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She flicks her gaze to me, then back to him just as quickly. “Uh, nope. I don’t believe so.”
Oh hell. I was sure he wouldn’t remember her from that night at the auction, but his suspicion deepens the longer he studies her.
In a moment of panic, I improvise a distraction. “You two know each other, huh?”
He cuts his eyes to me, offended by my accusatory tone. “No, of course not. I just feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before.”
“Somewhere like…?” I cross my arms, scrutinizing him.
“Oh, please. Surely you’re not implying that I’m sleeping with her?”
It’s damn near impossible to keep a straight face when Piper sputters.
He twists my way fully, brows pinching. “What’s gotten into you?”
“You tell me.” I fling a hand toward Piper. “You’re the one undressing our therapist with your eyes.”
Rowan laughs incredulously. “The only person I’d like to undress around here is you. Something, I’ll point out, I’ve conveyed to you often.”
I squeeze my thighs together, hating how little it takes for him to affect me.
“You see? This is a typical response from him,” I explain to Piper, who hums while pretending to jot a note. “Deflect. Deflect. Deflect.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you say you tell the truth, but all you really do is skirt around it.”
Rowan glares from his seat on the couch, and I glare back.
“Now, the purpose of this session is to make sure you two are ready for the tumultuous road of marriage ahead, and to do that, we need to be completely honest with one another.” Piper removes her glasses and glances between us. “Is that clear?”
I curl my lips beneath my teeth as Rowan mutters, “Crystal.”
“Great. Now, Molly’s told me a bit about your relationship, but I think, for today’s purposes, we should start by addressing the things you’ve found most difficult about each other.” Gesturing to me, she says, “Molly, you’ll start us off.”
I sit up straight, ready to force him to acknowledge that he’s been an arrogant ass since the day I moved in. “Rowan’s bossy, emotionless, and unbearably uptight.” I smile at him sweetly. “Your turn.”
“We’re really doing this?”
“Yup.”
“Fine.” His neck flushes scarlet as he shifts to the edge of his seat and quickly releases the top button of his shirt. “You’re impossibly emotional, can’t carry a tune, and your mood changes so fast, I can hardly keep up.”
“It’s not my fault that you don’t know your ass from your elbow when it comes to how you feel.”
“Maybe you could give me an anatomy lesson then,” he taunts, and I narrow my eyes.
“You’re a work-a-holic who wouldn’t know a good time if it bit you on the face.”
“And you leave an ungodly amount of hair in the shower drain.”
We’re fuming now, facing each other with little more than a foot of space separating us. “No worse than all the beard trimmings you leave on the bathroom counter.”
“I hate those damn overalls.” He sneers, leaning so close, I can smell his cologne. “They’re childish and silly. No grown woman should own as many pairs as you do.”
The rise I’m getting out of him is electric. It’s petty, I know, but to witness Rowan losing control is wholly addictive. “I wouldn’t expect a man to understand the importance of pockets when, unlike women, your pants have always had them.”
“Oh-kay. I think that’s a good start.” Piper’s brow wrinkles as she makes another note. “I can see we’ve got an opposites attract situation here… Why don’t you both try listing some things you appreciate about each other now?”
