Page 31 of The Ghost

“That’s pretty convenient,” I snapped.

“It’s the truth!” he rallied, finally getting stirred up.

“And I’m telling you I’m not so sure about that,” I countered.

“So what?” he demanded. “You think I’m lying? That I just made up all that to get close to you again?”

“Did you?” I asked.

“No!” he shouted. “I care about you, and I don’t want to see you make a mistake with some British ass—”

I stopped him before he could finish the sentence. “The last thing you want to do is insult Theo.”

“Or what?” Ryan said with a laugh.

I exhaled in frustration. “Or nothing. I just think you should know that I’m in love with someone else, and that there’s no future for us anymore.”

“Don’t you want to think about that some more?” Ryan begged.

I could see him getting ahead of himself and imagining that I would fall in line if he just said the right thing. He was searching for a way to get to the top of the heat without considering that I was the one in charge of the race. I wasn’t going to budge. Theo was the man for me, and it didn’t matter how much wheedling and kissing up Ryan did. I didn’t love him anymore. It was as simple as that.

“Please, Ryan,” I said, giving him one last chance to hear me out. “If you want me to accept your story, that’s one thing. But we’re not getting back together.”

“All I’m asking you is to consider what we had. Don’t throw it all away,” he answered smugly. After all we’d been through and everything I’d said to him, he still thought he could worm his way back into my pants. I was thoroughly disgusted.

“No,” I said, standing up.

“Baby, you’re not thinking clearly,” he asserted, pushing my damned buttons again.

“Call me ‘baby’ one more time, and I’m going to put you on your back,” I threatened.

“On the bed?” he asked with those seductive eyes.

I felt myself throw up in my mouth a little bit. This conversation was going nowhere fast. He wasn’t listening, and he wasn’t telling me anything I could believe, other than that he had been a poor choice to begin with.

It finally registered with him that he wasn’t being as enticing as he thought. “Come on, we were going to be married.”

“That was years ago,” I said.

“And we have years to make up for,” he pleaded.

“You did nothing to try to find a way to tell me you were alive,” I reminded him. That fact alone drove my suspicions through the roof and proved to me that I couldn’t trust him.

“Why would I have done that? It would have put you in danger!” he claimed.

“You forget who I am,” I said, bearing down on him with all of my anger. “I can take care of myself.”

“Is that what Theo tells you while he skips around the world on missions you’re not allowed to go on?” Ryan sneered.

“Theo risked his life to find me,” I informed my ex-fiancé. “Which was more than I can say for you.”

“Come on, Clark, don’t be like that,” Ryan whined.

“I’m through with you,” I told him. “We’re through. Don’t come find me again.”

“I’m about to go off to the jungle,” he said, still trying to pull off a win.

“Good luck,” I offered. “I hope you don’t get killed again. But for you and me, it isn’t going to happen.”