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Under Sin’s gradually softening gaze, I emphasize that I’d never taken Joyce seriously. “I had no idea she was bringing a friend along.” Like a little kid trying to keep his friend out of trouble, I plead, “Shane didn’t either.”
Sin gazes at me for a long moment. I wait, my breath held hostage in my lungs. I expel it in a rush when she nods and starts to type. With a deep sigh, she hands me the phone, her hand shaking a little as I take it from her.
Sin: Okay. That woman fit the type of what you normally go for, so I assumed you had wanted her. But I need to tell you, if you want to see someone else while you’re here, I won’t stand in your way. We can just end it.
What I read has me relieved. And angry.
Damn me if I know why.
I place the phone in her palm and ask, using air quotes, I ask, “What do you mean ‘the type’?”
Sin: Small blondes. That’s all the press has photographed you with.
“I guess you got your facts from those magazines?” I mutter more to myself than to her.
She must have heard me, as her face is crestfallen when she shows me what she wrote.
Sin: Why were you so angry that I had them?
I run a hand through my hair. If I tell her the truth, I’ll come off like a whiny bitch…“You knew who I was, yet you never tried to contact me.” The words were out before I could stop them. So much for my control. I lose it when she is around.
She types quickly, then practically shoves the phone in my face to read her answer.
Sin: You didn’t look for me either, but if you must know, I tried to see you. I found out a little over a year ago who you were. I had convinced myself to leave it alone because you probably wouldn’t remember me. Then six months ago, when I was in New York, I went to your building and tried to see you. I got as far as the executive floor. The receptionist there turned me away.
It’s all I can do to keep my shit. “What did she look like?” I already have an idea who it could be and when Sin types:petite, red hair. Really pretty, I realize, I’m right.
Aimee Richardson.
Since I’ve been in Austin, I’ve heard from Justin that she’s turned her attention to others. Three executives filed a formal complaint with Justin when Aimee “mistakenly” turned away two wives and one girlfriend.
He placed her on probation with the warning that if she did it again, she’d be let go on the spot.
“She’s gone,” I grind out. “Today.”
“Royce, please.” Sin looks horrified, probably because she thinks she’s just cost Aimee her position. It’s not her fault, and I hasten to assure her of that.
“Sin, you’re not the only woman she’s done that to.” I shake my head. It is a lost cause trying to halt the anger I feel. Why do some women insist on letting their misguided possessiveness ruin my budding relationship with Sin?
Relationship?
WTF?
I’m lightheaded with hunger. That’s why I’m thinking along those lines.
I pull back the reins on the relationship thoughts and corral them in the unused portion of my brain until I can take them out and examine them away from Sin. As of right now, she’s all I can focus on.
That and the rage I feel at being cheated out of a good time.
Yeah, areallygood time.
“I didn’t look for you because I convinced myself that our one-nighter was so damn fantastic because it wasone night. “
Sin nods her head as if in agreement, but I see the spark of hurt and anger in her eyes. “Just like our sex has been great because it’s just for the time you’re in Austin,” she croaks.
“I was going to add, Ms. Hot Head, that I lied. I didn’t mean what I said last night. I was angry and hurt and…” I was about to say I let my father get in my head when I stop myself. I’m just coming to terms with how I feel for her and at this stage, it is way too early to bring my baggage into the mix.
“The rest doesn’t matter. What only matters now is that for two years, I’ve been thinking of you… that night…more off than on. I could have spared us at least six months of wondering if my receptionist had just taken the time to buzz me. If she had, do you know what I would have done?” At her wide-eyed gaze, I take her right hand in mine, kissing her knuckles. After a love bite to her thumb, a promise of things to come, I growl, “I would have taken you to my apartment…and kept you there.”
