This wasn’t the way he wanted things to go down, not by a long shot. But all he could do was tell her the truth. “I—”
“Are you married?”
“What?”
“That woman who was hanging all over you. Is she your wife?”
He shook his head. “No. Not even a girlfriend.”
Hurt flashed in her pretty eyes. “You sure looked cozy.”
“Britt, I used to know her...” He rubbed his left eyebrow. “I haven’t told you the whole truth about myself.”
“No kidding.”
At her biting tone he said, “And what about you? Why were you here with my dad’s chauffeur? You didn’t say anything about going to a party tonight.”
“You didn’t either.” She bit her lip again and then her eyes widened. “Arthur is your dad?”
“Yes. Lila is my mom. I didn’t know they invited Daniel to their party.”
“What?You know my dad?”
So Daniel was her father. “I met him once.” Hunter tugged on his collar, even though it wasn’t constricting him anymore. He dropped his arm to his side. “When I was reserving this tuxedo. See, my dad likes to shop—”
“I don’t care.” She put her hands over her ears like a child.
Unable to stop himself, he went to her. “Britt, please listen. I didn’t tell you about my family because talking about them would lead to other things I wasn’t ready to tell you.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“I don’t know anything about your family either.”
She lifted her chin. “You never asked.”
“And you never asked about mine.”
Britt stared at him, and if they weren’t fighting, he would have kissed her senseless by now, just to reassure himself he hadn’t lost her. But the dark dread pooling in his gut told him otherwise.
“It was a game to you,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“You and me?” He shook his head. “No. Not by a long shot.”
“I don’t believe you.” She started to shake. “I don’t think I ever did. It never made sense to me that someone like you would waste his time with me. I always thought you could have any woman you wanted. Like that one tonight.”
“I don’t want her, Britt.” He put his hands on her trembling shoulders. “I want you.”
“I don’t believe you.” She shrugged him off. “And now that I know your obscenely rich—”
“That’s my parents’ money, not mine. I live in an apartment and work—”
“Sure you do.” She moved away from him. “I’m such a fool.” She shoved past him and opened the door.
“Wait, please.”
She looked at him over her shoulder, tears streaming down her face.
“Britt,” he rasped.
