I keep my body still and my expression neutral, but can she feel the way my heart’s suddenly picked up speed?
“Where did he get that idea?”
“He dug it up from the dark confines of his messed-up brain.” Blake sighs. “I told him he’s insane.”
Insane or perhaps smarter than I thought he was. But it can’t be more than a vague suspicion on his part. No one saw me. I made sure of it. It was the middle of the night, and there was no one around to see me picking Blake’s lock and sneaking into her house.
“I just hope he doesn’t go around causing trouble for you and your business.” Her stunning eyes are warm and tinged with concern. “I know he’s just making things up, but I worry that others might believe him. The night of the mayor’s party, he showed me a background check. New York wasn’t listed on it, and so he tried to make it seem like that was proof you lied about coming from there.”
A cold, hard stone appears in the pit of my belly. What the fuck? Brett’s digging into my past?
My anger swells. I should give him a warning, the kind he won’t be able to ignore. A conversation on the outskirts of the town should do it.
Then I remember myself.
That’s what Nero would have done, but Rowan doesn’t operate like that. Brett doesn’t have anything real. He has no idea who I am. He’s fishing, and he won’t find anything about Rowan Miller, so all I have to do is simply let him waste his time.
“Rowan?” Blake asks softly. “You look upset.”
“I’m not. I’m just thinking about what you’ve said.” I let out a low breath. “He can run as many background checks on me as he wants. I’ve got nothing to hide. And if my clients believe some stupid rumor that’s not backed up by any evidence, they’re not the kind of clients I want to have.”
She watches me, concern flashing in her eyes. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. But I don’t like that you have to deal with him, Sunshine.”
“I know. But I managed to do it for months. I can do it for a few more until I get everything sorted with the house.”
My heart stills. “A few more months? And then what?”
She blinks at me. “Once the house is repaired, I’m going to try selling it again. And when I do…” She shrugs. “I’ll leave.”
I sit up. “Hold on a sec.”
Whatever she sees in my eyes makes her get off the bed and pull on her robe. “Why do you look so surprised? That’s always been the plan.”
“That was before. This is after.” She can’t possibly still think about leaving. I mean, I know we haven’t talked about it yet, but I thought it was obvious she’d stay given what’s been happening with us.
“After what?”
“Afterus. I thought this was going well,” I say, doing my best to ignore my rising panic.
She folds her lips over her teeth. “It is going well. But we both know it’s not forever.”
“We do?”
Her expression turns forlorn. “You’ll get bored of me eventually, and maybe it makes me selfish to want to leave before that happens, but that’s what I want. I don’t want to wait for the day when you’ll lose interest.”
Anger surges through me. She doesn’t get it. She doesn’t see how I’ve fallen for her. The words have been there, on the tip of my tongue, but I’ve held them back because I wanted to be sure she was right there with me. And now I see that I was right to do so, because we’re clearly on two different pages when it comes to us. “So all this time, you haven’t been giving us a real chance?”
She exhales. “Rowan, I like you. A lot. But you said yourself that you’re not interested in anything serious.”
“I wasn’t talking about you,” I growl. “I thought I made it clear you’re different, Blake.”
“And I want to believe you, but I just can’t. The last time I believed something that seemed too good to be real, I got burned.” There’s a sheen to her eyes now. “I can’t go through that again.” She turns and walks out of the bedroom.
I drag my palms over my face.
God, I’d love to kill Brett. This is all his handiwork. He hurt her so badly that she doesn’t want to risk giving herself to anyone again.
