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“I can’t do this.” I shifted out from under him, reaching down to collect my discarded clothing. I tugged the blouse back on, without my bra, working the buttons despite the sudden shaking in my hands.
Hunter followed. “Lyndsey, don’t—”
“We can’t do this anymore.” I stopped him.
“We’re not doing anything wrong.”
“We’re doing everything wrong.” My arms flew out to the side. How could he not see we were breaking every rule in the book? Family feuds, mixing working relationships. “I’m supposed to be finding you someone to marry.”
“And maybe all I want is you.”
Again, my heart melted.
Every part of me longed to hurl myself into his arms, to beg him to make all of this go away. But I was the only one in charge of my fate. I was the one holding the reins, and I needed to take control—one way or another.
No matter how much it hurt.
“We’ve already decided I’m not the girl for you,” I said softly.
“No,youdecided that,” Hunter exclaimed, looking at me with his incredulous stare. He took a step toward me, and I steeled myself against taking one backward. “But I’m not giving up so easily.”
I raised my chin higher. “Well, you should.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because it’s never going to happen.”
“It almost did happen,” Hunter said. “Though for whatever reason, you still don’t want to admit that you want this.”
“I don’t.”
He stared back at me, curious.
His bright blue eyes reflected all the pain I felt in doing this, all the pain I meant to spare him by pushing him away now. If I didn’t, things would only get worse. Wouldn’t they? It’d be that much harder for us to be apart from one another. This way was better. Cleaner. Cut it off before it even had the chance to grow.
“Give me one good reason,” he said, finally.
What was I supposed to tell him?
I can’t be with you because I’d lose my job.
That wouldn’t just end things between us. It would wound him, too. He deserved someone who wanted him without anything holding them back—least of all, material possessions. Wasn’t that what he’d scolded me about the first night we met? It would confirm his suspicions of me as some spoiled little rich girl too blinded by greed to take a chance on love.
This wasn’t just about money.
It was principle. It was family. I could never be the woman Hunter needed if I couldn’t even take care of my own problems. This was my grandmother’s legacy, our family home. I was jeopardizing generations of Saunders history for a man I’d met a little over a week ago.
Betting on a romance that may not even last a week.
“I’m seeing someone.” I blurted out the words faster than I could call them back.
“You’re seeing someone,” he said, disbelief running rampant in his tone. “And you let me touch you like that?”
“We haven’t made it official yet, but it’s getting serious,” I explained, continuing my lie between haggard breaths. “I owe him the opportunity to see it through.”
Hunter studied me carefully, weighing my words as if depicting the truth from the fiction. For a moment, I thought he might have caught me. That he intended to call me out on my bullshit with a scathing rebuttal. Instead, he tilted his head to the side and leveled me with a look of understanding. “Lyndsey…”
I couldn’t let him convince me we were perfect together. I was losing all restraint as it was. One more second listening to him, and I would forever be at his mercy. It was now or never.
