-hard cynic. He knew how relationships with women went. They’d date a little, things would get a little more exclusive, and the next thing Magnus knew, he was having to check in if he wanted to scratch his ass and finding her toothbrush tucked next to his. Women didn’t believe in “casual.” They believed in first dates and then showed up with a bag of their things so they could lay claim on you. And that was not for him. He liked being able to do his own thing, and he sure didn’t like answering to anyone. The moment a woman started to get clingy, Magnus shut things down. He had Levi in his life, and trying to get his brother’s head out of his ass was a full-time relationship as it was.
“You just don’t understand,” Levi said in a mournful voice. He raked a hand through his messy hair and then retreated back into his room. “I need her.”
“Need her? For what?” He followed his brother into his room, amazed at how Levi managed to trash a two-thousand-square-foot room in the space of a few days. “You need to pull your shit together, man. And look at this pigsty. That’s unfair to the staff for you to be such a pig.” Just because they were rich now, Magnus hadn’t forgotten what it was like to pick up after himself. Levi, on the other hand . . .
Levi turned and flopped onto his back on his big bed. “Like I said, I need her.”
“For fucking what? Is she going to pitch in with the new project? Because I fucking need you to help me with this new IP.”
“She’s my muse. I can’t work without her.”
His muse? Fucking seriously ? Magnus began picking up some of the laundry strewn all over the floor of his brother’s room and tossing it onto the bed—and onto Levi. “Fine. I give up. You’re clearly not going to work until you get this newest girl out of your head. So go fuck off and see her or something. Forget all about deadlines or anything. Jesus.”
“That’s just it,” Levi said in a mournful voice. He didn’t even move a muscle when Magnus tossed an old towel on him. “I can’t see her. She won’t leave her sister’s side.”
“Then she doesn’t want to date you,” Magnus said bluntly.
“She does,” Levi said. “She just can’t leave her sister’s side. Her sister’s a workaholic, just like you.” Levi sat up slowly on the bed, his eyes wide. “She’s a workaholic like you. Magnus, this is perfect!” He rolled off the bed and sprang to his feet, crossing the filthy room to grasp his older brother by the arms. “Can you date Edie for me?”
“What? What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Can you date Edie for me?” Levi repeated, as if it were the most sensible suggestion in the world. “We get Edie occupied, and I can have Bianca. If Edie’s out with you, Bianca can be out with me. It’s the perfect solution.”
Magnus shrugged his brother’s hands away. “The perfect solution . . . if you’re high on something. Why would I want to date Edie? She was a pit-viper at the damn dinner party the other night.”
“I’m sure she has a softer side if you flirt with her,” Levi continued, undeterred. He grabbed a shirt off the floor and shrugged it on, then began to button it up. “That’s just what I need. I need a distraction for Edie. If you can keep her preoccupied, I can spend time with Bianca. Then we both get what we want.”
His brother was flat-out crazy. Magnus crossed his arms. “You have a flaw in your plan.”
Levi tilted his head, curious. “I do? Where?”
“The fact that I don’t want to fucking date Edie!” Magnus roared. “Jesus Christ, man, pull your head out of your ass. Why would I want to date her? I don’t care how fucking cute she is if she’s a nightmare to be around.”
But Levi gave Magnus a knowing look. “So you thought she was cute?”
He groaned inwardly. “Yeah, I’d fuck her . . . if she kept her mouth shut. That doesn’t mean I want to date her. So what?”
“So . . . you can date her. Just get a few drinks into her. Compliment her hair. Build a common ground. You’ll have her eating out of the palm of your hand.” Levi slung an arm around Magnus’s shoulders again, as if the problem was solved. “It’s perfect. You can date her and I’ll keep Bianca distracted and we’ll both have a little bit of quiet time.”
“No. Absolutely not.” Magnus shoved his brother’s arm off of his shoulders. “You know we have a deadline. Game Channel wants the new IP and game design in two months. That means we need to work our asses off, and that means you need to work on the goddamn Huns. They’re paying us a lot of money—”
“Who cares about money? We’re already rich! I want love—”
“You want a fucking punch in the mouth is what you want,” Magnus said. Jesus, why did his brother always go off his rocker over a woman at the worst possible times? Why couldn’t he just work like Magnus wanted him to? Was that so freaking hard? “This is a lot of money and it’s our reputation on the line.”
Levi gave him a knowing look. “You want the money?”
“Hell yes, I want the money.” It was five hundred million dollars. Of course he wanted it. He’d be stupid to throw it away. It wasn’t the amount of money or the fact that he needed it—they didn’t need it at all. It was the sheer satisfaction of knowing that someone would pay that much for their intellectual property. That was what drove Magnus.