“It didn’t feel fake tome.”
That slips out hotter than I want. His eyes darken at once.
“Yeah,” he says slowly. “I noticed.”
My face flames. “You can’t just—just—lick my soulin front of the town and then act like it’s business!”
His mouth twitches. “That what I did?”
“Yes!”
“What’d it taste like?”
“Clay!”
He pushes off the counter, slow, big, like a predator leaving a shadow. “Firecracker,” he says, voice dropping, “you wanted this to work. I made it work.”
“You made it—” I fling a hand through the air, words tripping out of me. “You made it confusing!”
“Confusing?” He stalks closer. My breath stutters. “Thought I was being pretty clear.”
“You’re not.”
“You wanted a real couple. You wanted Copper Mountain to buy it. They bought it.”
“ButIbought it, too!” I say, because apparently tonight is the night I rip my own heart out bare-handed. “I bought it, Clay. I…felt it.”
He stops two feet from me.
Looks down.
Big. Unyielding.
“You weren’t supposed to,” he says, softer, almost regretful. “That wasn’t part of the deal.”
I let out a hollow laugh. “Oh my God. Of course you’d say that.”
“What.”
“That human emotion wasn’t part of your precious deal.”
“It complicates things.”
“Peoplecomplicate things.Icomplicate things. Newsflash, firefighter—this was always gonna get messy.”
“That’s why I set rules.”
“And that kiss set them onfire.”
He jaw ticks. “I told you not to tempt me.”
“I didn’t?—”
“You did.”
“You know what?” I shake my head hard. “You’re just looking for a reason to pull back.”
His eyes flash. “No.”
