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Except somehow, I couldn’t do that. I was sad, yes. I’d felt heartbroken for days. Hurt because I’d trusted someone so much in such a short time. Fell for him.
He’d said he felt it too. That he was falling. That he’d been waiting for me.
Me.
I grabbed the soap and started scrubbing.
Then I thought of his brothers. How could they hang with me like they had and know Mav was engaged to another woman? The wedding was today. Not even a week after we ate deli sandwiches and went out to eat. I sat on Mav’s lap. Hell, Silas held up my bra as I ran from the house.
They knew we were together-ish.
Turning, I got my hair wet and squeezed shampoo into my palm. How could four grown men spend all day Saturday with me knowing one of them was getting married a week later?
Something wasn’t right. I had shitty instincts when it came to men. The inability to stand up to them and fight for myself. To tell them to fuck off.
I did exactly what they hoped. Nothing.
Which meant they got away with it and would probably do it again to some other guileless woman.
With Mav, though, he hadn’t diminished me. He’d built me up. Maybe that was why I was questioning myself.
Obviously, I hadn’t been an easy lay. He could have had any woman in Hunter Valley in his bed. Even my sister would have probably taken him for a ride. Why would he want to work so hard on someone who was far from a sure thing?
If he wanted only sex, why pick Miss Complicated?
I rinsed my hair and considered. Took the analytical approach.
“Come on, Bridge!” Mallory called.
Mav was pissed at Jason when he treated me like shit. That he had to do because he was CEO. Well, he didn’t have to, but it would fuck over his business if he hadn’t. He’d sent me a sex quiz of his own. Told me I could sue and take him for a lot of money. That was a shitty business move, telling a woman to seek legal action.
Fucking me, then marrying someone else, would make most scorned women do just that. Seek revenge. Take his money. Mav knew and did it anyway. Either he didn’t care about his bank account, his company, his work integrity, or even his role as CEO–since he said the board of directors could vote him out–or he meant it as protection for me as he’d said. Because he had faith that what was between us was real. That the quizzes meant nothing.
Which meant…
“Holy shit.”
…I meant something.
I flipped off the water, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself.
When I opened the bathroom door, Mallory and Lindy each held a dress up as if debating between the two. I’d never seen either one before so I had to assume Mallory had brought them with her from her own closet in the hopes I’d go along with their revenge seeking plans.
“I believe him,” I said.
They stared at me. Blinked.
“That he’s getting married?” Lindy asked.
I shook my head, my wet hair dripping down my back. “No. That he’s fallen for me.”
Mallory gave me a look of pity and concern. “That’s what he wants you to believe.”
“Exactly. Something’s not right about all this. I’ve been thinking. Finally. I know Mav. The real Mav.”
“You knew him for less than three days,” Lindy reminded with a huff.
I shrugged my bare, damp shoulder. “Doesn’t matter. This doesn’t add up. Let me ask you this, Lind.”
