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“It doesn’t matter. You were ready to keep on ignoring me forever until you found out about my helicopter date.”
“No.” He put up his hands again. “That’s not what happened.”
“Seriously? For the first time in years, a nice guy is interested in me, and that’s when you decide to send me flowers? When I might have found the one? Why are you trying to screw this up for me?”
“Because you should be with me instead of him. Speaking of, will you go out with me tonight?”
My mouth dropped open. “This is low. You can’t mess with a woman’s emotions like this. You’re not in love with me and I’m dating Preston.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “You’ve been on one date with the guy. That doesn’t mean you’re dating.”
“Two dates.”
“Two? Damn it.” He blew out a breath. “Look, this isn’t going the way I thought it would, but all I’m trying to say is that almost dying made me see I’ve been an idiot and you’re amazing and if you give me a chance, I can prove I’m really in love with you.”
“No.”
“Wait, what?”
“No, I’m not giving you a chance. You’ve been a jerk to me my entire adult life and now that I’m dating someone great, you swoop in and try to mess it up for who knows what reason. It’s not nice and it’s not funny and it’s not happening.”
I stormed past him toward my front door, a heady swirl of emotions battering me from the inside. I was angry and confused, and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, a little bit charmed.
Which only made me more angry and confused. There was no way he was serious. Not only was his timing atrocious, he couldn’t mean it. He couldn’t have feelings for me. It was just my stupid, misplaced crush trying to get my attention. I wasn’t going to give it, or him, a chance to hurt me.
Not again.
“Marigold.”
I stopped with my hand on the door.
“He’s not the one.”
I whipped my head around. “How would you know?”
The corners of his lips turned up in a smile. “Because he’s not me.”
“You arrogant jerk.”
“And because he doesn’t know you. I do. But don’t worry. I’ll fix this.”
Gritting my teeth, I let out a frustrated groan. Zachary Haven was officially the biggest jerk on the planet. Why was he doing this to me? Why now? Why was he trying to mess things up when a world of possibility had just opened up to me?
Before Preston, I would have fallen for it. And what would I have gotten out of it? Nothing but heartbreak. I wasn’t going to let that happen.
Without another word, I unlocked my door, and went inside.
CHAPTER 11
Zachary
My attempt to win over Marigold had fallen apart pretty dramatically. I hadn’t meant to lead with I think I’m in love with you. I’d opened my mouth and it had just come out. Apparently practicing in the rearview mirror had been pointless. And it hadn’t been the right way to open the conversation. It had left her confused and upset.
Hell, she was more than upset, she was furious.
A lesser man might have been discouraged. Not me. If anything, I was more sure. More confident. Because as soon as I’d told Marigold the truth about how I felt, everything had clicked into place.
I just had to convince her I wasn’t lying, messing with her head, or only out to sabotage this Preston asshole.
