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I lifted my glass and took a long drink. Tonight was not going the way I’d expected. Somehow, I’d gotten caught in his trap. I still couldn’t figure out why he’d set it. What was he getting at, exactly?
“You know, Fiona,” he said as he carried his glass across the room and refreshed his beverage. “You’re really good at accepting the chemistry between us when I force it upon you. I mean, that one kiss made me rock-hard, and I’m pretty sure I made you wet.”
I was taken aback. Not because he was so direct, but because he was so right. About everything.
He said, “If I’m not constantly riding you about it, you completely deny that we’ve always been attracted to each other. And that I still want you, even after I’ve fucked you.”
“Mi—”
“A year later, no less.” This seemed to be a revelation to him because he quickly added, “Don’t you think that means something?”
“You’ve lost your mind?”
He smirked at me. It was damn sexy.
“Is it possible you just haven’t gotten a piece of ass in a while and you’re willing to say anything to get it tonight?” I continued.
His look this time was not quite so sexy. In fact, it bordered on lethal. “You’ll say anything to jack this up, won’t you?”
I sighed. He didn’t miss a single trick. “Can we please just focus on why I came over tonight? Are you going with me to Napa or not?”
“Whose party?”
Fuck. That question was about to change the course of this conversation. Again, not to my advantage.
“Please remember I brought over two-hundred dollar Scotch.”
“Whose party, Fiona?”
Clearly, I was pissing him off, as babe was no longer part of his vernacular.
“It’s Lizzie and Seth’s engagement party.” I didn’t bother using my sister’s formal name, as requested by my mother. It’d be one more thing I’d have to explain to him and, by the tense look that crossed his face, I wouldn’t be positioning myself better for this favor if I did.
As it was, he demanded in an angry tone, “Why the hell are you going?”
“Michael.” My heart sunk. Perhaps I was wrong. Quite possibly, this was one favor he wouldn’t grant me.
He drove that point home with an unexpected outburst. “The guy cheated on you. With your sister!”
“I am all too aware of that fact,” I said, my own temper now sparked. “Thank you very much for reminding me.”
He pinned me with a serious look. “Now who’s lost their mind?”
“Damn it.” I threw my hands up in the air. Thankfully, I wasn’t holding my wine at the time. “This isn’t easy for me, and you’re making it even harder. I have to go to this party. It would be really helpful to have someone with me who’s—”
I lost my breath as those stupid tears filled my eyes again.
Michael sighed. His look softened as he lifted a hand to my face and brushed away the drops rolling down my flushed cheeks.
In a quiet voice, I continued. “It’d help if I had someone with me who’s on my side.”
“Oh, Jesus.” He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me to him.
I didn’t fight the tears this time. I let them all out, crying on Michael’s shoulder the way I had a year ago. He’d never hold my hurt feelings against me, whether my bruised pride was Seth or my family’s doing. He’d always been sympathetic and understanding of my sensitivity to these particular slights. One of the many things I adored about him.
I had no idea how long I sobbed. In fact, I truly had no idea what I was so upset about. Because Seth was happier with Lizzie? That my little sister was getting married before me? Or was it because I felt trapped in my own life, unable to escape my family obligations even when they tore me apart?
I’d proven I was strong enough to move on after the affair. That I was strong enough to forge my own path by starting a business outside the legal profession, the customary field for Carlisles.
