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“Would you rather talk to a boy or a man?”
Yep…he was a hot asshole.“Who’s the boy and who’s the man?”
He didn’t let my comment catch him off-balance. A small, knowing smirk moved over his lips before he grabbed his beer and took a drink. “This tastes like piss.”
“Then why are you drinking it?”
“They’re out of scotch.”
My father drank the same thing. There were always bottles in his study. I tried not to stare too hard, to force my eyes on my drink or across the bar, to act natural. But when I was this nervous, it was hard to even remember what normalcy looked like.
“Break any more windows lately?” He leaned slightly against the bar, his arm resting there, his bicep and forearm exposed beneath the sleeve. His arms were like his neck, covered in rivers that disappeared into the mountains of his muscles. His skin was fair like he didn’t have a laborious job outside, but rather something indoors that protected him from the sunshine.
I was so distracted by his appearance that I forgot the question he’d asked. “Sorry?”
That arrogant smirk returned. “I heard you break hearts the way you break windows.”
Word had spread like wildfire. Everyone had seen the statues Ethan erected around the castle and connected the dots. When people asked him about it, he must have told the truth—that I’d rejected his marriage proposal. “I don’t know what you heard, but I’m not a bitch. I mean, I am, but not thatkindof bitch.”
That partial smile remained on his lips, and his eyes flashed with a hint of intrigue. “I heard the artist was deeply in love with you and asked the king for your hand, but you said no.”
“That’s all true, but there’s more to the story.”
He never questioned me, only silently prodded for more information.
“Have you ever been in a relationship that you knew had no future, but you wanted to stay anyway? At least for a little while.”
He considered the question for a long stretch of silence. A stretch so long, it seemed like nothing would follow. “No.”
“Well, that’s how it was. I knew he wouldn’t be my husband, but that didn’t mean I wanted it to end so soon. But he wanted something more serious, and I just wanted to fuck.”
His smile dropped, and now his stare hardened.
“I’m sure you’ve been in plenty of those relationships…orsituationships.”
He neither confirmed nor denied it.
“Wow, a gentleman.”
“Oh, trust me. I’m not.”
Damn, I loved a “I don’t give a fuck” attitude on guys. My weakness. An asshole who said he was an asshole straight to your face. A guy so confident that he could get you without even trying.
“Ethan fucked up a good thing.”
“Yeah, he did.”
“But it worked out for me.” With that confident stare, he lifted his glass to his lips and took a drink, stare on me all the while. Only a few guys could pull off confidence like that, and he was one of them.
“Why haven’t I seen you around before?” I spent a lot of my time in the village. I didn’t know everyone, but if I’d ever seen him on the street before, I would have remembered. There was no way I would have seen this drop-dead gorgeous man and forgotten about him. If I didn’t go home with him tonight, I knew his memory would stay with me.
“I moved to Delacroix a month ago.”
“What do you do?”
“Private loans. When the farmers have a poor harvest, I loan them money and charge them interest. I fund other projects, like homes and buildings. I’ve done it in the other kingdoms and thought I’d make my mark here.”
That meant he had money, but he wasn’t a member of royalty or the aristocracy. Perhaps his family had handed down their wealth through the generations. “Impressive.”
