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“This is stupid. You’re being ridiculous. Whatever Luciana did, I’m sure it’s gotten blown way out of proportion.”
I took a sip of my orange juice and he somehow took that as a signal to get up and sit across from me.
“You’re acting like a child.” His tone was loud and harsh as if I hadn’t heard him the first time.
It was really rich coming from him. He was the one throwing a temper tantrum.
“Your behavior today has been incredibly rude. And I’m your fiancé. I think that should afford me a measure of respect.”
A measure of respect?
A measure of respect?!
What about respect for me? He was older than me by ten years, but sometimes he acted so immature. So selfish.
The more I thought about him and how I’d been cornered into agreeing to our engagement, the sicker I got. I was just a kid at the time, but he—he was an adult. At least, he was supposed to be.
“Say something,” he shouted, and a piece of spittle hit my face.
Disgusting.
I picked up my napkin and wiped off my cheek. “You’re the one who’s yelling and causing a scene. When you calm down, maybe I’ll talk to you.” I was doing okay, but this whole situation was miserable. My hands shook with anger and frustration, but I was sticking to my plan. God had made me stubborn, if nothing else.
Reacting to him won’t help me at all.
The sound of a chair being dragged across the room finally shut him up. I looked up to see Lucas’ light golden aura. It was so nice and refreshing, like standing in warm sunlight.
“Good morning.” Lucas sat down in the chair, his eyes only on me. “How are you feeling today? Altitude still getting to you?”
Suddenly the confidence was back. A smile spread across my face. God. How did two little sentences just restore everything I wanted to feel about myself? “No, the altitude isn’t so bad today. I followed your advice and had some broth last night, and I slept—really slept—and it was great. I don’t even have a headache now.”
Lucas answered my grin with one of his own. “Good. They pump extra oxygen into the rooms here. That’s why I booked it for you.”
I took him in then. His hair, perfectly mussed. He wore a long-sleeved T-shirt, with the sleeves scrunched to his elbows and a pair of black athletic pants that had white stripes down the sides.
I was staring. This was bad. I toyed with my food for a second as I looked for something to say. “You want to have some breakfast?”
He grinned big, and my heart did a double bump. “I already ate.”
“Excuse me, but we were having a conversation,” Matt cut in.
Lucas raised his eyebrows, making a face at me before turning to Matt. “Looked to me like you were harassing her. That’s no way to get her attention. Clearly.” He winked at me.
“She’s my fiancé. I’ll talk to her however I like.”
God. Had I ever found him attractive? I would’ve sworn he wasn’t like this before. Now it seemed like every time I saw him, he got meaner.
“Fiancé?” Lucas mouthed to me.
I shrugged. Explaining right now would take too long. Plus, it wasn’t like Lucas really cared if I was engaged or not.
“From the way you two were just acting, I wouldn’t bet on seeing her in a white dress any time soon.” Lucas stood, his eyes on me. “You ready?”
The half-eaten food on my plate wasn’t worth sticking around to finish. “Sure.” I brushed my hands off on a napkin and placed a tip on the table. No one else was doing it, but that didn’t mean the staff didn’t deserve at least a little tip for their hospitality. “I’m going to go see if they have some water bottles I can take. I’ll just be a second.” I started off for the front desk, but Lucas’ voice stopped me.
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of you.”
I whipped around. The way he said it, so seriously, it sounded like he meant that he’d take care of more than just water. But by the time I turned, he was already walking out the door.
