Page 53 of Ruthless Edge

I feel myself go quiet, but I can’t stop myself.

“What about the dinner options for the auction? Do we have everything nailed down?” Knox asks.

“I think so.”

Laura smiles. “I bet you’re so good with food. It’s probably a specialty of yours.”

“She’s amazing at everything! With all the planning she’s done, every bit of work that went into this event, I’m just in complete awe of what she’s capable of,” Knox says, grinning.

I don’t smile back.

His expression shifts, but I try to keep my face neutral.

Knox says something to Laura. I don't catch it.

"I should find Paige," I say.

"Emma." Knox reaches out and catches my arm, light, not holding. "We weren't done."

"She's been alone for a while." I pull my arm back and smile at both of them, which is the thing I've learned to do when I need a minute to get behind my own face. "Good to see you, Laura."

I walk away before either of them can say anything.

Paige is in the kitchen and she clocks my face the second she sees me and puts her drink down.

"What happened?" she says.

"Laura made a comment about my dress."

"What did she say?"

I repeat it. Paige face goes blank. "That's⁠—"

"I know," I say.

“Then she said, something about food being my specialty.”

"Did Knox⁠—"

"He didn't hear it the way she meant it." I pick up the drink Knox brought me and look at it. "He never does."

Paige is quiet.

The thing is, I'd been doing it again. Sitting there with Knox, laughing, feeling like the room had narrowed to just us, feeling like the attention he was paying me was real and specific and not the same attention he pays to everyone. I'd let myself start to believe it, and the moment Laura walked up and opened her mouth I remembered exactly why that's dangerous.

Not because of what Laura said.

Because I'd believed it in the first place.

That's what I can't forgive myself for. Not that I fell for Knox Carter again. I've always fallen for Knox Carter, that's a known variable, it's practically a law. What I can't stand is how fast it happened. How little it took. One party, one conversation, one easy smile, and I was right back in it, feeling stupid before I'd even finished feeling good.

I am not doing this.

"Tell me about Declan," I say.

Paige blinks at the subject change. "Right now?"

"Right now," I say. "Tell me something that has nothing to do with Knox Carter."