Page 86 of Have To Be Mine

What the fuck was happening? I did a quick rewind. I could not think of anything that led us to this point. I’d been on my best behavior. I worked. I did everything wanted.

“Where is this coming from?” I asked.

“A travel fling only works when we’re traveling.”

“I need you to explain what’s going on because there is nothing you can say that’s going to convince me that what’s happened between us hasn’t been real. I was there. I know what I felt. I know what I saw.”

She was looking at the ground now.

“I’m falling in love with you,” I said.

She flinched. And in that millisecond, I saw all her walls go up. The woman I had watched fireworks with was gone. I hadn’t known that wall was still there. I thought we’d gotten past it. I had let her see the real me.

“Was this part of it?” I heard myself ask.

She looked up. “What?”

“The contract. Getting me to focus, keeping me in line. Was this part of how you managed me? Did Adrian think I’d behave better if I was getting laid on the regular?”

Her shoulder caught mine as she walked by me. “Asshole.”

“Oh no, let’s not be shy,” I snapped. “If you were fucking me to get me to be a good boy, good job. It worked. The power of the p⁠—”

She spun around and glared at me. “You do not want to finish that sentence.”

I shrugged. “Hey, no shame in the game. I thought you were all strict and by the rules. It’s cool. It’s not like I hated the sex.”

It was low. I knew it, but she had hurt me. The first woman I ever allowed myself to have feelings for and she stomped all over my heart.

“My job was to babysit my client’s spoiled, impulsive younger brother and make sure he could handle his responsibilities without burning everything down.” Her eyes narrowed, anger burning. “That’s it. That was the whole contract. I wasn’t hired to run a honeytrap or whatever it is your ego has decided happened here. It is really not that hard to get you to fall into bed with anyone. Trust me, if it was about getting you in bed, they could have saved themselves a lot of money. I’m not cheap.”

I heard the words come out of her mouth, but my brain refused to process them as anything other than weapons. Each one hit hard.

“Right,” I said, my voice cold. “Because I’m so easy, right? Just flash a smile at me and I’ll get naked and hop into any bed.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“It’s exactly what you said. You just called me a whore in the most professional way possible.”

“After you called me one.” She closed her eyes and took a breath. When she opened them again, some of the fire had dimmed. “But hey, if the shoe fits.”

“I get it. I’m the family fuck-up who can’t keep it in his pants. The guy who needs a handler because he’s too busy chasing tail to do his actual job.” I laughed, but there was no humor in it. “And you know what? You’re right. That’s exactly who I was before you showed up. So congratulations on confirming what everyone already knew.”

“Stop putting words in my mouth.”

“I’m just connecting the dots you laid out for me.” I stepped closer to her, anger and hurt warring in my chest. “You want to break this off? Fine. We’ll break it off. But don’t stand there and pretend this was just some fling that got out of hand. Don’t diminish what happened between us because you’re scared.”

“I’m not scared.”

“Bullshit. You’re terrified.”

“You just can’t handle the fact I’m not falling at your feet. Sorry, I can’t do the whole relationship thing. It would never work. You know that.”

I said nothing.

“You did it.” She gestured at the set behind me, the runway and the columns and the lighting rigs and all of it. “You turned it around. You showed up. You handled it. That’s all you.” Her jaw was tight. “Credit where it’s due.”

“But,” I prompted.